289: the burden of being Chip
Hullo.
Sakhmeet and greet
Santa
AMA(mostly)
Kraknoa
Step 3: Prophet
Links
Bye
Firstly, I've imported subscribers from Substack. I'm told that it shouldn't re-subscribe folks who have unsubscribed from the list since, so I hope that's true - and apologies if it's not. I thought it was worth doing as this week's big news...
The Wicked + the Divine launched on June 18th 2013. It's 10 year anniversary is next week.
Last month, I was talking to Katie West about it, and how it's a shame we were letting the event pass without commemoration. There's stuff we're doing down the line, sure, but nothing now. Even Chip and Matt managed to do something for theirs and Matt was running a TV show and Chip had the burden of being Chip, 24-7.
I mention an idea of something we always wanted to do. A really big coffee-table art book of all the covers. Putting aside the beauty of what Jamie and Matt created, it was always our intent to try and curate an anthology of what most excited us in comics in the whole period. WicDiv was about why we loved art, and we wanted to show, not tell. It would also be, obviously, a very pretty book.
Katie, experienced in such things, thought she could pull together a kickstarter for it in a month and and we could Do A Beyonce.
And so: Once More We Return.
THE WICKED + THE DIVINE: THE COVERS VERSION
You can sign up to the kickstarter here, which will notify you as soon as it goes live.
Spread the word.
We've tried hard to work out as best a solution we can for shipping, so hopefully most of you will be able to get this without being hit too hard, and we'll explain more details when it launches. We're also keeping the kickstarter simple – very few tiers - just a chance for you to get a really beautiful book.
And, once again, sign up to be first to jump aboard.
It's good working with Rian Hughes.
As you come to him with an idea.
And he makes it work. Certainly much better than our mock ups, though Caspar is singing with the moods in the backdrops.
For more about Valentina, read Screenrant's article about her. We'll be meeting her five peers soon.
The Power Fantasy is out in August. Speak to your retailer to express your interest. Speak to your retailer generally. Don't just silently stare at them aggressively.
We went to visit my Brother's family in Sheffield at the weekend, which was a delight. On the way back, when Iris napped, I decided to do an Ask Me Anything on BlueSky rather than do any work or carry on reading the very large history book which would inevitably make me snoozy.
However, by the magic of cut and paste, I can turn this shameless procrastination into work by including some choice selections here as (ugh) content. Hurrah!
Are there corners of either of the big two’s shared universes you still want to explore?
This is my emotional contraceptives speaking, but I don't think significantly about stuff I don't own. I have no real designs on any character. I work out whether I care or what to do when they ask me.
Alternative answer: Batman black label book, as I like money.
What public domain character would you like to write a series about?
I'd write a story about the pretentious British writer if Zdarsky would let me.
Joke answer aside, I haven't many. Most comics PD people don't appeal, most narrative ones seem like intellectual exercises rather than passion projects. I had Marvel MAX story I actually wrote an issue of and got paid for which got shelves back in 2010 or so which starred Dracula and Frankenstein.
What was your favorite X book to write during the Krakoan era?
This sounds like I'm dodging the question, but I'm not - this is really where my brain was at.
I only wrote one book during the Krakoan era. All my stories were part of that book.
What was the most challenging single issue to write during the Krakoan era?
The actual hardest stuff in the Krakoan era is almost always on craft and technical sense. There's a lot of moving parts, and assembling them all in an increasingly confined space was challenging
Issue 1 of Immortal, perhaps. Trying to genuinely explain the last 3 years of comics in a single issue.
What's the most annoying comics advice you've ever seen?
I think most comics advice includes the potential to be annoying. Advice starts as some broad guidance from folk who've been there, hardens into dogma, gets rejected for its flaws, becomes a new form of advice (which is nearly identical to the original) and the cycle continues.
However: any advice which says "in comics, this is true" when they mean "in Big 2 superhero comics, this is true" is thoughtdeath.
Is there any cuisine you'd like to try that you haven't or just explore more of in the future?
My food goals at the moment is really basic - I want to learn some fundamentals. I only really cook by following recipes, and I want to have a more active understanding of how this works. I'm scared of cooking more freely as I just don't understand it.
More in spirit of Q: Ethiopian.
(This answer actually led to a bunch of really good recommendations, so thanks, you lot.)
Do you ever experience performance anxiety around running RPGs?
Oh, all the time. Before every session.
I remember when I was running Blades first time, and after every session I'd end up drinking too much to unwind, which made me realise I was doing exactly the BURN OUT ON STRESS/INDULGE IN VICE cycle the game actually runs off. I stopped that, obv.
What’s the fastest you’ve filled a dancefloor? And the fastest you’ve cleared one?
On a press trip circa 2000 or so we find ourselves in huge club on the France/German border. Weird place - we wander down a corridor and find a ball room place. The DJ is entirely failing to get a dance floor. Empty.
Frustrated, I end up storming up and leaning over, seeing what he has...
I see Madonna's relatively recent Music. "Just play that" I say tapping it. He does. Instant dancefloor which remains all night. I think he plays it three times.
In terms of killing one? I can't think of a wipe out off the top of my head, but I'm always surprised how PUSH IT always brings it down.
Do you ever mentally envision actors for the characters you write and would you be willing to share an example or two?
I don't. I am phenomenally bad at this - I know it's a common thing for writers to do, but I just don't.
A handful of exceptions: Brian Blessed is the Bear in DIE. Matt Berry is Sebastian Shaw in the X-men.
Was there one thing you hadn't planned starting WicDiv (or any other "big project") that emerged during the making of it that really surprised you ?
The specifics of Laura's depression in year 3 was a pretty profound one - my big success and laura's big success mirroring one another, and having the same "cost" and the same emotional effects upon the person.
Big beats: whose funeral ended it. Laura's final foe, and how she rescues her.
Have you read the Loki : Agent of Asgard run? And would you ever revisit the character given the chance, after Journey Into Mystery and Young Avengers?
I have. I rarely read the work that directly follows mine (you're too close to not "yeah, but I would have..." it) but Al's a very close friend, and I think he did an exceptional job cutting the gordian knot. He's a poet.
And no, no desire at all.
What's a thing you read that you thought you would not enjoy very much but ended up loving?
Tricksy. I'm a Labrador, and really do go into art hoping to love it every time. It's one of my better traits. I have no chill. Will YOU be my friend, book?
Closest I can get is stuff I liked a lot more than I expected, with stuff I was reading for research. All the Christie I read for WicDiv.
What single issue are you most proud of?
WicDiv 13, perhaps? Singles Club 2? I mean, most of the fancy WicDiv ones - 8, 14, 23, 1923, 36 (Have not checked those numbers)? DIE 3? DIE 19? Peter Cannon 4? Power Fantasy 3? I've been around enough and been lucky enough to have done a lot of the sort of work I wanted to do.
Beurre monté, or Rhubarb Clafoutis?
I don't really know much about elves.
Jordan White did an exit interview over at AIPT, talking about all things Krakoa.
As an element, they included some folks Krakoan dream. You may notice one of these is different from the others.
I'm a villain.
Over on Blue Sky, Tom Ewing posts Dave Gibbons dressed in a superhero costume as part of a cover of Tornado magazine which reminded me of my own time on PC Gamer, and the awareness that there's 50 issues of me having to dress up in the most ridiculous shit to illustrate features.
This was the one nearest to hand.
It's not the first time I've said this, but I remained bemused by the number of folks who thought I took myself way too seriously as a game critic. Lester Bangs didn't have to do this shit.
It's useful evidence against anyone who thinks I'm god. Of course I don't think I'm god. I think I'm a prophet.
- “Why IS the Sonic comic so controversial?” is a sentence that leads to many questions, not least “why is Chip recommending me a video about Sonic the Hedgehog?” but this is a great rollercoaster about creators being creators and companies being companies. Also, a really good example why I use the phrase “Emotional Contraceptives” around Work For Hire a lot.
- Amal El-Mohtar posted this, which I knew, but had forgot, so I think it's worth re-sharing until it sinks in. Charles Dickens, trying to get his wife put in an asylum, but doctor's said “No, FFS, she's fine.”
- How Steroids Got Big. I think of this a lot, in terms of changing body images for men in the last couple of decades. A comment I thought is echoed in the article – I suspect rather than us gaining equality via women being freed from impossible body expectations, we're going to get it from men getting them too.
- Linking to someone as big as Carlin seems a bit besides the point, but aloing with him starting his new series on Alexander the Great (first episode mainly on Phillip and the always compelling Olympias), he writes on why he uses the hard C when pronouncing names.
This week I got my Steamdeck.
That is all.
Actually, killing that "Kieron has given up writing in favour of playing Balatro" joke, Caspar has just posted a few panels of the issue of TPF he's working on.
Which is just lovely. Also shows the nightmare of doing a book on a world scale while keeping all the timezones in line.
Speak soon.
Kieron Gillen
London
13.6.2024