296:
Hullo.
Digital Love
Gen
World
Links
Bye
One week to go until The Power Fantasy arrives in the shops, like a friendly comet that shakes hands and buys folks drinks.
Are we going to be ignoring those who like their comics digital? No, the Power Fantasy has love for them too. The Power Fantasy loves everyone.
It's now available to pre-order on Comixology/Amazon. Do so, and it'll be flying to your digital device of choice the second it's available.
Here's the US pre-order.
Here's the UK one.
Here's the Canadian one.
Not in one of those regions, and you can't find it with search? I'm by the great minds of the internet if you enter B0D9MWQ3Q7 into search, it'll show up. We live in a time of miracles.
If you're in the US, you can do more than just order the present issue.
US folks can actually pre-order the whole series here.
Click, and as long as we do issues and you have money, you'll have them.
Some more early reviews? Why not.
Gatecrashers: “It’s been a long time since I’ve looked at the piece I have been writing about superheroes and been excited to put it out into the world. The Power Fantasy is the first serious superhero story that has put a cork in my heart to get me excited about superhero comics again. It’s not the typical superhero affair but it is something truly unique. It’s an absolute must-read comic for anyone, not just recovering clickbait editors.”
Monkeys Fighting Robots “a brilliant opening issue that brings a desperately needed new approach to a well-worn comics genre trope. Kieron Gillen’s script is complex, intelligent, and deeply compelling, offering the smartest take on superpowered beings in years. The visuals from Caspar Wijngaard are stunningly detailed, finely directed, and wildly colorful, all combining to make possibly the best debut comic of the year so far.”
That last one is a 5/5, btw. Of all the reviews that have given score, nothing has given it less than full marks. Cripes.
I also wanted to highlight Dave Richard's patreon – the venerable CBR journalist is now doing his own thing, and he did a big interview with me about the Power Fantasy here. Here's a big quote, to give a taste...
Part of this is me digging into my interest in politics and world history. The other side is the social history part. I’m really interested in the ‘60s. I’m really interested in the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s as well. One of the biggest clues to that is how we’ve named the characters.
I wanted names that didn’t quite sound like normal people and weren’t superhero names. What I ended up doing was using names that evoked what pop stars and people in the public life were called. Etienne Lux is kind of Stevie Wonder and Ray “the Genius” Charles. Eliza Hellbound is our post-punk. She’s got that ‘80s post-punk, industrial vibe. That gives them a distance, but it’s also like a stage name. So, it’s a cultural history as well. There’s a lot about what it would be like to be into music or culture and living through that.
One of the big influences of the book is Andrew Hickey’s A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs. It’s telling the story through records coming out. So, it’s always going to be about context.
I’ve always found The Beatles and Dylan to be intimidating and distant. Going through their story as lived makes you see them as people. You see the Beatles as crazed, obsessive music fans; big ‘ol nerds! [Laughs] Or how Motown song writers responded to Bob Dylan. You also get things like what was #1 during The Cuban Missile Crisis? What would the Kieron Gillen of that period be doing? Because The Beatles and The Beach boy’s first UK records came out on the same day during The Cuban Missile Crisis.
So, I’m leaning into it with The Power Fantasy. Some music nerd is going to be obsessed about those records when everyone else is concerned about dying. I give that as the color. So, it’s really small and human, but also big and geopolitical. I want to make this history live.
Dave's interviewed me a bunch of times over the year, so it's very much us in relaxed mode.
Anyway – a week until it drops. See some folks at Forbidden Planet for the launch signing. Can't wait until it's in your hands.
I'm in Indianapolis at Gencon at the moment, getting ready for my various things, which is mainly re-reading the scenarios and seeing if there's anything I should have to tweak. It should be quite fun, to say the least.
Worth stressing – Gencon stuff is mainly ticketed, and the games may be full up – but it never hurts to buy generic tickets and turn up at the opening. In my experience, there's always some folks who don't show up, and especially in a 30 player game like D36, I think there's a chance you'd get in. Perhaps less this year, as I suspect the ticket price may make people more likely to come, but you never know.
Thursday
3-7pm - D36 FOR DAMAGE (ICC 121)
Friday
1-3pm – Signing @ ETR (I think this is the RRD booth)
3-4pm - DIE RPG Interactive Panel. (ICC 244)
8-12pm – D36 FOR DAMAGE (ICC 121)
Saturday
1-3pm – Signing @ ETR
3-4pm – Do You Ever Think About... DIE (the RPG) (Crowne Plaza : Haymarket Station)
Sunday
Having a nice little snooze, because frankly Friday looks murderous.
Looking forward to seeing folks, and bumping Dice.
Next? I get back to the UK, launch The Power Fantasy, and then train my way up to Glasgow for Worldcon. The full schedule is here which looks excellent. Here's what I'll be doing...
Friday, August 9, 2024
10:00 BST - Not Just Superheroes: The Best of the Rest in Modern Comics
Gala, Duration: 60 mins
11:30 BST - Table Talk: Kieron Gillen
Hall 4 (Table Talks), Duration: 60 mins
14:30 BST - Autographing
Hall 4 (Autographs),Duration: 60 mins
17:30 BST - The Unique Storytelling Medium of Comics
Argyll 1, Duration: 60 mins
Saturday, August 10, 2024
16:00 BST - DIE RPG (Live game)
Gala, Duration: 60 mins
Sunday, August 11, 2024
10:00 BST - Comics Masterclass Mastercut
Meeting Academy M4,Duration: 60 mins
14:30 BST - Exploring the Fantastical through Comics and Graphic Novels
Alsh 2, Duration: 60 mins
You can look up the programme for the full descriptions of these in the guide
- The kickstarter for GamesMasters, Fred Van Lente and Tom Fowler's history-in-comics of the RPG has launched. Everything I've read of this looks A+. Hugely excited.
- Graphic Policy continue there wander through my creator-work backlist as we approach The Power Fantasy's release. Here's a piece on Three and here's one on the first volume of Uber. I do think of that early bit of Uber a lot, and what I'd do to try and smooth some of the storytelling if it were ever re-issued – a lettering draft, I suspect, may be able to help a little. It's work which tonally knows exactly what it wants to do, and absolutely does it (folks read it for a reason) but I think I could make it slightly more accessible with a few tweaks.
- As I've mentioned Uber, I'll say explicitly: no updates on Uber yet, alas, but I will hit Avatar up when my head clears from The Power Fantasy's launch.
If you remember last year's trip to Gencon, there was a horrorshow of missed luggage and delays. This time nothing has gone awry. Yet. Let's see how the return journey goes.
Work in the lead up was a lot of making sure everything is in the right place – Stephanie got the complete issue of the new thing, and is away on that. Don't expect it until next year – perhaps Easter? On the flight, I was digging into more Power Fantasy stuff – finishing a draft of issue 4, which I'm going to get over to Caspar at some point over the rest of the week. There's something off about it, and I realise the problem is a sequencing one – the fourth and the third scenes need to be inverted in how they treat their their material, so the third scene is an escalation.
I'm doing a redux of my masterclass at Worldcon, so I've been looking over that material – and there's some slides in there about why I write loosely now in my initial draft is simply because of this. I want to write in a molten fashion, so I can rework and explore. This kind of rework would be a nightmare of wasted pages if I had done them completely. In a sketch form (with a more developed form existing in my head) it's all just clay.
The other bit of work was me realising I'd accidentally agreed to sign 5000 WE CALLED THEM GIANTS bookplates. 5000. Even with my signature, this is a work day, even if RSI would be destroying me after hour two. So it's required some planning – I've got 75% done before flying out, and I'll do the rest as soon as I land in the UK.
Wow, this is a lifeless and procedural newsletter? Sorry.
I'll wrap now, before I start talking about how I pack my suitcase or something (in short: badly) as I have to go grab lunch with Matt RRD. I'll see some folks in the flesh soon, and see you in the inbox next week.
Speak soon.
Kieron Gillen
London
31.7.2024