312: Tintin, Windsor McKay, and Miyazaki
Hullo
Direct
TPF5-1
Spring
Links
Bye
It's the order-cut off for the first Power Fantasy trade on Monday, so talk to your shop if you want one. Online book shops count too. All-pre-orders are good orders. However, I realised there's something I haven't shown you yet...
No, it's not a replacement cover. It's an addition, direct-market only cover. A number of Image books have been doing these recently, and we felt it was fun to do one too. Having a cover with Valentina and another with Etienne seems quite appropriate, with the shape of the first arc.
Anyway – as said, orders on Monday, so speak to your retailer. As soon as I get this newsletter out, I'm about to go and do the final sign off for this bargain $10 trade, and we can't wait to get it into everyone's hands.
However, for single issue readers, there's still issue 5 to come. It's out next week, which brings our first movement to a close.
Here's a preview, lifted from early in the comic. With its structure, we didn't want to show the opening, as it kind of gives away what happened in 4. But here's a taste of Caspar's 1970s London...
Out next week. Be ready. Or don't be ready, and be delightfully surprised.
Also in next week's issue of The Power Fantasy is a feature article I wrote about THE SEASONS #1 by Rick Remender and Paul Azaceta. The article is one thing, but like last time, the full answers were a whole lot more.
Here's what Rick had to say, in our raw conversation. Worth noting that it's unlike most interviews you’ll read, in that what I'm doing is mining for quotes to use, and not doing things like “explain your book”, so you’ll get little context. I'll give you that going in: It's a whimsical horror or a horrific whimsy about a family of girls (the eponymous Seasons) whose parents disappeared... and now something awful creeps into the world.
I saw you on talking about Giant Generator's non-negotiables on Instagram. To go The Bear for a second, do you want to talk about that? How do you boil down what matters to you? How have you STUCK with it? I mainly ask that as you're the one person of my generation who has, which takes some drive. I went back to big 2 as I was burned out and couldn't do another DIE-scale project immediately. How do you keep it together?
I took a look at the system around me, and seeing how awful it was, simply walked away and chose not to participate in it anymore. Ancient punk rock ideology coupled with a superpower to be myopic in my work focus adds up to longevity doing one thing. It may also be a symptom of mental illness. But the simple truth is that creator owned comics -- like punk rock – changed my life and gave me a better one. Both changed the way I saw the world, how I lived my life, and aligned with my ethical barometer. So, I stayed where I felt at home.
Punk in the 70s/80s -- to me at least -- was akin to a pop culture version of the transcendentalists and anti-conformist like Emerson and Theroux. Individualism and self-reliance being paramount in those ideologies. But being ethical was also a big part of it. Being honest and open, and seeking out more in life than simply making as much money as one can or to outpace the competition.
Giant Generator was formed to own nothing. It’s more of a curation imprint. The work done under our imprint is owned entirely by the people who make the books. Through the support of Eric Stephenson and all of the great people at Image Comics I was able to put together something that was true to the original intent of Image: creator owned comic books, structured in a way to support the creators and give them freedom to do their best work, to have pride of ownership, and enjoy all the financial fruits of their efforts.
As to the why… it makes me happy. None of the work-for-hire I’ve ever done feels like it matters. There was no control, no involvement in where it went, and most importantly no pride of ownership. I believe that the loss of pride of ownership is a huge cause of a lot of modern sickness.
When you work at a business that you have a stake in, you care. You have pride in the work. You do your best. That gives life purpose.
Okay - the origins of the book. Paul is a powerhouse. When you started talking, how did The Seasons germinate? What got you both excited?
We wanted to do a love letter to Tintin, Windsor McKay, and Miyazaki… We wanted to do something that was high adventure, that had real stakes, with fully developed characters and something to say, but was also whimsical and hugely imaginative. Something that allowed people to enjoy the story flowing in front of them with minimal text and to focus on visual storytelling. We wanted to pace the thing out like it was the storyboards for an animated feature. And it’s been a tremendous amount of work, but I feel like we’ve accomplished that, and this one is going to be something special.
As a side note to that - if I look across all of your books, I can't think of someone who's done as many books with as many genuinely great artists, with interesting styles. You're an artist, so I'm aware there's that... but with your collaborations there's always a sense of the primary and power of art in comics. Speaking broadly, want to talk about how you think of art and collaboration?
A lot of the times I’ll run a number of story ideas that I have by the artist to see which one visually grabs them. The artist has to have complete buy-in and be totally invested. The goal is to make the best work of their careers, something that will one day be worthy of a big, beautiful oversized, hardcover, that can stay evergreen for years to come. In order to do that they have to really love everything about the story and so I find giving them options from my development files helps with finding the right project. If the artist is in love with the story, the rest is easy. Well, not really. As you know none of this is easy. But buy-in and love makes it easier.
Once we’ve picked the idea, we usually spend a lot of time doing calls and exchanging emails and letting the things slowly gestate. Through that process, I’m able to take the story that I want to tell and incorporate the visual voice and desires of the artist so that we make something we both love and has both of our DNA.
Most of the books take a couple of years to develop. Having gone through the development process in film and television for so many years has made it impossible for me to just rush in and get going without doing the full bible and character work. It’s stupid amount of work but I think the comics are better for it.
Reading The Seasons the thing which most strikes me is how you've committed to establishing the tone of the thing - it's a double sized issue, and the majority of it is about Spring's somewhat playful adventures, full of wonderful detail and charm and lots of fun worldbuilding (jetpacks)!. You hit the horror early, and then you bring the whimsy up in the mix, to show it's a world which ISN'T all horror, right? Which means there is a "norm" which is going to be disrupted. Anyway - tone. Want to talk about that?
That’s very astute. You should look into writing.
Without the set up at the beginning, and some idea of the imminent dread, the whimsical normal of her life could feel a little Saccharin. You’ve got to give a sense of impending doom and dread to balance the quaint tone of Spring’s little adventure. What I loved about cooking that opening issue up is the simplicity. As I get older, I start to -- finally -- really hear the core lesson of “keep it simple stupid.” Issue 1 is nearly 30 pages of Spring, chasing a piece of mail through her hometown of New Gaulia. But taking our time to do it that way allows you to see her world and to experience it in a fluid and interesting fashion. Because Paul has drawn every single bit of it as we move through it and meet the people in town, we don’t have to explain anything. It’s only possible with art masters like Paul and Matheus. That’s not lip service. That’s a fact. The kind of storytelling I’m writing in this period of my career is entirely dependent upon the artists being able to convey everything visually so I can be as concise and text light as possible. And when it works, it’s the best comics can be.
You show the four Seasons, and spend our time with one... so when a second arrives, it's like a thunderbolt. The antagonist is also teased and is all about wanting us to know more. Basically - how do you and Paul think about making your cast charismatic?
I have a character worksheet that has 150 questions that once you answer helps you know the characters better. Once I have a general snapshot of them. and know them, when they make their appearance in the book, they are more fully formed. That allows me to cut around a lot of the potential fat that could arise from trying to discover that stuff on the page.
Over the last couple of years Paul hopped on the phone a dozen times and talked about each of the sisters, what they represent, and their story arcs. I usually write up a bunch of thoughts and ideas and do some groundwork before the calls, so we have something to talk about. Getting his buy in almost gives me permission to do an idea. He’s the first audience member really.
Beyond that I try to base characters on different people I’ve known throughout my life and then stitch that together with fiction. Each one of them have to represent something I want to talk about, or I lose interest pretty quickly.
The Seasons is on pre-order now and out January 29th 2025. Speak to you retailer now.
Off Panel ran their Creators' Thoughts On 2024 article, and had me over for it. Here's what I said...
The trend which has has delighted me for the early part of the year was the cresting wave of increasingly horny work from mainly non-dude creators in the Direct Market. I’d trace it back some years to Mirka Andolfo, I suspect, but Maria Llovet and Luana Vecchio. It’s always been there in the webcomic spaces, but to see it cross over and Tula (Lotay) and Becky (Cloonan) get an Eisner for Somna seemed like a moment. Much more to come too – folks like Chloe Brailsford look like having a big 2025 too. It’s certainly made me chew over the relative chasteness of my own work, though I’m also aware “relative” is carrying a lot of weight here.
But now we hit the back end of the year, what most makes me happy is a sense that creators are looking at community again, and ways to tie people and books together. As twitter imploded across the last decade, the tendency has to be to go more atomic – the proliferation of mailing lists is a good symptom of that. In a world where our connections have been poisoned by corporation, we have to save what we can. But now, there’s more of a sense that’s self defeating. Comics is an ecology, and working out ways to seed community is paramount. I think the Bluesky germination is a part of that – we get to build again. What do we do this time? I’ve had more conversations about mutual aid with creators in the last year than I have had for years. We’re in this together. Every comic is a panel in a larger story. That kind of thing. Hell, I was chewing over “maybe I start a comic reading group in my town I’ve just move to?” and that was before the recent discussion over exactly how France’s scene happened – which was local initiatives across France in the 1960s. The lesson of the last 15 years is we simply can’t trust tech to do this, as it can’t, and even if it does briefly, it will sweep it all away a second later for the amusement of capital. That more and more people are not just realising that, but acting upon it, is a thing which I hold on for optimism about this fallen world.
I have also been enjoying Public Domain.
...but go read everyone else's.
Tini Howard writes her celebratory reviews of the berserk Miss Universe National Costume round. I was charmed.
It's end of year round up time, and the lists have started to come out. The Power Fantasy topped Slash Film's list of the year for a start. Also, over at Comicbook.com The Power Fantasy has been shortlisted in the nominees for Best Ongoing Series and I'm in the nominees for Best Writer. Fingers crossed.
This old feature of mine crossed my dash for another reason, where I tried to explain the joy of a Rogue-like game (specifically ZangbandTK) to an audience who didn't know what Rogue games were. I'd be lying if it wasn't slightly gratifying to be championing stuff to some small mockery from some of my peers and for it to end up basically taking over the industry. I'd also be lying if I wasn't gritting my teeth when I see I'd posted this version of it with the formatting mashed – all the in-game anecdotes are meant to be in italics.
Another old article that crossed my dash – the always good Kelly Kanayama writes on monsters in Ennis' work.
Hefty article over at the Times about the Gisèle Pelicot trial which sums up a lot. It's a discombobulating horror which does make you fear for everything.
Heidi MacDonald on The Big Lie in comics over at the Beat. Namely, that “Sell IP rights to hollywood” actually works as a business model. It's always about selling books, even if you do sell the rights.
As I was prodded to do it on blue skies, I was going to write a bit about Omelas... but, as I said above, I've got to go and sign off the trade for The Power Fantasy and a whole lot more today, so I'll cut it short. It would have been a short newsletter if it wasn't for me remembering I needed to post the interview with Rick before The Seasons FOC. I will try to do next week, so it’s a good time to grab some LeGuin from this Humble Bundle if you haven’t already.
It's been a good week. I went to London, twice, saw friends, partied at our club-night, headed for an epic meal at friends, made a friend's recipe for Biscotti to massive acclaim and Iris slept well. Not through it all. Just when she was meant to. This is a good week.
Well, it's a good week except one thing. It took me until today to finish something that even looks like a draft of The Power Fantasy script. As usual, it starts as a structural issue and ends as a character issue, but it at least works to a point now – and the story is there. As in, the emotional voyage. It's both working in the idiom The Power Fantasy has carved out, but also shaking it up a bit. It's not quite the same thing, but the mention of the Bear above in Rick's interview made me think of it in terms of the thanksgiving episode of the Bear. I mean, it won't be as horrifying as that. It's only the end of the world.
Anyway – let's go and sign off the book, and speak soon. If you want more comics chat, I just posted the new #WeReadsComic kick-off on Blue Sky. Go recommend stuff and see recommendations!
Speak soon.
Kieron Gillen
Bath
11.12.2024