323: It was a sandwich with a side-salad
Hullo
E is for Extinction
Double Image 1
Let’s All Meet Up In The Year 2000 (Third Age)
Links
Bye
****
We’re back. The Power Fantasy #7 is on the shelves, assuming the distributors are kind. It’s Second Summer of Love time. Or, at least, the first part of it. This issue actually our first issue which explicitly describes itself as “Part 1” which speaks to the scale of it. It’s the sort of issue which makes me kind of wish that I was doing writer notes for this, as it was an interesting craft challenge – but time is not infinite, alas.
I’m going to say “It’s basically 24 hour party people meets Melancholia” which isn’t true, but is a vibe. Or the Authority if we skip past all the bits people read the Authority for. Or a lot of things.
Caspar kills though. Not as many as the Queen though, etc.
We’ve also been joined by Khary Randolph giving us a fierce Eliza Hellbound for the alternate cover.
The preview was in last week’s newsletter if you want a taste. I’ll also be dropping this launch teaser later, but you can have it early, as you’re special.
If this all is new to your, the Power Fantasy primer will fill you in.
****
DOUBLE IMAGE: DENIZ CAMP ON ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS
Look at me, ma. I’ve given this feature a heading. As well as the interviews in the Power Fantasy, I want to speak to more image creators about their work – I’ve got one lined up for next week, and will be continuing to reach out to folks to yabber. This will be fun. Talking to more people than just the ones we can get into The Power Fantasy is really exciting to me.
However, this time we’re talking to someone who is in back of The Power Fantasy, with Deniz Camp talking about Assorted Crisis Events. The Profile is in The Power Fantasy #7, but these are the raw answers, where Deniz lays it out. Assorted Crisis Events came out last week, sold out instantly and is being rushed back to press so speak to your retailer and get one. I’ve read the first five of these, and it’s startling, and is going to be all over the end of year lists come December.
When I watched Everything Everywhere All at Once I thought "okay, that's the multiverse done." As in, if I were working in the multiversal space, I'd be too ashamed to publish whatever I was working on, as it wouldn't measure up. That was it. Everyone can go home. And now, here comes ASSORTED CRISIS EVENTS, making me go "Of course, you COULD go this". I don't want to flatten it, but "Non-genre short-story conceits built off the most genre of elements" is a one liner. How did you end up here? What do you love about this stuff?
Ah, thanks man. That’s really kind.
First: I love scifi and I think the best scifi is speaking to something real in a new, creative way.
“Non genre short stories built around genre elements” is honestly a perfect description of the book. For me, it’s primarily about the experience of being alive right now (at least my experience of it). That was my starting point; how can I capture this feeling I think a lot of us have that life has become a series of bizarre, horrifying, unprecedented crises over which we have no control or even influence?
It all sort of unspooled from there. Strangely, until you asked this question I didn’t really think of ACE as a multiverse story, though obviously it is at times. Really what I thought about was time.
Time is so bound up in comics in particular, it operates in such a unique way. I wanted to play with that. It’s also bound up in everyday human experience, right? We’re always making it, wasting it, running out of it, looking for more of it, killing it, saving it. A minute can feel like an hour if you're waiting on the results of a tumor biopsy, your twenties go by in a flash. It’s so fundamental it’s hard to explain, describe or define – and yet, at the level of fundamental physics, it’s not real.
So I thought there could be something in that.
This may step on your answer to the last question a bit, but... I sense you're having complicated feelings about life in the 21st century, and the prismatic horror experience of existence in this hall of mirrors. Where IS your head at? How did that push in the book? And how do you balance a book with a point of view versus the dangers of flattening didacticism?
Answering your last question first, I think the key is always to ground it in character, keep it small and truthful, don’t try to impress people. Didacticism sort of implies I have answers, or something to teach; I don’t. All I have are questions and feelings I want to explore. Sometimes through the writing I discover things, but I’m as surprised as the reader, you know? If you keep things small, even the very big things, and don’t talk down to or put yourself above the reader, I think you’re okay. The fate of one person can feel bigger than the death of a universe.
As to where my head is at? Nowhere good. I started thinking about this book in the first few months of the pandemic, which I think is this great trauma that we haven’t processed, but the feelings started before that. And now every day there seems to be some new horrible thing; multiple genocides, the rise of nazis, untold suffering and exploitation, bigotry, violent transphobia, wildfires, climate change, etc. It never stops. Once-every hundred years events now happen every few years; that's time collapsing, isn't it?
So I wrote a comic about it. But it’s not all doom and gloom, I don’t think. There’s beauty and hope, fellowship and grace. Because that's real, too; I see it every day.
Life isn't ever just one thing, it doesn’t fit neatly into genres or boxes. Life is tragic/funny/scary/sexy/sweet. I want the book to be, too.
The thematically connected anthology is a rare beast - the exception in recent years was the excellent ICE-CREAM MAN. How did you arrive there? What do you get from the format? You've got a connecting larger quiet narrative, but the backbone is "turn up and see what happens this month".
I didn’t want to get bored, that's the main thing. I want every issue to be something I’m incredibly excited to write, every issue to be a reach, an opportunity to try something new, feel something different, be ambitious.
On another level, I’m obsessed with accessibility and richness. I think is the most accessible thing I’ve made; you can pick up any issue and read it and understand it, feel something. Those who do read everything will be rewarded as an ongoing story emerges, but those who come in late or miss an issue won’t be punished. It’s certainly not the only way to do it, but I think having a beginning/middle/end every issue is very satisfying.
You're right that there’s nothing to hide behind with an anthology; you have to deliver every time. But that's exciting. It's a challenge I kind of take up with every project. I never want to have a "bum" issue, I want everything I write to move you on it's own. I want people to come back because they love the work, and I think anthologies kind of demand that.
Okay - a craft question, as I'm always looking for craft tips... What did you do to make Eric Zawadzki not murder you when he received these scripts? Have you chained him beneath a sink, like that person in Audition? Blackmail information? Or is Eric committed to the bit in a way which I find both petrifying and inspiring? Seriously - what does collaboration look like? How is this cooked up?
Funny you mention craft! Eric and I have been friends for years. We bonded one NYCC afterparty (the one with the surf board, you know the one) over our love of/obsession with craft and the language of comics. We talked for hours about stuff so specific and detailed even other professionals gave us a wide berth and looks of pity and disgust. So we both love this stuff, and I wrote the book with him in mind – because he is obsessed with the language of comics, and how to use it to best tell stories, most effectively. He's like a scientist or architect, which is just what this book would need.
When I write a script for ACE, it’s as ambitious and technically and formally inventive as I can make it. But then he gets them and he elevates them beyond anything I could have imagined. It’s impossible to say who is contributing what re: layouts and what not, because we work so closely, but what I can say is Eric is the only person I know who could draw this, that I dont’ think the book could exist without him and his dedication to the craft. I’m really grateful.
Also, in terms of craft: witchcraft.
Pro tip for all you writers out there; steal an artist's soul and put it in a little mason jar. If they refuse to work with you, shake it up real fast, until they agree or the light in their eyes dies.
Finally: ongoing. I checked, as I presumed it couldn't be, but... ongoing. Ongoing. ONGOING, Deniz. The first five issues are a concentrated burst of what one can do, with a staggering amount of emotional impact, formalist verve and ideas-per-square-inch. How do you plan to keep it up?
Well, I just love it so much. Love making it so much, love working with Eric, Jordie, Hass, Tom and Image. I have about 50 issues worth of notes in my various notebooks, and new ideas for it strike me every day. It’s just a dream project, truly, a kind of perfect alchemy of concept/creators that doesn’t always come around. I'll do it for as long as I possibly can.
Assorted Crisis Events is out now, and is currently in a second printing.
****
After a signing this weekend, I popped to the pub, and a couple of friends were telling me about how their latest D&D campaign collapsed after three sessions due to scheduling problems. This was a mistake, for them, as they had to deal with me downloading with both barrels, as I think this is solved problem.
By which I mean, it’s a game culture problem and it’s the idea one has to wait for everyone to play a fun game is something that’s the problem. It doesn’t have to be like that, but generations of players fall into the trap because the think it’s the only way to play, because they’re never told any different. Like, there’s rules for Grappling, Alchemy and everything else in RPG manuals. Why does no-one ever do rules for Scheduling.
So, being me, I decided to make a patch for the new edition of D&D. Insert this after page 8 in the new Players’ Handbook.
The PDF is here, along with some more notes.
It really is me being very me. I had the idea, walked to town and went to three shops until I found a copy of the new Players Manual to see where the inserted page should go, went home, wrote the piece, learned how to use the D&D Homebrew templates, laid it out and published it, all for the bit.
Anyway – I originally thought it would end up being more Modest Proposal, but actually gravitated towards pretty solid advice. Like, maybe I could have done something about deciding a Quorum of players? Whatevs. The real point is “talk about what to do when folks can’t make it and have a plan”.
****
* Just making the newsletter, so doing a quick post now, and will do more next week. There’s a Kickstarter for DIE RPG and the DIE Comics to be translated and published in German. If you want a german language edition of either or both, you can go and back here. Expect a lot of folks to make the “The” joke.
* X of Words had me on to talk about The Power Fantasy. This was done relatively early in the series – I think it was after issue 1? Maybe issue 2? Either way, very early. It’s deep, hits a bunch of stuff, both about the book and personally (I don’t think I’ve told my Tubby the Tuba anecdote in public before). It also was useful for me – it was the kick to finally read some Frantz Fanon.
* I haven’t had a chance to watch this yet, but in the week we get to the Second Summer of Love, I thought this 2019 BBC documentary about the real Second Summer of Love may be of interest to folks, if only to get some context.
* DIE RPG is also coming in Italian. Hurrah! Mi piace tutti i libri italino! Il mio Italiano non e molto buono. Duolingo non e un insegnate vero.
* Did Tonya make the eggs or did Heavy make the eggs? The Power Fantasy tumblr folks voted. And also did art.
* Becky Burke is home now, thankfully, but it’s thrown a spotlight on creators coming to the US on ESTAs. This Comicon overviews the situation and warns people – it’s a shame (at least at the time of writing) it doesn’t note that coming in on an ESTA for business is absolutely fine within boundaries (mainly “don’t work and earn money”). The problem really is that, as Burke’s situation shows, the border control have absolute control to decide what that means. I always remember when, as a games journalist, hearing of a flight full of journalists being turned away, despite the fact the US embassy had told people that they could come in on an ESTA to do what we did. Things are significantly more draconian now. I’m not planning on going to the US this year, at least, unless there’s something which absolutely requires me to roll those dice.
* And, of course, detaining is a for-profit business. And this personal testimony about a Canadian who experienced the system is also really worth reading. Kudos for her going through all that and being able to move the spotlight to those in the facilities who are having it much, much worse.
***
I spent last week wrapping a draft of a big multi-table DIE adventure, only to realise that the Gencon tabling has already wrapped, so I didn’t have to spend a week doing it. Oops. It’ll get played eventually. That said, it is very complicated, and makes me think I may be best to take what I learned from it and do another, less complicated game which also works on multiple tables. With what I learned, I think I could do a draft of this one very quickly. It’s a bit like going for a quick 1500m after you’ve already trained for a marathon.
I say that, of course, and it will clearly take another week. All I can write quickly is one page D&D supplements.
I also did a signing in Bristol, with Excelsior’s relatively newly opened fancy new venue, with a bunch of South West creators.
I guess this is me officially being a South West creator. As always, interesting to see what’s big in an area. I was enormously busy, which is obviously complimentary, but also makes sense. I haven’t signed in Bristol since 2008, I think, and a lot of my books actually are set in the South West. Once & Future was very popular, for example. It did make me think that as a US tour was always unlikely and now is basically impossible, that a UK tour may be a good idea. I presume that a lot of comic fans actually just do cons like Tbubz, but that’s simply not true.
However, that would involve leaving the house.
(Excelsior were great – the new venue is striking. Two floors, lots of space for events, lots of really great engaged readers. Well worth sticking your nose in.)
I woke up on Monday, and had no idea what I was going to do. I opened my phone, looked at the calendar, and saw Stephanie needed a script at the end of next week. So that answered the question. It’s coming together fine – it’s an interesting project, in that it’s very organic, very natural. I answer the questions that the issue needs to do, which dictates the shape of everything else. I’m also discovering characters, and wincing a lot.
C’s parents are visiting, so I’m wrapping this now, so I can go and eat lunch. It will be a sandwich, but maybe a fancy sandwich. Maybe a Bagel.
Actually, I went and got back. It was a sandwich with a side-salad.
Speak soon.
Kieron Gillen
Bath
19.3.2025