343: the owl revolution comes
Hullo
Nightclubbing
Hotel
Bookclubbing
Links
Bye
****
Final plug for Script Club mail before it goes live. There probably won’t be a normal newsletter next week, as I’m poff again, but I’ll try and set the first mail to go out on September 30th.
Script Club is a way to support the running costs of this newsletter and/or give me coins. No more than once a month, I’ll mail you a script or some piece of writing you won’t have seen.
When you sign up, it says “Daily Billing” because you’ll be billed the day I send a newsletter out, not that you’ll be billed every day.
The First script will be The Wicked + the Divine #1.
I’m looking at the various versions of the script, and deciding which one will be best – I’m reading the very earliest ones, which still have some ideas which seem really bizarre. I suspect the one which Jamie actually worked off will be of most use to anyone, but I will nose.
Join Script Club if that appeals.
TL;DR: $5 for a no-more-than-monthly newsletter, which includes a script. Give me coins.
****
Jim Viscardi had me on Let’s Talk Comics. This was recorded at the end of a packed day, after a retailer call, with me lying on a hotel bed in London and becoming increasingly incoherent. Jim politely describes this state as “candid.” I think this is a fun one – I love talking to Jim, and this is basically everything in comics, coming splurging out.
Here’s an apple link and here’s a spotify one.
****
To tie in with the release of the second trade, Alex Segura’s Discord has been running one of their book club about The Power Fantasy. Last week they did the first trade, and this week they’re doing the second. I said I’d pop along at the end of the week to answer some questions – I should be popping back next week too. However, as the answers ended up being quite fun (and long) I figured I should share them here too. There’s lots stuff, I think.
There are several ongoing conflicts developing under the surface. Which conflict has been your favorite to write?
My favourite ongoing conflict is the Power Fantasy team versus the direct market. The same fight as any book, especially a CO one, but we must all love it, OR ELSE WHY DO WE DO IT?!
("Masochism" - Ed)
When it's a clockwork plotted kind of book, I don't really separate them. It's all connected, so the whole thing is sort of a single big conflict. As such, they're all my favourite.
To make that less of a dodged question... well, I can't say this, as this is week-one of the reading group, about the first trade, as what's going on really only is properly revealed in the second trade. We keep on showing more aspects to this larger conflict, and see exactly how many plates are spinning, and have been spinning for a long time.
In terms of the first trade, I think Masumi/Isabella's issue is the most elegant one, in terms of going small and personal but also world-endingly awful. The first issue's machinery is an example of what the book does when it's cooking and how things cascade, and was a lot of fun to do... but the fourth issue is what it’s about.
Eliza is the one I find most horrifying on a gut level, but you're not there yet
Etienne seems to be a character that could never be a normal well adjusted character, like the Empath problem in Krakoa or the Purple Man. However, unlike Empath-style characters, there seems to be a lot more archetypes of telepaths in stories. Do you think there is a world in which Etienne can be less of a prick? Is there a way he could strive for happiness rather than just being “ethical”?
Heh. One of the things about The Power Fantasy is that we really are trying to not show our hand - at least at this stage. There's a Wilde line which I'll paraphrase to "all criticism is autobiography" - as in, all critiques are fundamentally about yourself, your aesthetics, your politics, beliefs and personality.
If I was running a book group, I suspect "Who's the villain?" is a question I'd likely set, and will be interested in how people's perspectives change as we move from - you'll have just hit issue 5, and Magus, and perhaps have a different perspective on him. Now, he's someone who I think read as a prick. Does he read like that now? Yes, maybe he does. Certainly an arsehole. See how you feel about that at the end of the next trade.
We come back to the word "prick" and it depends on what that word means to you, innit? Is he often unbearable? Yes, I think that's fair. Has he done some truly awful things? Oh yes. Is he cruel without reason or take pleasure in it? Now, that's a good question.
I think "yes, to all of those, the man's a prick" is certainly a fair answer.
But I'm also think of the comment I saw a while back critiquing the book, and saying they didn't like the book as Etienne is clearly right and the book is treating him like he's wrong.
Which I would also reject - I don't think we are. You tell us.
In reality, the book is about philosophy, and each of the character priortises one approach. Etienne is utilitarianism, and utilitarianism certainly leads to you acting like a prick.
Now, whether he could be any different? Well, come back and talk after the second or third arc, and you'll get hints and ideas about that.
But his power + his belief structure do lead to how he acts. If he believed something else, he probably would be far less of a prick.
I suspect if he were to defend himself, he may say something like "I am the way I am because the world is full of pricks, and if any of them have my power, you're all dead. If I was really a "prick" friend, you all would be in trouble".
Of course, the OTHER question is... how much do you believe him? How much is bullshit? Because while all the characters come from philosophy, they're characters, not ciphers.
I'll finish by saying he's certainly fun to write, in a "oh god, man, what are you doing now?" way. Also the character to most lead to notes on the script from Katie (our editor) saying THIS MAN! or some really strong expletitives.
Music is obviously a big part of this series, and your playlist is amazing. What are some recent songs you wish you could have incorporated into here?
Firstly, thank you.
As in, songs that came after 1999 so are out of the time-frame of the songs I'm including on the playlist? Or songs that I wish I added to the playlist, but now can't as it's completed? I think it's the former, but that's presuming you know how the playlist works (which you may not - it's not as if it's been explained in the comic or some accessible place). I'm going to answer the both - and if neither is right, please correct, and I can answer that.
Let's go with the second one first - my playlists are never completed, so I can always add to them (until the project is over, anyway). They're normally living documents, serving various purposes - like, there's things many of the playlists do, but any project of any size has its own spin. They're almost always created as working objects, that I listen to, obsessively, on repeat, on shuffle, to re-arrange the songs in different order, and so think about the book in different ways. As I'm working on the book, I'll hit on something I want to add, and I do, positioning it appropriately on the list (which depends on the list).
Which segues to the first question, and what makes the TPF list unique - specifically, it's arrangement is chronological (except 1999 by Prince, which ends the playlist, but was all over the place in 1999, obv, and is thematically on point). The last few haven't been put in order yet, but that's the vibe - it starts in 1945 and ends in 1999. It's basically the timeline of our story. So I can listen to it on shuffle (and so get the tarot-deck effect of remixing ideas) or listen to it linearly, and think about how all these records played across people's lives.
The songs are selected in a few ways - the original backbone idea was songs which were number one during major nuclear incidents. We open with Sentimental Melody which was Number One during the first atom bomb test, for example. The George Michael was during Chenobyl. Telstar was during the Cuban missile crisis, etc. The point of them is basically the grounding of it- like, the big history juxtaposed with the detail. A lot of other ones are just vibe, either in a general one about a character and how they feel or something which speaks to what the book does more generally. It's not a ALL BANGERS playlist like WicDiv, or a deliberately abrasive one primarily created by a machine like DIE. Obviously there's some which are ones which actually are in the comic, for various reasons.
So, that the point of the playlist is songs from a set period, I haven't ever had the urge to add anything outside 1999. There's songs which resonate, but that's not what the list is for, right?
What I have tried to avoid is songs from Europe post 1989. there's a sort of subtext about how european pop culture is viewed across the world - there's a sort of goth/mod aesthetic in places, like a mourning. Anglophilia, for example, is a bigger deal in the US our 1990s than it ever was in our world, to choose a small thing we haven't stressed much.
Tried, but also I figured fuck it - there's a handful of them I couldn't resist. Fluke's Atom Bomb, for example, which has a certain appeal - a dance banger called "Atom Bomb", which is certainly some of the book's energy. We're a smart book, I think, but we're also a banger. I figure that even if the scene it came from is gone, what became called EDM in America isn't.
The other one is the Manics' You Love Us which is just an example of Note To Self song, which is something which occasionally turns up on my playlists. Also, an atom bomb in the video and a particularly awful-but-relevant lyric buried in it.
But, to conclude, the Playlist is actually used far less than many of my books - I have written a bunch to it, but not as religiously as WicDiv or even DIE. Instead, there's another thing - I started buying period vinyl, and writing the comic to it. Not even good period vinyl - just whatever I can get in local shops dirt cheap. Yet again, it's about trying to get a little sense of the time just through the physical objects ("Valentina would get up, walk over, flip it, and go sit back down") and the weird angles of pop culture. Like, I've written a bunch to Count Basie Plays the Beatles, to choose one.
About the Valentina scene in issue 3, why is Telstar the music of the future? Is there a big reason why this inspires her to do what she does?
If you're interested in the specifics of what Telstar is, in great detail, including the social context (and the darkness around it), I direct you towards the A History Of Rock Music In 500 songs episode about it.
The short version it is a record that was inspired by the Telstar satelite which Meek viewed as the future, trying to sound like it came from the future (and it succeeded - it still sounds like a lot of WTF) and had this entirely soaring, optimistic silver-plated aesthetic. It sounds simultaneously like a naive 1950s record before the 1960s changed the emotional and intellectual palette, and like a Dan Dare rocket taking off.
Valentina, of course, is the oldest of the Superpowers, and our 1950s girl.
And this record - this shiny bauble of hope about how the future is good and we are going to get there - was number 1 when we were as close as we came as a species to nuclear annihilation.
Valentina has the power to do something about it.
Which of the Superpowers (excluding Etienne) would be the most different(personality-wise) if they weren't a Superpower?
Heh. I think one of the things in the book is how power distorts - even passively. Get enough power, and everything starts warping around you, no matter what you do. Masumi is the extreme example of that. That has a tendency to put the characters in a hall of mirrors of their own bullshit being reflected back at them.
So Heavy, Masumi, Eliza and Magus would be pretty much like themselves, but less so. Eliza is the one you'll see the biggest change - but as you're still in the first trade, you won't know the details there.
So the easy answer is Valentina - she was fully conscious from birth, claims to be an angel, has travelled the world ever since she was a toddler, living with many families, and has never been afraid for her own safety for a single second. We have no idea what she'd be if she wasn't a superpower. You can bet it wouldn't be that.
With the N64 cameo, we have to know what was your favorite N64 game?
I'm not actually a huge N64 guy - it was Caspar's choice to add the N64, I believe. I was a new full-time games journalist when I bought one, when Ocarina of Time came out, it got all those reviews - including the Edge 10/10 - and decided I really needed to have an opinion on it, or I couldn't really call myself one.
I was pretty ambivalent to it, which birthed an ongoing slightly-playful guerilla critical war against the aesthetic. "If a game is perfect, it's not trying hard enough." I mean, I'm being tongue in cheek - it's obviously a good game. A pretty strong 8/10.
See, there I go again.
If I had to choose, being a guy of just-past Student age, it would be Goldeneye, which got a lot of play, and was smart in lots of ways.
However, as it was actually Caspar who added it, I asked him. And he says "Mario Kart 64, Goldeneye, F-Zero X, Ocarina of Time, Hybrid Heaven."
This Book Club and others continues at Alex Segura’s Discord.
****
I was on Jeff Stormer’s Party of One, playing Apocalypse Keys. Some The Power Fantasy details buried in here – including where I first got the idea of the Signal. Really, it’s a short 1 on 1 session where I basically play Cosmic Horror Tinkabelle.
I’m late to this, but over at Vanity Fair, John Cena watches clips of wrestling and films in his journey to where he is. I found this absolutely compelling.
Chris McDowell of all things Bastionland walks you through his journey from childhood to being a full-time game designer. This is the sort of specific journey which I think would be useful to see for anyone who has any interest in being a full time creative, with all the complexities along the way. Similarly, Mark Sable looking back at it being 20 years since his first comic, Grounded. It’s the 20 year anniversary for Phonogram: Rue Britannia. Erk.
The Thought Bubble schedule is popping up, and I noticed that there’s scheduled portfolio review sessions with a bunch of great folks – including Stephanie and Caspar.
The Comics Journal’s obituary for Peter David was really well done.
Sktchd covers League of Comic Geeks. I’m quoted in here, as it’s something I wasn’t hugely aware until my return to Marvel, where I realised it’s probably the most concentrated place for weekly comics discussion online now. Oh – have I mentioned David Harper is now full time on Sktchd and Offpanel? He does great work and now would be a great time to join his Patreon.
Old housemate and Guardian Games Supremo Keith Stuart writes about random bits of game dialogue – not classic bits, just nonsense – that gets stuck in our heads and becomes part of our lives. I’m in here too, with a random bit of stuff from Gauntlet.
The Baffler writes about the work of Muhammad Abd-al-Rahman Barker, who created early-world-buildy-classic Empire of the Petal Throne and (er) after he died, was revealed to have been secretly have been contributing to holocaust denial journals. He’s been on my mind since something I found in my research, and when this emerged, it kind of dwarfed the minor detail that turns up in Gary Fine’s 1982-monograph Shared Fantasy. With Tékumel’s relative multiculturality and sophistication towards the games of the period, this story is a lot, and has its fans trying to square what this even means.
****
Iris is still sleeping poorly and I’m exhausted. I wanted to actually write at length about a couple of things, but I’m going to nope out for now. This is another 4 day week, so everything continues to be squeezed. I’m looking forward to October, where things simplify, and I can get more done (namely all the stuff I’m not getting done now.)
Main work things is getting issue 13 of TPF to bed. I’ve just finished the letters page. Hopefully I’ll be able to do the data page after I get this out, and perhaps notes on the lettering. Reading it does make me happy. Well, not happy, per se. It’s a steamroller of an issue which Caspar does amazing things with.
I also got a draft of the Criminal RPG I wrote for Ed and Sean over, and am relieved that Ed likes it. I need to do a few more playtests of it, which should be easy enough as it’s a single-session sort of game, and do a rough layout for Sean to show where it all goes, but it feels in pretty good shape. It’s got a few twists of its own (literally, as it’s using playing cards) but there’s a solid enough structure inspired by a few things I know work, plus a bunch of Criminal detail to make it its own thing. It’s six pages, and I think we do a lot within its limitations.
The big thing however was completing a gruelling project that’s taken me more than five years.
The Italian course in Duolingo.
I was going to quit Duolingo for all the reasons that you should quit Duolingo, but looked at the app and realised I was four lessons from the end of the whole course. I hadn’t even realised that finishing a course was possible. After those lessons, it goes into a daily-reminder loop, like some kind of World of Warcraft endgame overseen by an owly overlord.
I saw my day streak inching towards 2000. I set myself the goal – I wrap this thing by 2025. I ended up completing it on 2013, in the final lesson on politics, which appeared to repeat the same lesson twice in the same section (a handy reminder of how shoddy it’s gotten). I made the final click, gathered around with Chrissy to see what would happen, and was presented with the same basic end-of-segment bit you always get, before telling you to get on with your daily practise.
An anti-climax, but probably to be expected. It’s an app which motivates through brute gamification and social bullying from your peers. When a group streak mode was added, I added some friends, only to realise that this is mainly so you can choose to nudge them to do an exercise – so letting it send another message to you. Any time I pressed it accidentally, I was mortified.
As the sort of terminally ADHD task avoider who’ll wait five seconds every single day for a shareware software to let you use it, rather than spend 30 seconds form and skipping it forever, it made even me turn off its ability to give me notifications. That it took over my phone’s lockscreen with a worried owl, with a second by second countdown in the hours approaching midnight, is a huge overestimation of how important remembering the word for forest or how to say your lawyer missed the execution is.
I’m not saying it’s not of use. I have learned Italian. It took me longer than it would have if it had a less gamified app which pushed you towards engagement rather than actual lessons, but I learned enough to be vaguely useful. I know some words. I know about avoccato-s and all that. I know enough to wing stuff like “parlo un po italiano ma non ti compro se parli velocemente” and know even if it’s not right, it’ll probably get the message across. It feels strange not to do it – I am a creature that runs off habit, and I kept on having weird anxious panicked moments when I realise I haven’t done Duolingo. Except, oh yeah, I’m done with Duolingo.
It taught me a lot.
Most importantly, which of my friends will give you an XP bonus token when you’re paired with them on a friends quest, and which will be against the wall when the owl revolution comes.
Speak soon.
Kieron Gillen
Bath
24.9.2025