Cullen Bunn's Blog, page 40

How I Know My Son Will Be A Horror Writer

A while back, my son and I made up a game where we would hide from various imaginary monsters. We would get a blanket or sheet, sit on the floor, and listen closely to sounds that weren't there.

"I hear something outside!" I would say.

"What?" Squish would ask.

"A robot!" I'd shriek, and we'd both dive under the blanket until the threat was gone.

And we'd do this over and over and over again. Squish always had too much fun with it to want to stop.

Over the past months, the game has evolved, with Squish usually choosing the monsters from which we flee. Robot (and his meaner brother, bad robot), pirate, bad choo choo, spider, shark, bad puppy, monster, bad monkey–all of these villains and more attacked without success during our game. We became very skilled at hiding from these creatures.

This morning, the game changed again.

"I hear sumpin," Squish said.

"What do you hear?" I asked, feigning fright.

"I hear… BAD CHOO CHOO!"

We screamed and giggled and jumped under the covers.

"Daddy?" Squish said. "Where are you?"

He couldn't see me in the darkness beneath the blanket.

"I'm right here beside you," I told him, repeating words I had said many times.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, Squish?"

As we hid there in the darkness, with silence closing in around us, my son said to me:

"I'M the bad choo choo!"

And he jumped at me with a fierce growl.

I'm not sure I've ever been so proud.

The Sixth Gun #11 and Superman/Batman #83

Two of my comic books hit the streets tomorrow! Please make sure to stop by your local comic shop and grab them!

First up is The Sixth Gun #11, the last issue in the second story arc!

If monks with Gatling guns were a force to be reckoned with, wait until you meet Brother Roberto and his band. But this gang of hombres may meet their match with Marinette of the Dry Arms! And without his four mystic pistols, does Drake stand a chance of survival?

Also, Superman/Batman #83 comes out tomorrow. This is issue 3 (of 4) of my Sorcerer Kings story arc… and Batman rides a dragon.

The penultimate chapter of "Sorcerer Kings" finds Batman, Doctor Occult, Detective Chimp and Klarion the Witchboy facing a magical Armageddon in the present as Superman is taken to meet the future Justice League at the Hall of Doom! How did things go so wrong – and can anything be done to stop it?

Review Copies of Crooked Hills Are Now Available!

Review copies of Book One of my new all-ages fiction series, Crooked Hills, are now available from the publisher upon request. If you would like to review the book for your blog, website or publication, please send your name, publication name, URL, email address and mailing address to reviews@earwigpress.com.

For a little more information about the book, check this out.

Earwig Press publishes creepy, crawly fun fiction for young readers of all ages.

Deadpool Family #1

Deadpool Family #1 comes out this week! It features my short story, "Show and Raise Hell," a tale of Kidpool, Dogpool, and robots aplenty. It is pencilled by Dominik Stanton, inked by Robert Campanella, and colored by John Rauch. Rush to your comic shop and pick up your copy on Wednesday!

Here's a preview of my story:

Super-important, double-sized one-shot. They're back – and they're up to no good – in three stories that will forever change the way you look at yourself and the world around you and break every funny bone in your body. CHILL as Lady Deadpool and Headpool undergoe invasive analysis to ferret out the root cause of their majorly abusive frenemieship in "Head Shrunk and Disorderly"…THRILL as Kidpool and Dogpool embark on a 100-ton mechanized joy ride in "Show and Raise Hell"…and uhm…GET ILL as Dogpool rampages from makes a brand-new archenemy in "Uncertainty Princi-Pals"! Enter: Voidmutt!

Weekend Update, April 3

I was at comic conventions the past two weekends, and my schedule has been way off. I'm not sure how some people manage going to conventions week after week while getting work done! I need them to share some secrets with me!

Here are a few updates and interesting tidbits you might be interested in:

CBR TV interviewed Jim Zubkavich (of Skullkickers fame) and me during C2E2. I ramble on about The Sixth Gun, Fear Itself: Black Widow, and Fear Itself: The Deep!

And speaking of rambling on at C2E2, I spoke to MTV Geek about a number of projects, including Superman/Batman, The Tooth, and The Sixth Gun.

During C2E2, I participated in a panel on Horror Comics Today. They recorded the panel, and you can watch all six parts of it here:

Part One



Part Two



Part Three



Part Four



Part Five

Part Six

If you're in the mood for a non-video interview (I know I am), you might want to give this interview with The Outhouse a read. I chatted with them about The Sixth Gun, Superman/Batman, Fear Itself, and transitioning to writing full-time.

Crooked Hills – First Proof

My middle reader horror novel, Crooked Hills, from EvilEye Books/Earwig draws closer to being released. The first proofs are off the press!

Stay tuned for more news on the book's official release date! In the meantime, you can check out an excerpt from the novel HERE.

Captain America #616

Captain America #616 (featuring an 11-page story by Jason Latour, Rico Renzi, and myself) hits the shelves today. I'm really pleased with how the story turned out, and I hope you'll head to your local comic shop and pick it up!

Here is a sneak peek at the first two pages of the story!

It's the 70th Anniversary of Captain America's debut and we're celebrating by beginning a bold new direction. A double-size main story by award-winning writer Ed Brubaker sees Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes both struggling with the shocking ramifications of the Trial of Captain America and what comes next! A forgotten portrait of Captain America, painted in the waning days of World War II, brings up nearly forgotten memories of those turbulent and frightening years for Steve Rogers — memories of yearning, of loss and of innocence betrayed, brought to you by writer/artist Howard Chaykin. Captain America falls under the vampiric Baron Blood's spell in an untold tale of the Invaders! Plus: Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier, and the Secret Avengers investigate a modern day Hitler!

This special issue is written by Ed Brubaker, Howard Chaykin, Frank Tieri, Mike Benson, Alec Siegel, Kyle Higgins, Cullen Bunn and much more. The artwork is from Butch Guice, Howard Chaykin, Paul Grist, Paul Azaceta, Jason Latour and more too, cover is by Travis Charest.

Weekend Update, March 27

I've been at Planet Comicon all weekend, and I just got back home. This was my first time going to this show, and I'm not sure what I expected. But it was a phenomenal event. I really enjoyed it. That, of course, means I'm exhausted… which means this update is down to the wire!

Here are a few things you might have missed if you blinked!

A few weeks ago, Adam Warrock released a mixtape of songs based on Oni Press titles. Two of the tunes were inspired by The Sixth Gun and The Damned. Adam posted a few notes on his site that give some interesting insights into his process when it came to these songs. Check them out here.

Have you ever wondered who my five favorite Avengers are? Well, wonder no more! Here's a quick rundown with a healthy does of nostalgia.

And now for a very special episode of the weekend update. If you haven't heard of Shaken Manchild Syndrome, then you need to watch this. In particular, check out the reading material of choice for Shaken Manchildren (around the 13 second mark).

Cases Of Shaken Manchild Syndrome On The Rise

You Got Your Skullkickers In My Sixth Gun!

Flip to the back of the most recent issue of The Sixth Gun (#10), and you'll notice an ad that has nothing to do with the wild west. Heck, it's not even an ad for an Oni Press book!

The ad in question is for Skullkickers, a butt-kicking fantasy mash-up following the adventures of two nameless bounty hunters who dish out all sorts of punishment to an equally wide variety of wooly boogers. It's a lot of fun, and I couldn't recommend it more highly. I like it so much, I'm using "wooly boogers" to help describe it, and I like to save that term for my books!

Because there is much love between The Sixth Gun and Skullkickers… and because we believe that fans of one of these two titles should be fans of both… we are doing an ad swap. Creator-owned books need all the support they can get, and it just makes sense to use a little advertising real estate to crow about a great book we think our audience will enjoy.

We all waste so much time griping about the things we hate, but we don't put nearly enough energy into building excitement about the books (or movies or music or TV or whatever) that we love. When you stumble onto a book that means something to you (in a good way), you need to let others know.

At C2E2 this past weekend, Brian and I spoke to many comic book retailers from all over the country who told us that The Sixth Gun is selling like gangbusters in their stores. Meanwhile, many folks have contacted us to say that their store simply will not order the book because "they can't sell it." Granted, these business owners know their clientele better than I do, but my guess is the stores that are selling 40, 50, 60, or more copies of The Sixth Gun are doing so because they love the book and they talk about it to their customers. To them (and to the readers who drag their friends to our booth at shows and force them to pick up the book) I say THANK YOU.

Talk about the books you love, folks.

That said, the first volume of Skullkickers is now available. Go to your local comic shop and ask for it. You'll be glad you did.

Fear Itself: The Deep

Time to put on your hip-waders, boys and girls!

Marvel has announced Fear Itself: The Deep, a four-issue limited series that pits Namor, Dr. Strange, the Savage She-Hulk, and the Silver Surfer against a threat that seeks to conquer both land and sea! I'll be writing the series and Lee Garbett will be drawing it.

I don't want to give too much away about the series, but these are characters I've wanted to write about for years… and this is a story with ties to the very first Marvel comic I remember reading. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about this book. I've written the first two scripts, and I'm having a blast with it. The artwork that I've seen is just amazing (proving once again that I'm pretty damn lucky when it comes to the artists I've had the chance to work with) .

Here's the official summary from Marvel:

Namor is targeted for death by one of the hammer-wielding Worthy and this is a battle no one hero can survive! With the X-Men under siege from a shocking foe (revealed in Fear Itself), the Sub Mariner must recruit an all-new team of allies to assist him– enter the Savage She-Hulk, Silver Surfer and Doctor Strange! But if this team can't keep the seas safe from the spread of fear and chaos gripping the world, there may just not be any hope for the rest of the Marvel Universe!

For a little more about the series, here are a couple of interviews I did with Marvel, Newsarama, and Comic Book Resources.