Issue 195: Not the Fall, but the Sudden Stop
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Imagine you’re running, not just fast, but as fast as you possibly can, hell bent for leather. You’re moving at high speed, yes, but you know deep down if you push yourself you can go just a little bit faster. The wind actually seems to be both at your back and in your face, and it refreshes you. You’re picking up speed, really hitting the NOS…
…and that’s when you trip.
Now, you don’t come to stop. Oh, no. You were running too fast for that, and you were at the apex of a hill, just about to race down the other side. So, you keep on rolling along. You’re still making progress, maybe not quite as fast as you were before, but progress nonetheless. The biggest difference isn’t the speed. It’s that now, as you tumble and flail and roll along the way, you’re getting more and more beat up. The wind isn’t in your face. Pebbles and potholes and roots and rocks—they’re in your face and approaching fast. You hit every one of them with brutal abandon.
That’s how it feels sometimes, now more than ever. The last couple of years have been a fight, y’all, every step of the way. You know it if you’ve been reading this newsletter for any amount of time. I have good weeks and bad weeks. I have weeks where the weight of it all is just almost more than I can take. I’ve got work coming out. I’ve got more projects on the horizon, but—make no mistake—it has been a fight. For the immediate future, I think it will remain a battle.
I’m strapping on my gloves.
When I was first “breaking in” as a writer, I had a vision board in my office. It has all the things I wanted to accomplish written on it. Have an ongoing creator-owned book in print. Work for Marvel. Work for DC. Write the X-Men. Quit my day job. I also had this quote tacked to the board:
I still have a vision board of sorts. It’s combined with my project board. But this quote was lost along the way. I’m printing it out right now and placing it back on the board.
I do my best work when I’m overwhelmed and beat-up and kicked, when no one seems to believe in me.
And, within the last couple of weeks (as I’ve hinted in previous issues) a few new projects have surfaced (after a lot of digging, a lot of scraping, a lot of pulling at threads) that could very well change the trajectory of my career. I can’t say much more, really, but I will say that I spent yesterday developing outlines for two very different, very exciting projects.
I’ll likely need to go on a writing retreat or the like in the next several weeks in order to make these endeavors work, and I’ll be sure to bring you along—by way of this newsletter and my Patreon—as that happens.
Until then, this is Cullen-Fucking-Bunn kicking open the doors of Snake Mountain.
I’m happy that you’re by my side, Regulators.
As of right now, you have only 10 days to support CROOKED HILLS on Kickstarter. We’re around $2500 from our funding goal. The book is all-ages horror, meaning kids will like it, adults will like it, everyone will like it! It is the first book in a proposed series of adventure-filled horror novels! As always, your support is greatly appreciated!
And now—the SHAKMA 2000 trivia night update!
Last week, our team descended once more upon the Backlot at the Alamo Drafthouse. The theme for this week was GHOULS—which meant zombies, vampires, demons, and ghosts. Five rounds, and our mortal enemies SCUM AND VILLAINY were, of course, on hand to provide a challenge. We stumbled right out of the gate, and we were racing the catch up in the first three rounds. Round 4, though, was vampire focused, and we managed to overtake our opponents. The final round was demon-focused, and we conquered during that, too. So… once more, SHAKMA 2000 took first place!
One of the trivia hosts asked if we were the new “it” team.
New?
No.
We’ve always been the it team.
This week, the theme is SLASHERS.
I’m ready.
Not really. I never am. But here we gooooooooo!
Here’s a little announcement of something new.
YEARS ago, I wrote my first story for DC. It was a Superman/Batman story. All things come full circle, I guess, and I’m returning to Superman and Batsman in the WORLD’s FINEST 2024 ANNUAL.
A WORLD TOUR OF THE WORLD'S FINEST! It's the world's finest annual! As the battle against Magog rages on Earth-22, Batman and Superman discover a surprising secret by way of the 5th dimension! Meanwhile, Metamorpho's story picks up after the events of the Elementary arc as our hero journeys deep within an ancient tomb that may have a hidden, deadly connection to his secret origin! Plus, Batman recruits the Challengers of the Unknown for a top-secret mission, and a special, sizzling story stars the Teen Titans' most buzzworthy member, Bumblebee! It's a world tour of the World's Finest in this first-ever series annual, curated by World's Finest architect Mark Waid!
I think the story I cooked up with Mark is a lot of fun, and it sets up some cool stuff going forward!
REGRESSION: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
Plagued by ghastly waking nightmares, Adrian reluctantly agrees to past life regression hypnotherapy. As his consciousness is cast back through time, Adrian witnesses a scene of horrific debauchery and diabolism. Waking, he is more unsettled than before, and with good reason-something has followed him back. Adrian finds himself in the center of an occult conspiracy. Plagued by an insidious cult, haunted by visions of violence and murder, Adrian struggles to keep his sanity when everyone around him seems to have lived many lives, all of which are connected to his own in bizarre ways.
If you missed this series when it was coming out, let me be very clear: you screwed up. Good news, though! Now you can fix this terrible error! You can grab the entire collection in a gorgeous hardcover from Image. I’m really proud of this book. It’s personals, scary, twisted, weird, and fun. I think this is an absolutely amazing way to read the story, and I’m so glad we have the opportunity to bring it to you in this format.
I have been watching more horror flicks, but I haven’t been able to post about them! I’ve been a little busier than I expected to be, but I will do my best to post more of my thoughts on my website this week.
So far, I’ve watched (and in some cases documented)…
Puppet Master 4
Fear Street 1994
Fear Street 1978
Fear Street 1666
Dark Harvest
Freaky
Totally Killer
The Final Girls
Creepshow, Season 4
Talk to Me
Halloween
Halloween 2
Beetlejuice
Here is a quick and dirty list of upcoming projects. In most cases, I’m only listing projects that are definitely on the schedule with a published. Oftentimes, I will not be able to share much information, but I can at least tease the future! Everything here is, of course, subject to change.
THE UNKNOWN FUTURE…
PROJECT: JUMP, a new comic book series in the Beyond Mortal Universe.
PROJECT: HEX, a supernatural/horror thriller.
PROJECT: HORROR, a licensed horror comic.
I’LL KILL YOU LAST - An 80s action/horror fiction anthology I’m editing.
GALLERY OF WHISPERS - An RPG project I’ve been quietly developing.
PROJECT: PREHISTORY - More kaiju craziness
PROJECT: MEGA-BATTLE - Even More kaiju craziness
PROJECT: BOT - A sequel to a story of robotic mischief
PROJECT: WATER HEATER - An apocalyptic horror/fantasy maxi-series
PROJECT: RUSH - A horror prose anthology I’m editing
BLOODBLADE - An action/horror story of destiny and demonic blood
PROJECT: CONVOY - A horror/thriller I’m co-writing
PROJECT: ARCANA - a dark fantasy series
PROJECT: MONSTER - a new horror/action/comedy series
PROJECT: HOAX - a horror limited series
PROJECT: DEAD - a short comic story
PROJECT: VARIANT - a really cool one-shot project
THE SHOCK SHOP - My online store, where you can find exclusive covers you can only get directly from me!
TWITTER - This is the best place to interact with me online. My handle is @cullenbunn
TIKTOK - A fun spot for quick videos about writing, comics, and collecting
PATREON - Here, I post a serialized novel, a serialized comic book, short stories, and other cool materials.
THE CULLEN BUNN DISCORD SERVER - A place for fans to hang out and talk about comics, books, movies, games, collecting, and whatever else strikes their fancy.
THE BUNNGALOW - Cindy and I talk about life, hot button topics, pop culture, being married to a comic book writer and EVERYTHING in between.
Go, Cullen! Write! Write like the wind!
Glad to see you back at DC! Recently reread your Sinestro run. Still love it!