Issue 187: Orc War! Huh! What Is It Good For?

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A couple of days ago, I received the foreword for the first volume of my upcoming collection of short fiction. It was written by horror author Brian Keene. While I won’t share it here (that’s for the book’s release), I’m thankful for the kind words. I’ve said many times that I think the horror community has always been very supportive and welcoming.

Let me share a comparison:

In 2003, I attended World Horror Convention in Kansas City. It wasn’t my first WHC, but it was one of the first where I was trying to network, trying to meet people, and I was terrified.

I bet I hadn’t been in the hotel for… five minutes… before Brian Keene came up to me out of nowhere. I’d never shared more than a few in-person words with the man. But he yelled out, “Hey, Cullen!” and welcomed me to the event. He then went on to introduce me to numerous other horror writers. He didn’t need to do it. He just did it, because he gave a damn.

It meant the world to me.

Years later, not long after I had established myself as a comic book writer, I attended a Marvel party at San Diego Comic Con. It was my first. And I was, as with WHC, terrified. I made my way into the room, ordered a drink, and tried to mingle. Across the room, I saw a writer I really admired. Now, this was a person who was on the CUSP of making it really big, but I just wanted them to know that I liked their work and I appreciated what they had been doing.

I introduced myself and tried to make some small talk. Within seconds of my approach, the writer looked at me, pursed his lips, pointed across the room, and said:

“I’m going over there to talk to someone else.”

Someone asked me not long ago why I don’t like meeting creators whose work I admire, why I don’t introduce myself more often, why I have to force myself to interact in social gatherings with people I don’t know when what I’d like to do is stay quiet.

That’s why, my friends.

Right there.

With a bullet.

In the years since, I’ve encountered Brian (who has made one helluva name for himself as a horror novelist) and the other writer (who has also made a helluva name for himself in comics) several times. During those meetings, they both held true to form, Keene being open and friendly and supportive, the comic write acting like I was something he should scrape off the bottom of his shoe.

Those spots don’t chain.

Now, listen.

There are amazing people in the world of comic books—more awesome folks than terrible folks, by far. There are also, some awful people in the horror community. Once again, though, the awesome folks outnumber them significantly. Keene’s words just reminded me of two very different encounters in two somewhat different worlds with two drastically different creators.

In the end, though, I think one of those writers never forgot where they came from. The other, thinks they were born full-formed into the world, and they also think theat their ploppy little poops don’t stink.

Many of you who read this newsletter have aspirations of being writers. Stick to it, work your ass off, and some of you are gonna make it. When you do, there’s one of these writers you should try to emulate… and another, despite their success, who is best worth forgetting.

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The last several months have been BRUTAL for the Bunns. More specifically, for the pets of the Bunns. As you know, we lost our beloved cats Nibbles and Elvis recently. Well, this week, one of my son’s guinea pigs (Pip) died suddenly. My son loves all our pets with the full force of his heart. And I can’t stand to see him suffer. I think he’s toughing it out, but he’s learning much more about death than he should be at the moment.

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Brian Hurtt and I did an interview with Multiversity about our upcoming book THE MIDNITE SHOW. It’s always fun to do interviews with Brian, and we’re both very excited about this series. Here’s the interview! And please—PLEASE—make sure to tell your local comic shop that you want to order the series!

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Speaking of books Brian and I are doing, over the past few days, I’ve written the scripts for the three prelude issues to the next series in THE SIXTH GUN universe! I can’t say much about them, but—my God!—they were so much fun to write. They are gonna be delightful stories, and they are FULL of hints for what is coming!

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Looking for something new to read? I’m more than happy to recommend the work of Aaron Conaway. Aaron writes some terrific fantasy and horror. His work appears in SWORDS IN THE SHADOWS, and his latest novel CICERO WANTS YOU was just released.

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Earlier this week, I released a new plan for my Patreon. Patreon has become a much-needed source of income for me. It helps fund new creator-owned projects and often just helps make ends meet when payments from publishers aren’t coming in fast enough. I have a few different support tiers:

• A $1 “tip” level

• A $5 level that gets supporters access to all posted content

• A $30 “one-on-one chat” level

The new content plan includes the following post schedule:

BI-WEEKLY

• The Witch Mark (Short Chapters) - A long, long time ago, I started a dark fantasy novel that I think about often. With this, I’ll be serializing the novel in very short segments.

WEEKLY

• Work Updates - These will be the work diary posts I’ve been sharing for a while now.

• Script Archive - Once a week, I’ll post one of my scripts for review.

• Current Project Behind the Scenes - At least once a week, I’ll share some behind-the-scenes information on one (or more) of the projects I’m working on. Might be art. A bit of script. Or just random thoughts on the work.

• Commentary Track - I’m going to start posting thoughts on books as they are released. This is, of course, assuming I have PDFs of the books and art I can clip and share.

• Deepest Catacombs - Once the project is at a point where I can share it, I’ll be posting new pages weekly.

• Writing Tips and Advice - How-to information and writing advice.

BI-MONTHLY

• Call for Livestream Questions - Patreon supporters get first shot at asking me questions during my livestream.

• Livestream Archive - I’ll post links to my livestreams as they become available.

• Short Video Updates - This will be Patreon-exclusive videos, sometimes featuring writing tips and advice, sometimes featuring behind-the-scenes details on current or upcoming projects.

MONTHLY

• Short Stories - I’d like to share a new short fiction piece at least once a month.

WHENEVER

• Assorted Content - Really, whatever else I feel like posting. Glimpses at projects that never reached fruition. Thoughts on the industry. Essays. And more.

It’s a pretty aggressive schedule, but I definitely believe there is a lot of value for patrons. I hope you’ll check it out and consider throwing some support my way!

DEATH OF THE VENOMVERSE #3

CARNAGE VS. SILENCE—‘NUFF SAID!

Well… I don’t know if that’s “‘nuff said,” really.

Yeah, I think Carnage fights Silence in this issue and, while it is the focus of the cover, it’s not really the focus of the issue. There’s a TON of stuff going on, including the introduction of a new character I really like—Asgardia, the daughter of Flash Thompson and Valkyrie!

I’m still re-reading R.A. Salvatore’s Drizzt books and still getting a helluva kick out of them. I’m also tinkering with my own D&D campaign every now and then.

I also snagged this, which was a prized possession when I was a kid.

There were several of these battle scenes released back in the day. Some were released by MPC. Some were released by (I think) Heritage Models. The Heritage releases were my favorites, with their sweet metal miniatures. But this one was cool, too, even though the minis were less detailed plastic. I almost never see them in the wild.

And, if you’re a DM, I have a terrific recommendation for you. FLEE, MORTALS! by MCDM is one of the most useful RPG books I’ve seen in years. The Kickstarter ran a few months back, and the print book hasn’t come out yet. The PDF, though, has already gotten a TON of use in my own game.

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.

AUGUST 2023

• DEATH OF THE VENOMVERSE 1 - 5 (weekly)

• DOOR TO DOOR, NIGHT BY NIGHT #8

• DISPLACEMENT

• MAGIC: THE GATHERING - NOTORIOUS

• REANIMATOR: THE ETERNAL LIE, Part 2

SEPTEMBER 2023

• BLOODBORNE: THE BLEAK DOMINION #1

OCTOBER 2023

• REGRESSION: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

• BLOODBORNE: THE BLEAK DOMINION #2

• THE MIDNITE SHOW #1

• CULLEN BUNN’S BODY BAG #1

NOVEMBER 2023

• LAMENTATION TPB

• THE MIDNITE SHOW #2

• BLOODBORNE: THE BLEAK DOMINION #3

DECEMBER 2023

• INVASIVE #1

• THE MIDNITE SHOW #3

• BLOODBORNE: THE BLEAK DOMINION #4

JANUARY 2024

• BEYOND MORTAL Trade Paperback

• THE MIDNITE SHOW #4

• INVASIVE #2

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.

• GALLER 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

• PROJECT: G - a new ongoing series

SEPTEMBER 9, 2023 - Signing at B&B Collections, Jonesboro AR

SEPTEMBER 16 - 17, 2023 - Extremicon, St. Roberts MO

SEPTEMBER 30 - OCTOBER 1 - Cowtown Comic Convention, Fort Worth TX

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.

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