Issue 191: Deserve’s Got Nothin’ To Do With It
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Let’s start things out with some awesomeness!
That’s the trailer for THE MIDNITE SHOW, the new comic coming from Dark Horse in October. This is the team that brought you THE SIXTH GUN bringing a gruesome fright fest. If you like horror and monsters, this book is for you. Make sure to tell your favorite comic book retailer that you want your copy of issue 1 when it comes out!
The trailer was put together by my pals at Yellow Bike Films.
A Few days ago, someone pointed my attention toward a little exchange on Twitter (X, yes, but that’s dumb, so I’ll call it Twitter). The exchange was in regards to X-Men fans. It was off-base, by the way, from the jump.
It has been taken down in the last couple of days, but it went something like this:
“People say Jean Grey fans are the most diehard, but they forget that Emma Frost fans were so supportive of their character they bullied a writer until he went into a deep depression.”
“Lol. Who was the writer?”
“Cullen Bunn. [Laughing GIF]”
“Good. He was bullied and he deserved it for how he treated Emma!”
Okay. Sigh. Deep breath.
A few things.
This never happened. I think one of the folks who posted got me mixed up with someone else who was writing X-Men books around the same time. Also, I’m Cullen Bunn. I have plenty of things to depress me, but “bullying” from fans ain’t gonna do it.
I think I know the writer they were referring to, and I can promise he doesn’t care about the so-called “bullying.”
Fan sentiment—good or bad—isn’t going to drive what happens in one of my stories unless I genuinely want to use fan-service for my own nefarious purposes. Otherwise, the story drives what happens with the characters.
And sometimes that means you won’t like what occurs. Stories where characters don’t change… where they don’t face adversity… where they don’t make bad choices… where they don’t grow… where they don’t fail… where you agree with them 1000% in every situation no matter what… are incredibly dull.
The very idea that any writer “deserved” to be bullied because of how they “treated” a character in a superhero comic is ludicrously foul. No one “deserves” that.
This isn’t about support for a character or comic. It’s about entitlement. And the four bucks you spent on the book doesn’t entitle you to that kind of jackassery. Nor does your love for a long-running Marvel character. Sorry. If you think it does, you are the human equivalent of a bag of unwashed and rotting toes.
I don’t often respond to this kind of nonsense on social media. Not anymore. But I did say something about this. The message was deleted. Somewhere out there, though, there’s a human bag of jam-encrusted toes who thinks it’s ok to bully someone for telling a story about a character who hasn’t significantly changed in 40 years.
Do you love Halloween?
Do you love horror?
Do you love music?
Well, the Bunngalow may have been on a bit of a hiatus, but Cindy and I have still been doing some cool stuff. For example, we have created (and are continuing to enhance) the Bunngalow Halloween Horror Playlist.
You can listen to it HERE to get yourself in the spooky season party mood!
I’ve been pretty busy the last few days, working on several new projects; preparing the CROOKED HILLS Kickstarter (the pre-launch page should go live this week); running my kid to what seems like a bajillion orchestra rehearsals; driving to St. Louis to see Hillary Hahn perform, then driving right back for another performance for my son.
This week is going to be even more busy, I think, with lots of scripts on the docket.
One sort of sad bit of news… I will NOT be able to attend the Cowtown Comics Convention in Ft. Worth this week. There are just some things piling up that are going to preclude me attending the event.
More than ever, I’m viewing Patreon as a vital piece of my goals of making comics, telling stories, and paying my bills. I use the platform to share serialized prose and comics, behind-the-scenes secrets, sneak peeks at upcoming projects, and much more.
Here are a few of the items posted in the last few days:
Witch-Marked, Part 8 - Continuing the new fantasy epic.
The Midnite Show Trailer - including the script we used to develop it.
Monsters Are My Business Sneak Peek - an exclusive look at the cover of an upcoming project.
Sneak Peek - Long Pig and Azrael - character designs from an upcoming comic.
Work Update - September 7 - 18 - What have I been up to?
Witch-Marked, Part 7 - Continuing the new fantasy epic.
DEATH OF THE VENOMVERSE #5
CARNAGE WINS!
So, here we have it. The final issue of this series. The end of this one gets kinda wild. Like… “Am I sure I can pull this off?’ wild.
As you know, I’ve been watching horror movies in preparation for Halloween. As I have time, I’m posting my thoughts on the movies, along with a suggested book pairing, on my site. Here’s where we are so far!
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
PROJECT: G - a new ongoing series
I don’t have any more official events or appearances in 2023. I have a few lined up for 2024, but only a few. I’ll start making a list as soon as I can!
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.
As if rotting wasn’t enough, but unwashed too. ;)