Vicious Shivers (Cullen Bunn's Official Newsletter), Issue 106
This is the 106th issue of Vicious Shivers, a (mostly) weekly newsletter for fans of my work. Thank you for subscribing. Please share it with others if you think they might be interested!
This week, I finally—FINALLY—started paying a little more attention to my health. My cholesterol, blood pressure, and weight have all gotten out of control. Truthfully, my blood pressure and cholesterol might have been out of control for a long, long time. And I’d prefer to be alive and self-sufficient for as many more years to come as humanly possible.
So, I’m on medication and I started being much more particular about the things I eat. The only “diet plan” that has ever worked for me long-term has been WW (or Weight Watchers, if you’re old school). I like the ability to track everything I’m eating, plan for bigger meals throughout the week, etc. So, I’m trying that again. As of yesterday, I’ve lost over 5 pounds this week. I’m a good way from my goal, but it’s a nice start.
Starting this week, it’s back to the gym, which has fallen off the radar for me in the past few weeks. There’s just been too much going on, some good, some not so good, that has kept me distracted.
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Work has been moving along. I’m still not producing as many script pages as I like. Just 30 pages this week. I did, however, do some massive rewrites to another script, which I should probably count as more pages written, but I won’t.
Brian Hurtt and I put some more work into the “top secret plan” I think I mentioned a few weeks ago, and we sent it off to a publisher. Conversations will continue on that front, and I hope there will be more to share soon!
And my pal Josh and I got together just last night to work on the pilot script we’ve been kicking around. The table downstairs is covered in index cards as we planned out and organized every scene. Now, it’s just a matter of writing the thing.
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Somehow, between working and being healthy and attending a music festival where my kid’s orchestra was performing (they did amazing, of course), I got dragged into some Wordle drama.
You heard me.
Wordle.
Drama.
Brian Keene started it. Jude Terror of Bleeding Cool immortalized it. I admit, the article… the situation… makes me laugh.
And, for the record, I know very little about Wordle. I know it’s popular. I know loads of people play it. When I saw people posting about it on Twitter, I told Cindy about it because it looked like something she’d enjoy. She plays it every day. I, however, have never tried it.
Wordle Mafia Comes for Brian Keene — bleedingcool.com Award-winning author and animal lover Brian Keene found himself under siege after speaking out against the viral word game, Wordle.
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OmahaBound has a few copies of their gorgeous custom-bound HELHEIM volume available. They only printed 8 copies. At the time of this message, they only had 3 left.
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I’m so absolutely thrilled that THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR, the middle reader graphic novel Cat Farris and I worked on together, has been selected as one of The Graphic Novels and Comics Round Table’s Best Graphic Novels for Children!
You can see the entire list right here:
2021 Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List | Round Tables The Graphic Novels & Comics Round Table is thrilled to introduce the 2021 Best Graphic Novels for Children Reading List. This reading list highlights the best graphic novels for children aged 5 – 12 years old, published in late 2020 and through 2021, and it aims to increase awareness of the graphic novel medium, raise voices of diverse comics creators, and aid library staff in
Speaking of THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR, the cover for the sequel, UP TO NO GHOUL, as revealed this week! Here it is!
The book is, if I do say so myself, a ton of fun. It’s something of a mixed tribute to vampire stories, body snatcher stories, and cosmic horror tales. With lots and lots of ghouls, of course.
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Sami Kivela posted a look at all five covers to THE HEATHENS this week, and it’s pretty awesome to see them all together.
NEW COMICS THIS WEEK…
BASILISK #7
With her car wrecked, Hannah is inconsolable after experiencing traumatic flashbacks, and on the run from Jimmy-Boy, who is dangerously close to ending her. Vanessa obtains unexpected power, but wants more, and is even willing to kill those close to her to get it...
Here’s a preview of the issue!
Preview: Jimmy-Boy Is Dangerously Close To Ending Hannah In ‘Basilisk’ #7 – COMICON — www.comicon.com BOOM! Studios has revealed a preview of Basilisk #7, dropping next week from writer Cullen Bunn, line artist Jonas Scharf, color artist Alex Guimaraes, and letterer Ed Dukeshire. ‘With her car wrecked, Hannah is inconsolable after experiencing traumatic flashbacks, and on the run from Jimmy-Boy, who is dangerously close to ending her. Vanessa obtains unexpected…
MANOR BLACK: FIRE IN THE BLOOD #1
The powerful and ancient blood sorcerer Roman Black has taken a young fire mage under his wing after she has done the impossible--taken her magic house's totem spirit inside herself. But the totem is powerful, and may be impossible to control, especially when Roman's children begin to see the young mage as a threat.
Here’s a preview of the issue!
Conskipper’s Exclusive Preview of Dark Horse Comics ‘Manor Black: Fire in the Blood’ #1 | Conskipper — conskipper.com The second installment in Cullen Bunn, Brian Hurtt, and Tyler Crook's Manor Black series, Manor Black: Fire in the Blood, is coming in early February from Dark Horse Comics, and Conskipper has an exclusive preview to share!
THIS WEEK’S OBSESSIONS...
This week has been so busy, I don’t really feel like I’ve had time to read, watch TV or movies, or play games. At least, I haven’t been able to jump into anything new. Still watching DR. WHO and PEACEMAKER. I’m trying to learn the dance from the PEACEMAKER opening credits.
Is that something I should have said?
EVENTS…
Here are the events I have finalized for the coming days. Keep in mind, these days, "finalized" doesn't mean as much as it once did. All events are subject to change.
APRIL 22 - 24, 2022 - Planet Comicon, Kansas City
JUNE, 17 - 19, 2022 - Tremendicon, Springfield MO
WORK UPDATE…
So far this year, I wrote:
158 pages of comic book scripts (938 in 2021)
0 feature length screenplay (1 in 2021)
0 short stories (13 in 2021)
0 novellas (0 in 2021)
4 new comic book series proposals (25 in 2021)
0 podcast proposals (5 in 2021)
1 forewords for upcoming graphic novels (0 in 2021)
0 television series proposals (0 in 2021)
THINGS TO COME...
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.
February 2, 2022 - MANOR BLACK: FIRE IN THE BLOOD, a return to the world of magicians and wild magic.
March 2022 - GODZILLA VS. THE MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS, a big crossover comic that no one will be expecting but that makes complete sense.
August 2022 - UP TO NO GHOUL, a sequel to THE GHOUL NEXT DOOR.
A sequel to a story about dreams and loss and adventure.
A sequel to a story of robotic mischief.
A horror maxi-series about a mysterious town and mysterious experiments that have played out there.
A horror OGN where reality and surreality clash in a murderous way.
An action/comedy thrill-ride. unlike anything else I've ever written.
An apocalyptic horror/fantasy maxi-series.
A horror one-shot about loss and grief and guilt.
A new action/horror series I can’t tell you much about just yet.
FINAL THOUGHTS…
I don’t know about you folks, but I screwed up in a major way on something very important this week. It really destroyed me for at least a day. I realize, though, that the only thing I can do now is try to make amends, learn from the mistake, and try to do better next time. One of the few things I can be absolutely certain of is that I will screw up in some other way in the future. So, if you mess up, accept it, apologize (even if that means just apologizing to yourself), learn, and carry on. Most of the time, it’s the best any of us can do.
If you want to keep the conversation going throughout the week, follow me on Twitter or join my Discord server (see below)! See you next time!
WHERE TO FIND ME ONLINE...
WEBSITE - If you haven’t been there lately, you should check it out. I’ve started posting a lot more content and news on the site.
TWITTER - This is the best place to interact with me online. My handle is @cullenbunn
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.