Vicious Shivers (Cullen Bunn's Official Newsletter), Issue 133
This is the 133rd 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!
I don’t know how many people know this, but selling comics is hard.
Writing them is hard, sure. Drawing them? Hard. Colors? Hard. It’s all hard. And, no, I don’t it’s hard physical labor. My son asked me to go on a surprise bike ride with him the other night after I’d eaten a ton of tacos. That almost killed me. And there are plenty of jobs that are more difficult and exhausting and trying. But… the comics game has it’s own challenges.
The toughest challenge? Selling comics. Specifically marketing comics.
Some publishers are better at it than others. And some readers just naturally gravitate toward certain publishing houses, making sales of those books a little easier. A lot of times, though, it falls on the creative teams to do most or almost all of the marketing. And marketing a comic is a different beast. I mean, I worked in marketing for over a decade before becoming a full-time writer, and I still have no clue how to do it well.
It’s becoming more and more important for me, though, if I’m gonna stay in this business. So, I thought I’d ask the people who matter what they think about marketing comics. And that’s you.
If you are so inclined, I’d love it if you would take the time to answer the following questions and email them back to me. You can just reply/respond to this newsletter and I’ll see the responses. It would mean a great deal to me. Answer one question, answer them all, up to you. Anything helps. It’s all about figuring out what comic readers like you engage with the most.
What type of content would you like to see more of from creators?
What makes you check out or pre-order a new book?
Who are your favorite creators online and why?
Do you buy from online stores?
Do you follow any other creator mailing lists?
What do you like most in e-newsletters you follow?
What social media platforms do you engage with the most?
What creator/comics podcasts do you listen to regularly and why?
If there’s anything else you think I should know, I’d love to hear it!
Thanks in advance for your help!
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I’ve been considering a lot of changes in terms of my newsletter, my Discord, my Patreon, and even my web store (which has already gone through some changes). You might see some of these changes going into effect soon(ish) but my hope is they will be pretty seamless. I’ll keep you in the loop with all of it, of course. I’m just trying to figure out a few ways to offer the very best content and experience for my readers and to simplify things a bit!
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Thank you for reading!
If you follow me on social media, expect some really cool announcements this week! Two new comic books are getting announced tomorrow and Tuesday, I believe! If you don’t follow my social media, you’ll definitely hear about those books here next week!
SHOCK SHOP #1 CREATOR-EXCLUSIVE...
Just a reminder, my online store is now open and updated, and we’ve been adding new items to the shop at a pretty good clip. Among offerings on the store is a creator-exclusive SHOCK SHOP #1 that you can only get from me!
I hope you’ll check out the store, grab a copy or two (or ten) of this exclusive variant, and look around at some of the other items up for grabs. And, as a way of thanking you for your continued support, here’s a discount code that will get you 10% off any orders you make!
The code is BUNNHEAD
You can find my shop HERE!
INTERVIEWS…
An Interview With `Shock Shop’ Writer Cullen Bunn – COMICON — comicon.com Cullen Bunn, known for writing such horror stories as Harrow County, The Last Book You’ll Ever Read and The Damned, is back with a new Dark Horse series called Shock Shop. The premiere issue, out September 7, 2022, features the first installments of two horror stories in a flip-book format. We sat down with Bunn…
PARASOMNIA…
A new PARASOMNIA series starts this week, and Daily Dead has some preview pages that’ll rock your world!
Ride into the Unknown in Preview Pages from Cullen Bunn and Andrea Mutti's PARASOMNIA: THE DREAMING GOD #1 - Daily Dead — dailydead.com Cullen Bunn and Andrea Mutti return to the world of Parasomnia in the new comic book series Parasomnia: The Dreaming God! Switching between the dark fantasy atmosphere of previous Parasomnia releases to a cyberpunk metropolis setting, Parasomnia: The Dreaming God #1 will be released on August 17th (with a main cover by Mutti and a variant […]
And, in case you want to get a feel for the series, Dark Horse and Comic Book Resources have made the first issue of the original PARASOMNIA series available to read—for FREE!
Read Bunn and Mutti’s First Parasomnia Issue Prior to Cyberpunk Series' Return — www.cbr.com Fans can catch up on Cullen Bunn and Andrea Mutti's Parasomnia by reading the first full 2021 issue prior to the fantasy series' return on Aug. 17
WARLOCK 5: THE REVENGE…
Outland Entertainment’s next WARLOCK 5 Kickstarter is currently underway! Right now, the campaign has about 10 days left. Don’t miss out on this! Jimmy and I have big plans for the world of WARLOCK 5. Big, fun plans. The project has reached its funding goal, but we can always use more support!
Here’s where you can find the campaign!
HARROW COUNTY: THE BOARD GAME…
GenCon has come and gone, and Off the Page Games was there in full force running a demo of the HARROW COUNTY board game. The reaction to the game was overwhelmingly positive. Just check out this video!
The Kickstarter for the game is scheduled to launch October 4th, and you can sign up to be alerted when the campaign is live here…
Harrow County: The Game of Gothic Conflict by Jay — Kickstarter — www.kickstarter.com Jay is raising funds for Harrow County: The Game of Gothic Conflict on Kickstarter! An asymmetric game where 1 faction wants to destroy Harrow County, another wants to protect it, and a 3rd wants to rule it.
NEW BOOKS THIS WEEK...
One series ends as another begins this week while another comes to an end!
PARASOMNIA: THE DREAMING GOD #1
Cullen Bunn (Harrow County) and Andrea Mutti (Bunny Mask) return with their hit adventure tale of two worlds split between dreams and reality.
As the hunt for his missing son continues, our hero shifts worlds from the nightmarish Lovecraftian dreamscape to a cyberpunk metropolis where a ruthless cult continues to plague him, and reality and fantasy continue to blur.
TALES FROM HARROW COuNTY: THE LOST ONES #4
Emmy has to decide how to stop her supernatural city cousins...but she herself has no magic now...and she doesn’t want to use her powers again. So she is going to need to use her wits and cleverness to stop them with the aid of the Lost Ones.
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.
SEPTEMBER 10, 2022 - Free State Comicon, Lawrence, KS
SEPTEMBER 24 - 25, 2022 - Memphis Comic Expo, Memphis TN
FEBRUARY 4, 2023 - ArtCon, Neosho, MO
MARCH 17 - 19, 2023 - Planet Comicon, Kansas City MO
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.
September - SHOCK SHOP, A new series that will allow me to spin many, many horror stories.
A LEGACY OF VIOLENCE - A horror maxi-series about a mysterious town and mysterious experiments that have played out there.
THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SALEM - A one shot following Sabrina's mischievous cat on a wild adventure.
A sequel to a story of robotic mischief.
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.
A new licensed horror comic series
Another new licensed horror comic series
A horror maxi-series exploring a side of horror you might not expect
A horror/thriller I’m co-writing
A horror limited series I’m working on with one of my best friends and long-standing collaborator
WORK UPDATE…
So far this year, I wrote:
1164 pages of comic book scripts (938 in 2021)
0 feature length screenplay (1 in 2021)
1 half-hour comedy pilot (0 in 2021)
1 short film script (0 in 2021)
6 short stories (13 in 2021)
0 novellas (0 in 2021)
25 new comic book series proposals (25 in 2021)
0 podcast proposals (5 in 2021)
1 essay (0 in 2021)
1 foreword for upcoming graphic novels (0 in 2021)
1 television series proposal (0 in 2021)
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.