Vicious Shivers (Cullen Bunn's Official Newsletter), Issue 142
Vicious Shivers is 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!
WELCOME TO ISSUE 142…
Cindy is always telling me that I shouldn’t play with dead things.
Wait.
Not dead things.
Knives.
Cindy is always telling me that I shouldn’t play with knives.
I have a long history of problems with bladed objects. I’m covered in tiny (and at least a couple of not so tiny) scars I’ve earned from encounters with knives and box cutters and surgeons and power tools. We could sit around and compare wounds like Quint and Hooper for a spell while waiting for a shark attack. Well, I’ve added a new scar to the collection.
Because… you know… I stabbed myself in the heart.
Sorta.
How did I manage that? Well, in the same way I managed—I don’t know—75% of my scars. Opening a box with a steak knife.
I don’t know why I was pointing the knife in my direction while cutting the box open. I don’t know how the knife slipped. I don’t even know what was in the box, to be honest.
Now, though, I have a two-inch scar on my chest, right across my heart.
Because I am an idiot.
And Cindy is putting child locks on all the cutlery drawers. Pffft. Those things will hold me at bay only until I find a knife to help me saw them out.
***
Last week was relatively productive. I could have done quite a bit more, but There were a bunch of phone calls and Zoom meetings in the mix that derailed me. Still, I’ll mark it down as a win.
I wrote an issue of NIGHTWALKERS, the new book I’m doing for Source Point Press.
I wrote the final issue/chapter of PROJECT: BOT, a book I’m doing for AWA. No, that’s not the title. But the book hasn’t been announced yet. When I was in LA, every show and movie the studio was working on went under a codename. (Mine was PROJECT: DARK. Somewhere, I have some branded pencils to give away.) So, I might as well use that naming convention here.
I wrote a bunch of two-sentence horror stories. Some will be posted on Twitter, while all of them will show up on my Patreon at some point.
I wrote some chapter of the HARROW COUNTY story I’m putting together for the board game Kickstarter!
And I wrote a new chapter of GOBLINVILLE, a novel I’ve been working on for a while and I’m going to be kicking into high gear.
***
In terms of writing, I’m thinking more and more about prose. I go through this a lot. I love writing comics, but I also enjoy short stories and novels. I’ll be focusing a lot more on that in the coming months.
I am giving myself a goal of finishing GOBLINVILLE before the end of the year.
After that, I’m going to finally finish Book 2 of CROOKED HILLS.
I have another concept that has been scratching at my brain in the last couple of weeks. It could be a comic, but I think I want to approach it as prose.
I worry that folks who read my comics won’t follow my prose work, but I’m hoping I’m wrong.
***
You know what I was wrong about?
About 6 questions on this week’s horror movie trivia night. That was enough to bump our trivia team—The Last Trivia Table on the Left—to third place. The theme was slashers. My shame was great.
This week, there are two horror trivia nights. One is themed around general horror. The other is themed around Demons and Ghouls.
Wish me luck.
***
And a quick shout-out to my pals at Monster Forge, who had some cool news to share:
Dark Horse's Deal With Steve Niles & Shannon Denton's Monster Forge — bleedingcool.com Dark Horse tweets out the news with the opening of the doors at New York Comic Con. "MONSTROUS news! Monster Forge @ForgeMonster to team up with Dark
And, come on, do you think there’s a monster-themed project out there that I wouldn’t be involved with in some small way? Stay tuned!
RED ZONE…
AWA has announced a new comic that I’m working on with Mike Deodato Jr. It’s a little different for me. It’s an action/comedy thriller, the story of Professor Randall Crane, an expert in all things Russia, who is asked by the U.S. government to assist on a very important mission. The mission, as you might imagine, goes very, very wrong, and Randall is faced with a weird cadre of deadly assassins and crime lords who are right on his trail.
The first issue comes out on March 1st!
HARROW COUNTY: THE BOARD GAME…
Some super-cool news about the Harrow County board game! From Off The Page:
Everyone who pledges for any of the Satchel editions will get digital download versions of BOTH Harrow County Omnibus comics, AND the Fair Folk mini series! That's 36 issues of comic books - for FREE and included with your pledge!!
This is a $24 value if you were to purchase them straight from Dark Horse Comics. If you were on the fence about which version to get, we're now adding $24 more value to the Satchel edition! We've been trying to get this organized since day 1 as another layer of value for the increasingly good deal that is the Satchel edition, and just got confirmation that we can do it. You will need to register on Dark Horse's site (free to do so), but then you will be able to read the ENTIRE main story of Harrow County, plus the mini-series which is all about our expansion, the Fair Folk! It's such an awesome comic book and I can't wait for each of you to experience it. We'll deliver these codes once the pledge manager closes (quite a few months from now), which means you'll still have a few months to read them before the game is delivered!
You still have 11 days to back the project, so please check it out!
INTERVIEWS…
Here’s a new interview about A LEGACY OF VIOLENCE, which came out last Wednesday!
Interview: Cullen Bunn and Andrea Mutti Talk A Legacy of Violence — screenrant.com We spoke to writer Cullen Bunn and artist Andrea Mutti about their upcoming horror comic book series, A Legacy of Violence from Mad Cave Studios.
NEW COMICS THIS WEEK...
PARASOMNIA: THE DREAMING GOD #3
Cullen Bunn (Harrow County) and Andrea Mutti (Bunny Mask) return with their hit adventure tale of two worlds split between dreams and reality.
Moving forth between two different worlds-a bleak present day reality and a cutthroat cyberpunk future, our hero continues to search for his missing son while facing down various madmen and monsters in these two nightmare worlds.
NEW VARIANT COVERS NOW AVAILABLE…
If you’re into variant covers, man-oh-man, do I have some good ones for you. I’ve been commissioning exclusive variants that you can only get from me! They’re available at my online store. Check them out when you get the chance.
THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SALEM - Creator Exclusive Variant (Danny Luckert Cover) | Cullen Bunn's Shock Shop — cullenbunn.bigcartel.com This is a LIMITED EDITION This is a LIMITED EDITION variant cover for THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SALEM #1! This variant is only available directly...
DOOR TO DOOR, NIGHT BY NIGHT #1 - Creator Exclusive Cover (Danny Luckert Variant) | Cullen Bunn's Shock Shop — cullenbunn.bigcartel.com This is a LIMITED EDITION This is a LIMITED EDITION variant cover for DOOR TO DOOR, NIGHT BY NIGHT #1! This variant is only available directly from...
A FOULNESS IN THE WALLS - Creator Exclusive Cover (Sami Kivela Variant) | Cullen Bunn's Shock Shop — cullenbunn.bigcartel.com This is a LIMITED EDITION This is a LIMITED EDITION variant cover for A FOULNESS IN THE WALLS! This variant is only available directly from Cullen...
October 2022 Variant Cover Bunndle | Cullen Bunn's Shock Shop — cullenbunn.bigcartel.com Our special for spooky season 2022 is pretty special indeed! Here we have a collection of 6 creator-exclusive variant covers, available exclusively...
WEEKLY OBSESSIONS…
I finished MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Next up on the read pile is THE SCARLET GOSPELS.
With Halloween rapidly approaching, I’m entrenching with horror movies aplenty. There’s little rhyme or reason to my viewing choices. It’s whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. So far, I’ve watched the following (in this order):
Phantasm 2
Hellraiser
My Best Friend’s Exorcism
Crawl
Hellbound: Hellraiser 2
Poltergeist
The Cabin in the Woods
Halloween
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare
Werewolves Within
Hellraiser (2022)
Friday the 13th
Behind the Mask: the Rise of Leslie Vernon
Phantasm 3: Lord of the Dead
Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers
Halloween Kills
Halloween Ends
Deadstream
Of course, I watched the new Halloween movie. I mean, it’s Halloween season and I’ve been watching movies about the Shape for 40-something years. I won’t get too far into my thoughts on HALLOWEEN ENDS right now in order to avoid spoilers. But I did a quick (ever-shifting) ranking of my favorite movies in the Halloween series. In the end, though, I enjoyed (almost) all of them regardless of where they rank.
EVENTS…
Keep in mind, these days, "finalized" doesn't mean as much as it once did. All events are subject to change.1
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.
DOOR TO DOOR, NIGHT BY NIGHT - A horror/comedy series about a door-to-door sales team that moonlights as monster hunters.
A FOULNESS IN THE WALLS - A horror one-shot about loss and grief and guilt.
NIGHTWALKERS - A survival horror series that sets up a whole world of apocalyptic nightmares.
RED ZONE - An action/comedy thrill-ride. unlike anything else I’ve ever written.
BLOODBLADE - An action/horror story of destiny and demonic blood
PROJECT: BOT - A sequel to a story of robotic mischief.
PROJECT: MASK - A horror OGN where reality and surreality clash in a murderous way.
PROJECT: WATER HEATER - An apocalyptic horror/fantasy maxi-series.
PROJECT: DUNGEON - A new licensed horror comic series
PROJECT: GHOST - A horror maxi-series exploring a side of horror you might not expect
PROJECT: CONVOY - A horror/thriller I’m co-writing
PROJECT: MATINEE - A horror limited series I’m working on with one of my best friends and long-standing collaborator
PROJECT: SWORD - A horror prose anthology I’m editing
PROJECT: V - A return to a fan-favorite character I haven't written in quite a while.
PROJECT: PREHISTORY - More kaiju craziness.
WORK UPDATE…
So far this year, I wrote:
1449 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)
8 two-sentence horror stories (0 in 2021)
29 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
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.