Hullo.

This is mostly a FACTS one, because I realise that as I have an hour left in the working day it may be possible to get four (count 'em!) scripts off to artists and letterers if I really rush. Basically, this job can be a little like working in a packaging factory at times.

Contents!

Mogwai Fear Krrsantan

Spurriest

The Maximalist + The Minimalist

What I Am Doing At The Weekend By Kieron Gillen (Aged 41 and ¾)

Quickie&A

Week In Brief

Byeeeeeeeeeee!

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One comic this week, and it's the standalone Doctor Aphra Annual. Well, I say standalone. You know me. It's perhaps best to think of this issue akin to the Darth Vader annual which introduced Shu-Torun. We'll collect it in THE ENORMOUS PROFIT trade, as it basically acts as a prologue to that whole thing.

But the star of the show is really Black Krrsantan. We've talked about bits of his background ever since he first appeared, but here we basically get to “do” Black Krrsantan's origin. Plus! I get to do my take on His Girl Friday in Star Wars.

I lie above – the star of the show isn't Black Krrsantan. It's sharing billing with Marc Laming (with an assist from Will Sliney near the end) and colours Jordan Boyd, who (as the above page shows) is really doing a great take on Star Wars. See the preview over here for more.

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Talking Doctor Aphra, the solicits for Doctor Apha 14 in November went live, which is the start of the second year of the book. Art for this arc is by Emilio Laiso (who is doing wonderful storytelling herein), the above cover is by Ashley Witter and I'm co-writing it with Si Spurrier.



When I was asked to take over Star Wars, I basically said “I probably better move off Aphra” and Jordan basically said “C'mon. You've planned the backbone of it already. Can we talk you into co-writing?” and I was “Well, maybe. Co-writing can be as much work as writing though. Let me think about it.” And then I went to bed, and then I woke up to find Si crouching on my chest, leaning close to my face and snarling.

So we're co-writing Doctor Aphra.

This is a tight plotting approach to co-writing. While I had the broad strokes for year 2, we got together and broke the arc of the next one issue by issue, into a tight synopsis. Then one or the other of us will script the actual issues. I started it off with 14, and we'll see how it goes. That we're two writers who live close to each other is pretty essential to the endeavour too.

I think it should work well. Si has a style that is somewhat simpatico with mine. By which I mean, he constantly puns.

What happens in the arc? Well, the solicits are somewhat enigmatic, so let's keep it that way. But Tolvan's back on the cover. I bet she's up to something or another.

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Talking about solicits, the Image ones are out too, where we leaned into the duality inherent in the Wicked + the Divine covers.

Russell Dauterman did this one.





Jamie did this one.





Coloured it too. A talented young man.

This is the final issue of IMPERIAL PHASE II, which means all the covers of the final year are out there. So this has led to people examining the structure, which is fun to see, especially when they turn them into gifs.

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London Super Comic Con. I am at it. Star Wars panel on the Friday around 2:30 and a signing at 11:15 on the Saturday. I'm also doing a couple of portfolio sessions. Check out the site for more details.

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Q: So, with wicdiv you've completed five arcs; one five issue and four six issue arcs. I'm finding myself thinking about why creators don't gravitate more towards multiple arcs in one six issue trade. Commercial Suicide is very different from other six issue arcs, but why not do any three or two issue arcs?



A: It’s primarily for the same reason that people don’t usually put three short stories in a single issue. If something is going to be presented as a singular narrative unit, there’s an aesthetic attraction to treating it like a singular narrative unit.

The Russian doll model of comics writing. The whole is a unit. The trade is a unit. The issue is a unit. And so on, and so forth.

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The week has been a more focused one than recent times. As such, I've written a lot. Last week was finishing off the draft of Uber Invasion 12, before diving into Star Wars 40. I finished that today, and went straight into Star Wars 41. In terms of polishing, I've got WicDiv 33 in a complete state, plus about ¾ of the WicDiv Christmas special. I also have been working pretty intensively on part of Spangly New Thing, which involves serious discussion of the word “Grease”.

I also played my first Megagame at the weekend. If that sentence makes no sense to you, our friends at Shut Up And Sit Down can explain it in more detail. It was being filmed, so I suspect you can see me dressed up as Hunter S Thompson on their site soon enough.

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Byeeee, etc.

Kieron Gillen

London

23.8.2017