Cullen Bunn is no stranger to fantasy, horror, and what have you. But even by those standards, The Autumn Kingdom from Oni Press seems like a big swing. In the upcoming comic book, an author takes his family on a retreat to Scandinavia while he works on his new book. And while there, his two daughters stumble into a magical world that may be right out of his novels.
“The ‘real world’ story is our primary focus,” teased Bunn in an email interview with Comic Book Club. “Still, the story of Elsethriel, the story that takes place in the novel, informs the story of Sommer and Winter, the two girls who find themselves, in possession of an ancient magical sword, fighting for survival, and searching for their parents.”
To find out much more about the book, as well as a glimpse at some of the interior pages and covers, read on.
Comic Book Club: Cullen, this seems to add an extra level of difficulty in terms of writing a story, within the story… What do you tackle first? The overarching story involving the family? The books the dad is writing? Or both at the same time?
For the most part, I’ve been writing everything at the same time. I don’t want to say that the two stories are inexorably tied together, because that’s not the case. The “real world” story is our primary focus. Still, the story of Elsethriel, the story that takes place in the novel, informs the story of Sommer and Winter, the two girls who find themselves, in possession of an ancient magical sword, fighting for survival, and searching for their parents. There is connective tissue, and I liked the way those threads came together sort of organically while I was writing both parts of the story.
You’ve tackled a slew of genres before, but here you’re delving into fantasy (with a bit of horror as well)… What drew you to that?
My love of fantasy and horror blossomed around the same time for me. I was reading fantasy novels, watching late night horror movies, playing DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS and CALL OF CTHULHU, all around the same time. Maybe the two genres just got all jumbled in my head. I’ve always been a fan of epic fantasy, low fantasy, “other kingdom” fantasy, and I’ve always felt like the horror genre and fantasy genre play very well together. If you look at much of my other work, a lot of it is fantasy-based. THE SIXTH GUN is an epic fantasy set in the Old West. HELHEIM is a Viking-era horror/fantasy. HARROW COUNTY is a Southern Gothic fairy tale. I keep coming back to the fantasy/horror mash-ups for the rest of my days, I imagine.
What does Christopher Mitten bring to the project? And how much are you tailoring your scripts towards him?
I don’t usually tailor my scripts to any one artist. Even artists I’ve worked with time and time again for decades still get the same kind of script, the same level of detail. But, of course, I grow accustomed to working with someone and I want to write things into the script that I know they want to draw. Or, as is the case with Chris, I write things that, as a huge fan, I would love to see him draw. I’ve been following Chris Mitten’s work for as long as I’ve been working in comics. Longer, actually. And I’ve always wanted to work with him. Partnering with him on a book like this, a book full of strange creatures and magical action, I knew he would destroy those pages, and I wasn’t going to blow it. Chris is built to draw a fantasy/horror mash-up like this!
Two of your main characters are Sommer and Winter… I imagine Autumn coming in the middle there is not an accident. And is there a Spring somewhere in the story?
Have you been reading my story notes?
What can you tease about the overall family dynamic in the book?
Hmm. I’ll say this. The story focuses on sisters Sommer and Winter, thrown into a terribly traumatic and stressful series of supernatural events. The two girls have differing approaches to these events. And you know how siblings with magical swords can get. Remember when I said the world of the novel influences the real world? Well, in the novel, Elsethriel is in the middle of a terrible war with her own sister.
The Autumn Kingdom #1 hits comic book stores everywhere on September 4 from Oni Press. Check out more interior pages, and covers, below. You can click the images for larger versions.
