In March this year, the man who brought you “the Sixth Gun” is coming out with his second book from Oni, a Viking romp entitled “Helheim” with artist Joelle Jones.
Today of this year, we talk to Cullen Bunn specifically about just that.
So for those unaware, what is “Helheim?”
Cullen Bunn: HELHEIM is a new comic book series by Joëlle Jones and yours truly. It’s a violent action horror story set during the age of the Vikings. I’ve been calling it a Viking era Frankenstein story, and that description isn’t too far off base. It’s chock full of Vikings, savages, the undead, demons, and two feuding witches who are willing to destroy everything around them in their quest to kill each other. In short, it’s full of mayhem!
Was there anything in particular about a magic-fueled Viking romp that called to you when first developing the project?
CB: I came up with the idea for HELHEIM around the same time I started thinking about my original graphic novel, THE TOOTH. Both stories feature these warriors from a mythical–or almost mythical–age. Even those these two stories couldn’t possibly be more different, in many ways they fueled each other. Of course, HELHEIM has taken a little longer to see publication, so it’s continued to grow along the way. Who knows what’s next for me? A gladiator-turned-kaiju story? Wait a minute… Lemme write that down.
You’re obviously no stranger to comics that double as period pieces, so what excited you about the classic Nordic landscape in the age of Vikings?
CB: I’ve always thought that historical settings lend themselves to exciting visuals, and the Nordic landscape just suited the dark, gritty, horrific nature of the story to a tee.
The book seems to revolve heavily around death, with the book’s name itself a reference to the underworld. How important is death to the overall theme of the story, beyond the obvious aspect given Rikard’s untimely demise.
CB: Death is a big part of this book, from Rikard’s own death to the ungodly storm of death he rains down upon his enemies. Also, we’ll see that the feud between these two witches is killing everything. It’s corrupting the world like a disease, and it’s starting to spread.
While Rikard is ostensibly the protagonist of the book, do you consider him a hero in the classical sense?
CB: Yes, Rikard is the hero of the book. He’s a tortured hero. A very tortured hero. But he’s still the hero. Strangely enough, as monstrous as Rikard is, he’s a truer hero than, say, Eddie in THE DAMNED or Drake in THE SIXTH GUN.
To a certain level, Rikard seems potentially to be your take on the Conan barbarian archetype. What do you find fascinating about writing a brutish character as opposed to characters with a bit more class like we’d find in “Sixth Gun?”
CB: There’s a degree of joy in writing a character who can just tear his way through the opposition in a literal sense. That’s not to say that Rikard is a mindless killing machine. The witch who raises him from the dead wants him to fill that role, but he grows out of that role very quickly.
Rikard, of course, is not the only central character of the book, as it also involves a war between two witches and Rikard’s father Kirk seeking vengeance. When piecing together the various puzzles and plots of this book, which came first — the witches or the barbarian?
CB: Rikard came first. I think my original idea for this series was something like “The greatest warrior in the land is killed, his body crushed. His head is stitched to the body of a fearsome warrior so he can continue his battle.” It wouldn’t surprise me if that simple concept is written almost exactly like that in a notebook somewhere. From there, I started thinking about the whys and hows of bringing this warrior back from the dead, and the rest of the story, which changed greatly, started taking shape.
Given the apparent grandiose nature of the story, how did you end up balancing it all in what seems to be a more confined space (than, say, an ongoing)?
Continued belowCB: I usually approach all of my creator-owned work as a limited series. THE SIXTH GUN, for example, was originally written as a 6-issue series, but I knew I was telling a story in a much bigger world. That’s how I’m handling this. While I’m telling a “confined” story, I try to work in enough details that you can tell it’s part of a bigger world.
With the fantastic and dynamic Joelle Jones on the book, what do you think it is that she brings to the book that no other artist can?
CB: Joëlle is simply an amazing talent. She brings these characters to life, giving them such vivid personalities in the visuals. And she doesn’t shy away from some really brutal action and violence. I’ve commented again and again about how lucky I have been in terms of the artists I get to work with, and Joëlle is a perfect example of that luck!
From looking at preview images and covers, a lot of the art looks perfect for a heavy metal band’s album cover. It’s a roundabout way of asking, but to what extent if any does music act as an influence for you?
CB: Music has some influence on me, I suppose, but I’ll have to admit that my musical tastes are pretty simple and limited. I’m not the guy anyone would come to for a suggestion of new music. Yes, to some degree, HELHEIM wouldn’t exist without all the metal I listened to as a kid. The fingerprints of Metallica and Dio and Iron Maiden and Carnivore and the Metal Blade CD anthologies (and, maybe… much later… The Sword) are all over this thing. But I don’t often listen to music while I write. I have a pretty nice soundtrack collection. Sometimes I listen to those… but I didn’t even break out the CONAN soundtrack while working on this book.
Hmm. Maybe I should start a Spotify playlist for this book.
Speaking of, there’s also a heavy metal band band actually called Heleim! I don’t suppose you’ve had any dialogue with them about the book at all?
CB: No, no dialogue with them at all, but I did stumble onto them after I started working on this book.
A while back we chatted about what Westerns had influenced your work for “Sixth Gun,” so on that same thread what works influence your view for “Helheim?”
CB: BEOWULF and FRANKENSTEIN were, obviously, big influences on this story. In addition, the movie THE 13th WARRIOR and the novel that inspired it, EATERS OF THE DEAD, were both influential.
So on a very basic level, what particular itch does “Helheim” scratch for you as a creator?
CB: HELHEIM is much meaner, much darker, and much more violent than the other books I’ve been working on. It’s the closest thing I’ve done to a real horror story in comic book form.
Do you have any plans for “Helheim” to continue after the mini wraps up, or is this pretty much a one-time story?
CB: We’ll see. Like I said, the world of HELHEIM is pretty large, and there are definitely other stories to be told. I’d love to explore some more of Rikard’s world. It all depends on reader response!
