Was it just me, or was Cullen Bunn writing every book for Marvel for a couple months? For some, that might have led to questions of “Who is Cullen Bunn?” But for the informed comic reader, you know him as the very gifted writer of Oni’s “The Sixth Gun” with creative partner Brian Hurtt, as well as the upcoming Oni Viking/horror joint “Helheim” with Joëlle Jones. He’s a very, very talented writer, and with Carlton Cuse developing a TV adaptation of “The Sixth Gun” and his work on Marvel Now titles “Venom” and “The Fearless Defenders,” it’s only a matter of time until he’s a household name.
We chat with Bunn about a little bit of everything, including Cuse’s take on The Sixth Gun, the upcoming arcs of that title, why he thinks Jones’ is providing her best work yet on “Helheim,” how “Venom” is really going to be cut loose soon, and much more. Thanks to Cullen for chatting with us, and check out our interview on “The Fearless Defenders” from last week here.
The big news at NYCC this year for you was The Sixth Gun being announced as being developed by NBC/Universal with Carlton Cuse running it. How long has it been in the works?
Cullen Bunn: This is something that has been in the works for several months. Brian and I have had a couple phone calls with Carlton, talking about what his plans were. It’s one of those things that everything is in the works but nothing is a sure thing until it’s announced, and even then it’s not even a sure thing (laughs).
Now, we waited a little over a week before we went to New York Comic Con, we got word that the press release had been released to the news outlets, and we were hoping…there was a time I was watching everything and hoping, “is this the moment it’s going to be announced?” (laughs)
Then once it was announced I could at least finally talk about it. It took right until the day before the convention that it kind of shuffled through its rotation.
It’s been sitting for a bit. That must have been hard to sit on.
CB: Yeah. It was definitely difficult to bide my time. This is something where the discussions have been going on for quite a while.
It sounds like you’ve been talking to Carlton for quite a while. Have you had any talks as to what the creative direction is, or how close they’ll stay to the story?
CB: Even from the earliest conversations, Carlton was giving us his perspective on the story as to how it would work as a TV show. I’ve seen some of their plans and things like that. For the most part, things that are on television will differ from their source material.
Especially for this project, it will have to differ a little bit. But, that said, what he has planned and what they’ve been working on has been really…has been very true to the book itself.
When I think of TV shows or movies adapting comics, for me, what’s much more important to me is they capture the spirit and characters well more than anything else. I don’t think they’d be able to have a silent episode, for example.
CB: Right. (laughs) Well, who knows. It’s been done on television before. But yeah, it’s not going to be an exact adaptation. There are various things that they are planning on doing differently, but I can tell you the things they are planning on doing differently, it’s the only way they can do something like that. They are doing what they have to do to make it work as a TV show.
Last year, we did a Multiversity Casting Couch on The Sixth Gun, and Brian said he totally agreed with us that Jude Law would be a killer Drake. I’m curious, have you envisioned anyone in the adaptation?
CB: Yes. Absolutely. For Drake, Becky and BillJohn, I have some very specific thoughts in mind. I’ve shared those thoughts with the powers that be. I won’t tell you who I am thinking right now only because I don’t want to jinx myself, but it would be amazing if even one of those people happened to be cast for real that would be something special.
Continued belowIt’s really great seeing a book like The Sixth Gun taking off like this. It’s an indie book and it’s still finding it’s audience, but it’s optioned for a TV show. Do you think it’s an issue book or a book people wait for trade on, or a mix of both?
CB: I think it’s been a combination of both. We definitely have the audience of trade waiters, but I think sort of the ominipresence of the singles on the shelf, almost on a monthly basis, having it out there…it just helps if nothing else to help people be aware that the book is out there.
I have to admit the reason I first got on board was because it was a Free Comic Book Day special.
CB: Yeah, that helped a lot too. Oni released the first issue as part of Free Comic Book Day. There were a lot of copies that got distributed that day.
I just read the 26th issue, and it really reiterated my first question about the book itself. It seemed like things are getting pretty dark for everyone involved in Winter Wolves. For me, it’s like I’m wondering…what’s the path we’re walking on now? Is this getting near the second act of the story, because for me it’s kind of how it feels?
CB: Yeah. Definitely. First of all, Winter Wolves is without a doubt the darkest of the arcs that we’ve done so far.
So far.
I kind of have described it as we’ve been going up a rollercoaster, we’re going up, up, up, and then Winter Wolves is sort of the peak. It’s starting right around here, things start rocketing downhill. And we’re going to be rocketing towards the end from here on out. The series will be roughly…probably almost exactly 50 issues. I think we have it mapped out now where it will be 50 issues.
I would say this arc, Winter Wolves, and the next arc, which is called Ghost Dance…after reading those two arcs, you’ll know we’re entering the end game.
You were talking about how dark it was. That final panel is just a killer with Drake seeing the women and children from Fort Treadwell, and the incredible thing was you guys had hinted at exactly what we’d find in the cave, but when I was reading it I had absolutely no thoughts in my mind that we’d find that there.
CB: I’m glad that played out the way we wanted it to. That’s exactly what we wanted to do. We told you this is what you’re going to see, but my hope was it still took you by surprise and even when I was writing the script and the art was coming in, there were moments where I was like, “oh no, Brian, did we draw women and children?” Because they are these frozen individuals frozen in the camp. Luckily Brian was on top of that, and he kind of said, “who do you think I am? I’m a professional.”
But there were moments even then where I thought we had to be really careful about not tipping our hand. It’s an important moment in the story because these are the women and children. The way they know to kill…the way to kill the Wendigo Drake believes is to destroy the hosts bodies, and if there is one person who could do that in the cast of protagonists, Drake is the guy who could do it. Now the question is, will he?
Going back, you mentioned you had the end game and the route mapped. I’m curious, what is the process between you and Brian? I know Brian co-plots with you.
CB: I’m not sure there is any formal process to it. Many times I’ve told Brian, “this is kind of what I want to do with this arc overall and there are times where Brian will come back and have suggestions of either things he wants to draw or things he thinks would be cool, but going into every arc when I start scripting, Brian has said it before — he gets surprised by each script as well. There are a lot of…it’s not that I don’t tell him, it’s just that a lot of things come up as I am scripting. I change the way I am going to present some things. Some new idea dawns on me that I incorporate into the script.
Continued belowFrom a big picture of where the story is going standpoint, Brian and I sit down once a month or once every couple months to hash out what arcs are going to be taking place at a very high level view of what those arcs will be and where they are leading. We’ve been doing that for quite a while now. Once every couple of months, Brian says “okay, map it out for me again so he knows we’re still on target for where we’re going.” Sometimes he has ideas…Brian spends a lot of time doodling at night before he goes to bed. The next day he’ll call and say, “hey, I had this idea for this. Is this something we could incorporate in somewhere?”
There are definitely elements he brings in. Even 26 is a great example as I brought this character Abigail back in, and BillJohn being alive…the flashback to him as a living person again. The Wendigo manifesting itself as a stag with heads on its antlers. All of that was stuff Brian didn’t know I would do. I try to surprise him every now and again as much as I want to surprise the readers.
It’s a book that definitely has some incredible imagery. Did you see the paper cut out Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt today?
CB: I did. (laughs)
I was looking at that article and I think it had a shot from that issue where the raiders were trying to board the train, and Asher Cobb was in there, and he asked, “how can you not like a book that has mummies and everything else going on?” In a book with mummies, that stag with the heads on the horns might have been one of the most haunting images yet.
CB: Brian said that was the creepiest thing he’s had to draw in the series.
I looked at that and said, “oh my god.”
One character that really stands out for me personally is Kirby Hale. When I read it…I often wonder while I’m reading a book…is does the writer have preference for any characters. Do you have any particular affinity for any of the Sixth Gun characters, because it seems like you have a particular cadence and affection for Kirby.
CB: It’s tough for me to say. I like Kirby. I like to hate Kirby as much as everyone else. Most of the main cast that…so now, we’re kind of building our Magnificent Seven of Drake, Becky, Gord, Asher, Kirby…these are the characters that I just like. When I first started writing Kirby, I’m not sure I intended him to be a character who had a bigger role to play than his initial appearance. But somewhere along midway of the second arc, I realized Kirby had a much bigger role to play in the story.
Gord Cantrell is another example. I think I intended Gord to appear in a couple issues, and I liked him so much and I thought he added so much to the series that I wanted to give him a much bigger role. There were even arcs that were Gord-centric.
All of these characters I wanted to make sure we were spending a lot of time with them. Yes, Drake and Becky are our two leads, but they’re not the only two characters. There are definitely other characters that are just fun to write. Kirby is a fun character to write. Of all of them, Kirby is probably the most fun to write. Besides BillJohn, but I killed BillJohn (laughs).
I have to admit, BillJohn was my favorite character in the first arc, and when you killed him I said, “Really?! What?!” It made me so sad.
CB: BillJohn is my favorite character in the series. He’s always been my favorite. I think killing him off when I did establishes the idea that no one is safe. While no one else has died necessarily, that idea that no on is safe will come into play will come into play very, very soon in the series.
That’s exciting and a little terrifying.
CB: It’s going to be a crazy second 24 issues. The next 24 issues are going to be crazy.
Continued belowI have no doubt.
One thing I find very fascinating is having Asher Cobb in the cast because he has these prophetic powers. Does he…could you almost say he exists as a storytelling tell? One thing I think of is he, if he knows what’s coming, then him being with Kirby and Gord makes it seem like they’re on the right path.
CB: It’s interesting because that does come into play. Asher is bringing them together. He brought Kirby and Gord together for a specific reason. There are certain things he knows that need to happen. He doesn’t have a…his prophetic powers are not as powerful as, say, Becky’s with The Sixth Gun. But yes, it does give him a little bit of an edge. It’s going to help guide some of the characters.
The thing with Asher is, his end goal with The Sixth Gun and the Six is different than Gord’s end goal and Kirby’s end goal, and at a certain point, are they going to be in opposition? What will happen when they finally get into that kind of opposition?
That is one of the most fascinating things. Everyone has different plans with the Six.
CB: That’s something I wanted to…I feel like the team that always works to the same exact purpose is kind of boring. I like bringing a team together. That’s cool and fun. But it wouldn’t be anywhere near as much fun if they were all of like minds.
CB: Hopefully readers won’t notice too much of a difference between what’s being presents. On our side, the biggest difference is Brian is actually scripting major parts of the series. Brian’s always wanted to do some scripting of his own, and he says I’m sort of his safety net here. He’s scripting big chunks of the book, and I’m scripting big chunks, and we mesh them together and kind of smooth them out so they appear seamless.
The biggest difference is that Brian is actually scripting huge pieces of it. In the end, if we’ve done our job correctly, there won’t be a vast difference between it and The Sixth Gun.
Why did you want to go back and tackle the back-story of Hume’s lieutenants at this point?
CB: We’ve talked about doing this story from the beginning. It’s something that we discussed doing fairly early on. I remember I was writing the first, I had already written the first arc but it was being published. I was at a comic shop somewhere, and they said “I really like the character with the burlap sack over his head. I can’t wait to read more of this character’s history.” Little did they know I was killing them in the next issue.
So we knew there was more story there, and we knew we could tell this story about these really bad people, but kind of humanize them a little bit and show a little more about what they were thinking and how the guns corrupted people. To let you in on the secret of what’s going on behind the curtains, there was some discussion a while ago about Brian and I returning to do another arc of The Damned.
We didn’t want, even though we were going to come back to The Damned, we didn’t want The Sixth Gun to be off the shelf. This has been a couple years ago probably that we were talking about doing this. That’s when we came up with the idea of Sons of the Gun. Brian wants to draw the main series as much as possible. This would give us a chance to have something Sixth Gun on the shelf even if The Damned was running.
Things didn’t mesh out as we wanted them to, so we couldn’t return to The Damned, but we still liked this idea of Sons of the Gun. That’s why we decided to go ahead and do it as a spin-off series to get that book out there.
Continued belowI like that you’re working with Brian Churilla. He’s a great artist. He’s a buddy of yours, right?
CB: We met him through…well it’s funny, years ago, when The Damned…maybe it hadn’t been published yet. I was working on The Tooth, and I was trying to find an artist for it. And somehow I stumbled onto Brian Churilla’s name. I don’t even know where…maybe he was a friend on MySpace or something. I really don’t remember. But I remember emailing him and asking if he was interested in drawing The Tooth. But he was too busy.
That was my first interaction with him. Since then, he started working with Oni, and we had more interactions with him. The important thing for Brian Hurtt was he had to get an artist that he trusted to work on the book. Same with when we did two standalone issues that Tyler Crook drew. Brian was very adamant that whoever we picked to do those issues had to be someone that could, one) meet his aesthetic and sensibilities, and two) that we wanted an art style that complimented what Brian does.
We really lucked out with both of them.
I’m excited to see what Brian does. Tyler…he doesn’t fit into the same niche that Brian Hurtt does, but they are comparable to me in style and look. I’ve loved what he brought to the table. I’m a big fan of B.P.R.D., so that makes sense.
CB: Sure. I think both of those guys are very capable artists. They have a certain sort of vibe that I like and Brian likes. I’ve seen, I guess, Churilla is starting on the third issue of Sons of the Gun now. I’ve seen his two first issues and they look amazing.
I’m very excited to see it.
So I mentioned I was excited about Helheim. First off, before I get into Joelle Jones, what can you tell our audience about Helheim?
CB: In New York I was trying to think of the perfect way to shortcut the concept for Helheim. I kind of started telling people that it was a Viking era Frankenstein story with demons. Usually, Viking era Frankenstein stories hook people quick. It’s my take on this Gothic horror story that I set during the Viking era.
We’ve got this character Ricard who is a noble and true Viking, protector of his people, all around great guy. And I kill him about half way through the first issue (laughs).
That is not the end for Ricard.
Basically, he ends up caught in this war between these two witches that are just trying to kill each other and are destroying and corrupting everything that is in-between them. And Ricard wants nothing more than his final rest. His peace. But he is denied that in the service of one of these witches. And as he embarks on this adventure, he starts to even doubt if he’s worthy of this final reward that he thought he deserved. He’s not even sure if he deserves it any more after he goes through some metaphorical changes and some very literal changes.
From what I understand, it’s a mini-series correct.
CB: It’s definitely six issues. It all depends on the reaction from the readers.
That’s what I thought. It sounds like you have more behind the six issues.
CB: Sixth Gun was a similar situation. Obviously everything depends on reader reaction and things like that. The first six issues tell a complete story, just like Sixth Gun did.
CB: When Oni accepted the project, I did not have an artist attached. They started looking at who might be…they were excited about the book, and they started looking at who we might get to draw it. I think it was James and Charlie, my editors, who came to me and said, “How about Joelle Jones?”
I was a fan of her work. I love her art. But I wasn’t convinced. When I think of her art, I think of 50’s era noir stories with very pretty people.
Continued belowI think of She Has Killed Me.
CB: That’s exactly what I think of the iconic Joelle Jones book. Until now. Because I met with Joelle in San Diego not last time but a year ago, and we had breakfast and we talked about the book, and I realized as she started talking about her desire to draw Vikings and violent stories, she wasn’t flinching from the blood and gore that is definitely a part of this book, I thought, “wow, she and I are on the same page.”
Now that I’ve seen Helheim, what she’s doing with it, I don’t think…this is now what I consider the iconic Joelle Jones book. What she did with Helheim.
I checked out a preview of the first issue, and I was flipping through it and I thought “damn!” It’s not what you think of inherently when you think of her art, but I interviewed her previously and…because she’s always worked with Jamie S. Rich…it seemed like she wanted to get away from that niche. This seems like a perfect vehicle for that.
CB: I am a fan of Jamie’s too, but this is pretty far from a Jamie S. Rich book (laughs). Jamie’s an amazing writer and is very talented. He and I have vastly different sensibilities in the types of books we do. This definitely shows Joelle’s versatility that she can work on such different types of books. If you looked at it, it’s a very violent story. There are some pretty people, but not really (laughs).
In a Viking sort of way (laughs).
CB: To me, it’s Joelle’s best work. It’s exciting to see what she’s doing with it and it’s exciting from knowing her work to see the transition into this kind of work.
Another thing that’s been taking up a lot of your time is…it seems like you’ve been every where in Marvel lately. It just seemed like you were co-writing some books, then taking over others. Is it just me or are you kind of doing half their books as we approach Marvel Now?
CB: It certainly has seemed that way. A lot of that is stuff that I’ve been working on for a while and has been finished and waiting. Like Avenging Spider-Man. I’ve been done with that for well over a year. I haven’t touched those scripts in a long time now.
Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, I was well done with all four issues of that before Dalibor had started drawing the first issue. A lot of that just happened to be falling out very close together. I can tell you the illusion that I am doing everything will fade over the next four months and it will be obvious I am not doing everything. Especially going into the era of Marvel Now, it will be clear I am not working on everything. In fact, I was just flipping through previews to see what I have through Marvel, and it will not look as Cullen Bunn heavy as it has.
I know there were some weeks where there were two or three books with my name on it coming from Marvel, and I think that was just how the schedule was falling. It wasn’t always that I was working solely on Marvel stuff day in and day out. It just happened to be that’s the way it seemed. To the point it even seemed that way to editors. There were some times where I was like, “wait, wait, I need work to do.” “Well obviously you’re at capacity.” “Well, no I’m not working on anything!”
(laughs) That blows my mind. Avenging Spider-Man wasn’t even being released a year ago. Wasn’t even announced, and you’ve been done that long.
CB: I’ve been done with that script…it was at San Diego not this last time but the time before last that I pitched the story to the editor. I wrote it immediately following that convention. That’s stuff that’s just been done and waiting for the opening in the schedule and for the artist.
I guess…I’ve been writing for Multiversity for a few years now, and it never ceases to surprise me, the mechanics behind the publishers. Just when I think I understand something, I realize what I didn’t know.
Continued belowCB: Me too! (laughs) I still don’t know if I understand what goes on that makes the machine go. I don’t know if I understand the logistics of scheduling and getting books out there and coordinating with editors and artists. I’m not sure how editorial teams at Marvel really manage that.
The one book that stands out for me in your Marvel work is Wolverine. I was a huge fan of Jason Aaron’s run. I thought he did a phenomenal job. You followed it up, and I thought you did a great job, even with people like Dr. Rot who is a hard character to tap into. You worked with Paul Pelletier, who was great too, but now he’s off to Aquaman. Is your work done, for now, on that book when this arc ends? Could we see more from you in the future?
CB: I guess it’s always possible that you could see more. But for now, yes, my work is done.
That’s a damn shame.
CB: As far as I know, my work on Wolverine is done. It’s a character I’d love to go back to. I’d love to work on a Wolverine story for an extended amount of time. A long arc. But for now, that…who knows what the future holds, but that’s not in the current plans.
Going into Marvel Now, I believe your only ongoing would be Venom, yes?
CB: Yes. That is the only announced (Fearless Defenders has since been announced) book for me as of now.
As far as Venom is going, you’re following up Remender, and it seems like you keep following near legendary runs. Especially with Venom, which is more or less a new character. How has that experience been? It seems like you’ve had the chance to sink your teeth into it, more than others.
CB: It’s been good. The difficulty with Venom has been…you know, I helped Rick finish his run with the Savage Six story, and I came onto it as my own, and I knew that I had three issues before we entered the Minimum Carnage crossover. While I’ve been writing it, I haven’t yet gotten to what I consider my ramp up speed.
Minimum Carnage, and I like that storyline and there will be carryover into the rest of the book, but I was working on a script for #31 and I thought, “this is where I feel am actually to enter something in for the long haul.” While I like what I’ve done before, #31 is where I feel that things are getting real.
So we’ll see. I’ve enjoyed it, but I’m definitely looking forward into getting into this. Flash is moving to Philadelphia. There’s a lot of changes in his life. It’s coming out of Minimum Carnage, and he’s looking at things a little differently. It’s a new status quo for him. I’ve been kind of biding my time because of things that are going on in the Marvel universe as a whole, but now I’m at a point where I can cut loose.
