cullenbunn - Tumblr blog

[cullenbunn]

Can you share any insight on the upcoming Venom issues you're going to be writing? It looks like some big stuff is in store for Venom.

Sadly, I can’t tell you much, as it would spoil some of the stuff going on in the book before my issues!

[cullenbunn]

Did you have any input when it came to Bloodstorms death in Extermination? And if she hadn't have died, what stories would have liked to tell with her?

No. I knew nothing about that until it happened in the comic. I had a lot of potential stories for Bloodstorm. A reunion/first encounter with the Dracula of this world was high on the list. More trouble with the Hex Men and the Goblin Queen. It would have been cool to see her become less of an alternate universe Storm and more of her own character. 

[cullenbunn]

What would Elixir's role in the Brotherhood have been if you had continued writing it?

Elixir would have been dealing with the conflicted nature of his powers, the balance between life and death. I don’t remember everything I had planned for him right now, but I DID have plans somewhere to take him and a number of the absolute most power mutants (Tempus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, for example) and put them in their own team called the X-Ternals. 

[cullenbunn]

Was the return to status quo with Magneto in terms of his costume and place in the MU a push from Editorial? And do you agree/disagree with it?

I don’t remember anything about Magneto being editorially driven. 

[cullenbunn]

Hi Cullen, I love/hate hearing all of the things you had planned but couldn't get to during your tenure in the X-Books. What other plans did you have for Monet before Uncanny wrapped and Generation X resolved her Emplate possession and how were you going to detour back to her story when she was initially teased as one of Magneto's targets during X-Men Blue?

Yeah, I had a much longer story in mind dealing with Psylocke’s “possession” by Emplate. It would have mirrored Sabretooth’s own descent. When X-Men Blue came out, I didn’t know there were plans for Monet, and I would have resolved that in the pages of Blue at some point. I’m glad it was resolved somewhere. 

[cullenbunn]

Had Uncanny continued, would Psylocke really leave the team or would you work her way back in?

Tough to say. That was the ending I wrote based on knowing the book was finished. If, for some reason, I needed to pick it up from there, it might have been cool to see Psylocke following Magneto’s team as an outsider. 

[cullenbunn]

Was the reason Gwenom was not part of Venomverse because the Gwenom story was still ongoing at the time? She still has her symbiote too, so i do wonder what that would mean if there is a Venomverse sequel.

That’s correct. Her story was unfolding at the time. 

[cullenbunn]

I know you had a special affinity for Loa, but is there a chance you ever were interested in writing some of the other prominent but also not prominent X-students like Pixie or Surge?

I had big ideas for Pixie... and I really wanted to do a Hex-Men series focused on magical X-Men. Pixie would have been a big part of that. Surge is a cool character, too, and it would have been awesome to write a story where she could shine.

[cullenbunn]

Hi, I was curious to know if you have a current list of upcoming appearances post somewhere. I found a list on your site for "Events & Appearances" but it hasn't been updated in a few years. Thanks in advance!

Yeah, I know I need to update my website. I’ve got a massive overhaul planned for this year. 

In the meantime, this is my current convention appearance list:

March 22 - 24 - C2E2 in Chicago

March 29 - 31 - Planet Comic Con in Kansas City

April 6 - 7 - Dallas Comic Show in Dallas

June 14 - 16 - HeroesCon in Charlotte

There will likely be a few more added as we go along. 

[cullenbunn]

Hi Mr. Bunn! I absolutely adored Harrow County and with that open ending to the series I hope someday you'll revisit the universe in the future! I also enjoyed your work on Dark Ark, Regression and The Empty Man! It's no secret that you write a ton of horror nowadays! I am very curious, where does your love of horror stem from? Is there a particular thing you've experienced in your life that has made you love horror and want to write about it?

I think I’ve always been interested in horror. As a young kid, I used to sneak into the living room late at night and hide behind the couch while my older siblings watched Hammer horror movies on the late show. I was fascinated by stories of the Headless Horseman. I loved going to haunted houses on Halloween. I read tons of horror anthology comics. I remember Aurora horror models and tee shirts with the Wolfman or the Mummy on them. Famous Monsters of Filmland was on the shelf at the pharmacy, along with cool horror magazines. Hell, even breakfast cereal dug into horror with Freakies. And once I got a spooky record of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow on the back of a cereal box. I loved ghost stories, and there were plenty of legends of drowned boys crawling out of lakes and mysterious lights at the railroad tracks. I just liked the idea of being scared, and it seemed like the world around me was rewarding me with plenty of creepiness. 

Maybe that all stuck with me.

Over time, I became a little less interested in horror, I suppose. I turned toward the idea of writing fantasy. Thanks D&D! 

But in middle school I discovered Lovecraft and Robert E. Howard’s horror stories and Stephen King novels. That started to rekindle that interest. Some friends and I had dreams of creating a horror anthology movie we could share with our friends. We also started kicking around the idea of starting a haunted house out in the woods near a friend’s house. 

It all just sort of rushed back. 

I had dreams of becoming a special effects makeup artist for horror movies. I dug deeper into horror movies and horror fiction. At some point, I lost interest in special effects, but I didn’t give up on the idea of telling stories. 

I started submitting short stories to horror magazines and the rest… as they say… is history. 

But, really, why horror?

I’ve always felt that horror was, strangely, one of the most hopeful of genres. As I’m reading a story or watching a movie or writing about some awful occurrence, I think of the protagonists, struggling against these terrible forces. Sometimes they survive, sometimes they die. But they fight. And if they can fight against the insurmountable horrors they are facing, then I can damn sure face the general BS of the world around me. 

[cullenbunn]

Why did you kill Eye Boy that one time :( ?

He looked at me funny. 

[cullenbunn]

You wrote for Deadpool and you wrote venomverse. Would you ever make a Deadpool verse?

Oh, that would be glorious! In a lot of ways, DEADPOOL KILLS DEADPOOL was a Deadpoolverse. 

[cullenbunn]

Kid Loki's return was a pleasant surprise and really sold me on Asgardians of the Galaxy. I know all questions about his return will be answered in the following issues of the book, so I would like to simply ask where did the idea of brining him back come from, was it editorial, was it you, was it Loki himself?

When I was pitching the series, editorial thought I needed something big to “Seal the deal” at the end of the first issue--a surprise of some sort. I didn’t think they’d go for it, but I pitched the idea of bringing Kid Loki back. To my surprise, they agreed!Or it was Loki himself. 

[cullenbunn]

Thanks for bringing back Sera! Her reunion with Sera was beautiful!

Thanks! I’m glad you enjoyed it! It was important to me that we carve out some time for Sera and Angela in this series. It was one of the first notes I made when Angela joined the team!

[cullenbunn]

Do you think you'll ever write Andi Benton again? I kinda feel bad about how things ended up for her.

I would love to! Keep your fingers crossed! 

[cullenbunn]

Speaking of which, i love the friendship Loa had with Lyra.

Me, too. 

[cullenbunn]

How do you feel any about X-Men Blue now that you have some distance from it?

For a group of characters I did not want to write at first, I’m pretty happy with the book overall. I came to love that team of X-Men.