@kierongillen / kierongillen.tumblr.com
[WicDiv spoiler notice for your readers]
Did you entertain the idea of keeping Mini or Baal alive at the end of the story? If so, how might their lives have played out in the epilogue?
I don't think I considered it for a second. I knew their story from the start. Baal could never forgive himself or Minerva. That was the tragedy.
Apologies for the pedantic question, but in Immortal #12, Hope seems to be copying the Soulsword along with Rasputin’s metal skin. That seems like it shouldn’t be possible, since the sword is a Limbo-thing rather than a mutant-thing. If it’s not that, how is Hope manifesting a big flaming sword?
Also, how did the Sinister Timeline version of Rasputin get a Soulsword anyway? Did Magik croak sometime in the first hundred years, and Sinister just took the sword off her body? I assume that’s how Powers of X Rasputin got her hands on it, but who knows- it could be a different Soulsword entirely.
Good questions all.
In terms of the providence of the soul sword. SoS Sinister did say it was tricky to get hold of.
In terms of Hope's flaming sword, she's made telekenetic fire weapons before off Exodus, and he's certainly close enough for her to lift powers from too. Hope doesn't have a limit on the amount of powers she can copy at once.
Hi, Kieron. I really like the way you write Iron Man, I hope to see you writing him again
This one.
Thank you. When I'm normally pretty down on my first Iron Man run, having some more time with Tony reminded me how much I actually did like writing him, and specifically the voice for him.
That he's in the X orbit certainly makes it possible. I'd certainly use him if it came up.
Hi, Kieron. Gosto muito da forma que você escreve o Homem de Ferro, espero ver você ver escrevendo ele outra vez. Tem algum plano para isso?
I love that I go this one, just after...
Hey I was just wondering, the Eternals Pixie, Vampiro and Eternal Brain/William Carmody. What are their real names, according to your run? Or are they no longer considered Eternals?
They're definitely still Eternals - at least Pixie and Vampiro was. William isn't ringing a bell, but it's possible I've just forgot.
Pixie is one of the Olympian ones. Vampiro is working for the Damocles Foundation. You can maybe work out from that?
Of course, as this wasn't explicitly established in the canon means that a future writer (including me) may change their mind about that.
How do you feel about Doctor Who / would you have any interest in doing something with the property?
As a Brit who was born in the 1970s, it's right at the core of my DNA. It's not something I follow closely, or even watch any given season.
But it's Doctor Who. If it came up, of course I would.
I do have my "If I was randomly made showrunner, what my season would do" plot though.
Would you ever be interested in writing Prodigy/David Alleyne again? He hasn't gotten attention in a long time and your work with him is some of my favorite of his.
Thank you.
I enjoyed my brief return to writing Prodigy (and Speed, for that matter) for last year's pride special, but I've no specific plans to do more. I'd certainly be happy to write him if he entered my orbit in X though. He's an interesting guy, our David.
I’m watching that documentary “Before Stonewall” about gay history pre-1969, and uncovered something which I think is interesting.
The documentary includes a brief clip of a 1954 televised newscast about the rise of homosexuality. The host of the program interviewed psychologists, a police officer, and one “known homosexual”. The “known homosexual” is 22 years old. He identifies himself as Curtis White, which is a pseudonym; his name is actually Dale Olson.
So I tracked down the newscast. According to what I can find, Dale Olson may have been the first gay man to appear openly on television and defend his sexual orientation. He explains that there’s nothing wrong with him mentally and he’s never been arrested. When asked whether he’d take a cure if it existed, he says no. When asked whether his family knows he’s gay, he says that they didn’t up until tonight, but he guesses they’re going to find out, and he’ll probably be fired from his job as well. So of course the host is like …why are you doing this interview then? and Dale Olson, cool as cucumber pie, says “I think that this way I can be a little useful to someone besides myself.”
1954. 22 years old. Balls of pure titanium.
Despite the pseudonym, Dale’s boss did indeed recognize him from the TV program, and he was promptly fired the next day. He wrote into ONE magazine six months later to reassure readers that he had gotten a new job at a higher salary.
Curious about what became of him, I looked into his life a little further. It turns out that he ultimately became a very successful publicity agent. He promoted the Rocky movies and Superman. Not only that, but get this: Dale represented Rock Hudson, and he was the person who convinced him to disclose that he had AIDS! He wrote the statement Rock read. And as we know, Rock Hudson’s disclosure had a very significant effect on the national conversation about AIDS in the U.S.
It appears that no one has made the connection between Dale Olson the publicity agent instrumental in the AIDS debate and Dale Olson the 22-year-old first openly gay man on TV. So I thought I’d make it. For Pride month, an unsung gay hero.
Following on from your X-office answer, a more general question about work for hire with Marvel. And I completely appreciate that this might not be something you can (or want to) answer, but just in case...
In terms of creators getting their share of the profit from successful works, what's better - buying the comics as single issues or collections? And paper or digitally?
(For that matter, how does reading your older work on Marvel Unlimited feed into all this? Do you get anything from that based on number of downloads?)
Or is the Marvel model built in a way where it doesn't really make too much difference as long as the book does well enough to stay afloat?
(Partly curious, partly wondering about options now that then Marvel-branded Comixology app is shutting down)
Thanks!
My answer for this is pretty basic: just buy it in whatever format you like to consume it. That's great. The industry should change to support your decisions, not the other way around.
To stop books getting cancelled early? It's probably buying single issues, either physically or (if bought in a timely fashion) digitally.
Hey, just wanted to say I loved your Young Avengers run, loved your Eternals. Is A.X.E. going to be your Eternals finale for now or is there more coming? I just asked you over on Twitter, so if you see one before the other, feel free to disregard the second lol
No present plans for more Eternals from me, at least in their own book. You never know though. I would like to do that Kronos special at some point.
Thoughts on 40K Tenth Edition? Also, ever thought about doing a ork comic...Deff Skwadron is the greatest piece of comic orkiness I ever read and I'm sure your take would be just bring just as much krumpin' as that tome
I haven't had a chance to properly look at it - I dig that they're doing the Tyranids, which is an army I've always liked.
With Iris, it's unlikely that I'll be looking at it for a while - I only got 9th to table once, I. think? I suspect it may be 11th before I play again.
(I wasn't actually a huge fan of 9th, though that's likely coloured by the game I played being a really tedious one against a Thousand Sons army, which was me just having no idea what was going on in the endless series of psychic phases.)
Orks are great, obv. They are weird in that you can't really do an Ork book until you've done a lot of other books, because they're playfulness needs to be the exception to a rule you've set up.
Was Ruth becoming Sakhmet, and therefore giving up her original name, a pun on “ruthless”?
It's so long ago that I can't remember. It sounds like the sort of thing I'd do.
If you could magically get one of your works adapted into an animated series, which one would it be? Do you have a favourite style or studio you’d like to work on it?
Ludocrats, because...
Our favourite studio would be any studio which would give us money for Ludocrats.
Is it true you’re leaving the x-office
It's not a job for life, especially for me. I'm here to tell a story, and when the story's done, I'm out. If I take a job, I'm already thinking how I'm leaving.
I haven't done the firm math, but I think you've got more issues of X stuff from me still to read as have already been released. 16 have come out so far, yes? Yeah, there's more than that to come.
My math may just be wrong though. There's a bunch of stuff to come.
What's your favorite table memory from playing Die?
Hah. I don't do favourites.
The one which came first to mind was something from I think the first playtest where the Fool player just broke down and had to be dragged through the adventure in a confused upset state, only for the climax for them to be hugging the master. Amazing scenes.
The one which came to mind after I thought for a second was the climax of the first full length DIE campaign which I write about here.
That was some amazing gaming - perhaps the best ever.
If WicDiv got optioned for TV, would you want the studio to lean-in to the ongoing trend of theming scenes around licensed music or would you rather they take a new, distinctive approach to the way shows incorporate popular music into episodes?
I would like a nice big cheque.
In reality, I could see lots of ways WicDiv could work, and it would depend on the creators involved. I wouldn't want to give a preference until I'd see ideas in context.
Can you tell me to stop farting around on tumblr and do my editing please Kieron :(
DO WORK! QUICKLY!
If it helps, I'm putting off doing my taxes.
Hi! I was re-reading Phonogram at the weekend and considering my own late 90s NME reading, and the thought struck me, “I wonder what Kieron thought of Steven Wells back in the day.” I found a blogpost from around the time of his death that answered that question, but I was wondering if there are any Swells memories that jump out at you? (Mine is a My Vitriol singles review that was just a bunch of expletives)
In my interview at the NME (which I was vastly unqualified for) I was in the elevator on the way up, and Swells got in. We chatted briefly on the way up - I said I was there for an interview, he asked what it was, I said, and he said that'd be a good job. That should have been my clue that I really WAS unqualified for it, but I didn't realise for sure until they told me how much it paid.
He was very kind, and put me at ease. He was a hell of a writer.
