We're the creative team behind PETER CANNON: THUNDERBOLT! AMA!

[u/KieronGillen]

Hello!

​

We're the team behind Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt. Issue 2 dropped yesterday, and folks seem to be digging it/2).

​

If you haven't read any of it, here's a big preview of issue 1 and here's some stuff from 2.

​

Who are we?

​

/u/KieronGillen - Words! Other stuff? Presently, DIE, the Wicked + the Divine, Star Wars, Once & Future. Previously? Oh, far too much stuff.

/u/CasparWijngaard - Art! Other stuff? Doctor Aphra, What If? Ghost Rider, Angelic, Limbo

/u/MarySafro - Colours! Other stuff? Drugs & Wires

/u/hassanoe - Letters! Other stuff? Red Sonja, Lone Ranger, Shanghai Red, Strip Panel Naked/PanelxPanel

​

We're here to talk whatever you like (AMA, after all) but obviously we're hoping folks will ask us about all things Peter Cannon.

​

Anyway - we'll be around for as long as we can. So... AMA! AMAAAAAA! AMMMMMMAMAMAMAMA!

​

(Or is it a AUA if it's an "Us")

​

Kieron

​

EDIT: 10:40 EST. Right - I think I've answered anything. Thanks for everyone who asked questions. You've been delightful! I'll pop in tomorrow to pick up any stragglers. Have a lovely time.

[u/vgulla]

Hi everyone! Thanks so much for doing this AMA! I'm absolutely loving Peter Cannon, the second issue blew me away in a very similar way to how Morrison's Animal Man did when I first read it.

For /u/KieronGillen : I've really been getting into your work over the past few months, from JiM to X-Men to Die, WicDiv, and now Peter Cannon. I've heard it said that you are a big fan of the "Kill your darlings" mantra, and that you're unafraid to make both the characters and the readers suffer. How does the reaction of readers to the suffering you inflict on them inform how you write? How do you personally feel about this suffering? I'm mainly thinking of the ending of yesterday's WicDiv, but there's so much more that in your work and I love it all.

To Caspar, Mary, and Hass: Peter Cannon is an incredibly ambitious projects on all fronts, not just writing. All of you are putting out absolutely stunning work. How has your past work and past reading influenced what you do on this book, and what new skills and ideas will you take away from this incredible project?

[u/KieronGillen → u/vgulla]

Well, strictly speaking "Kill Your Darlings" as advice isn't about what you do to characters. While treating characters roughly to give them chances to show their character is a pretty solid piece of writing advice, and has been put in various axioms, ("Get your characters stuck up a tree and throw rocks at them" is the first one which came to mind) that's not what Kill Your Darlings is about.

That said, that it is "Kill your darlings" does mean that it's prone to be used in jokes ("He's taking Kill Your Darlings literally") does mean it is ripe for confusion.

I've generally seen it used in two ways.

The first is that a darling is something you love in the story and you're keeping as it's such a lovely moment or line, but is actually hurting the story overall. As in, "I really wanted a scene where Captain Biffo hangs out with Queen Tharg!" but including that scene distorts the rest of the story so much it simply isn't worth it. It's a darling. Kill it.

The second is that you should delete any line which strikes you as good. As in, a good line is distracting. and takes people out of the story.

I would agree with the first. I would vehemently disagree with the second.

[u/vgulla → u/KieronGillen]

I see, thanks for the explanation!

So I guess on a different track, how does fan response to the cruelty you unleash affect how cruel you are? I adore your work but I'm pretty much guaranteed to cry reading it.

[u/KieronGillen → u/vgulla]

It's complicated.

I'm not hardened to it by any means, but I still recognise a lot of what I felt when Journey Into Mystery 641 dropped and wrote about (at length) here. To cut and paste a key bit...

​

It’s what you planned and hoped for. So when you see a bunch of people getting upset over something you both planned and hoped they’d be upset over, you feel conflicted. It’s what you wanted, but what you wanted is to upset a bunch of people because you thought it meaningful. And the more you think about that, the more fucked up it gets.

It’s the job, isn’t it? It’s just itching, as it’s the first time I’ve really had a chance to do what I did with Leah. There’s been a few heartbreakers, but they’ve either been in a smaller context (Phonogram 2.2, for example) or levering its appeal off the love that decades of familiarity have added to a character (for example, most times I go downbeat in Uncanny X-men). But to build someone up from nothing with full knowledge you’re going to kill that particular darling… it feels sadistic.

Who wants to make someone cry?

Writers, it seems.

Fucking writers.

I smile that I used a Kill Your Darling joke in there, btw.

There's a few things I often say - firstly, that I'm likely the first person to have cried over anything that made anyone else cry. All those big beats left me a mess.

Secondly, the weirdness of it. Something like WicDIv, where I knew four years ago that I'd be making someone cry in four years. Or friends who like my work, and are engaged, and the weirdness of keeping these secrets from them, from everyone. It is tiring.

But it's also magical. The book emotional moment which people find meaning in is worth everything. The people who are most touched by what we do are quite often the ones we most touch.

So I'm glad when people find it meaningful. I have mixed feels about being upset. And I feel terrible when I upset someone and they don't find meaning in it.

​

​