This past weekend at New York Comicon, BOOM! Studios announced that Fall of Cthulhu will be wrapping up with issue #14 (it will be followed with the miniseries Fall of Cthulhu: "Godwar" to wrap up the overall story line).
I'm pretty conflicted about this. Obviously, I'm sad that this storyline will be ending. Because the fertile sandbox that Lovecraft created is so rich that I could have written this for years, it's disappointing on a creative level to be told that recess is finally over.
That being said, I must admit that part of me is happy this FoC storyline is coming to an end. Not that I no longer wish to write it or am bored with the title (quite the opposite), but it's nice to have a chance to bring the story to some sort of conclusion. My first ongoing series, Second Wave, ended prematurely so I didn't have the opportunity to give it the satisfying ending I was hoping for. I spent those first six issues planting seeds for a long and rich story that, ideally, was supposed to have lasted years. Unfortunately, sales (or lack thereof) dictated otherwise.
The case with FoC is a bit different. With the exception of our Warhammer line, it is by far our strongest selling title (I would love to personally take credit for the book's relative popularity, but let's be honest. People buy the book because it's Cthulhu, not because I'm writing it and I'm okay with that. I do believe that many readers continue to follow the series because of my writing, but that's not why they pick up the book in the first place. I'm not a "name" yet. Cthulhu is). To have an ongoing series last, in essence, 18 issues this early in my career is something I'm very proud of. It may be some time before I write another ongoing series, let alone one that can survive for more than a few issues.
So even though I'm sad that FoC is ending, the whole reason it is ending, and why I'm happy it is, is so that it will HAVE an ending. Quite often, young ongoing series end by interruption rather than intent. This can leave both readers and writers frustrated with the final result. With Godwar, my hope is to resolve the series in a way that brings the story to a satisfying conclusion.
This does not necessarily mean that FoC will be ending forever. Our intention is to leave the ending open enough to allow us to write future FoC titles (I'll be writing a separate miniseries with one of the characters from FoC: The Gray Man, although I'll be building this story around the character and outside of the Cthulhu Mythos--a topic I'll address once we get closer to publishing the story). So our hope is that there will be more FoC goodness down the road. I've grown very fond of the characters in FoC, especially the ones of my own creation: Cy, Lucifer, The Harlot and her Boxes, The Masked Mute, The Infinite Girl (she's been in every single issue and yet no one has noticed her yet--very odd). I want to continue telling their stories.
But now that I'm back from my first New York Comicon, I can settle down and focus on bringing this first iteration all to a close. I've finished writing "The Gray Man" arc and the art for the series is almost complete. Next week I'll be starting to flesh-out the outline to "Godwar" and hope to have that wrapped up before San Diego (I have other projects outside the Cthulhu universe that need my attention too). What comes after all of that? I have no idea. I'm sure I will have plenty of writing projects on my table and hope that some of them will be Cthulhu related. But for now, I think it's time I stepped outside of the Harlot's box and tried something new.
* from "The Gray Man" part 4
7 comments:
I read over the weekend about FoC ending. Sorry to hear that. I know you've worked really hard on that story. Any idea what, besides the FoC spinoffs, you're going to be working on next?
(If it's a secret, you can email me so as not to alert the blogosphere - I won't tell. :) )
It is a little sad, but the nice thing is that I get to write an actual ending for it. Plus, it's only going to be the end of the current story line (with Arkham, etc.). We're still going to be doing FoC, but as a collection of miniseries instead of an ongoing.
Aside from the occasional zombie tale and cthulhu tale, I'm writing a fantasy/sci-fi miniseries. Unfortunately, I can't say any more about it (the concept was created by a hollywood director so there are contracts involved) but we should be making an announcement soon (at least by San Diego).
"The Infinite Girl"..? The little blonde girl who looks rather like Tenniel's Alice? I've certainly noticed her (and have been waiting for her to suddenly get a lot bigger & uglier).
I've enjoyed the way you plant visual clues in the panels, like the Lost Dog posters that were all over the MU campus in "The Fugue"--keeps readers on their toes & guessing. (Some of my guesses have been wildly wrong, but then I don't usually guess whodunnit, either.)
Denise-
Yep, that's her! Great eye! And yes, she will definitely be getting bigger. Or should I say closer. When she first showed up in the Zero issue, she was quite some distance away. but she's been inching closer ever since.
And good catch on the Lost Dog posters. Those were there to help hint at Connor's backstory (his backstory is too heinous for BOOM! to publish so I've never been able to use it openly in the story--yes, it really is that disturbing). The idea was that when Connor went to the Dreamlands in issue #8, his backstory would come to fruition when he skins the head of the dog creature and wears it as a mask.
All the little details and clues I try to leave aren't necessary to enjoy the story, but they're there to add a little flavor for people who want to read into it a little more. So I'm really happy you've been picking up on those hints and clues. I think it adds to the fun when there's a mystery to uncover.
Yes, the mystery element is a lot of fun & I'll wait to see who (or what) The Infinite Girl turns out to be (I don't have even a wild guess at the moment). I did get the feeling, too, that there was more to Connor than you were telling, the business with his grandmother, etc.
Okay...here's my big question, the wild guess I still wonder might have been half-right. (I hope this isn't going to be a spoiler for those who haven't yet read "The Fugue"; I'll try to word it carefully.)
The business with the knife--the fact that it seemed to keep creeping back into the apartment even after Cy's girlfriend had repeatedly demanded he dispose of it--had me convinced he would end up using it to sacrifice her. I thought it was Cy himself who was sneaking it back inside (whilst under some alien influence), with there being a play on the word "fugue" in its psychological rather than musical sense. I was very surprised when things turned out differently. Was this a plot twist you'd at one time considered, and then dropped?
Well, there aren't many clues as to who or what the Infinite Girl might be. Even though she appears in every issue (but only in a single panel), she is only mentioned twice in the series so far, and only in seemingly throw-away lines that mention her yellow dress (issues #5 and #9). Even as the writer, I'm curious how her character will come to the forefront within the story (I have a rough plan, but nothing specific yet).
You're spot on with Connor and his grandmother. She, the missing dogs, and Arkham addressing him as a "good boy" are all inter-related (albeit, in a pretty foul way). I might post the backstory here some day for readers who are curious, but I'm not sure it it would be a good idea. It doesn't further the main story at all and it is twisted enough that I'd have to post warnings for more sensitive readers to skip it.
Ah yes, the knife. I SOOO wish I had written it so that Cy was putting it back in the house in a fugue state. That is such a great twist! Sadly, I am not that clever. I simply wrote it so the knife was a powerful instrument of evil and had a will of its own, somehow finding its own way back into the house. Silly, I know. But hopefully once you read The Gray Man, that idea might not seem so silly after all. But I don't want to say any more for fear of spoiling the story. But if you've read issue #11, well...the writing is on the wall. ;)
I picked up FoC #11 at the weekend and enjoyed it very much. It's a good idea to have the local sheriff as hero. Logical, too--one always wonders where the police are in mythos stories when the bodies start to pile up. Mysteries upon mysteries... though I did spot the Infinite Girl again, picking her way daintily through the blood & guts at the crime scene.
In "The Gathering" I rather missed there being a single storyline & continuing cast of human characters, as in "The Fugue," but the new arc looks as if it will be going back to that format, complete with cliffhanger endings--great stuff, and I'll be looking forward to seeing how it all turns out.
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