After The Sixth Gun and Invasive, Cullen Bunn is back with another horror comic. This time around it’s The Autumn Kingdom, which mixes horror and fantasy. The first issue drops on September 4 thanks to Oni Press, and Bunn spoke to Cemetery Dance about his similarities with the author in the comic, his combination of horror and fantasy, and what he enjoyed most about writing it.
(Interview conducted by Danica Davidson)
CEMETERY DANCE: The main character of The Autumn Kingdom is an author, like you. Are any parts of his personality or life inspired by you?
CULLEN BUNN: Well, I don’t know if you’d call Andrew the main character. At least not initially. If he survives, he might gain a little more footing. That title is shared by his daughters, Sommer and Winter. Isn’t that the way it goes for a parent? Their kids take the leading role. In that way, Andrew and I are alike. Everything I do is for my family, whether they really understand that or not. When the chips are down, when I’m not there to help him out, I hope my son is ready for whatever he needs to face. Even if it is a horde of evil, bloodthirsty fae creatures.
Now, Andrew’s work, especially his dark fantasy character Elsethriel, plays a bit of a role in the story.
Without giving too much away, how does The Autumn Kingdom combine horror and fantasy?
I’ve always been fascinated by the darker side of the fae, by the overlap between fairy tales and horror. That’s what we’ve embraced with this tale. Our lead characters are beset by creatures from the fairie kingdom — by elves and gnomes and goblins and trolls. These creatures are cunning and cruel and vicious. They’re scary. The monstrous aspects are truly monstrous. Their motivations are strange and alien — though they most certainly involve blood. They strike with lethal efficiency. I guess I always loved stories like Labyrinth and The Neverending Story and The Dark Crystal and Legend. My favorite parts, of course, are the scary moments. With this, I just wanted to lean into that.
Sommer and Winter do find a magic, fairy-killing sword, though. What’s more pure fantasy than that?
What was the process like working with Christopher Mitten?
Chris is a real professional. He makes it easy. We spent some time with character designs. I can’t say there was a lot of back and forth, because he pretty much nailed it straight away. He saw my outlines for the series up front and we had the chance to discuss the story a bit. From there, I write a script, delighting every step of the way about the awesome pages I know Chris will deliver. Then… he actually sends those pages in, and I’m utterly blown away!
Seriously, I just sent him the description of a creature that is so strange and bizarre. I’m on pins and needles to see his rendition!
I know some preview pages for the series have popped up here and there. Believe me, though. You’ve seen nothing yet.
What did you enjoy most about writing this comic?
Aside from getting awesome art in my inbox on the daily?
This book, embracing those weird and scary fairy tale stories I’ve always loved, is just a lot of fun to write. I love the lead characters. I love the villains. I love big, honking swords.
I will admit, though, there are several scenes where we dig into Andrew’s dark fantasy novels, and I so completely enjoy that world-within-a-world.
What would you like readers to take away from The Autumn Kingdom?
As always, my first thought is I want the reader to have a great time. I also want them to think about fairy tales, and by extension childhood, and by extension adulthood and family and making tough decisions for the sake of survival, a little differently.
Hug your kids.
You never know when they might be fighting for your life against a sabretoothed troll.
