Paul Cornell’s Friday Newsletter
For 11th October.
London MCM Comic Con
On Saturday, 26th October, I’ll be a guest at the London MCM Comic Con, doing panels and signings!
We’re Going Back to Thought Bubble! (And I’m a Guest!)
Lizbeth Myles and I will once more be running at table at the great Thought Bubble comics convention in Harrogate on 16th-17th November! I’m looking forward to meeting once again so many lovely comics fans. And this year I’ve once again got guest status, which is a lovely gesture.
The Death of Wolverine
As announced here on ICv2, on 27th November Marvel will be releasing an omnibus edition of the Death of Wolverine storyline, featuring not only the miniseries of that name, but also my entire run on the comic. I’m very pleased that all this material will now be available in one volume.
There are going to be two covers, this regular one from Alex Ross…
And this direct market exclusive version from Joe Quesada.
It’s available to pre-order on Amazon, and at all good bookstores and comic shops.
My Ko-fi and eBay Stores
I’ve re-stocked my Ko-fi store, where you can buy my books and comics, signed and personalised, and now I’ve set up shipping to a range of international destinations.
Similarly, I’ve now re-stocked my ebay store, full of Bronze Age Marvel comics at bargain prices.
The Future of Hammer House of Podcast (announcment on Sunday!)
Hammer House of Podcast, in which myself and Lizbeth Myles watch the Hammer horror movies in UK release order, is out on the 13th of every month, with our September episode being about The Woman in Black: Angel of Death.
You can get these episodes free wherever you normally get your podcasts, as well as on our site, but if you sign up to our Patreon, for any sum of money from £1/$1, you get an extra episode every month too, on the 27th, in which we watch Patron requested movies and films from other horror studios of the same era.
In November we reach our final movie, so in our October episode, which should be out on Sunday, we’ll be announcing the title and theme of our sequel podcast, which will begin in January. (So I’ll have all the news about that in the Newsletter next week.) Patrons will be automatically subscribed to the new podcast at their current level, but if you are one of our Patrons you should of course feel free to opt out if you don’t like our new subject matter. We hope you’ll be quite pleased, though!
When HHoP finishes we’ll be leaving X and establishing accounts for the new podcast on Bluesky and Instagram.
(This was much better than we’d heard it was.)
Find my Books at Bookshop.Org and Help Out Indie Booksellers!
Bookshop.org is a collective selling tool that sets up a marketplace for all indie bookstores in the UK, functioning exactly like Amazon, except you’re supporting your local bookshop. You can find a selection of my books here, and I get a little cut of the proceeds too if you order from here!
My Linktree
You can now find all my social media links, my website/blog and links to where you can buy my books, in one place here, thanks to Linktree!
The Work of Friends
My friend the comics writer Cavan Scott (with artist Pius Bak) has a new comic coming out from Vault next Wednesday, 16th October.
“Godfather of Hell is a possession story from the point of view of the demon! Dario Santini was a young enforcer for the New York mob but when he crossed a line his gang boss sent him on a one-way journey straight to hell. At least, he thought it was one way, because Dario soon finds out that, like Earth, the underworld is just one big racket. In fact, it's more than that: it's a job opportunity! Dario escapes eternal punishment by becoming employed as hell's number one debt collector, chasing down sinners who have sold their souls to the devil and now don't want to pay. Talk about a criminal underworld! Think of this as The Exorcist, as directed by Tarantino; Drive with demons and succubi. It's a neon-soaked vision of hell brought vividly to life by my co-creator, Bram Stoker award-winner, Pius Bak!”
My Week
I don’t talk about cricket much on here because I know it’s not a love many of you share, but I really should mention something about what happened in Pakistan over the last five days, because it’s moved me so much. Right now, in the longest form of the game, England are playing a style which has come to be know as ‘Bazball’ (after their new coach), which can be summed up as basically playing without the fear of failure that most England teams have worn on their shoulders for the last few decades. In the first two days of this first Pakistan vs. England Test Match, Pakistan made a daunting total of over 500 runs on a very flat pitch, more friendly to batters than bowlers. To many England sides of the past, that feeling of being daunted would have effectively been the end of the game. We’d have tentatively tried to climb the mountain without taking any risks, and thus been struck down halfway, or at best eked out a draw. This England side however, even having lost to injury their talismanic Captain, Ben Stokes, hit over 800 runs at high speed, the fourth highest Test score ever, including youngster Harry Brook’s seemingly carefree 300+ plus individual score, the fifth highest for an England cricketer. That gave them time to bowl out a completely broken Pakistan side and win the game.
It’s not so much what they did, it’s how they’re doing it, saying that if you’re not afraid of risking defeat, if you play with a smile on your face, you tend to win a lot more. And make friends along the way. Brook is incredibly popular in Pakistan.
So that’s heartening sunshine, metaphorical and literal, in a world of autumnal dark. As for me, I’ve been continuing my two strands of research, and am still waiting on tenterhooks for a big deal to be signed, possibly today. I’m also recording with Liz today the Hammer House of Podcast episode in which we announce our sequel, so that’s going to be exciting. (It’s out on Sunday.) It’s really pleasing to have completed that journey together.
Thomas is continuing to have a good time at school. He tells me, when he says anything at all, that his favourite subject is maths, of course, and he’s started to do ‘creative’ on a Friday afternoon rather than retreat to the sensory room. One day we may see one of his paintings. Still, he continues to bring his own sunshine in this most dreary of seasons.
To Be Continued
Might have some photos from something for you next week. Might not! But I hope to see you all again then.
That's what I get for not keeping up with Pakistani news sites! Unaware of those crazy high run totals...!