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Whacked another essay up on Agent of Weird. This one gets into the nuts of bolts of comic book technique when it comes to making horror books scary (rather than just full of monsters and grue).

https://alecworley.substack.com

Good old 'Scream!' gets a lot of love in this one...

Really appreciate everyone who's been taking the time to read these things. Really hope they're helping with your own projects...

Jim: I only recently realised that you co-created Ephrael Stern with Kev Walker for Games Workshop back in the day! How did that come about? Hope you're still getting royalties...

Dæmonifuge was very much Kev's baby (although Ephrael herself was based on an image by John Blanche) — GW asked him if he'd do something for their forthcoming Warhammer Monthly book, and Kev said only if he got to write and draw. I'd previously worked with Kev as co-writer on a proposal for 2000AD* (that never made it out of the mouldering foothills of Alan MacKenzie's in-tray)  and also The Inspectre, so he asked me if I'd work with him on the script.

The synopsis he had by that stage was pretty much fully formed. I suggested a plot tweak that ended up becoming an extra episode, but I contributed maybe 20% plot and 80% of the dialogue, since I did the first draft of the scripts.

And, yeah. WFH, so no royalties. I knew that going in, but it was slightly galling that neither of us saw a penny from the softcover TPB, the large-format hardcover, the three issue US-format mini-series, the German edition, the Japanese edition (!), the two limited edition figures, the £150 resin statue, or the more recent colourised anniversary omnibus... I think there were a couple of t-shirts in there somewhere, too...!

*We re-tooled that and took it to Dark Horse, where Randy Stradley really wanted to make it happen, but in strikingly unfortunate bit of timing, we pitched it just as the mid-90s US comic industry implosion was starting to bite, and DH were cutting their entire range back to core titles and licensed books to try and weather the storm. We never had much luck, TBH — we were a couple of weeks away from signing contracts on a SF magnum opus for Tundra's UK arm when Kevin Eastman pulled the plug on the company. Bits of that ended up in Dæmonifuge, eventually.

Aw, man. Timing's everything. Weirdly predictable too, though. Usually when I get a nibble off an editor in the U.S. is when I know they'll have left the publisher/been fired/been cancelled a week later...

Jim: I only recently realised that you co-created Ephrael Stern with Kev Walker for Games Workshop back in the day! How did that come about? Hope you're still getting royalties...

Colin: I don't really have any kind of internal monologue. I wish I did. It would make writing so much easier. For me, I guess, it's a bit like acting. You just phase into a different mindset for a while.

Thanks for reading, all. Hope it helps!

Do fictional characters really have a life of their own? Or is it all just marketing bollocks and cultural mythmaking? Do writers really commune with the unseen?

New thingy about writing posted on my Substack: https://alecworley.substack.com/p/why-wont-characters-do-as-theyre

Cheers, guys! Really appreciated!
Hoping to do a lot more craft stuff as the months go on.
All the best - and thanks again!
Alec

Just started a newsletter/blog thingy called 'AGENT OF WEIRD'. It's about writing comics, books, and wotnot.

The first post is all about online image and is called 'WHY WRITERS ARE FULL OF SHIT (AND WHY WE HAVE TO BE)' and you can read it right here: https://alecworley.substack.com/p/why-writers-are-full-of-s-and-why?sd=pf

It's free to subscribe if you fancy reading future posts, and if you like what you read right here then please do give it a share (especially if you're on Twitter - the platform upon which I fear to tread).

Hope you're all keeping safe and well.

Cheers
Alec

Dave was so sweet-natured and positive, truly generous with his time and endlessly enthusiastic about the comic we all love. He was my first comics editor and always a friendly face at conventions. I was always glad to see him. Such a lovely, lovely bloke!
My sincerest condolences to his close friends and family.

Cheers, guys!

Cheers, Bolt! Hope you and the family are safe and well.
Do you know what month this came out...?

Random question... Has the Abnett/Harrison Durham Red collection come out yet? (That's issue 71.) And if so, what month did it come out and was my essay in it?

Cheers

Hey guys!
Realm of the Damned isn't creator-owned, sadly. It was custom work-for-hire for the publisher. Rebellion licensed the reprint from them.
Barney's awesome! Keep up the great work!

Neimand the Diamond, FTW!

You lot don't know Worley like I do! For all his boyish charm, staggering intellect and dazzling sexual technique, he really hasn't got a bloody clue.

Apologies for being a soppy sod. I just wanted to jump on here and thank you guys so much for all your kind words. I am SO glad you're enjoying Durham so far. We've all worked like savages on this one (especially Ben). Working with such a beloved character is always tricky. We wanted to honour everything that's gone before without being beholden to it. And by trying something new there's always the risk that some of the old-school will go bananas. (Just look at the current bruhaha over Thundercats and junior Warhammer!) It's early days, I know, but I really, truly appreciate you guys giving the Durham revamp a chance. Florix grabundae, squaxx dek Thargo!

Cheers, guys. Will pass that on. Ben is absolutely fine and dandy now! His recovery time scuppered the schedule is all. Cheers again. Alec

Wotcha!
Full details on the current status of the new Durham Red, right here...
http://www.alecworley.com/blog/lee-carter-joins-durham-red
Please feel free to share and spread the word. Lee is a major addition to the team!
Apologies for this hurried post; deadlines an' that.
Cheers
Alec