Season's Beatings
Wow! I can't believe it's almost over! This Sunday sees the final episode of NOS4A2, Season Two. I never in my wildest dreams imagined the novel would become a TV show at all, let alone that Charlie Manx and the Wraith would be on the road for 20 episodes. I think show-runner and lead writer Jami O'Brian saved the best for last, which is how it should be: the last two episodes of S2 are my favorites of the whole run.
It's natural to wonder if there'll be more. I couldn't tell you. The number crunchers at AMC will have to figure that one out. What I can tell you is that if this is where we wrap things up, we can go out with our heads high. The show set out to dig deep into the characters from the book, and explore their world on a vast, dark canvas... and it did all that to the max. It also adapted the entire storyline of the novel, while snatching some tasty bits from the graphic novel spinoff, Wraith. I couldn't ask for more than that.
I am so grateful to the folks at AMC for taking a chance on my weird vampire story and to the gifted, heartfelt work of the strong creatives who made these two seasons happen. In particular, that's Jami O'Brian, who dreamed the show into being. It's also Zachary Quinto, without whom we simply don't have this show. And Ashleigh Cummings, who delivers such a brave, vulnerable, go-for-broke vision of Vic McQueen. And Jahkara, who makes Maggie Leigh pop in every scene. And Jonathan Langdon, whose Lou Carmody gives the show such heart. And Ashley Romans, whose Tabitha Hutter is as penetrating as a fencing blade. And Mattea Conforti, who finds the humanity in the inhuman Millie Manx. Our daring, inventive writing room and our indefatigable directors.
Jump in and watch the final chapter with us? It airs at 10PM EST on AMC and BBCAmerica. As always, I'll be live-tweeting the episode... follow the #NOS4A2 hashtag to join the conversation.
Beyond the PALE
Locke & Key: ...In Pale Battalions Go...
The first issue of Locke & Key was published in February of 2008 and wrapped up five years later, at the very end of 2013. Since then, artist Gabriel Rodriguez and I have largely let the story stand as is, although there have been a couple of standalone tales about Chamberlin Locke and his family, who occupied Keyhouse in the early 20th century.
Now, though, for the first time in seven years, we've got a big new story to tell, and it begins in Locke & Key: ... in Pale Battalions Go... #1, which ought to arrive in your local comic store on August 26th or thereabouts. Battalions runs for three issues and recounts the adventures of John "Jack" Locke during WWI.
"But wait! There's more!" as the late-nite TV ads used to say. Battalions 1 - 3 leads directly into Locke & Key: Hell & Gone, our Sandman Universe crossover story. It's a joy and a privilege to jump in the Sand-box and play with some of Neil Gaiman's best toys. Without Sandman, there never would've been a Locke & Key in the first place. The one inspired the other.
But also, ehrm, a lot of crossovers suck, right? Because they're just madcap fan service? I have a hope here that Gabe and I can tell a real story, something with emotional weight, that casts an interesting light on the world we created, and the one that Neil dreamt up. We are going to try our very best.
We've Got Issues
As Locke & Key returns to comic stores to begin a new storyline, Hill House bids all a bloody 'farewell and adieu' with the release of Plunge #6. It's the final chapter in the story of Moriah Lamb, William Qumaq, and the Carpenter brothers, as they make their last stand together against the horrors rising from the Arctic waters. And with this issue, Hill House Comics itself has to close its black door for a little while (cree-e-ee-e-aa-k).
I had a hell of a good time goofing off with my own comic imprint and I'm proud of the murdery mags we pulled together for your grisly entertainment. I'm especially grateful to have had a chance to bask in the glow of so many amazing artists, creators, and editors. I don't really dare start listing them for fear of leaving someone out. They know who they are.
I hope these stories gave you some fun as well, whether you just dipped in to try one, or gorged yourself on the whole buffet: Basketful of Heads, The Dollhouse Family, Low Low Woods, Daphne Byrne, Plunge, and the back-up feature, Sea Dogs. We appreciate you giving these tales a whirl.
Hatchet Job
But, hey...! This first wave of Hill House comics may have wrapped up its run of monthly issues, but the onslaught of hardcovers is just beginning! Basketful of Heads -- the story of a woman fighting off home invaders with an occult axe -- drops on September 8th, and will be available everywhere graphic novels are sold, including your local bookstore and/or ye olde comic shoppe.
D.C. pulled out all the stops to make one of the most beautiful hardcover comics on which I've had my name. It's got a lovely vellum cover and a second stunner of a cover printed beneath, on the book itself. It should look just right next to all the other Hill House titles, which are receiving treatment in kind. Here's hoping you'll find place for Basketful of Heads and its sisters-in-fear on your shelf.
Dispatch from the Plague Days
I have a new teacup, featuring dozens of the best characters from Dickens. I don't need more teacups -- the mug cupboard is crammed -- but I'm very, very close to caving in and getting the characters from Shakespeare mug to go with it.
I'm reading Man's Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl for the first time and feeling like it was just the book I needed right now. The guiding concept is a quote from Nietzsche: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." Some of the stuff here -- about becoming a full person by finding purpose -- brings me back to how much I loved certain novels by Bernard Malamud, who used his fiction to explore much the same concepts.
My wife and I are also sharing Catriona Ward's forthcoming shocker, The Last House on Needless Street, and wow is it good. On the one hand, it has some of the same haunting feel as John Fowles' The Collector, but with the whipsaw twists of a Gone Girl. On the other hand, there's a chapter from the point of view of a cat who wants her own daytime talk show that's so goddamn funny, I'm going to copy the whole thing into my Book of Good Writing. In other words, Last House on Needless Street is incomparably itself: dark, witty, and bullet-train fast.
But what's this Book of Good Writing, you ask? (You probably didn't ask, but let's pretend) The Book of Good Writing is a silver journal with especially great quotes copied out of well-loved books. I keep the quotes separated into categories: aphorism, dialogue, doing, feeling, mood, and so on. I never get tired of studying how other writers do it, what techniques they use to bring a story to life. Also copying out other people's good writing is, on some mornings, a lot more satisfying than trying to come up with good writing of my own.
Like everyone else stuck at home during the plague season, I'm closer to my television than I've ever been before. My wife and I are in a polyamorous relationship with HBO Max. I wolfed down Perry Mason like a half starved man hitting Sunday's free bean supper at church. I remember watching the original show in reruns, a fun if slightly square mystery program, sort of the Foyle's War of its day. The remake has a lot more in common with the gory, perverted, black-hearted novels of James Ellroy. Normally, a show like Perry Mason, which is so, so good would've left me with a TV hangover, unable to get swept up in anything else... but no sooner did Mason end than Lovecraft Country began. So I guess I'll be okay for a while.
I'm trying to trim off a few pounds. I'm swimming when I can. I've been baking some bread and making home-made pizzas. I've shrunk my social media use to live-tweeting NOS4A2 on Sunday nights and not much more and feel better for it. My older boys are back to college in a few days but we'll see how long they stay there. Covid isn't done with us yet. On that cheerful note...
Live Free, Then Die
Subterranean Press's extraordinary edition of Full Throttle -- my second book of short stories -- is just now beginning to ship and I understand they still have a few copies left to sling. The book is chock-a-block with artwork by Dave McKean, who crowds the pages with imagery snatched right out of a fever dream. This is the special-est of special editions and it was so great of SubPress to bring it into being.
Pulp Fiction
I'm doing a virtual Q&A with Ed Brubaker -- scribe behind Criminal, Gotham Central, Kill or Be Killed, and, like, a thousand other amazing titles -- about his latest graphic novels, Cruel Summer and Pulp, for Vroman's books, on August 29th. I've been a hardcore Brubaker reader for years now and I'm looking forward to giving him an L.A. Confidential style interrogation to make him talk. I hope you'll join us. I'm not blowing smoke when I say Ed is doing the best writing of his life right now (and I've seen a pair of unpublished works-in-progress that prove it). Drop in and get an earful.
Fade To Black
That's a lot and I've kept you too long. Thanks for listening to my interminable ramble. If I was a sensible person, I'd write more newsletters, and stick less into them, instead of waiting three months and then piling 3,000 words into one. If you made it this far, I feel like you deserve a prize. Unfortunately the only thing I have to offer you is another newsletter... say about three months from now? Or even sooner if I can overcome inertia? See you then.
- Joe Hill, Exeter, NH, August 2020