Michael Alan Nelson INTERVIEW

Project Fanboy caught up with busy BOOM! Studios scribe, Michael Alan Nelson. He filled us in on upcoming events in FALL OF CTHULU: GODWAR and FALL OF CTHULU: APOCALYPSE, as well as CTHULU TALES; and his new series HEXED, starring fan favorite, Lucifer. He even dropped some hints of things to come.

SEBASTIAN PICCIONE: Michael, would you be so kind as tell us a little about who you and what you do?


MICHAEL ALAN NELSON: Well, I'm a professional freelance writer currently working in comics. I have to be honest, whenever anyone asks me what it is that I do, I have to stop myself from doing a little dance. It's been a long road getting here. I've been writing all of my life and now that I am finally doing it for a living, it is simply a dream come true. So, you know, dancing.


SEB: BOOM! Studios has given you several titles to helm. I take it things are going well for you over there?


MICHAEL: The running joke is that I'm contractually obligated to write at least 53% of everything BOOM! publishes. Obviously, this isn't true, but they do take good care of me. I don't know why, but they like what I do. I'm terribly flattered to be their go-to guy when they need someone on a project. Don't get me wrong, it can get a bit overwhelming at times, but that's a good problem to have. I'd much rather have too much to write than not enough.


And the crew at BOOM! are simply fantastic to work with. The men and women there love the medium and work hard to put out the best comics that they can. I'm really proud to be a part of that team.


SEB: Let’s talk Lovecraft! You told me METALLICA lead you to his work?


MICHAEL: Oh yeah. It was a pretty round-about way of getting there, but Metallica did the trick. A friend of mine introduced me to Metallica when they released “One” off of And Justice. He sat me down in front of my parents home stereo, put the two large speakers on either side of me, and then told me to close my eyes. I sat there for the full 8 minutes of that song just enraptured. After that, I had to get my hands on everything the band ever did.


When I picked up Ride the Lightning, I really liked this instrumental song called “Call of Ktulu.” I just thought it was a cool title but had no idea what it was referencing until a friend of mine mentioned Lovecraft. That was the beginning of the end for me. I read Lovecraft's “Call of Cthulhu” and instantly became obsessed. After that, I devoured all the Lovecraft I could get my hands on.


What I found even more interesting was that Metallica quotes Abdul Alhared's famous couplet in “The Thing That Should Not Be.” To this day, I still get goosebumps whenever I hear it.


SEB: Wow, so heavy metal DOES lead kids to discover dark gods! Mothers everywhere are vindicated!


Michael: Mommas don't let you kids grow up to be Cthulhu Cultists.


SEB: What is it about LOVECRAFT’s works that you find so enthralling?


MICHAEL: For me, it's all about the atmosphere. He had this way of setting a mood that you could almost taste. Dark, dour, hopeless. I love how his stories go from bad to worse to crippling insanity. Lovecraft is not known for his happy endings.


He also had a wonderful way of using negative space in his writing. Quite often, the horrid creatures that inhabit his stories are so terrible that they cannot be described. Now, from a writing standpoint, that's often considered a cheat and an example of amateur writing. But he makes it work because he doesn't just leave it at that. He shows us the effects those horrible creatures have on the world around them and the characters they interact with. Lovecraft may not always show us the monster, but he does show us the atmosphere, the space around the monster, letting us fill in the missing pieces with our own imagination. And that's where his mastery truly shines.


SEB: Ok, so you’re doing FALL OF CTHULU: GOD WAR, and that leads directly to FALL OF CTHULU: APOCALYPSE. The titles don’t suggest there’s much hope for our heroes. Should we be concerned?


MICHAEL: Absolutely. You can't go toe to toe with dark gods and vile creatures and expect things to come out puppies and rainbows. Not everybody is going to make it. And the ones that do, well, they probably wish they hadn't.


SEB: Do you have more FALL OF CTHULU planned for post-apocalypse, or is that it for the series?


MICHAEL: The meta-story that began with the zero issue will wrap up at the end of Apocalypse. However, I'm currently working on the arc that follows Apocalypse called Fall of Cthulhu: Nemesis. It's a neat little arc that gives a little background into some of the lesser events that happened during the main story. So even though the story is over, it still isn't over.


SEB: How does CTHULU TALES fit into the FALL OF CTHULU mythos?


MICHAEL: Most of my Cthulhu Tales don't have anything to do with Fall of Cthulhu. They've all just been little vignettes independent of that particular story. However, I am writing a Cthulhu Tale that comes out in December that will take place within the Fall of Cthulhu story arc. After I finished Apocalypse, I realized that there was one small loose end that I wanted to tie off. The Tales format is perfect for it.


SEB: Messner-Loebs is doing NECRONOMICON. Is that straight Lovecraftian or does it fit into your larger CTHULU tapestry? Or is it something else all together?


MICHAEL: From what I've read so far, it seems more straight Lovecraft. It's a period story so it really isn't within the Fall of Cthulhu story line. It all takes place decades before the events in Fall. Also, the focus of the story is that blasted book, which is just a brilliant concept and a lot of fun to read. He's doing an amazing job capturing that creepy tone and Andrew Ritchie's artwork is phenomenal. Andrew knows how to make even the mundane seem...odd. It's a fantastic story and I highly recommend it to Lovecraft fans and fans of horror in general. You will not be disappointed.


SEB: Forgive my CTHULU-ignorance, The Harlot? Your character or Lovecrafts?


MICHAEL: Oh, she is definitely all mine. Aside from Lucifer, the Harlot is my favorite creation. And I love that so many people aren't sure if she's mine or Lovecraft's. There are so many elder gods, outer gods, and old ones that it's difficult for all but the hard-core Lovecraft scholars to know them all. That the Harlot is creepy enough to make people wonder about her origins is terribly flattering. And she is just so much fun to write.


SEB: So, in her own way, The Harlot is helping Ray and Lucifer. Is she to be trusted? Is this just a case of “the enemy of enemy is my friend”?


MICHAEL: One thing I can say about the Harlot is that she never lies. She may be vague and mysterious at times, but she never lies. But being truthful doesn't automatically equal being trustworthy. I mean, would YOU trust someone (or someTHING) who puts people in magical boxes?


I will say this: the Harlot is not an innocent bystander in all of this. She's the Keeper of Secrets after all so she knows more about what's happening than probably most anyone else. And she doesn't exactly seem like the kind of creature who would just idly sit by and not take advantage of coming events.


The Harlot's ambiguity is one of the things that I love about her character. One minute she can be your best friend, your worst enemy the next. That's why she's one of my favorites.


SEB: Will the Gray Man be getting out of his box during GOD WAR or APOCALYPSE?


MICHAEL: No, we won't be seeing the Gray Man any more. No one gets out of the Harlot's boxes unless the Harlot releases them. Not even the Gray Man. And she likes to keep her toys. In fact, the only person she's ever released is Cy in the first issue of GODWAR.


SEB: Lucifer will be getting her own series, HEXED in December. What can you tell us about that?

MICHAEL: The series revolves around our lovely young thief as she works in the seedy underworld of magic and demons. A good way to think of it is a mix of John Constantine's Hellblazer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and To Catch a Thief.


Sebastian, I cannot tell you how excited I am by this project. Not only is it some of my best writing, but the artwork is STUNNING. Emma Rios is doing the interior art with Cris Peters on colors and these two women have been knocking it out of the park. This book is going to be something to talk about.


SEB: Will it be all CTHULU related, or will she branch out into other areas of magic and the supernatural?


MICHAEL: Hexed has nothing to do with Cthulhu or Lovecraft. What I've done is taken Lucifer (and a couple other choice characters of my own creation-hint hint) and put her in her own universe of magic and demons.


Now, this is where it might get a little tricky for some Fall fans. The events of Fall of Cthulhu are part of Lucifer's past and carry over to Hexed, but only in a vague sort of way (the events at the end of Apocalypse define Lucifer in Hexed). We know that something bad happened to her in Massachusetts, only we never hear for sure what it was (for readers to learn, they'll have to read Fall of Cthulhu). But the specifics of her past aren't important or necessary to enjoy Hexed.


Let me be clear. Hexed is not a Lovecraft or Cthulhu story. Either in tone or milieu. Don't get me wrong, Hexed will have its fair share of dark moments, but it will also have a happy ending or two. And unlike the constant dirge of despair found in Fall, there is beauty, humor, and hope in Lucifer's world. Just take a look at the covers for issue one of Hexed and you can immediately see that this is something different.


SEB: Do we a get more into Lucifer’s past in HEXED?


MICHAEL: Eventually, we'll get to know more about her life as a child in a Brazilian favela and the events that brought her to America. But the focus will be on her future because, to be perfectly honest, it doesn't look too promising for her. She is hexed after all.


SEB: So what other projects do you have in the works?


MICHAEL: I'll be starting a new arc of Second Wave at the end of this month which I'm excited about. There's just something fun about writing apocalyptic stories and I'm really looking forward to it.


SEB: Anything important you’d like share, but I neglected to ask about?


MICHAEL: No, I think that about covers it. I would like to add that if readers like what I do, they can go to http://dingonovel.blogspot.com/ and read my novel DINGO for free. Yes, free. Oh yes, and of course, my blog at http://mansmachinery.blogspot.com/ .


SEB: Well, Michael, thanks for taking the time to talk to us! It’s been a real pleasure!


MICHAEL: Thank you. The pleasure was all mine.