Journalism and comics might not seem to have a lot in common, but you would be surprised how many people easily slip from one medium to another – delivering digestible reviews just as easily as pulling on our heartstrings in the pages of comic books. But nobody does it better than Kieron Gillen!
Kieron Gillen – Remixing Myth, Pop Culture and Comics
Gillen started his career as a video game and music journalist, writing for publications like Amiga Power, PC Gamer UK, The Guardian, Eurogamer and more. He is also the co-founder of the video game journalism website Rock Paper Shotgun, but Gillen quickly found his passion in comics – and it shows. His works like Phonogram and The Wicked + The Divine are an even mix pop culture, music and comic, and all his work feel modern and fresh.
It seems like Gillen always has two fingers on the arm of modern culture – measuring its pulse. Even when writing about Asgardian gods or Arthurian myths, he’s able to make the story approachable and realistic – like it could be happening right outside your window.
One thing that connects his huge body of work is the same need for characters to be bigger than their circumstances. Under Gillen, Loki will try to overcome his title of God of Lies while an average teenage girl will join the pantheon of gods – big or small, they will all strive to do better… or fail in the attempt.
Phonogram
While he has done some early works in comics – writing for small-press anthologies and magazines, Gillen has described Phonogram as his “first real comic”. Drawn by his soon-to-be frequent collaborator Jamie McKelvie, the duo would infuse their knowledge and love of music and pop culture into every page.
The story is an urban fantasy, and presents a world in which music is magic. Magicians (or Phonomancers in this world) can utilize this magic to make their lives better. The team kept revisiting the world again and again in the span of ten years, publishing three different limited series.
First one is Rue Britanna (in full color unlike the original black and white book), second is Singles Club and the third is Immaterial Girl. And don’t worry – the stories can be read separately from one another!
Phonogram is brimming with BritPop, but don’t worry if you’re not into that – Gillen provides a playlist he used when writing each issue and a glossary – so you won’t only read a fun story, but maybe even develop a taste for some new music.
The Wicked + The Divine
Gillen and McKelvie’s magic continued, and it probably reached its full potential at the pages of The Wicked + The Divine. The book was unapologetically infused with pop culture and everything music.
The premise of the book might seem simple enough: “Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead.” The chilling promise that’s hidden behind these words and the mystery it will unfold will take Laura and the reader on a wild trip through mythology, music and British culture of the mid 2010s.
Because what else would the gods incarnate into in 2014 than the most powerful and worshipped beings on the world – pop idols! And both Gillen and McKelvie were able to flex their creative muscles working in this world.
While Gillen filled the pages of the book with everything from Prince and Bowie to Florence Welch and Kanye West, McKelvie was able to play with colors, styles and paneling to showcase each characters vastly different personality, as well as play with core components of music – rhythm and timing, something you don’t really think about too often when it comes to comics. In one issue, time jumps forward from panel to panel, filled with moments of familiar love and hate. In another, time slows down as the 4 second counter matches the panels on each page dictating the neon-drenched party at the end of the world hosted by Dionysus.
The Wicked + The Divine also won an award for the Best Comic of 2014 at the British Comic Awards, as well as multiple Eisner Awards nominations. In 2015, it was nominated for Best New Series, Best Cover Artists (those covers should just be posters!) and Best Coloring, and the fourth one in 2018 for the Best Continuing Series. It received nods from GLAAD Media Awards and Hugo Awards, too.
The only downside of the book that I could find is how difficult it is to hunt down the OOP hardcover editions (if whoever is reading this can force them into existence, I would be forever grateful!) Apart from that, the series is collected in 9 trade paperbacks, starting with The Faust Act. I am really excited for The Wicked + The Divine Compendium coming out very soon, and I will be sure to snatch that while it’s available! Otherwise, it might be gone as fast as you can count 1-2-3-4 (KLLK)!
Die
If you are a fan of Dungeons and Dragons or similar role-playing games, then prepare to immerse yourself in the world of Die – quite literally. Kieron Gillen joined forces with artist Stephanie Hans to bring to life this exciting mixture of DnD and Jumanji, with a hint of Stephen King’s “It” thrown in for good measure (all of which – along the DnD cartoon and his discussions with Jamie McKelvie – served as the inspo for this book!)
The year is 1991, and best friends Dominic Ash and Solomon are spending their shared 16th birthday playing a tabletop RPG with a group of friends. This was the last time anyone’s ever heard of the kids for two years. When they appear two years later, they are traumatized, hurt – and missing their gamemaster Sol.
Twenty five years later, Ash receives a mysterious package containing Sol’s 20-sided die – still with his blood on it – and knows that the group needs to come back together and play the game one more (and hopefully last) time…
This isn’t the first time Killen has joined forces with Stephanie Hans to create something truly magical. Three years earlier – in 2011 – she would do covers for his Journey Into Mystery run – doing interior work on the final issue of the run (more on that later – it’s my favorite run!). In 2012, they discussed collaborating on an independent project.
In 2014, Hans would use her painterly style to bring the world of Die to life. Her faces are expressive, the compositions are stunning and the interplay of light and color in her work is always breathtaking. Every panel of hers feels like it could be framed and put on a wall!
Gillen also did amazing work in the book – filling it with characters that are larger than life – and giving many literary references to boot. Tolkien, the Bronte sisters, Lovecraft – all are discussed and examined in the pages of Die, all are used to populate the world with ideas and characters. The twists and turns of the ragtag group are also very fun, and your opinion on them will change with each issue.
The book won them the British Fantasy Award in 2020 for the Best Comic, and the second volume (Split the Party) also own the same award in 2021. The team also designed the DIE RPG alongside the comic, which scored the Origins Award for the Best Role-playing Game Core Product in 2023.
Die is collected in four paperbacks – the first one being Fantasy Heartbreaker. Fun personal fact – the Die hardcover was the first item I ever got from Walt’s (along Hickman’s Fantastic Four), and I have also had my eyes set in the DIE RPG Deluxe Edition. Anyone want to play?
We Called Them Giants
The team of Hans + Gillen has kept making wonders recently. Just last year, they published a graphic novel We Called Them Giants. Another dark fantasy book, this one will not take you to a far away world – but the one you already live in.
Lori wakes up one day to find her city empty, with everyone – or almost everyone – gone. She will need to figure out how to survive in this apocalyptic world, scraping for resources and escaping gangs, until her world will be turned upside down once more when Giants come…
We Called Them Giants is fresh off the press and shows how a well-oiled machine can still gift us with exciting work. It is also interesting to compare it to the previous work and see how much they have improved (even though Die was already fantastic!)
Power Fantasy
Another new series added to the mix, Power Fantasy sees Gillen and artist Caspar Wijngaard bring to life a new world order, and it will make you question everything you know about comics.
What does “superpowered person” mean to you? If you are thinking of Superman, Spider-man of any other of dime-and-dozen heroes and villains, you are right. But giving a formal definition for this can be tough – unless you’re in the world of Power Fantasy. There, this means “any individual with the destructive capacity of the nuclear arsenal of the USA”. And there is only six of them on Earth. If they fight (as these beings often tend to do), it could spell the end of the planet.
I have seen Wijngaard’s work before – in Home Sick Pilots (another phenomenal book – check it out!). And while I am never the biggest fan of pastel colors in real life, the work he does is magical. To me, the most interesting thing about his style in this book is the juxtaposition he can make between the characters and the backgrounds. While the characters will often be flat-colored, even without any shading, the backgrounds are always vividly realized – with mixed colors, atmospheric lighting and often odd angles. This makes every page a pleasure to behold, and I for one am eagerly awaiting each new issue.
You can still subscribe to Power Fantasy, but the first trade, covering issues 1 to 5, can be bought as Power Fantasy TP Vol 01 or as a direct market exclusive cover Power Fantasy TP Vol 01 Direct Market Exclusive Cover.
Once & Future
In his work, Gillen has established himself as an avid fan of music, pop culture and gaming (much to do with his initial career choice). But in Once & Future, he got to flex his muscles on the knowledge about more than just current British mythology – and revisit the Arthurian legends the only way he knows how – with style!
A group of British nationalists perform a ritual and bring back from dead King Arthur. Only, they didn’t realize that King Arthur fought foreign invaders… many of which were Anglo-Saxons just like them. Waking up in the modern England, he will want to change this, and it’s only up to a retired cranky monster hunter Bridgette and her academic grandson Duncan to stop him.
The character work Gillen does here is phenomenal. I was giggling all the way through at every of Bridgette’s sassy remarks. Even the villains and side characters get to shine and get a story of their own – they’re all complex people with histories that might hide more than you think.
And of course, then there’s Dan Mora’s art. I cannot sing praises high enough of it. It’s kinetic, it’s clean, and it’s so crisp! And the colors by Tamra Bonvillain match it so perfectly. Not only does the book read well, but it looks so darn good! It doesn’t matter if it was an intimate conversation or an action-packed set piece, I couldn’t take my eyes off the page.
And I am not the only one – because the book has reaped many accolades. Both Volume 1: The King is Undead, Volume 3: The Parliament of Magpies and Volume 4: Monarchies in the UK have been nominated for Hugo Awards (and here’s Volume 2: Old English to appease my OCD). Personally, I picked up the deluxe slipcase editions (Volume 1 and Volume 2) because I wanted to admire the art – it deserves it!
Thor
Apart from his vast work in independent comics, Gillen has also contributed to the Marvel universe. He started in 2009, writing a mini about Ares as a part of the Dark Reign event, as well as collaborating on S.W.O.R.D. with Steven Sanders. However, his first big step was following in the boots of J. Michael Straczynski writing for Thor.
Gillen’s short run (from #604 to #614) serves as a great conclusion to Straczynski story. He continues the story of the Siege event, with Thor bringing back Loki (and setting the stage for amazing Journey Into Mystery run), as well as a new person taking over as Asgard’s war leader.
The story was so well-regarded many requested Marvel integrate it into Straczynski’s omnibus, and this is how we got the new Thor by Straczynski & Gillen Omnibus. After this, Matt Fraction will take over writing for Thor, while Gillen will follow his brother Loki in the pages of…
Journey Into Mystery
If there is one story in all of Marvel universe that is near and dear to my heart, it is this one. After joining up with Osborn during Dark Reign, Loki has a change of heart and defects to Asgardians during Siege. The consequences of his actions see him reborn in a new, child body – without his powers.
Now, Loki is given a chance to start over and turn a new leaf. Will he do it? Even worse, when given a chance to stop something terrible from happening, will he be able to do it without magic – and with no one trusting him? Kid Loki will need to rely on all his cunning in order to plot a scheme so grand, it will involve all the known realms.
I cannot express how much I adore this story. It has everything – the intrigue, magic, and makes Loki such a compelling character. I would argue that it was here that the “redemption of Loki” began, and it is due to this story that we were able to get Tom Hiddleston’s Loki as he is now. This is also the first of the “Loki trilogy” stories – which saw him turn from God of Lies into God of Stories.
Sadly, the omni is out of print – but the Modern Era Epic Collections have started collecting the story in Journey Into Mystery. Make sure to grab your copy before it also disappears!
Young Avengers
While Gillen’s Die was the first book I got at Walt’s, I got my first omni a year before that (don’t tell him) – and it was Young Avengers by Gillen & McKelvie (personally, I got the one with Cheung cover since the original YA run is fighting for my favorite one with Journey).
Just like other works of the duo, Young Avengers is hip, it’s modern and it’s so. Much. Fun! It serves as a spiritual successor to his JiM since it sees Loki build a team of Young Avengers old and new – adding Marvel Boy, America Chavez and Prodigy to the mix!
You will find everything in this run – from 4th wall breaking Lovecraftian villains from another dimension to teenage angst and drama! What more do you need? And with the Young Avengers being teased as the next step of the MCU, it’s the perfect time to pick up the Young Avengers Complete Collection and say you knew about them before everyone else did!
Eternals
In 2021, Gillen joined Esad Ribic to tell a new tale of Eternals. This series saw some huge shake ups in the very lore of Eternals – what is the machine, how do they get resurrected and what is the cost of keeping them eternal. It also poses the question of their true purpose, their leadership and structure, and their values.
Personally, I really enjoyed this story. Thought it was very exciting, intriguing, and it helped set the stage for A.X.E.: Judgment Day, pitting Avengers, X-Men and Eternals one against each other (I really wish we get an oversized format soon, since they didn’t include it in the omnibus which would have been the perfect place for it).
X-Men
Another huge corpus of Gillen’s work for Marvel was with X-Men. I already mentioned that one of his first works for the company was S.W.O.R.D. – pairing the ex-director Abigail Brand with her boyfriend Beast. He then went on to pen Generation Hope during the whole Mutant Messiah business (there isn’t enough room here to write about the 00s X-Men!) before finally grabbing the main Uncanny X-Men title after Matt Fraction left. He took the title through Fear Itself, Schism and Avengers vs. X-Men events.
He would come back to X-Men years later during the Destiny of X Krakoan era, to pen Immortal X-Men book with Lucas Weneck. And while I never would have imagined writing this sentence, this book mixed the court intrigue of Game of Thrones and the weird world of X-Men, packing quite a punch. There are currently five volumes available:
- Immortal X-Men Volume 1
- Immortal X-Men Volume 2
- Immortal X-Men Volume 3
- Immortal X-Men Volume 4
- Immortal X-Men Volume 5
The series then spun into Sins of Sinister event which saw yet another dark timeline for our Merry Mutants, and finally he took part in the Fall of Krakoa as seen in Fall of the House of X/Rise of the Powers of X (collected in the Omnibus format as well – if you’re like me).
Star Wars
Finally, Gillen has made a huge contribution to the Star Wars universe over the years. He was one of the first writers to welcome it back into Marvel, taking over the main title with issue #38 – a story which is collected in Star Wars by Gillen & Pak Omnibus.
However, even more important are his runs on Darth Vader and Doctor Aphra. His Vader is truly terrifying, facing his own power struggle while trying to prove he doesn’t need the Emperor after A New Hope. Star Wars: Darth Vader is the best Vader has been written in modern times, so make sure to check it out.
During the very same run on the Sith Lord, Gillen also introduced a Indiana Jones-like character Doctor Aphra. Star Wars: Doctor Aphra follows the adventures of the titular character after her stint in Vader’s book, and is full of morally gray choices and betrayals, but fun characters that are Gillen’s staple. These books are a must-have for every modern Star Wars fan!
