{"id":18483,"date":"2023-12-11T07:00:49","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T12:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=18483"},"modified":"2023-12-10T13:45:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T18:45:06","slug":"getting-invasive-cullen-bunn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"banner<\/p>\n

\"cover Eisner Award-nominated writer Cullen Bunn is no stranger to horror, but he says his new comic, Invasive<\/em>, haunts him and signals a signpost on the road to his approach to the genre. Invasive<\/em>, which is published by Oni Press and illustrated by Jes\u00fas Herv\u00e1s, has a debut date of December 13. Bunn spoke to Cemetery Dance <\/em>about how a nightmare influenced this work, why Invasive <\/em>is different from previous projects, and what else he has going on. <\/p>\n

(Interview conducted by\u00a0Danica Davidson)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

CEMETERY DANCE: You said the inspiration for this comic was a nightmare you had. Can you share anything about that nightmare without giving away too much of the story? Have nightmares influenced your work before?<\/strong><\/p>\n

CULLEN BUNN: I dream a lot about medical procedures gone terribly wrong. It stems, I suppose, from a general unease and mistrust of medicine in general. Look, I know we need it. I’m thankful it’s available to me. But that doesn’t mean I always feel warm and snuggly whenever I go in for a blood draw.<\/p>\n

Years ago, when I was a small child, I went to the dentist. He made the guy from Little Shop of Horrors <\/em>look like an angel. He kept jabbing inside my gums with his needle, never injecting anything, and he was grinding the needle around. I could hear it scraping around in my mouth. “Oh,” he said. “You moved! Gotta try that again!” Thirty times. I counted. I was screaming so loudly my mom heard me in the waiting room. She barged down the hall like a damn action hero and grabbed me from his office. I was maybe five years old, but the memory of that day has stayed with me forever. I was deathly afraid of needles for 20 years after that! Here’s this guy who just wanted to hurt someone… but his job is one where he’s supposed to help.<\/p>\n

My nightmares, though, are rarely coherent. I should probably be thankful for that. Instead, they are like flashes of nastiness that just surface and then fade, surface and fade.<\/p>\n

And, yes, nightmares have influenced my work time and again.<\/p>\n

You said you think Invasive <\/em>“represents a bit of a signpost on the road” to your approach of horror in general. What do you mean by this?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A lot of my work has been horror-adjacent or dark fantasy. I loved those books, of course, but Invasive <\/em>is a big, flashing sign that reads THIS GUY WANTS TO UNSETTLE AND SCARE YOU. That’s where I’m going. That’s what I want to do, at least for the next few years. While I’ll be doing a few non-horror books, the lion’s share of my output will be designed to chill.<\/p>\n

Why do you think this comic will be more disturbing than your other horror works? <\/strong><\/p>\n

In a lot of my work, we’ve seen heroes with magic weapons or magical powers facing the forces of darkness. This time around, our heroes are just ordinary people facing a threat that is far from ordinary. They are in way over their heads, and there is a sense of dread and doom hanging over them. There’s the trick, I guess. Invasive <\/em>takes place in our world, but there’s something weird unfolding under the surface, something that could happen to us if we turn the wrong corner. Could happen. Until it couldn’t.<\/p>\n

And, then… well, for God’s sake, let’s hope the events depicted in the book couldn’t happen for real.<\/p>\n

Are there any comics you’ve read that you’ve found the most disturbing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

There have been plenty over the years. I have to credit Alan Moore and Stephen Bissette’s Swamp Thing<\/em>\u00a0stories for having some really haunting, disturbing scenes. Those were the issues of comics that really showed me, as a younger reader, that comics could be something very different than what I expected.<\/p>\n

This isn’t the only thing you have going on! Can you tell us about your other projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"coverI have several creator-owned books in the works, almost all of them in the horror arena, but most of them haven’t been announced just yet. I’m also working on a couple of licensed horror books… which haven’t been announced either! Beyond that, I’m writing the main Gatchaman <\/em>book for Mad Cave, which is a nice non-horror break between scares. And I have about a half-dozen books that I’m actively pitching right now. I’ve got a couple of other big announcements coming soon.<\/p>\n

The best place to keep up with everything I’m working on is my free e-newsletter, which comes out weekly. You can subscribe to it at cullenbunn.substack.com\/<\/a> .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eisner Award-nominated writer Cullen Bunn is no stranger to horror, but he says his new comic, Invasive, haunts him and signals a signpost on the road to his approach to the genre. Invasive, which is published by Oni Press and illustrated by Jes\u00fas Herv\u00e1s, has a debut date of December 13. Bunn spoke to Cemetery … Continue Reading! “Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[444],"tags":[294,446,767,307,3058,851],"class_list":["post-18483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","tag-columns","tag-cullen-bunn","tag-danica-davidson","tag-interviews","tag-invasive","tag-the-comic-vault"],"yoast_head":"\nGetting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Danica Davidson talks with Cullen Bunn about his new horror comic, Invasive, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cemetery Dance Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"headline\":\"Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-11T12:00:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":800,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/ComicVault_Banner.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Columns\",\"Cullen Bunn\",\"Danica Davidson\",\"Interviews\",\"Invasive\",\"The Comic Vault\"],\"articleSection\":[\"The Comic Vault\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/\",\"name\":\"Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn - Cemetery Dance Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/ComicVault_Banner.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-11T12:00:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"description\":\"Danica Davidson talks with Cullen Bunn about his new horror comic, Invasive, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/ComicVault_Banner.jpg?fit=830%2C120&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/09\\\/ComicVault_Banner.jpg?fit=830%2C120&ssl=1\",\"width\":830,\"height\":120,\"caption\":\"banner that reads The Comic Vault\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Comic Vault\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/comics\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"description\":\"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn - Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Danica Davidson talks with Cullen Bunn about his new horror comic, Invasive, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cemetery Dance Online","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/"},"author":{"name":"Cemetery Dance Online","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"headline":"Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn","datePublished":"2023-12-11T12:00:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/"},"wordCount":800,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/ComicVault_Banner.jpg","keywords":["Columns","Cullen Bunn","Danica Davidson","Interviews","Invasive","The Comic Vault"],"articleSection":["The Comic Vault"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/","name":"Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn - Cemetery Dance Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/ComicVault_Banner.jpg","datePublished":"2023-12-11T12:00:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"description":"Danica Davidson talks with Cullen Bunn about his new horror comic, Invasive, exclusively for Cemetery Dance.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/ComicVault_Banner.jpg?fit=830%2C120&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/ComicVault_Banner.jpg?fit=830%2C120&ssl=1","width":830,"height":120,"caption":"banner that reads The Comic Vault"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/getting-invasive-cullen-bunn\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Comic Vault","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/comics\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Getting INVASIVE with Cullen Bunn"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Cemetery Dance Online"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p81cXa-4O7","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18486,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18483\/revisions\/18486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}