Author and comics-scribe Joe Hill wisecracked his way through his Comic-Con spotlight panel, where he teased the future of “Locke & Key”, and other upcoming projects. The conversation also included a writing tip he once got from Alan Moore, the (sort of) premise of his next novel, Horns, and more.
Hill started off with a self-deprecating riff on not picking up an Eisner for either of the categories he was nominated for. (Bill Willingham won for Best Writer and “Hellboy: The Crooked Man” took Best Limited Series.)
“I don’t what I’d do if I had [won]…except make sweet love to it. Treat it like one of the family. I would have made breakfast for it…I would have named it.”
Hill ultimately conceded to Mignola: “I felt he was due for it…with the other 21 he’s won.”
Talk turned to his supernatural-horror comic series “Locke & Key.” He broke it down for the uninitiated, explaining that it’s being written on “installment plan,” in blocks of six-issue mini-series. (The second volume, Head Games, recently concluded.) The story follows the Locke family, as they try to rebuild their life after a terrible incident, moving into a house filled with mysterious doorways (as well as keys that unlock them) in the town of Lovecraft, Massachusetts.
“Generally in stories, if you want to rebuild your life, you shouldn’t move to towns called Lovecraft,” deadpanned Hill.
He said the inspiration for “Locke & Key” was partly credited to the first four seasons of the X-Files – before the bees and the black oil showed up – adding the goal was to create a series with smaller stories, but a tight focus on the over-arching mysteries and mythology.
Hill announced that the next collected edition will include “excerpts” from the creator of the supernatural keys, giving more back-story, and fleshing out each key as an individual character. He also teased the third story arc, Crown of Shadows as “the key turning point to the plot” and an emotional point for the Locke family. There will also be three new keys introduced in the next volume, including the Medicine Key and the Giant Key. Hill offered warning to Israeli Skelton, who designs authentic replicas of each key, that he might have trouble creating the six-foot tall, wooden Giant Key. Props were given to series artist Gabriel Rodriguez and compared their collaboration to the way Mick Jagger and Keith Richards feed off each other. He also pointed out Rodriguez’s meticulous attention to detail, adding that he has even caught architectural errors that Hill has written into the series.
One of the more interesting announcements of the panel was the September release of the Hill-written, hard-to-find short story “Freddie Wertham Goes To Hell.” It will be colored for the first time and added in the back of a new edition of Locke & Key #1. The late Seth Fisher was working on the story before he fell to his death in Tokyo in 2006. Hill talked a bit about how the two hooked up working on a short Spider-Man short story that Hill described as “certainly my worst piece of published writing.” However, working with Fisher was an obvious silver lining. The art for “Freddie Wertham Goes To Hell” was completed by Fisher’s best friend, Langdon Foss, who illustrated the uncompleted pages in Fisher’s uniquely kinetic style.
Moderator Chris Ryall talked about Hill’s unique process, and how easily he shuffles around and changes the beats outlined in the story. Hill also admitted he often doesn’t have an ending to his stories. He said that changed when he heard Alan Moore (who he described as “probably my favorite living author, not related to me by blood.”) say “only a dipshit doesn’t know the ending.”
Hill then admitted he knew the ending to “Locke & Key,” and that it will be a wordless four-page sequence. Probably.
The cover to Hill’s next novel Horns was unveiled, and Hill talked a bit about the plot, saying it follows a recent divorcee who slowly learns to love again after taking the reigns of a pet rescue shelter.
There was a moment of silence before Hill slyly turned to the audience:
“Nah, it’s about The Devil.”
Other projects discussed included an issue of a comic book series dedicated to Frank Frazetta paintings. His story, “The Kodiak,” co-written by Jason Ciaramella, was described as a historic folk tale with romance, “but it’s got a man-eating bear in it.”
He’s also contributing a new short story – his first “real” zombie story – to a collection titled The New Dead. His story is titled “Twittering From the Circus of Dead” and is composed of 140-character tweets.
His science-fiction story Gunpowder (also written on “the installment plan”) is about 30 boys on an old, desert planet who have powers to create environments. He said there are three more novellas planned, including the next volume, “Slave Girls of Gunpowder,” then it will hopefully be collected as a novel.
During the question-and-answer period, he talked about the joy of writing the novella “Throttle,” a spin off of Richard Matheson’s Duel, with his dad. But he later noted that he doesn’t check in with him on a regular basis to get approval or feedback.
He also answered what superhero Locke & Key crossover he’d most like to see:
“They find a key to the Fortress of Solitude.”
Hill also said he might have a Ghost Rider story in him, but doesn’t want to commit himself to anything he’s not totally into at the moment.
When someone asked the busy writer what he does when he gets stuck writing, Hill dryly answered, “Cry.”