[DISPATCH] Alex Paknadel Talks THE HOBBLER
The writer behind ALL AGAINST ALL, FRIENDO, and CULT OF THE LAMB: THE FIRST VERSE tells us about navigating the space between our three worlds and three moons with artist Caspar Wijngaard
Welcome to the latest installment of the [DISPATCH], a (relatively speaking) weekly direct report from us to you, with news, recaps, exclusive content, and more.
We hope all our subscribers who attended San Diego Comic Con last week are safe and well, recovering from the four days of excitement and thrills!
Thursday, a new comic arrives, written by Alex Paknadel and drawn by Caspar Wijngaard. It’s the first of a three-part story called THE HOBBLER, and will be made available exclusively to our paid subscribers. So, if you haven’t yet, you should:
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Ahead of it’s release, we sat down with writer Alex Paknadel to discuss his story set on one of the grand and glorious Vojoganto, his frequent collaborations with Caspar Wijngaard, and what’s next on his horizon.
Enjoy today’s interview, then come back Thursday for the debut of THE HOBBLER: PART 1.
3W/3M: Alex, it seems like you’ve been everywhere of late in comics, so thanks for making the time. Starting with the obvious one, how did you end up doing a story set in the 3 Worlds / 3 Moons universe?
Happily for my pathetically fragile ego, I was approached! An email slid under my door, and before I knew it, I was on a call with people whose work I’ve been devotedly following for years. If memory serves, I was suffering from a horrible bug at the time, which quite adventitiously limited any fanboy gushing I might have been tempted to do had I been in robust health. Thanks, horrible bug!
I know from previous conversations with you that you think very deeply about even the smallest details. Was it difficult to have access to things like the [SYSTEMS] Graphic Novel Sourcebook and the [MAPS] stories and try to focus down on one or two ideas to play with, or did something stand out to you immediately and allow you to find your footing in this world?
There was certainly a moment of mild vertigo when I saw the breadth and ambition of the material; however, the beauty of fractal lore like this is that you can put a pin in the map pretty much anywhere and find a story worth telling. I think the world of the Vojogonto and the Kuratori Majestic appealed to me because it doesn’t sit comfortably in either the magical or scientific systems, and I’m kind of fascinated by liminal spaces.
Transit, featuring art by Christian Ward, was one of the most talked about 3W/3M stories we’ve released to date. And that’s due both to Christian’s incredible art and the introduction of our Vojogonto. Especially following [MAPS], where all the stories are specifically tied to a place on one of the three worlds and three moons, how did you decide to set a story there?
Well, Christian’s beautiful work on Transit must have played a role subconsciously, but I also remember seeing in that story an opportunity to explore something I happened to be researching for another project. I have a strong academic interest in monsters, and one fairly consistent motif across the western tradition is the fact that they tend to hail from places of transit. Some monsters ambush you in your own home, certainly, but archetypal structure tends to generate variations on young people taking detours through the woods and encountering wolves. Think of the Nostromo in Alien, straying from the path into the deep dark wood and meeting monsters. Think of Seth Brundle, taking a detour through time and space in his teleporter and fusing with a common housefly – with stomach-churning results. As creatures of pure transit, which I thought was just wonderful, the Vojogonto lend themselves to a really crunchy monster story.
On the other hand, the Kuratori Majestic are only briefly mentioned in [SYSTEMS]. Is that why you decided to focus the story on them as the stewards of the Vojogonto instead of one of the more temporary passengers along for the voyage?
They were a nearly blank canvas, which I found tremendously exciting. [SYSTEMS] describes them in terms of the depth of their commitment to the Vojogonto, as well as their hospitality to travelers, so naturally, my first instinct was to envision a scenario where that hospitality would be tested. As the last few years on this clapped-out planet have amply demonstrated, any insular group has the potential for fanaticism, so I wanted to throw a boulder into their pond as it were – give them something precision engineered to drive them crazy.
We’ll avoid spoilers as best we can, but is the concept of a hobbler something wholly original, or is it rooted in any specific myth or folklore?
The Hobbler is based on the sailors’ superstition of the Jonah – a crewman or passenger who brings bad luck to a voyage. For me, the cult-like paranoia of the crew is the fascinating phenomenon rather than the “monster” itself. Monsters are scary all right, but what people do when they think they have a monster in their midst is terrifying.
We have to talk to about your partner on this story, the wonderful Caspar Wijngaard. The two of you previously worked on All Against All for Image, and there’s definitely a shorthand in the way you two work together. Was he the art target in your mind from the beginning, or did he join once the story was a little further along?
He wasn’t the target initially because I figured he was utterly sick of the sight of me, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. If I’m honest, what clinched it was the awareness that he and Kieron Gillen were about to go off and make THE POWER FANTASY, so I only had a very brief window in which to borrow him from greatness as it were. Thankfully, he agreed.
Do you know how Caspar does what he does? His palette and approach are just so unique. I assume that’s all him, and not something directed on the page. How does your collaboration work?
Some of it is direction because I’m quite a cinematic writer – so, polyptychs and open panels and such – but in the main, Caspar operates like one of those Michelin starred chefs who run set menus where you get what you’re given and it’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted. He’ll always take notes, but he rightly prefers not to be micromanaged. So, you write your script and then you wake up one morning and the most beautiful interpretation of the clumsy cave daubings you imagined drop daintily into your inbox like the Tunguska asteroid.
Before we gloss over it, if our readers want to check out All Against All after reading this, what’s it all about, and why do you think it would appeal specifically to the 3W/3M community?
The crude cross pitch for All Against All is basically, “What if Tarzan were the xenomorph from Alien?” It’s about an alien race who find a seedbank filled with embryos from Earth, which they allow to grow in an orbiting habitat because they plan to use them for weapons development. What they haven’t reckoned on is the cunning and savagery of Helpless, the habitat’s (and the universe’s) sole surviving human.
As lovers of hard SF, I think the 3W/3M community would definitely take to All Against All. It’s a big ideas book, but just like 3W/3M it’s constantly alluding to a much larger world. If you like rigorous worldbuilding and big emotional stakes, I honestly think it’s a book tailor made for this community.
Switching gears completely, you’re writing a Cult of the Lamb book at Oni, which launched this June. How did that come about, and what’s it like telling a story based on a video game about a lamb saved from death by “The One Who Waits” and decides to pay back the debt by creating a cult in its name?
I was approached to write the Cult of the Lamb series at last year’s NYCC. I was quite nervous about it initially because I’m really not a gamer, but as soon as I saw the whole narrative as a kind of (more) messed up Robocop, I was fully invested. The team on that game are magicians, truly. There were some initial discussions about tone because I was worried I’d have to really lean into the cutesy aesthetics as well as the ultraviolence, but I was assured that playing it straight was the way to go. It’s been a joyous collaboration, and artist Troy Little is a master storyteller.
I also want to jump back a few years and ask about Friendo. I know it’s a satire, and you were poking fun at a lot of things in our modern world, and where technology could be, but… are you okay? How did that book come together, and why does it go to some very, very dark places?
I don’t think I am okay to be honest, but is anyone these days? At least we all have that in common. As for Friendo, which is a sort of very dark screwball comedy about an unemployed actor who embarks on a crime spree with his AI marketing assistant, a lot of it arose from my experiences in the marketing industry. I vividly recall the advent of personalized algorithmic targeting because I had this terrible presentiment of colony collapse. If people are only exposed to their own preferences – if people only engage with mirrors – then eventually complex civilization becomes impossible. That’s what I was trying to speak to with Friendo, and that’s why it gets as dark as it does. I maintain that it has some cracking sight gags thanks to series artist Martin Simmonds, who you may know from Department of Truth.
Between original work like Friendo, 3W/3M, Cult of the Lamb, Red Goblin for Marvel, and DC vs. Vampires: All-Out War for DC – what are the hallmarks of an Alex Paknadel comic?
I suppose everything I do tends to be horror-inflected, which suits me fine. I do love to dabble in straight super heroics, but I’m always looking for the queasy ironic twist – something bloody and tragic, and maybe a little funny.
Lastly, what else can readers look forward to reading from you in 2024?
Sentinels, my book with Justin Mason, is dropping in October as part of the second wave of new X-books from Marvel. It's a book about a group of soldiers recruited into a new Sentinel program without reading the fine print. I'm really proud of it and I think it represents some of my best mainstream work. I'm also the regular writer on X-Men: From the Ashes, the digital-first X-book on Marvel Unlimited, which lets me play with big hitters like Cyclops, Phoenix, Havok, etc. Great fun. I also have a Flash one-shot coming out in August with the inestimable Pete Woods as part of the Absolute Power crossover. My one is Absolute Power: Task Force VII #5. It's such a beautiful book and I can't wait for people to see it.
Can't wait to read it!