• Interview
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Shadow Man writer Cullen Bunn on writing comics & bringing the franchise back to life

We spoke to Shadow Man writer Cullen Bunn on his return to the series for new comics and comic pitching and writing process in general.

TJ Denzer

April 27, 2021 5:48 PM

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The Shadow Man franchise has been kicking around for quite a while whether it was through comics from Valiant Comics or through the PS1/N64 era video game and remake on the way in the future. Cullen Bunn has been working on the Shadow Man comics since its original Valiant Comics runs. The Shadow Man series isn’t just making a return in video games, but it’s coming back in comics too and Bunn is back on board as the writer of the latest run. With that in mind, we talked to Bunn about coming back to the franchise, as well as the process of pitching and making comics in general.

Coming back to Shadow Man after so long was an interesting process for Bunn. He’s mostly stepped away from the games and stories therein from back in the day to focus on a fresh retelling of Shadow Man. To that end, Bunn claims that his return to Valiant involved being reached out to by Editor Heather Antos. According to Bunn, there was a singular line in his pitch of Shadow Man that sold Valiant on the project, though he couldn’t reveal it as it would have been a spoiler.

Another of the more interesting things from the interview is that Bunn’s latest Shadow Man is meant to be accessible whether readers were familiar with previous Shadow Man content or not. It’s meant to be easily understandable no matter how much you know about the Shadow Man character. Cullen Bunn claims he felt at home writing the Shadow Man character. The challenge is the nature of comics. With novels, it can be as large as you want, but Cullen explains how the nature of comics means confining the story to a space, an issue limitation, and the angles you want to tell the story from.

Want more Shadow Man? Check out the remake being made by Nightdive Studios and be sure to check out our Shacknews and GamerHubTV YouTube channels for the latest reviews, interviews, and features on the latest games, toys, and technology.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.