Exclusive Interview with The Empty Man’s Cullen Bunn

This week sees the release of The Empty Man #1, a new comic book series from BOOM! Studios written by Cullen Bunn, where there's no cure in sight for an unstoppable disease that causes hallucinations, murder, and suicide. We recently caught up with Bunn, who told us all about the series, including what readers can expect from the first issue and he teases what's ahead:

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. For our readers who are just hearing about this for the first time, what is The Empty Man disease that is the focus of your new series?

Cullen Bunn: Thanks for speaking with me! The Empty Man is a pandemic that is sweeping the world. It is a kind of contagious insanity that brings horrifying hallucinations and fits of suicidal or homicidal violence. There is no known cause for the disease is contracted or how it spreads. It seems to strike randomly. The first reported case was just a few years ago, and since that time a number of fringe cults and cults have surfaced connected with the Empty Man. They regard the disease with an almost religious fervor.

Is this an idea you've been working on for a while now? What inspired the idea of this disease and the way the story is unfolding?

Cullen Bunn: I've had the idea in my head for a while. The initial idea came to me while I was on a road trip. It had nothing to do with the trip, of course, but riding along, letting my mind wander, the words "The Empty Man made me do it" just popped into my mind. Over the next couple of years, I kept returning to that phrase, and a story started to take shape around it.

I like that the first issue already deals how a disease like this would bring about a religious following. Will cults and religion continue to be a central theme of this series?

Cullen Bunn: Definitely! While the first limited focuses on just a couple of these religious groups, readers will see a few others. The Witnesses, the Ghost Movement, the Order of Light and Shadow, and the Void Children are just a few of the factions at work in the world. These groups will continue to have a significant impact on the world and the story we're telling.

We're introduced to Walter Langford and Monica Jensen, who are investigating Empty Man-related cases, but it seems that this may be beyond anything the FBI or CDC can really get a handle on. Do these two stand a chance of learning the secret behind the Empty Man?

Cullen Bunn: The CDC and the FBI have formed a joint task force to investigate both the disease and the cult activity surrounding it. To some degree, Langford and Jensen have been chasing their tails, always arriving i the aftermath of an Empty Man event, never getting any closer to any real breakthrough. In our first issue, though, they stumble into something new. The disease is changing in a dramatic way that will bring them one step closer to discovering the truth of The Empty Man.

This is listed as a limited, six-issue series. Do you have a definitive endgame in place for issue six, or is it possible that we'll see this expand to more issues and potentially an on-going series?

Cullen Bunn: The first six issues tell a complete story, but it doesn't answer each and every question about The Empty Man. There are a number of lingering threads for readers to ponder and there are many more stories to be told in the world of The Empty Man. This is a story that, I hope, will leave readers wanting more.

With so many comic book series making the jump to movies or television, do you have any interest in seeing an Empty Man TV series? In just the first issue itself, I could really picture this as something people would jump at to adapt.

Cullen Bunn: Of course! I'd love to see a television version of The Empty Man. The thrill of seeing an adaptation like that is that I get to see how other creators might interpret and add to the world I've created. My primary goal, though, is to tell a great story in the pages of the comic.

Can you tell us a bit about your creative process with artist Vanesa R. Del Rey? I really love how the art style gives the Empty Man a pulp / classic feel.

Cullen Bunn: I've admired Vanesa's work for some time, so I was thrilled when I heard she'd be working on this project. She definitely has that pulp style you mentioned. I think she does a great job of walking the line between what the reader should and shouldn't see. In many cases, it's what you don;t see that's truly chilling, and Vanesa understands that level of horror.

With The Empty Man set to be released on June 11th, can you give our readers a little tease of what they an expect from issue 1 and beyond?

Cullen Bunn: As I mentioned earlier, we join the story after the Empty Man virus has been around for a few years. Langford and Jensen set out on a case that, at first, seems like old hat to them. What they don;t realize until later is that the disease has started to mutate and change... and some of the hallucinations the disease causes are far too real. To make matters worse, both Langford and Jensen are dealing with some personal tragedies that will impact how they do their jobs.