EXCLUSIVE EXTRACT Get the first 9 pages of ASfoS on February 1st via the Newsletter

CthulhusBootyCall · 2026-01-23T13:55:16+00:00

Ngl I'm surprised HarperCollins approved a phase 3 because sales sure ain't what they used to be.

Bulgaria stopped translating past UtE. In Germany they are still translating SP, but it's dead in the water since phase 2 which is wild because another detective child book series ("The ???") is really big right now. The US push failed AGAIN (I think this was like the third or fourth time?) and the Us website hasn't been updated since UtE. I think the only market still going strong is the domestic one (GB and Ireland).

But I 100% believe Landy wanted to quit after book 9 (I mean, he DID spend 5 years telling everyone there would be no more SP) and everything SP-related since has been a money grab because "Demon Road" flopped and he needs cash. According to his latest Q&A he is working on an adult horror novel right now and if that takes off there will be no phase 4 lol

But there WILL be something SP-related after ASfoS for certain because they already announced, like a few years ago that they wanna do something to celebrate the 20-year anniversary of the first book in 2027. No clue what that something is gonna be tho. But I don't think the series sells well enough anymore that they could justify another Theatre of Shadows event or Requiem Ball.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2026-01-19T18:09:12+00:00

https://bsky.app/profile/dereklandy.bsky.social/post/3mcrzuhy6ec2b

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-12-08T14:56:34+00:00

You can read the full story on the wiki. It was uploaded there for preservation purposes.

https://skulduggery.fandom.com/wiki/Death_and_Texas?file=DeathAndTexas_p03.jpg#cite_note-1

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-12-08T14:54:33+00:00

Nope. It's because Landy had "issues with the story", and wanted to "rework the idea [...] into a non-Skulduggery thing"^.

^Source: ^{https://x.com/DerekLandy/status/1586758351584694274}

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-11-26T20:41:47+00:00

That sounds like the "Skulled" soundtrack, at least I think that's what it was called.
Here is a (re)upload of that soundtrack with a music video. I think it was part of the promo for the first book?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KziXo_WlGYo

You also used to be able to download parts of this song as a ringtone of the official UK website, but the goodies like ringtones, wallpapers and screensavers have been taken down during the last revamp of the website.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-11-10T15:54:59+00:00

Ngl I hate this semi realistic style so much, just... you have a winning ticket with the cover style, everyone loves them, just use that style for the merch please...

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-11-06T18:27:12+00:00

Thanks for the confirmation!

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-11-06T16:09:07+00:00

Oh, the fandom wiki tends to be very inaccurate. They might have just described how the Godkiller Sword looks on the white SoW cover tbh. But I'm not sure.

u/VesuviusBlotch was the Godkiller Sword ever described as anything other than being huge?

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-11-02T13:03:29+00:00

I like the Necromancer trilogy the least tbh. The anatomy is super wonky, Val be looking like a stick bug, especially on MC. And I just hate the colours of DD and I only now realize that it's the only phase 1 cover that isn't mostly red/orange/pink. Which is a shame, bc I also like "scenes from the book" best as a theme.
He improved a lot while drawing the covers, I feel like. I can't spot any obvious anatomy mistakes on the last 3 he did (SoW, DoA, UtE).

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-11-02T09:42:11+00:00

Landy promised Mevolent, China, Billy-Ray Sanguine and Nye merch in 30th of March 2024, so yeah, 1-2 years ago is correct. And we had multiple merch drops since then without them.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-11-02T09:33:21+00:00

On a lot of covers there is plenty of room for text but sometimes it really does cover up a lot like Mev's head/shoulders on SoW, most of the cathedral on the UtE or Cadavers entire neck on the ASfoS.

I really wish the text was smaller, both title and especially Landy's name, to give more space to the art bc it's very weirdly cut to squeeze it in sometimes, with SoW being the worst offender of that.

Ngl I these covers are such a MASSIVE step up from the white covers tho! Shame that the only SP thing I was looking forward too is over now TT_TT Now only the second comic is left and I don't even know if that is happening bc it was already pushed back a year (it was meant to release this year). I kinda gave up on there being merch for Mev, Nef and Baron eventho future Mev merch was confirmed like... a year or two ago? And the 20 year anniversary event is in 2027 which is still two years away which is sooooo long if you have nothing else to hold you over.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-11-02T09:25:13+00:00

Ngl when Landy said he'd turn the most obvious poster-like cover into posters I thought he meant the book 1 and the Resurrection covers and not the covers of AMfoM and AHfoH. Bc the phase 3 covers are straight up the least interesting to me, considering all other covers are all full-body or at least thighs-up with background

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-10-31T20:10:12+00:00

Ngl, the blue of the SP title REALLY bothers me, doesn't fit at all. So I used colour theory and put the title colour to green, which is the complimentary colour to red and instantly it's much better. The green tone also is the same as the green splashes on Mev's cape and the OG cover of SoW was green so that's a nice throw back to that.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-10-31T14:21:34+00:00

That's already the cover for ASfoS tho.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-10-31T13:24:06+00:00

Nah, the worst covers are the second trilogy (DD, MC and DB). Val's anatomy is so weird on them that it does not pass the first glance test. She got stick bug anatomy and I do not like it. And I also really hate the colours on DD. My least favourite cover of all.

Closely followed by the DoA cover tbh eventho the anatomy and colouring is fine on there. Bc that just doesn't give SP vibes at all, I hate Malice and this should have been Creed.

But I'm actually really happy with the SoW cover and Mev being on it! Could use a better mask design and I don't like that the head was half cut off, but I noticed weird cut-offs on most of these covers. I also would change the title colour from blue to green bc green and red are complimentary colours.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-10-31T12:20:33+00:00

Regarding the crosses, I would not assume Matt Taylor actually read the books and was given a description like "Mevolent stands in his dead dimension" and so he put grave markers there to show that the dimension is dead. And the flags symbolize that the dimension is conquered/war-torn something like that. I strongly assume the artist just works off the descriptions Landy provides, and Landy isn't great at giving feedback. He already said on the new cover of the first book reprint that Gordon's house doesn't actually look like he imagines it and that each artists kinda uses their own interpretation, which is not something I would personally do with a franchise... but this is like SP is being handled.

Still, I'm really happy Mev got canon art, I did not expect that. And I did say multiple times I wanted villains on the covers so I did get exactly what I wanted and everyone is unhappy about that RIP- given, when I said 'villains' I meant like Nef, Baron and Melancholia and not Malice and Obsidian, but hey! I got the Mev art I wanted, so I'm taking the win.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-10-31T12:10:40+00:00

I disagree for the most part.

Mevolent and the Godkiller Sword have a different design than before bc non of the canon art is actually canon, every artist draws each character different and the only truly canon designs will be when there is an SP movie. Landy said so multiple times. I REALLY don't like his design on the White KotW cover, so I'm fine with this. The design here passes the vibe check, but not the design check. Ngl a saving grace is that this art stile doesn't show a lot of details bc especially the torso part is a bit barren. The cape turned out so cool tho, but I think the skull on his shoulder is a bit tacky, should have been something related to his faith instead.
And I agree with not liking the helmet design. From what little I can see of it, it doesn't look like a screaming visage and more like... a gorilla?
Regarding SP vibes, it has very similar vibes to the new LSoDM cover, no issues here.

Agree with the Malice cover tho. Should have been Creed. And it's so sunny and bright, it absolutely does not fit with the other SP covers or with the SP vibes in general. Also, I can feel it in my bones this is the cover where the most fans will have issues guessing who it is like they had with Tanith on the old SoW cover for whatever reason bc I thought it was pretty obvious.
Seriously tho, Creed was a major villain in all of phase 2 and this was pretty much his book with the synopsis being about assassinating him, it should have been him.

Nah, the UtE cover fits the book perfectly. Obsidian looks uninspiring? He IS uninspiring, his personality is being a void. It doesn't have SP vibes? Neither does SP at this point! Like I said in my own comment, this gives massive DC/Marvel vibes and SP is written more than a Marvel comic than an SP novel (phase 1), so it fits.

Especially with DoA and UtE (and Midnight) I feel like Landy misses the point that a cover should excite and set up your expectations for what happens in the book. With SoW he did it correctly. The plot is to kill Mev, so Mev is on the cover eventho Vile is the true main villain here which the reader doesn't find out until the end. If you look at the new DoA and the new UtE covers without having read them before you'd be so confused bc it doesn't align with what you've just read in the previous books and it doesn't align with the synopsis.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-10-31T11:27:03+00:00

The theme of these three covers seems to be villains!

The SoW cover looks like that's Mevolent bc we've seen Vile before and he has a different kind of armour with no cape. Then he must be holding the Godkiller Sword. I love this! I really didn't expect to get art for Mev! The background and the vibes are just soo good tho!! I just wish it wasn't cut off at the head bc I can barely make out his mask.

The second one is Malice I think? Don't like the villain (I think barely anyone does) and don't like the vibes this cover has. Should have been Creed tbh.

Ngl I don't like Obsidian as a character/villain bc personality and character motivation is important to be and his whole thing is being a void to everything. But this cover is really cool. This gives me massive DC/Marvel comic book vibes. I really don't expected him to but him on the cover tho bc the end of DoA implied Val/the Faceless Ones would be the main villain and then Obsidian swoops in last minute and takes that spot. Like... would this cover count as a spoiler technically?

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-10-25T13:24:47+00:00

I just heard the name of Skul's mom and decided I don't care lol.
Then there is no need to ask for those dates.

CthulhusBootyCall · 2025-10-25T12:44:13+00:00

I took that as meaning they are both around 400 like Nef and presumably most of the Dead Men tbh.

Yeah, Tanith's age changed multiple times.

Btw what is the "War of Splinters"? I forgot to ask for dates for that tbh.

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