Felicia Day

Tremble before Wil Wheaton’s evil magical cloak from The Guild!

On Felicia Day’s fantasy gaming webseries The Guild, Wil Wheaton plays Fawkes, the Machiavellian leader of the Axis of Anarchy online guild. Fawkes is the antagonist (and occasional paramour) of Day’s heroic cleric, Cyd "Codex" Sherman. And even though Wheaton’s played a major role on The Guild, we’ve never seen what his in-game avatar looks like...until now.

Here’s your very first look at Wheaton’s villainous alter ego, as seen on the cover of Dark Horse’s upcoming The Guild: Fawkes comic by artist Paul Duffield. io9 recently spoke with Felicia and Wil about Fawkes’ tale, which the actors cowrote together.

Here’s an exclusive sneak peek at the covers and plot synopsis for Fawkes’ issue — which hits stores May 23 — and you can find our conversation with Wheaton and Day below:

Tremble before Wil Wheaton’s evil magical cloak from The Guild!

Fawkes One Shot Felicia Day and The Guild are back, along with costar Wil Wheaton, for a brand-new story spotlighting Fawkes, the dashing, debonair, and douchey leader of the evil guild Axis of Anarchy! His relationship with Codex threatened to tear the Knights of Good apart until he was thrown off a balcony for his treatment of her. Set after season 4 of the show, this issue reveals how Fawkes deals with his split from Codex and navigates the aggressive personalities of the Axis, and follows his journey to his surprising state when he returns in season 5!

Tremble before Wil Wheaton’s evil magical cloak from The Guild!

• Cowritten by Guild creator Felicia Day and costar Wil Wheaton!

• Art by Jamie McKelvie (Phonogram, X-Men, Secret Avengers)!

• Covers by Paul Duffield (Freakangels) and Emma Rios (Osborn)!

• The first issue of The Guild set during the series!

Wil, how did you and Felicia end up collaborating on The Guild: Fawkes?

Wil Wheaton: Felicia and I were working on Eureka together in Vancouver, and I kept asking her to come hang out and do silly things with me. And she kept telling me she couldn’t hang out and do silly things with me because she was writing comics for Dark Horse. Then we started talking about how it would be cool to do a comic together that would do a little bit of Fawkes’ story.

This is the first time we’ve ever seen Fawkes’ avatar. Were you involved in the design process? Like, "More skulls and spikes, everywhere!"

Felicia Day: I kind of let him lead on it because I always like to see other people’s angles and fresh perspectives on these characters.

WW: I think people choose an avatar that represents their idealized selves, and Fawkes likes to think of himself as this completely powerful, fearless badass. The version of his avatar that you’re seeing was mostly my basic description to artist Paul Duffield. He really brought that avatar to life.

Tremble before Wil Wheaton’s evil magical cloak from The Guild!What’s Fawkes been up to between the fourth and fifth season of The Guild?

FD: One thing I can say is that this is a much more Axis of Anarchy centered story than we’ve ever seen before, even for the show. It was fun to fill out characters I haven’t visited in a while.

So, what other projects are on the docket?

FD: I’m working on a whole new slate of webseries for Geek and Sundry. We’re making a big announcement at WonderCon, and you will probably see Wil at some point. That’s all I will say!

WW: I will add that Felicia is one of the smartest, most insightful people I know, and we’re always looking for things to do together. I can’t tell you exactly what we’re up to, but it’s super awesome.

The last season of The Guild was all about gaming and science fiction conventions. You’re both seasoned convention veterans. Any particularly wild stories from the floor?

WW: Felicia and I were at Gen Con a couple years ago, and this couple came over to us. It was this extremely sexy woman dressed like a fetish vinyl Codex, and she was with a dude who was dressed as a super-sexy Fawkes with the kilt and the Axis of Anarchy shirt. I just lost my shit! I could not believe that people had invested so much time and energy to make these incredibly beautiful cosplay versions of our characters. Felicia and I flew over the table to pose with them.

FD: I love it when fans add to the mythology of the show. We’re pretty grassroots. Going to a convention is the ultimate realization of that, where you see people express their fandom through cosplay...or tattooing my name on their calf. Which happened!

Tremble before Wil Wheaton’s evil magical cloak from The Guild!Wil, has anybody given you the tattoo tribute?

WW: No. But I used to write for Suicide Girls, and one of the Suicide Girls had a Star Trek communicator tattooed on her body where it would be on the uniform. That wasn’t me directly, but it was something I was part of for a long time.

Wil, you’re participating in the upcoming Next Generation reunion come April. Do these kinds of ST:TNG meet-ups happen outside conventions? Like, do you constantly run into LeVar Burton at the supermarket?

WW: We’re all still very close 25 years later. We talk on the phone, email, and text each other — whenever we’re in the same place, we make the effort to do things together. This is the first time since when I visited the set of Star Trek: Nemesis that all of us have been together. It’s very exciting.

Additionally, Dark Horse Comics has given io9 the very first look at the upcoming The Guild: Volume 2 graphic novel, which hits stores August 4. This book collects tales of Guild cast members Vork, Tink, Bladezz, Clara, and Zaboo — here’s the rundown on that:

Tremble before Wil Wheaton’s evil magical cloak from The Guild!

Felicia Day returns her hysterical, award-winning web show about online gamers to comics, and this time she’s brought along her real-life Guild! Joining Day in writing are Guild costars Jeff Lewis (Vork) and Sandeep Parikh (Zaboo), producer Kim Evey, and director Sean Becker, for five tales spotlighting the members of the Knights of Good.

Set before the first season of the show, these hilarious stories delighted fans and newbs alike and introduced plots that influenced the show itself, including Season 5’s backstory of Tink, originally hinted at in these pages. Featuring a huge variety of comics’ best artists as well as many of the talents key to the web series, and leading directly to the moment Zaboo unexpectedly appears at a startled Codex’s front door in episode one, this collection comprises a true "Season 0" of The Guild!

• Written by Guild creator and star Felicia Day, along with the series’ director, producer, and actors!

• Featuring art by Darick Robertson, Becky Cloonan, Kristian Donaldson, and more!

• Leads directly into The Guild Season 1!