WARREN ELLIS ON FELL

[MattBrady]

On Monday, artist Ben Templesmith and Image Executive Director Eric Stephenson talked with Newsarama about the upcoming series, Fell. Today, writer and creator Warren Ellis takes the mic to talk about the series, as well as provide a four-page preview.

Without further ado, here’s Ellis:

Fell: The first thing I want to talk about is the format. Fell is a 24-page single, that contains 16 pages of full color comics and several pages of what's called back matter -- text stuff, sketches, background material, perhaps even audience emails as we get going. And it retails for $1.99 American.

Further; each issue is a self-contained story. If you read them all, yeah, you'll see ideas and relationships develop. But there's nothing stopping anyone entering the series at any moment, understanding the set-up and getting a complete experience out of it. It's no harder to walk in on than any episode of Law and Order.

Self-contained, as densely packed as Ben and I can manage, with extra reading material in the back, for a buck less than most books of its type.

Why? Well, I don't know about you, but I remember being poor. I remember the difference between (the local equivalent of) a dollar ninety-nine and three bucks being the difference between buying a comic or missing a meal. And for that purchase price, I wanted value -- a complete experience that I'd want to replay again and again.

I write for an early-adopter audience who likes reading the chapters of serialized graphic novels as they're completed. But I also write for people who want to go into a store with pocket change and come out with a complete story, what Alan Moore once called "a real slab of culture". That's why I did Global Frequency and the Apparat books. And that's why I'm doing Fell. Give me your pocket change and I'll give you a full whack of story.

And it's a story I like a lot. Richard Fell, a police detective who's happy in his lot, suddenly transferred through mysterious circumstances from the big shiny city over the bridge to Snowtown, a collapsing urban district. It's becoming what sociologists are now calling "a feral city"; public services are collapsing, the fabric of society is getting thinner and more frayed every day, and things are getting ugly, weird and tribal. Snowtown's sole police precinct house has exactly three and a half detectives -- one has no legs -- and has pretty much given up on coping with Snowtown's slow slide into the stone age.

Rich Fell, a smart, easy-going guy fascinated by psychology and tells, is thrown in at the deep end. The place and the people make no sense to him. The only time he has a handle on things is when he's working, applying the one thing he knows to be true wherever he is: everybody's hiding something.

It's the story of Richard Fell working cases and trying to find his balance in a place where everything's too weird to be true, while falling ass-backwardly into an awkward, difficult relationship with a local bar owner who has her own problems and secrets. And, for the people who follow it issue by issue -- it's the story of what he did that saw him transferred out of the city. Because even Richard Fell is hiding something.

I started with the format, and half an idea. Mentioned it on my email diary, noting that it'd never happen because an artist would have to be insane to produce 16 dense pages a month for no money (we're doing it at Image, where all the money is on the back end -- I'll have written six or seven scripts for no payment at all by the time #1 is released).

And Ben Templesmith emailed and said, hell, I'll do it.

Which surprised me for several reasons, not least being I thought his soul was owned by The Steve Niles Corporation.

He was perfect for the sort of thing I wanted to attempt: something accessible, with clear storytelling, but full of the visual experimentation found in the envelope-pushing comics of the 80s, when people like Bill Sienkiewicz and Jon J Muth were on stage.

With Ben, I know that if I want to cut out three panels of exposition and just stick a bit of map down with routes and placenames scrawled on it, I know Ben is there. I know that if I need a one-panel flashback of Fell as a kid looking up at his dad, Ben will execute that child's perception. His work is a perfect mix of Sienkiewicz/Storey American experimentation, manga cartooning and European perspective. It's a unique-looking book, and writing for someone like Ben is like having eight different artists -- there's nothing I can write that won't be illustrated eight times as well as I imagined.

So it starts in September, and it costs pocket change. If you like the sound of it, tell your local comics store that you're going to want a copy.

[craigshawpins]

$1.99!! That'll be £1.25 at my lcbs!

If this is half as good as Global Frequency, I'm there.

c.s.

[Greg O]

This format is goddam genius, I'll be adding the book to my Pull list tomorrow. 16-17 pages used to enthrall us all when we were kids, the supplemental material is just added extra value for money.

I don't understand why, when the increasing price of comics seems to be the cause for so many books being dropped and so many of the most popular artists can't maintain a monthly schedule why more companies haven't thought of this.

Cutting 6 pages of frigging decompressed story could lead to an additional 2 or 3 monthlies without fill in artists and the price means that fans could pick up 3 books for every 2 they currently buy.

Bravo to Ellis for his initiative and risk taking, I hope he's rewarded for it.

Greg

[Arnout]

The art IS completely different from anything I'd seen Ben Templesmith do...
All doubts wiped away, this is now officially must-have.
btw: I love the 'caption' post-its. Fun idea.

Some typical Ellis dialogue, but long as it's funny, I don't care.

"my throat is still raw from the barking." That's comedy.

[brassbuddha]

That preview is priceless. Especially the last page. I was never really a fan of Templesmith, but this is looking good. I'm gonna be checking this out.

[capjr]

Good as got!

[MoneyMelon]

I like the $1.99 price. The price of the average comic has gotten completely out of control. And I like the fact that they're all self-contained stories, but I've gotten really tired of Warren Ellis. I used to really like his writing but I think he's getting a little repetitive and stale. I'm probably gonna pass on this. Wake me up when he does something cool like Planetary.

[Agent69]

Comic books have changed a lot over the years, mostly for the better, but I really miss letter pages. I think that is one of the things I really like about The Walking Dead, as Kirkman actually takes the time to print letters and respond to them.

As for The Fell, it is already on my order list.

[buji]

focus on good stories. interesting art. affordable. so, yeah... sign me up!

[idkidd]

I'm excited about this. It's a nice change that Ellis' protagonist isn't the one constantly dropping the outrageous lines. Also, Niles' art is the best I have seen from him.

[Benjamin Ong]

Originally posted by idkidd
Also, Niles' art is the best I have seen from him.

Um, you meant Ben Templesmith, right?

[Egg]

I'm very interested in seeing this! I'll look for Fell come September!

Egg Embry
Editor - DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES

[Marxist 64]

At that price how can I say no?

[JohnPopa]

I love that Ellis considers format and layout as part of the entire creative process, that he actually thinks about what his product is and looks like, rather than just thinking it's his only job to belch forth plot points or to jerrymander vague captions from the sixties into more important thoughts.

Looking forward to the fact that FELL will be something more than just its story and artwork.

[render man]

looks good and crazy! Templesmiths art looks different from his other stuff (not in a bad way) and it reminds me of a mix of Ted McKeever, Kyle baker and Scott Morse, but in a haunted kinda way. Hope they make enough money of thier hard work. I'll be getting this for sure.

[Arnout]

Originally posted by render man
looks good and crazy! Templesmiths art looks different from his other stuff (not in a bad way) and it reminds me of a mix of Ted McKeever, Kyle baker and Scott Morse, but in a haunted kinda way. Hope they make enough money of thier hard work. I'll be getting this for sure.

I knew the white lining reminded me of someone! Scott Morse, of course!
It looks more perfect the more I look at it.
Sam&Twitch eat yer heart out!

[Ben Templesmith]

Originally posted by idkidd
I'm excited about this. It's a nice change that Ellis' protagonist isn't the one constantly dropping the outrageous lines. Also, Niles' art is the best I have seen from him.

Hehehehe. That's the best thing I've read in ages. Classic.

I guess we were married effectively for so long, someone was bound to get the art/writing mixed up. Hopefully this project will help break down some perceptions.

I loved it when CNN reported "Stan Lee goes back to the drawing board"...lots of people make the same mistake I guess.

[Gordon McAlpin]

"...full of the visual experimentation found in the envelope-pushing comics of the 80s, when people like Bill Sienkiewicz and Jon J Muth were on stage."

Those are solid comparisons. I think Templesmith's got a bright future ahead of him. And I'm not just saying that because he posted right before me.

[Matt_Fabb]

Originally posted by idkidd
I'm excited about this. It's a nice change that Ellis' protagonist isn't the one constantly dropping the outrageous lines.

Yeah, instead of someone like really messed up Spider raging against the messed up world, it's someone who seems to be relatively normal reacting to the messed up world around him.

Also I love the fact that all the stories are self-contained. I generally just pick up trades and so I don't visit the comic book store regualarly (last time I was at my local comic book store was free comic book day). That means it's often damn hard to follow a comic book monthly as they will often sell out a week or so after the release before I arrive at the store, so I end up with big holes in a series. Just as I did with Global Frequency, I can just pick up any issue that I see is on the racks and enjoy it without finding the previous issue.

Plus the low price makes it a better deal, especially if I'm going to end up picking up the trade later on to get the whole thing.

[candrusiak]

This is going to sound silly, but I was really hoping that this one wouldnt look as fantastic as it does. With 60+ titles on file the last thing I need is another book every month, but there is no way I can pass on this one.

[Robert_Coyner]

I'm really excited about Fell. But, I really wish we could get some followups on other percolating or long-gestating projects of Warren's... Stealth Tribes quickly comes to mind...

[Ben Templesmith]

Originally posted by Gordon McAlpin
"...full of the visual experimentation found in the envelope-pushing comics of the 80s, when people like Bill Sienkiewicz and Jon J Muth were on stage."

Those are solid comparisons. I think Templesmith's got a bright future ahead of him. And I'm not just saying that because he posted right before me.

Oh suuure...

Thanks for the compliments though. ( And to everyone who's posted such. )Honestly though, I know I'm nothing compared to such greats as Sienkiewicz and Muth, but it's nice to be held in such high regard. Warren is a god.

Really hope you guys will enjoy the book and help keep it a monthly out there, it's quite a gamble, but should be a really fun ride. Is for me at least.

[SerbsInSpace]

Reminds me much more of Bizley's Global frequency episode, what with grotesque looking people peering out of the doorways. As always, even when nothing happens, when Ellis writes dialogue, the banter's interesting

A bit more religious imagery than needed, it's not a religious story, and still the neighboor and the cop (himself similiar to chief constable from Dark Blue) talk about Hell while a nun shows up in the street

Thumbs up on doing a rare creator-owned book in the industry where big names for the last year pretty much stand connected to company characters losing what makes them unique to servicing the superheroes

[Mr Flywheel]

I was considering getting this, then I saw my LCBS had it on advance order for £1.10!

What have you got to lose trying a new title at a price like that?

Knowing that the price won't double for #2 is cool too.

[Randy A]

I just added this book to my September pre-order on mailorder comics and it's only $0.50 Anyone using MOC should stick this on there if for no other reason, where else are you going to get a comic for 50 cents?