DoomBook

So it’s been a while since the Fell trade paperback was published right? Mid last-year or so.

And then it just stopped being published. Which is kinda irritating.

My best guess is that they’re not paying Ellis and Templesmith enough to make it worth a constant release.. despite the comic being one of the hardest to find blockbuster sellers I’ve ever seen.

Granted, it does have a hard format to write. But while it’s very dense it’s also very short, which in theory balances out. For a good example of why, see many of the webcomics (or heck, even Phil Phoglio’s stuff, he’s been doing the format for ages). So the “it’s incredibly hard to do” statement doesn’t really wash for me.

So what with Ellis being hot property as a writer and all, he’s probably making more doing other projects at the moment and DarkHorse has to take what they can get. Just speculation.

Still, Fell is a great series and I’m patiently waiting for more releases. Even if I do have to make runs out to comic book shops that still have issues in stock (re: in New York) whenever they decide to release one.

Just read Outlaw Nation by Jamie Delano, Goran Sudzuka, and Goran Parlov. It’s essentially a classic meandering American tale written by a British writer to show what he saw in our country on his travels. It misses a lot of the veneer and really cuts to the heart of the States.

Also, the storyline proves to be a bit prophetic what with the clamp down on American civil liberties in the wake of 2001.

Outlaw Nation illustrates the death of the American Spirit in pursuit of the American Dream, to steal a line from the liner notes. That’s truly the best way to phrase it, and an interesting perspective you don’t often get in native tales.

The story follows Story Johnson, a zonked out ex-writer and member of the somewhat extraordinary Jones clan. The Johnsons are a particularly long lived specimen of American that started out from a brutal act in the Old West and carry on the raucous Western spirit. Even in the face of encroaching government intervention and the new world order.

Almost poetically, Americans aren’t portrayed as being good or bad, and are mostly (seen through the eyes of our character, a native son) our own worst enemies.

Even though the yarn raps up early the story romps at a good pace and satisfies. As the author states, in light of the events happening in the real world post-publishing, it comes off a lot cleaner than he had intended.

Grab a copy, it’s a good read.

Finally the trade paperback of Warren Ellis’s Fell has been released. I picked it up to fill in the blank spots from the comics I couldn’t find to purchase (even after 8 reprints) and it’s good. See my previous post for a quick description of what it is. Here’s Wikipedia’s take on it.

Yea. That about sums it up. His three panel comic on how it went down is here.

Now, what bothers me here is the fact that he got fired for talking about it being hard to kill someone with a .22 rifle.

This is a conversation I’ve had before.

And oddly, the content of it wasn’t much different. Basically, the same context with a “yea, a .22 caliber rifle is great for target practice.. you’d have to really try to kill someone with it, not just accidentally misfire or something.”

I’m kinda shocked someone could mis-construe that, with the “have to shoot them in the face” added on, as being some kind of warning that you might be a psychopath. Psychopath’s *don’t* casually talk about the dangers of firearm ownership, they simply start shooting people with them.

This, folks, is why they’re psychopathic. Stating you picked out a target practice rifle based on it’s improbability of harming someone (yes, even with a colorful metaphor) shouldn’t raise any red flags here.

Is it just me, or are people starting to witch hunt because of a infinitesimally small number of deranged individuals?

What the heck. While I’m on the subject of Warren Ellis (was looking into why the Fell trade isn’t out yet) I might as well let you all know that the first issue of Fell is free online. Enjoy. (Fell #1)

Just caught this one from their initial trade paperback release. Now.. seeing as how the comic format release isn’t any more expensive than the trade, clocking in at 2$ an issue, I think I might just go out and by the up-to-current old-school comics rather than wait.

Plus it’ll be good reading for the trip to Japan.

Did I mention? I’m going to Japan. There should be quite a bit of good media to kick through over there, lots of pictures to take, etc. I’ll post some of that when I get back.

Publishers Weekly has an interesting piece interviewing Ellis on exactly why he decided to publish Fell as a 2$ an issue comic. Other interesting artifacts in this series are that each issue is a separate story, contains 16 pages of story and 8 of other content, and is published by Image comics.

Honestly, I wasn’t even aware they were still in the business.

Not only are they still around, there’s some talk of them redefining their lineup based on the format. Although I’m not sure how that’ll work.. Ellis is a pretty rare case who pulls off a non-superhero graphical novel series like few other artists. I think you might have to hunt down the authors before you can redefine your lineup like that. I’m sure there are more writers like that out there, but they’re rarely found in the comic writing space.

Most of them are off in the still lucrative realm of Science Fiction and it’s newer hybrid mystery/modern breeds.

So this’ll be one to check out. Again, that’s Fell published by Image. With a trade paperback coming out “real soon now” (it’s on pre-order), a 2$ pricetag an issue for periodic release, and a presumed lack of men in tights it’s probably worth checking out.

Neurotically Yours has a new installment of Foamy and The Hatta’ over at Ill Will Press. Something about an over-used ethnically specific catch phrase. Hillarity ensues.

Sure. It’s not a book. But it’s generally humerous and media related. I’m all about the 21st century media.

I just finished reading Transmetropolitan (Wikipedia warning: spoilers), the 60 issue comic series by industry veterans Warren Ellis (story) and Darick Robertson (art). By the end of the series run I was starting to wonder if someone over at DC had fallen asleep on the censorship switch. In an age where showing a pasty on TV during a super bowl halftime show gets a public uproar I’m surprised that a Warner Brothers label has the cojones to publish such a racy story line.

To be honest, both the language and artwork are more what I expect out of a no-holds-barred outfit like Heavy Metal Publishing rather than the tame DC Vertigo imprint. Although to be fair Transmetropolitan started it’s life on the quickly killed Helix line which was more of a mature reader Sci-Fi/Fantasy label than the “quirky” (and somewhat schizophrenic) Vertigo lineup.

What we usually get out of comics are yet more stories about super heroes, would be super heroes, people who are pretty heroic but not quite super, or dystopian anti-heroes with super powers. Warren Ellis forgoes the easy comic book cliches (this time around) and instead settles on writing about Spider Jerusalem a journalist who’s only powers are an incredible capacity for drugs and an uncanny ability to ferrit out the story.

Set in a fantastical not-quite-dystopia based on the modern day US, Ellis takes us through his fears and hopes for the future. Pervading the entire Transmet series is a sense that this is Ellis’s personal rant on what’s going on in the world given life through Spider and Ellis’s exceptional talent for telling interwoven stories.

The sometimes protagonist Spider is a take on journalist Hunter S. Thompson and the name is a nod to Spider Robinson. Both of these are pretty obvious, Spider Robinson being the only “Spider” anything that comes to mind in literature and Hunter S. Thompson having a larger-than-life writing style equivelent to the way Spider’s character is put to paper.

Transmetropolitan really worked for me as a graphic novel. Most of the “stuff” available currently is either poorly drawn (in the case of many manga series) or poorly written (in the case of many comic book series) or in some cases both. To the contrary Transmet has an unconventional story line and excellent, intricate artwork that resonates off the page. It’s definately worth the $7.99(USD) price of entry, and if you’re like me the rest of the series will be following shortly after.