Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:30 pm Post subject: Ellis at Wizard World
As we all know, Wizard World has been and gone, and one of the highlights of the event, would be the 3 hour Reading/Q&A session with my favouirte writer, Warren Ellis.
Heres the summary of it:
(Warning: Contains intense insanity. Is also very long.)
IGN wrote:
Ever hear about Alan Moore's sock god? How about the time when Grant Morrison floated back into his hotel room on a cloud of some narcotic substance? Mark Millar's pile of money? How about Patrick Stewart's interest in killing rabbits? Sex with Godzilla?
There's only one place you can learn this. In a hall with hundreds of liquored up fans in front of a man who consumes a cigarette every 15-20 minutes, mixing the smoke with cans of Red Bull or glasses of Jack Daniel's Single Barrel Whiskey. Welcome to Warren Ellis's spotlight panel at Wizard World Chicago. It was... a memorable three hours.
Ellis arrived fashionably late, but was greeted like a rock star upon entering the hall. Upon seeing his reception, the writer joked he should really think about starting a church. After disappearing for a few moments, Ellis came on stage, proclaimed that he would get to smoke while the audience could not, and began to read passages from his recent novel, Crooked Little Vein.
The two excerpts dealt with sexual fetishes. The first followed the protagonist, Mike, as he stumbled across the United States' only "MHP Bukake" club, better known as "People Who Want To **** Godzilla." The second reading came from a segment where Mike was coerced into injecting a saline solution into a very delicate area. Needless to say, attendees were likely disturbed in more ways than one. Occasionally, when reaching a particularly explicit sequence and hearing the audience laugh, would pause, smile and then continue reading, clearly enjoying himself. Prior to his narration he proclaimed that he was going to read to the audience "as if we have learning difficulties." He was also certain some would leave, indignant because they had graduated kindergarten.
After breaking for 15 minutes to interact with some of the crowd, Ellis quickly yelled out "Alright, shaddap! F***ing rabble!" and begin a very, very, very long Q&A session. In fact the writer took two further breaks during what turned into a couple hours of interrogation by the fan. We'll recap some of the more memorable exchanges.
First up is news on the final issue of Planetary. Though started long ago, Ellis and artist John Cassaday never finished their run. However Ellis said he wrote the final issue about a year ago and Cassaday had begun working on it now that his commitment to Marvel's Astonishing X-Men had ended. The writer estimated fans would get it as a Christmas present.
An aspiring asked about writer's block. "I've heard of this," said Ellis. "This is when a writer cannot write, yes? ... Then he's not a writer anymore. You're something else! It's common sense!"
Another fan proclaimed he had two questions. "Oh good, I love those!" replied Ellis. The fan asked if he would return to any "work for hire" titles or if he'd ever want Brian Bendis's job/role as the seeming "architect" of the Marvel Universe. Ellis quickly asked if Bendis was in the room, but then went back to the first question. He said there weren't many he'd return to, though Daredevil might be an interesting book (Ellis did a single issue once). He also mentioned that he thought of Authority... and then repeatedly punched himself in the face.
Returning to the topic of Bendis's role, Ellis stated he wouldn't want to touch what Bendis had. He joked that the titles were probably toxic, but clarified that Bendis infuses his titles with his own personality too much. He also said if he were offered to be Marvel's architect that he'd shoot himself in the face.
It's around this time that Ellis tried to remove the Jack Daniels bottle top only to realize there wasn't one. Mind you this is relatively early in the night. Moving along...
"Yes! You! ... With the face!" shouted Ellis as he tried to get the next question fired off. The fan shifted from comics to music, inquiring why Ellis was so interested in having a CD collection over an MP3 one. Ellis replied that there were two reasons. First was the compression rate and how it f'd up the songs. Second was that he has a 12 year old daughter, and he wants her to be able to rummage through his collection and discover music on her own.
His favorite routine from comedian Bill Hicks? "We are a virus with shoes," replied Ellis.
Any chance he'll work with DC again? The answer came fast - no. Ellis replied that the company's superhero stuff never interested him much, noting however that he did do six issues of JLA Classified when asked.
One attendee asked Ellis if there was any advice he could give to aspiring writers. "Apart from 'Fucking don't'?" The author then explained how new writers need to learn how to "shut up." He mentioned that amateurs often don't let the art carry the story, instead filling the page with dialogue and prose.
Another fan asked if he'd take jobs from Marvel or DC if given free reign. Ellis said that Marvel effectively does that already. "I do what I want. They say, 'Thank you, Warren.' and then pay me." On a subsequent question, he mentioned how the old editorial regime used to fear him so much that they'd draw straws to deliver any bad news. He joked about how anyone he yelled at over the years got fired during Marvel's bankruptcy in the late '90s. "I am a vengeful god..."
A question about artist/writer relationships led to a fantastic and memorable tangent. Ellis said he tends to write character designs into his scripts, avoiding too much detail but enough for the panel to work as a storytelling unit. He then brought up Alan Moore as an example of someone who goes into too much detail, citing the commonly known League of Extraordinary Gentlemen scripts that would spend a page and a half describing one panel.
"Alan Moore is crazy," said Ellis. "Alan is the guy who dug a cave under his house. He effectively worships a sock (referring to a Roman god that is often represented by a puppet snake). I love Alan, but Alan is nuts." Ellis went into further detail, saying that Moore speaks in incredible detail at a very slow speed. He said that's why he rarely talks to the legendary writer - because he doesn't have that much time in the day. Ellis also said the reason Moore has only been to one United States convention is because when he did attend, fans followed him into the bathroom so he could sign their books.
Not content to simply leave the Alan Moore references alone, Ellis brought up "the Iceland story." Ellis had apparently been invited to speak at a college there. He had a fantastic time, and was asked if he could see if Alan Moore might also be interested in doing the same. He calls Moore and tells him it's a fantastic trip and experience - all expenses paid. Ellis then recounted Moore's response:
"Iceland... You know, I don't leave Northampton much... Or leave the house much... even the hallway... I tend to stay in the living room. To be perfectly honest with you, I just stay to one side of the room. The other side is a strange and foreign land where they do things differently... Sorry."
How much research does Ellis do for his stories? Ellis replied that he does an extensive amount, thanking Google for making everything that much cheaper. He noted he subscribes to many scientific journals, magazines and used to haunt libraries before the Internet became a dominant information source. Ellis mentioned that he tries to "stay ahead" of what he sees in the journals, but that one time he had to scrap a script because a friend bought one of Ellis's "inventions" from Radio Shack.
Marvel's Nextwave series was brought up. Ellis laid the future of the series on Stuart Immonen, who is busy on Ultimate Spider-Man. When a fan recalled that Immonen stated he'd leave USM for another round with Nextwave, Ellis replied, "B******t! He's lying!"
When asked about his involvement with Hollywood, Ellis once again brought up Alan Moore, saying he loved torturing his friend by telling him about the production of LXG. LXG was a film based on Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Moore publicly disassociated himself with the movie. Ellis mentioned his series Ocean had been optioned by Warner Bros and Red by Summer Entertainment. A few other projects were in the works. This led to the Patrick Stewart story...
Ellis mentioned that an animated series was once in the works for Transmetropolitan and that Patrick Stewart was considering the role of Spider Jerusalem. Ellis met with Stewart in a very fancy restaurant and that the actor was ridiculously formal, even shaking Ellis's one hand with both of his.
"Warren!" Stewart exclaimed. "It's a pleasure to meet you! Tell me! What do you know about killing rabbits?" Ellis's story went on regarding Stewart's affection for Transmet but noted that the studio developing the series, Sony Digital Animation, didn't want to pay them. And so the project never saw the light of day.
One audience member asked why the future fascinated Ellis so much. He replied, "We're all going to live there, but we have no idea what it's going to be like. The future is a storm front. We don't know when it's going to break or how long it's going to rain."
Earlier in the panel, one overzealous attendee pleaded with Ellis to "just talk about Planetary." That led Ellis to mention the start of work on the 27th issue, but not much else. The fan returned to the line, asking Ellis once more.
"Sit down!" exclaimed Ellis.
Upon hearing of a Bollywood musical interpretation of Transmet, Ellis demanded that someone send him a link.
Regarding any Hunter S. Thompson feedback on Spider Jerusalem, Ellis mentioned he once saw a black, plastic spider on Thompson's hat during a television interview. He figured that was a message, that Thompson was telling him he knew where to find him.
How does Ellis determine what company will publish his story? The author said that Marvel almost always does a direct commission, calling him saying, "We've found an incredible piece of ****! We'll let you do whatever you want to it!"
When Brother Voodoo was shouted out by the inebriated crowd, Ellis screamed back that there was no way he'd do it. He elaborated that on his own projects, he simply determines where he thinks it will fit. He noted that Avatar is a good fit for most of it these days.
What started him writing? Ellis said it's just something he's always done. He was born that way.
What keeps him writing? Bills!
After a discussion of false romance in Hollywood films, one fan asked how Ellis was going to approach Emma Frost and Scott Summers in his upcoming Astonishing X-Men run. Ellis said that he started his scripts before Whedon had finished, so he called Whedon to talk a bit about where things were headed. During that conversation, Ellis asked about the Emma/Scott relationship and how it worked. "Crazy weasel sex" is what Whedon replied according to Ellis, and the writer seemed perfectly fine continuing that concept in his run.
In Desolation Jones news, Ellis said he hopes to have things back on track soon.
Since he'd given the audience several stories of his insane associates by this point, one fan asked Ellis if he deals with anyone sane. "This is comics" exclaimed Ellis. He said he recently got an e-mail from Mark Millar saying, "Hi, Warren! I've been wanking into a big pile of cash all night!"
Millar and piles of money were a common theme between Ellis and Brian Bendis as the Wanted movie, based on Millar and J.G. Jones' limited series opened this weekend.
When asked if anyone was missed in comics, Ellis clarified that in terms of those who had passed on, Archie Goodwin was definitely one that came to his mind.
Somehow the discussion deviated to Hitler's porn collection and how his bringing Mark Millar to The Authority was his big joke on comics. He then lamented that Millar could now buy and sell him several times over.
Ellis was asked about his favorite contemporaries. He named many. Among them were Brian Bendis, Mark Millar, Matt Fraction, Jonathan Hickman, Simon Spurrier, Colleen Doran and Brian Wood.
After one fan asked a ridiculous question, Ellis told him to go sit down and try very hard to die. Another fan begged Ellis to tell him to "F*** off." Ellis obliged.
(It was somewhere around this time when two fans got into a verbal altercation. When one was angered enough to stand up, Ellis yelled for the two to "Take it the f**k outside or sit the down!" They calmed down.)
The same fan that had been begging Ellis to talk about Planetary approached the mic once more. Keep in mind this was a couple hours into the evening. Ellis was well into his bottle of Whiskey, cigarettes and Red Bull by this point. The author was willing to accept the request on the third try.
Ellis said he didn't grow up with superhero comics. He had to "learn them and learn the progression of the genre, from the present back to the start." He said once he had done this, he needed a place to unload his ideas. So he wrote a superhero comic about the superhero genre. Why did people fall in love with the genre? He'd show that in Planetary. He said that it's hard to see why so many people love modern superheroes with all the mud that surrounds them, so this was his response to that.
The typical question of recommendations for new readers came up. Ellis said there's no way to recommend books to someone without knowing their interests. He said it's as if someone says they're "new to cinema" and that they want him to recommend a film they would like.
Castlevania details? Ellis was first intruiged by the pay package. He said that he made a condition that if the studio wanted to make a good videogame movie that it couldn't be dumbed down to PG-13. It needed to aim at thinking adults. He said at this point the script is done and locked (after some revisions) and that he has no idea where it is at this point.
One fan thanked Ellis for depicting the gay couple Apollo and Midnighter in The Authority. Ellis mentioned that he didn't even tell artist Bryan Hitch about their sexuality for several issues because he didn't want the artist letting that influence their actions in the series. He says that he's seen art since his run with Hitch where the sexual orientation has influenced the art.
With Grant Morrison in the midst of redefining the DC Universe and Batman, one attendee asked Ellis if he'd ever co-write with the acclaimed creator.
"God no!" said Ellis. "That man is on drugs!" Ellis gave an example of one time he was staying in the same hotel as Morrison on some sort of publicity tour. He went to Morrison's room one night, and knocked on the door. According to Ellis, Morrison opens the door and a "dope and smoke fog" lept forth from the entryway. There stood Morrison, with a towel draped over his head. Ellis asked Morrison if he was writing. The creator replied, "Yeaaaa!" and then, according to Ellis, floated back into his room, and the smoke followed him back in effortlessly. The door then apparently closed by its own will.
And those are the kinds of stories you get on a summer night in Chicago when you're in a room with two cash bars, hundreds of fans, a bottle of Jack Daniels, cans of Red Bull, packs of cigarettes... and Warren Ellis. Suffice to say, it's an experience to remember.
Haha, Cat, no, I fucking wish!
Sadly, I lack the funds for cigarettes right now, nevermind trips to Chicago.
It was just a write up on IGN that made me laugh. Well, Ellis madness always makes me laugh, so I thought people might like this.
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