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Interviews: Ask Warren Ellis a Question 58

Posted by samzenpus from the go-ahead-and-ask dept.
samzenpus writes "Warren Ellis is an acclaimed British author of comics, novels, and television who is well known for his sociocultural commentary. The movies Red and Iron Man 3 are based on his graphic novels. In addition to numerous other comic titles, he started a personal favorite, Transmetropolitan. Ellis has written for Vice, Wired UK, and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and is co-writing a video project called Wastelanders with Joss Whedon. Warren has agreed to give us some of his time to answer any questions you may have. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post."
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Interviews: Ask Warren Ellis a Question More

Interviews: Ask Warren Ellis a Question

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  • Authors in the industry (Score:4, Interesting)

    by TWX ( 665546 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2014 @12:53PM (#48310767)
    I've noticed that some authors are quite happy to see their works adapted into other formats, but some authors like Alan Moore seem upset, to the point of being hostile when this happens, even though they had to license or sell the rights for this to occur. Did you have control over the rights to some of your work that was turned into movies, and if so, how did you feel about that process and the end result? Have there been works by you or other writers that you felt were especially well or poorly executed in their adaptation?

    • I'm pretty sure "upset" is just how Alan Moore is.

      "Oh, I'm a respected comic book writer for super hero comics? Better make satirize the whole genre."

      "Oh, someone adapted a couple of my greatest works relatively faithfully, even at expense of marketability? Better be grouchy about how it didn't perfectly match my vision."

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by TWX ( 665546 )
        Could be.

        As a reader and fan of David Weber's Honorverse I'm a little disappointed in what I've seen in the adaptation of On Basilisk Station to the graphic novel medium; the art does not seem to match the printed word or my imaginings of how the universe looks. I'm concerned that the subsequent movie(s) will be equally disconnected.

      • I will second that Alan Moore is almost always "upset".

        this. From what I have read of Allen Moore, he is an arrogant demanding S.O.B who does not play nice with corporations. He and his works have not always been treated kindly by them. He is an anti-corporate anarchist so I think that is kind of par for the course.

        I think you other comments are a bit off the mark. I can't think of any of his works that have been well adapted – large sums of money or know. For myself, V for Vendetta and Watchmen were

    • Alan Moore is upset because he believes DC tricked him out of the ownership of Watchmen.

      Watchmen was not a work for hire. The copyright would return to him after the comic was out of print. DC decided to keep it "technically in print" forever, which was an unprecedented move at the time.

      I don't know the whole story. Maybe Moore should have read the contract more carefully. But I do understand why he's upset. He did not think he was "signing over" all the rights to his creation at the time.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by TWX ( 665546 )
        If the contract literally stated that the rights would revert when the comic went out-of-print then he was foolish to sign. It means that if his work becomes popular that he never gets it back as the publisher can sell and sell and sell while people are buying, and it means that even if his work is unpopular, the licensee has ways of hold on to it by printing small-batch limited editions every time inventory gets low.

        • If the contract literally stated that the rights would revert when the comic went out-of-print then he was foolish to sign. It means that if his work becomes popular that he never gets it back as the publisher can sell and sell and sell while people are buying, and it means that even if his work is unpopular, the licensee has ways of hold on to it by printing small-batch limited editions every time inventory gets low.

          Today, creators are aware of that possibility. They have the example of Alan Moore to show them ;)

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by TWX ( 665546 )
            And Billy Joel, and probably countless other examples. Hell, Hollywood Accounting means that one has to be REALLY careful if one is to be paid after profits are achieved on a movie, and needs the contract to reflect revenue, not profit.

      • The copyright would return to him after the comic was out of print. DC decided to keep it "technically in print" forever, which was an unprecedented move at the time.

        Technically speaking, "Watchmen" was the first comic to score big in the trade paperback market. Nobody had any expectation that Watchmen could keep on selling. The success and longevity was unprecedented, so I am not sure if it would matter how closely Moore had read the contract.

        I think that part of the problem was that Moore was more familiar with British copyright laws which tend to be more generous to the creators.

  • I've never really enjoyed main stream comics but the imprints that dodge the archaic Comics Code have pulled me in with various titles -- some of yours even. According to your wikipedia page [wikipedia.org] you left Hellblazer after DC refused to print a controversial comic of yours in such an imprint:

    He left that series when DC announced, following the Columbine High School massacre, that it would not publish "Shoot", a Hellblazer story about school shootings, although the story had been written and illustrated prior to the Columbine massacre.

    Is this common in comic books/graphic novels? Have you experienced this elsewhere in your career? Do you feel that DC and other big publishers are too afraid of another Fredric Wertham to toe the line?

    • I like the thrust of your question but you might want to reword it, removing references to the Comic Code.

      At that point the Code was fadding. As you mentioned, most independent publishers no longer followed it. However it was also losing mainstream acceptance. Vitergo titles, which includes Hellblazer, had abounded the Code about 10 years earlier so that was not a factor.

      And, of course, today it is dead.

  • Will Transmetropolitan ever be released as a big single collection? Or perhaps 2 books?
    • It'd have to be a bare minimum of 3 unless someone was foolish enough to shrink it. I've got all the graphic novelizations, and they take up many inches of shelf-space.
      • I was looking at my mega compendiums of Invincible and Walking Dead, these have between 1024 and 1088 pages per big volume. Wouldn't Transmetropolitan fit in 2 such big collections?

  • Just talk about Planetary for a bit (Score:3)

    by c0d3g33k ( 102699 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2014 @01:31PM (#48311103)

    Mr Ellis,

    I enjoy all your work, but I view Planetary as a "love letter to the things I love". I would appreciate it if you just wrote a little bit about what you were thinking/feeling when you were working on Planetary. That work covers a lot of territory, but my reaction on first reading was to weep because you captured so perfectly the essence of all those wonderful stories that I loved as a young man. I didn't think anyone loved that shit as much as I did, but Planetary seemed to capture the essence of all those great stories whilst bringing them in to the modern age and reminding us why they were relevant and maybe still are.

    So, if you would, just riff a bit on Planetary and all the things you had in your head when you were working that all out. Planetary as the finished work we have as a reference - I'm interested in the stew in your mind containing all that wonderful stuff that eventually was distilled into Planetary. Talk about that a bit, if you are so inclined.

    Thanks.

  • Transmetropolitan Adaptation (Score:3)

    by Verdatum ( 1257828 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2014 @01:36PM (#48311177)
    I don't know very much about comic books. With the exception of my parents' Mad Magazines and silver age Superman comics, I never got into them. Transmet has been one of very few exceptions. By about volume 3, I was rather terrified that this might get horribly adapted into a movie. I just couldn't imagine any way the story could be decently converted into a 90-120 minute format. The animated series adaptation idea, on the other hand, rather intrigued me. I was bummed to see it fall through; the animation looked quite promising (I seem to recall Chris Prynoski/Titmouse Inc. was somehow involved, but can't find confirmation on that). I realize nothing is currently in production, but is there any chance of another attempt at such an adaptation in the future?

  • Global Frequency (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Were you sad to see Global Frequency refused a TV series and did you also think Michelle Forbes was pretty much a perfect Miranda Zero ?

    • How about was he sad that neither iPhone nor Android brought about a Global Frequency for real? :)

  • Do you know if there are any plans afoot to make any sort of cinematic adaptation of The Authority? I would think that this would be a perfect comic to adapt to the wide screen.

  • Global Frequency (Score:3)

    by rokstar ( 865523 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2014 @02:21PM (#48311521)
    Any plans on doing more Global Frequency? Loving Trees by the way.

    • You do realize that iPhone, Android, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn made Global Frequency so hilariously dated?

      Heck... final episode has this crazy concept of a private company working on sending people and cargo into space.
      Pure science fiction. Never gonna happen.

      Then again... Who's to say that Global Frequency isn't behind all those things happening IRL?

  • Can we get a Transmet movie (ideally with Larry David as Spider) already?

  • Wondering if you think we are looking at a dystopian future, or utopian future?

    Is it easier to do graphic novels for one or the other?

  • Hi Warren,

    I haven't really heard of you before but I thought those movies were okay. As someone currently thinking, "what kind of stupid question is this?", what kind of biscuit do you prefer with your tea?

    • "what kind of stupid question is this?"

      That sounds suspiciously like something someone who has access to thallium might ask.

  • How do you feel about movie adpatations of your work? Does it annoy you when the look and feel of a book changes significantly between your book, and the resulting movie? The movie Red is much lighter than the comic was.

  • Greetings, praises and thankyous Mr. Ellis.

    Any plans on doing more stories about historical events, like Crecy?

  • Who do you enjoy reading? (Score:3)

    by TJ_Phazerhacki ( 520002 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2014 @06:18PM (#48313485) Journal
    What authors (or writers, or artists) do you enjoy reading most? I often find that the people I like to read like to read the people I should be reading.

    Also, thank you for Spider.

  • What happened with newuniversal? Why did it fizzle out? How did it get started?

  • What would you write if your editors allowed it? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Khopesh ( 112447 ) on Tuesday November 04, 2014 @10:24PM (#48314731) Homepage Journal

    When writing within a popular series (e.g. X-Men or Hellblazer), there are certain hard limits in what liberties you can take. As a mundane example, you can't kill characters without planning out a large arc that builds up to it and/or quickly bringing them back, all with editorial approval from up on high.

    What would you write within a popular series if only you could get permission to do it?

  • I'm writing my own material and learning to draw because I don't see another way to make what I want to make. I look at your body of work and I wonder: How you were able to slide these incredible missives from the Gonzoverse under the brane, and was there anything you did early on that allowed you to make the incredible defining works in your bibliography (Transmet, Planetary, Authority)?
  • Have you read or been heavily influenced by Philip K Dick? Some of your work does use a lot layered realities (I'm thinking especially of Gun Machine and Supreme: Blue Rose) which is one of his trademarks.
  • You obviously have an interest in the boundary of society and technology, so if cybernetic implants became common, what would be your favourite upgrade and why?
  • A few of your peers in the comics industry are heavily into Magick (not the card game) and the occult. Are you similarly interested in the occult beyond using it as a plot device (e.g. Gravel)?
  • If you could pick any of your works for a movie of HBO series adaptation, which would you most like to see and who would you cast as the main character?

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