Fell (comics)

Last updated
Fell
Fell -1 cover.jpg
Cover to Fell #1, illustrated by Ben Templesmith, published by Image Comics
Publication information
Publisher Image Comics
ScheduleIrregular
Format Ongoing series
Genre
Publication dateSeptember 2005 – January 2008
No. of issues9 (as of November 2017)
Creative team
Written by Warren Ellis
Artist(s) Ben Templesmith

Fell is an American comic book, written by Warren Ellis, illustrated by Ben Templesmith, and published by Image Comics. It has received two Eisner Awards nominations, for Best New Series and Best Continuing Series. It began publication in 2005 and has been on hiatus since 2008, awaiting the release of its tenth installment. In a 2013 interview, Templesmith stated, "There’s one issue done and I could have it illustrated tomorrow and Image won’t print it. They would want two or three more issues of script written in the can, because they’re not going to release one issue of a monthly book once every two years." [1] Ellis has also made statements online indicating that once the series does return it may be short lived, saying that they would like to finish "the intended final seven issues". [2] In June 2021, Templesmith announced that he would be reteaming with Ellis to continue the series. That same month, Image Comics made a separate announcement stating that they would not be publishing the planned continuation in light of the recent sexual coercion/numerous affair-having allegations against Ellis. [3]

Contents

History

Each issue is also a self-contained story, supplemented with behind-the-scenes shots of unfinished artwork, a text section where the author expands the story's background, provides excerpts from the script, and (tentatively) answers reader e-mail. The series suffered from scheduling issues due to Warren Ellis' computer, which contained several future Fell scripts along with his backups, dying in late 2008, forcing Ellis to recreate them. [4] Ellis announced on January 14, 2011, through his website, that the script to issue #10 had been emailed to Image Comics and Ben Templesmith. [5]

Story

Homicide detective Richard Fell is transferred from his old post across the bridge to Snowtown, a city rife with urban decay of America's worst inner cities and the poverty of a third-world country. At one point described as a "feral city," Snowtown's denizens are generally desperate, hostile, or both. Violence is commonplace, with whole chunks of the city devoid of proper utilities, services and basic amenities. So hopeless is the city that the citizenry have begun spraypainting giant S's that have been crossed out as a form of protective magic, in the hopes that Snowtown will not harm what has been labelled as its own. Having joined the "three and a half detectives" [6] in the entirety of Snowtown (one having no legs), Fell is determined to do all he can to better the city in many ways. He takes calls on his time off, he ignores a lack of a warrant for the sake of a little girl and he pushes through efforts to hire more precinct employees. He is noted by his powers of observation and deduction (a salute to Sherlock Holmes) and his ever-present digital camera.

Snowtown is not without its share of mysteries, including its location, which is near a body of water somewhere. According to Lt. Beard, it is "miles from anywhere, [and] colder than Eskimo nipples." [6] Also unclear are the reasons for Fell's transfer though it involves an injured partner with recurring memory loss. Fell's city setting is anonymous with Snowtown obviously being a mixture of many downtown areas.

Richard meets the owner of a bar, Mayko, who is a young woman of Vietnamese descent. While Richard is spending an evening at her apartment, Mayko brands him while she is drunk and under the influence of painkillers, burning the Snowtown emblem into his neck. Later she and Richard make up and start spending more time together.

An interesting minor character seen in passing throughout the series is the nun. She appears as a short, somewhat heavyset nun in a habit, wearing a Richard Nixon mask and having black eyes with tiny white pupils. Thus far, the nun has been seen buying ice cream, purchasing a handgun, hiring the services of a prostitute, and apparently robbing a beggar. Richard's thought on his second sighting of the nun: "I need to think of something to arrest her for." [7] Ellis has yet to indicate the nun's place in the grand scheme of Snowtown, but indicates she is getting "more dangerous" at the end of an issue, referring to her purchasing a gun in the next issue.

Collected editions

Issues are being collected in trade paperbacks as the series continues with the first out in April 2007. [8]

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott McCloud</span> American cartoonist (born 1960)

Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and comics theorist. He is best known for his non-fiction books about comics: Understanding Comics (1993), Reinventing Comics (2000), and Making Comics (2006), all of which also use the medium of comics.

<i>Planetary</i> (comics)

Planetary is an American comic book series created by writer Warren Ellis and artist John Cassaday, and published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. After an initial preview issue in September 1998, the series ran for 27 issues from April 1999 to October 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Ellis</span> British comics and prose fiction writer

Warren Girard Ellis is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including Transmetropolitan (1997–2002), Global Frequency (2002–2004) and Red (2003–2004), which was adapted into the feature films Red (2010) and Red 2 (2013). Ellis is the author of the novels Crooked Little Vein (2007) and Gun Machine (2013) and the novella Normal (2016).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greg Rucka</span> American writer

Gregory Rucka is an American writer known for the series of novels starring his character Atticus Kodiak, the creator-owned comic book series Whiteout, Queen & Country, Stumptown and Lazarus, as well as lengthy runs on such titles as Detective Comics, Wonder Woman and Gotham Central for DC Comics, and Elektra, Wolverine and The Punisher for Marvel. He has written a substantial amount of supplemental material for a number of DC Comics' line-wide and inter-title crossovers, including "No Man's Land", "Infinite Crisis" and "New Krypton". Rucka made his debut as a screenwriter with the screenplay for the 2020 film The Old Guard, based on his comic book series of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Quitely</span> Scottish artist

Vincent Patrick Deighan, better known by the pen name Frank Quitely, is a Scottish comic book artist. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with Grant Morrison on titles such as New X-Men, We3, All-Star Superman, and Batman and Robin, as well as his work with Mark Millar on The Authority and Jupiter's Legacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Phillips</span> British comic book artist, born 1965

Sean Phillips is a British comic book artist, best known for his collaborations with Ed Brubaker on comics including Sleeper, Incognito, the Criminal series of comics, Fatale, The Fade Out, and Kill or Be Killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Mignola</span> American comic artist and writer

Mike Mignola is an American comic book artist and writer best known for creating Hellboy for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including B.P.R.D., Abe Sapien, Lobster Johnson, and various spin-offs. He has also created other supernatural and paranormal themed titles for Dark Horse including Baltimore, Joe Golem, and The Amazing Screw-On Head.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Cassaday</span>

John Cassaday is an American comic book artist, writer, and television director. He is best known for his work on the critically acclaimed Planetary with writer Warren Ellis, Astonishing X-Men with Joss Whedon, Captain America with John Ney Rieber, and Star Wars with Jason Aaron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darick Robertson</span> American artist

Darick W. Robertson is an American artist best known for his work as a comic book illustrator on series he co-created, notably Transmetropolitan (1997–2002) and The Boys.

James H. Williams III, usually credited as J. H. Williams III, is an American comics artist and penciller. He is known for his work on titles such as Chase, Promethea, Desolation Jones,Batwoman, and The Sandman: Overture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Niles</span> American comic book author and novelist (born 1965)

Steve Niles is an American comic book author and novelist, known for works such as 30 Days of Night, Criminal Macabre: A Cal McDonald Mystery, Simon Dark, Mystery Society, and Batman: Gotham County Line.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Templesmith</span> Australian comic book artist and author

Ben Templesmith is an Australian comic book artist best known for his work in the American comic book industry, most notably the Image Comics series Fell, with writer Warren Ellis, and IDW's 30 Days of Night with writer Steve Niles, which was adapted into a motion picture of the same name. He has also created book covers, movie posters, trading cards, and concept work for film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Erskine</span> Scottish comic book artist

Gary Erskine is a Scottish comic book artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Villarrubia</span> Spanish-American artist and art teacher

José Antonio Villarrubia Jiménez-Momediano – known professionally as José Villarrubia – is a Spanish-American artist and art teacher who has done considerable work in the American comic book industry, particularly as a colorist.

Laura DePuy is a colorist who has produced work for several of the major comics companies, including DC Comics, Marvel Comics and CrossGen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matt Fraction</span> American comic book writer

Matt Fritchman, better known by the pen name Matt Fraction, is an Eisner Award-winning American comic book writer, known for his work as the writer of The Invincible Iron Man, FF, The Immortal Iron Fist, Uncanny X-Men, and Hawkeye for Marvel Comics; Casanova and Sex Criminals for Image Comics; and Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen for DC Comics.

The Ledger Awards are prizes awarded to "acknowledge excellence in Australian comic art and publishing." Named after pioneering Australian cartoonist Peter Ledger (1945–1994), the awards were first held in 2005 to help promote and focus attention on Australian creators and their projects, both in Australia and overseas. Initially, the awards were held annually and announced online on or around Australia Day, 26 January. In recent years, they have been held at the State Library of Victoria on the Friday evening before the Melbourne Supanova convention.

<i>Dead Space</i> (comics) 2008 science fiction comic

Dead Space is a science fiction horror comic book series written by Antony Johnston and illustrated by Ben Templesmith, published from March to September 2008 by the American company Image Comics. The comic was compiled into a graphic novel and released online as a motion comic. It is a prequel to the 2008 survival horror video game of the same name, detailing the five weeks leading up to the destruction of a space colony on the planet Aegis VII following the discovery of an artifact called the Marker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Bá</span> Brazilian comic book artist

Gabriel Bá is a Brazilian comic book artist best known for his work on The Umbrella Academy, Casanova, and Daytripper. He is the twin brother of fellow comic book artist Fábio Moon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warren Ellis bibliography</span> Author bibliography

Warren Ellis is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter, best known as the co-creator of several original comic book series such as Transmetropolitan, Global Frequency, and Red, the latter of which was adapted into the 2010 feature film Red and its 2013 sequel Red 2. A prolific comic book writer, he has written several Marvel series, including Astonishing X-Men, Thunderbolts, Moon Knight, and the "Extremis" story arc of Iron Man, which was the basis for the 2013 film Iron Man 3. Ellis' other credits include The Authority and Planetary, both of which he co-created for Wildstorm, as well as runs on Hellblazer for Vertigo and James Bond for Dynamite. In addition to his comics work, Ellis wrote two prose novels, Crooked Little Vein and Gun Machine, as well as numerous short stories and novellas.

References

  1. "Career Q&A: Artist Ben Templesmith on "30 DAYS OF NIGHT," "WORMWOOD" and more | FANGORIA®". www.fangoria.com. Archived from the original on 2013-03-24.
  2. "Home - Warren Ellis".
  3. McMillan, Graeme (25 June 2021). "Image Backtracks on Publishing Warren Ellis Comic After Outcry". The Hollywood Reporter .
  4. Johnston, Rich. "ELLIS FROZEN OVER" Comic Book Resources; February 2, 2009
  5. "Home - Warren Ellis".
  6. 1 2 Ellis, Warren. Fell #1; Image Comics; September 2005; Page 3. Archive.org
  7. Ellis, Warren. Fell #2, Image Comics; October 2005; Page 2
  8. "Feral City Release". Image Comics. 2007-01-19. Archived from the original on 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2007-02-23.
  9. 1 2 2006 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards; Comic Book Awards Almanac; Accessed September 7, 2010