By Warren Ellis and Kev Walker

Marvel

I looked at Secret Avengers 16 for a few reasons ….. because it was in the middle of the new DC 52 and I felt guilty, because it looked like a standalone series with short, self-contained, relatively continuity free stories, because it had a great sideways cover. But mostly it was because of the combination of Warren Ellis and Jamie McKelvie as the creative team that swung it.

It worked. Thin perhaps, but fun. A group of Avenger types goes in undercover and sorts out all the dirty little secrets of the world. “Run The Mission. Don’t Get Seen. Save The World”.

Last issue it was Steve Rogers (no idea why he’s not Captain America now), Beast, Moon Knight and Black Widow. This issue Steve Rogers is back, along with War Machine, Valkyrie and Sharon Carter. So it’s something between Marvel Team-Up and The Defenders, a comic just to hook different heroes up against the slightest of stories.

And this time round it was nowhere near as satisfying. For a start look at the cover. Somebody who might be Captain America gets threatened by a truck. Hardly the super-stylish cover that attracted me to last issue. Once inside, Kev Walker’s art is good, completely different feel to the light and airy gorgeousness of McKelvie, but interesting, angular at times. And then impossible to make out what’s going on at others. Oops.

But the biggest problem is the story, or lack thereof. If there was little in issue 16, there’s almost none here. Sent to Serbia after a tip off from the Brits, the quartet tackle a truck. Yes. A truck.

No, really, they do. Sure, it’s a very dangerous, hi-tech, super-destructive truck, driven by a biomech skull with attitude and air support. But in the end it’s still just a truck, so there’s never the feeling of Ellis getting his teeth into the fun cutting-edge tech he brought in last time, and the whole thing zips by, page after page of wordless or quiet panels, rarely more than 5 per page. Very nice panels at times though…

Last issue may have been all about the thrill of a short hit sugar rush, doing it a second time just doesn’t work. Last issue had some really good Ellis dialogued setpieces, a great cast who seemed to bounce right off each other. Here we have four strangers beating on haulage vehicles whilst not saying much.

The thing is, Ellis has signed up for 6 issues, maybe more. That first issue was great, vintage Ellis superhero fun, all hi-tech and silly. This, not so much. I’ll be around next issue to see which way the streaks headed.

Annie Wu:

PJ Holden:

but possibly best of all, particularly seeing the number of DC reboot comics I’m reading right now…. Dean Trippe:

By Warren Ellis and Jamie McKelvie

Marvel Comics

Why?

Because I’m feeling slightly guilty over the amount of DC coverage we’ve been putting up recently.

Because it’s Warren Ellis writing and Jamie McKelvie drawing.

Because it’s got the Beast and Black Widow in.

Because I’ve always been a Marvel boy at heart (sorry DC), ever since my second exposure to superhero comics was via Hulk Weekly, Captain America Weekly and shortly after that Rampage Monthly, Marvel Superheroes Monthly and a lifelong love of Alan Moore courtesy of Captain Britain. Marvel UK (God rest it’s soul) brought me into comics, so Marvel always has that nostalgic edge.

Because seeing a cover on its side that way reminded me of my very first exposure to superhero comics, the Marvel UK Titans series.

Because I opened up the wrong file, meaning to review a DC #1 because I did promise myself and the FPI blog I’d at least casually mention all 52 of the new 52 and so far have managed, 12 days into September, just the one.

Because it’s 1:13am in the morning on a school night and I’ve just finished another G&T.

Or possibly all of the above.

I haven’t read a Marvel comic since SHIELD. I mean to, I really do. But I don’t get to comic shops much, and there’s honestly only so much you can review, and so damn much great stuff out there competing for my attention. But it’s also because at this stage in my life, I really just want an easy life. I don’t want to read a comic and then have to go to bloody wikipedia to find out the convoluted history and continuity of a series or character to put the 22 page comic I’ve just read into context.

But hey, here we go. Ellis and McKelvie on Secret Avengers. Reviewer on G&T. It’s 1:19am. I have to be up at 7am. Why the hell not.

McKelvie’s art is just gorgeous. Really, really. In an if McKelvie’s art were a woman she’d be the sort of woman you simply worship from afar. A Lauren Bacall of the comic world sort of gorgeous.

And I do enjoy a Warren Ellis comic. I enjoy all the clipped, snarky dialogue, the weird science references, the fact he’d always rather have his characters having a conversation than actually doing anything. And if he can’t have that, then a conversation whilst they’re doing stuff, even superhero-y action stuff will do just fine.

So here we have the Secret Avengers team of Steve Rogers (Captain America, but without the mask – I have no idea why, maybe I should read more Avengers comics?), Beast, Black Widow and Moon Knight attacking some secret underground base.

There’s action and fighting, there’s snarky dialogue, there’s Beast converting the atomic cadillac they find into a dirty fission bomb to stop the city being turned into a weapon using Von Doom radiation. And there’s talking. There’s lots of talking. Talking in the car, talking under fire, talking whilst fighting. And it is very good talking. And even on the pages where there is no talking the art by McKelvie is pretty. Did I mention how pretty I find McKelvie’s pictures already?

And that is it. It’s fast, it’s action packed, and it’s a damn enjoyable few minutes of my time. And well worth a few minutes of yours. Jamie McKelvie is doing the big “lets get our books into the Disney store since they own us now” X-Men Season One original graphic novel. It will look gorgeous.

I’m going to bed now.

(the always charming and friendly Spider Jerusalem by Ellis and Robertson)

A sadly far too brief video giving us a tiny glimpse into the Transmetropolitan themed Dr Sketchy’s Anti-art achool which was staged to promote the Transmetropolitan Art Book for charity. Ryan Keely portrays the Filthy Assistant Channon, while acclaimed queer adult star/icon Jiz Lee essays her pretty funky, gender-bending interpretation of Spider Jerusalem, complete with the fearsome Bowel Disruptor. Very cool, just wish it was a little longer! (it’s spicy and saucy rather than too naughty, but any reader of Ellis and Robertson’s brilliant Transmetropolitan will already guess that it is still probably NSFW!):

Dr. Sketchys presents Transmetropolitan from Dr. Sketchys on Vimeo.

Course, you can still get the books as well – nice to have on the bookcase for those moments where you’re not in front of a screen eh?

Definitely go and read the whole thing, because it’s written well, passionately and with Ellis’ usual amount of candour….. but here’s a few choice bits….

“Time was, back in the Nineties, comics editors who had a writing slot to fill on a mandated company owned comic would institute something of a foot race.  They’d contact several writers at once and ask them to write detailed pitches for the book.  Sometimes it paid, sometimes it didn’t. I remember taking part in these on three occasions, back when I was a newish writer.”

“I remember being asked to pitch for a mooted BLACK PANTHER 2099 book at Marvel.  …. I wasn’t happy at doing the foot race: I got paid, and my foot hadn’t been in the door that long, and I supposed this was just the way things were done.  But I had a feeling that maybe it wasn’t the best way to do things.”

“Things did change in the 2000 – 2010 space. But you know what?  I’m hearing a lot lately about writers being put into foot races on gigs.  And not only do they not know who else is running for the job – but many of them seem not to be told they’re in a foot race at all.  Writers who assumed they were writing the gig are being told that they never had the gig at all, that other writers have been run parallel to them.  Even though they were put through multiple drafts.  They didn’t know they were in competition.”

“Commercial comics can be enough of a snakepit even in relatively benign times.  But bringing back a process both demeaning and creatively inferior, and just fucking lying to people about it?  I don’t like what that says about the next cycle in the field.  I guess the Nineties really are coming back.”

3500 copies of the first print went in less than 48 hours. Berg are rush releasing a second print very soon. And at £10 per 40 page comic …. that’s not a bad little return. What’s the betting we’ll see another issue, or maybe another project from BERG very soon?

SVK is written by Warren Ellis and drawn by D’Israeli. Basically it’s a slab of Sci-Fi comic with no thought bubbles, just UV inks that reveal when the “SVK object” (a UV torch) is shone upon the page… sure it may be a gimmick, but it seems it’s a gimmick with the useful addition of a name writer and a great artist. And that always helps.

Berg describe the comic thus:

“This graphic novella is about looking – an investigation into perception, storytelling and optical experimentation that inherits some of the curiosities behind the previous work of BERG. Litho printed on 115gsm silk paper in tones of black and blue, SVK uses a third ink invisible without the SVK object. The object is a UV light source which unlocks hidden layers woven throughout the comic book. Reading SVK becomes a unique and strange experience as you see the story unfold through the eyes of Thomas Woodwind.”

“First and foremost SVK is a modern detective story, one that Ellis describes as “Franz Kafka’s Bourne Identity”.”

“It’s a story about cities, technology and surveillance, mixed with human themes of the power, corruption and lies that lurk in the data-smog of our near-future.”

Late on this…. apologies. But it’s always fun to read what Warren Ellis thinks of the current goings-on in the comic industry (even if he wrote them a couple of weeks ago.

Round One: DC…… wherein he makes a good point about DC’s digital strategy being all about attempting to reach out to those potential comic buyers who are nowhere near a comic shop. They used to be, back in the 80s/90s – but because the industry contracted, the number of stores is massively reduced.

“The gamble here is this: that hypothetical lost fan base is older, has credit cards and disposable income, and an internet connection that can bring the DC Comics section of a notional comics store right to their desks. That, in fact, digital comics services will do the work of those eight thousand stores that don’t exist anymore.”

And then he goes on to compare Marvel & DC’s relationship with retailers, in a way only Ellis can:

“It was in DC’s core DNA to protect and serve physical comics stores. To the point where every 18 months or so they’d pay for a hundred comics retailers to attend a special DC conference, where the retailers could moan at them for two days and then go home and order more Marvel comics. (In broad and crude terms, DC were the attentive suitor, while Marvel Comics treated retailers mean to keep them keen.)

Now, there is a fascinating situation where DC will polybag special issues of JUSTICE LEAGUE #1 with a digital-comic download code, a book that will cost an extra dollar. Comics are done on firm sale. Which means, as far as I can see, that the retailer is being charged extra money on each copy of that edition too. Maybe I’m wrong, and comics retailers aren’t being offered a reacharound while getting an mild yet unwelcome pegging. But it’s an interesting kind of support.”

Round Two: Marvel….

Where, in a reversal of structure from the DC post, he goes off funny:

“Marvel Comics’ digital-comics strategy is that… they don’t seem to have one, really. Full disclosure — I’m on work-for-hire exclusive to them until the end of the year. But they’re all used to me moaning at them anyway.”

And then starts analysing:

“Their digital store, then, is a big back-issue bin, with the occasional experiment in day-and-date simultaneous release in print and digital. They’re unlikely to go line-wide day-and-date like DC unless DC’s numbers are explosively successful and stay that way for six months — in digital AND print. Right now, Marvel own the comics stores in terms of dollar sales and market share, and probably see no compelling reason to risk a dilution of those figures. Those figures look good on quarterly reports. And that’s not a knock against Marvel, just an observation of the reality of their business life.”

Always interesting to hear Ellis’ ideas on the medium and the industry. I’ve always liked the manner in which he just spends time thinking about the mechanics of both making comics and the business end of making comics.

BoingBoing reports on SVK, a new comics project from Warren Ellis, D’Isreali and London design studio Berg. From the official description: “First and foremost SVK is a modern detective story, one that Ellis describes as “Franz Kafka’s Bourne Identity”. It’s a story about cities, technology and surveillance, mixed with human themes of the power, corruption and lies that lurk in the data-smog of our near-future.” But this isn’t just a comic, it also comes with an invisible inked second story running throughout which can only be seen using the ultraviolet light supplied with the comic, as well as some essays by William Gibson and Paul Gravett. Sounds pretty nifty, if a little pricey perhaps.

Oooooooh, a new science fiction series by Warren Ellis with art by Michael Oeming. Sounds great and damn, those early sketch ideas from Oeming look delicious. Would it be ridiculous to hope he keeps that loose with the finished artwork?

The series got announced almost as soon as it had been agreed by Ellis on his website (with more art here and here). The new creator owned comic all came about from a simple email from Oeming:

And Ellis decide he couldn’t say no: “An email out of the blue.  And then a flurry of responses – because I’m not stupid, I wanted to get moving before he sobered up or the drugs wore off or whatever the hell had happened to him to make him email me.”

And Ellis’ second series, announced a while back is the £10 one shot entitled SVK with art from the great D’Israeli/ Matt Brooker. A little stranger in concept than Half Moon, or at least in the formatting – it’s title stands for Special Viewing Kit, and that’s the rather unique aspect of the comic as well – it’s designed to be read using a uv torch to pick up the thoughts of the characters.

It’s also a bit of a departure in the distribution route for Ellis and Brooker. Published by BERG, a design agency, the £10 one shot will be available as a mail order only thing. For more on SVK read the Wired article, the Berg blog posts and this from Ellis himself. And then sign up for the email list to get information on the comic when it’s available.

It looks nice, the “Franz Kafka’s Jason Bourne” quote from Ellis is quick and exciting, as you’d expect from a man who pitches new stuff so very, very well every time.

Personally, I think it sounds like a nice idea for a story, I’m sure it will be very Ellis-y and I’m certain that Brooker’s art will be, as always, a joy to behold. But the novelty torch/uv thing that comes with it and the whole idea of using the torch to get extra stuff? That just sounds crappy and tacky to me. Hey, I may be wrong, maybe this will be a huge success, maybe it will lead to bigger and better things. But I doubt it.