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Underground > Comic Books >

Fell by Warren Ellis & Ben Templesmith

  
 
Axolotl
10:35 / 09.09.05
Anyone pick up the first issue of this? I picked up on a whim and was quite impressed. Not so much by the story and art, both of which were competent, but not amazing, but by the concept behind the series. It's the story of a cop, whose a fairly standard Ellis main character whose moved to Snowtown, an American city where things are a little strange. The art isn't really my thing, but it's well done with some nice touches. So far so average, the interesting thing is that the issues are completely self contained and costs less than your average tights n' fights extravaganza. This means that for loose change you can pick up an interesting self contained story. No need to catch up on continuity, no huge cross-over events. Just one complete story for pocket change and in colour as well.
Any one any thoughts on this - either the book itself or the idea behind it.
 
 
Billuccho!
03:29 / 11.09.05
Yes, I bought it; and it was very good. And more people should be reading it and posting in this thread, by gum.
 
 
bio k9
03:43 / 11.09.05
The most interesting thing is the price and the fact that the issues are completely self contained? And its in color?

Sounds swell.
 
 
Billuccho!
15:06 / 11.09.05
No, the most interesting thing is the razorsharp dialogue and well-realized quirky characters. Richard Fell does not read like your average Ellis archetype of the Grumpy British Bastard, and that's pretty refreshing.

I like the art. And the colors. And the story. I probably would've checked it out regardless, but the fact that it is just two bucks in a cool new experimental format is what really lured me initially, and what helped the book sell about 25,000 copies. People like good, cheap stuff.
 
 
rabideyemovement
15:14 / 11.09.05
It honestly reminds me of Frank Ironwine or Desolation Jones, but Templesmith's art complements the story so much more than the others. I love Ellis' dialogue, and was wondering how long it would be before we saw an alcoholic enema portrayed in a comic book.
So with each issue self-contained, it will be so much easier to force onto my non-comic-reading friends.
 
 
Ganesh
16:15 / 11.09.05
It certainly wouldn't be Ellis without some reference to anal penetration. Or is that Millar? I'm always confusing those two, when I'm not confusing Ennis and Ellis.

Anyway.

Yeah, it was okay. I'm really not a fan of Templesmith's style of artwork, but it had its moments. Seemed to be trying a little too hard to be quirkydark (the secretary with the bestialist husband), but it had enough of a hook to make me want to buy the second issue.
 
 
Imaginary Mongoose Solutions
16:31 / 11.09.05
As Paul O'Brien said in his weekley reviews "Fell himself is a fundamentally normal man, who's
inadvertantly stumbled into an entire town of Warren Ellis characters." I really think that's the best take I've seen on Fell so far.

and I can't deny... the format is brilliant. $1.99 for 16 pages of tightly paced and well-drawn detective weirdness + notes? Sure, sign me up.
 
 
Axolotl
19:35 / 11.09.05
Bio K9: As I said upthread, it's a good comic, with some interesting ideas, but nothing to make your jaw drop. Though other people seem to like it more than me, so maybe it's just not to my taste. The interesting thing, for me, is that it seems to be a comic especially designed to be more accessible, to not fall into the comics ghetto, and I think that's something that should be applauded.
Especially if it's cheap and still has a decent level of quality.
 
 
Our Lady Has Left the Building
19:59 / 11.09.05
It is massively okay and providing that Ellis keeps his promise not to turn the back pages into everyone telling him that he is a god amongst other chain-smokiing, swearing, lame comic-book writers it may be good. I'm not amazed by this Templesmith's art, I liked it more when it reminded me of whoever it was that drew Automatic Kafka a few years back than when it reminded me of Bill Sienkiewicz, who I've never really sought out because other than Electra: Assassin I never liked his style.
 
 
Withiel: DALI'S ROTTWEILER
20:12 / 11.09.05
Actually, speaking of Templesmith's art, is he employing his full range of stylistic tics here? In 30 Days of Night (an ok-ish vampire comic) he did all sorts of odd little things, such as including little text reminders in the art to expand the mood and strange non-realistic* scribbly expressionist bits, which I quite liked. I'll definitely be buying this on Wednesday, (if it's out in the UK). I really like the idea of the included text material, which was one of my favourite things about my LoEG trades, and the price is also very attractive.
 
 
rabideyemovement
20:17 / 11.09.05
It's very much like his art on 30 Days. And I really was never a big fan of it, thought it was bearable in Criminal Macabre, but here in Fell, it works on it's own simplistic, sloppy but impressionistic level, almost giving the reader the feeling of reading this comic through woozy drunken beer goggles. That's why I find it complements Ellis' writing so well this time round.
 
 
sleazenation
21:02 / 11.09.05
Correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't the whole self-contained thing meant to be what Ellis was doing on Planetary, but kind of isn't doing anymore?

I'm all for cheaper comics, so I probably will get this, providing it hasn't sold out. However, I remain unconvinced that the world really needs more Warren Ellis comics, and once you have reached a point where you are no longer particularly interested in the work of a particular author, it does leave you less inclined to take a punt on their latest stuff.
 
 
Axolotl
07:21 / 12.09.05
Withiel: It came out over here in the UK last week, so you should be able to pick it up.
Sleaze: This whole thing reminds me of the Ellis of a few years ago when he was against superhero comics, instead of the Ellis of today who writes the JLA & Ultimate Nightmare/Secrets/Whatever. Not that writing those is a bad thing, it was just somewhat of a volte-face for him.
 
 
Mark Parsons
18:43 / 13.09.05
I thought it was an excellent crime comic. Ellis is one of the medium's most flexible writers, IMO. Also, the book gave me an appeciation of Templesmith's art, which I had not cared much for previously.
 
 
Ganesh
19:04 / 13.09.05
You reckon? I'm afraid I'm becoming a little jaded by Ellis's style, and I thought Fell made Ben Templesmith's already-limited style seem even scrubbier...
 
 
FinderWolf
23:20 / 19.05.06
Read #1 a while ago, enjoyed it, nothing earth-shattering but fun. Now I'm on a search for the other issues; since they're not putting it in trade for a loooooong time, so far I can find #s3 and 5. How have other people found everything after issue 1?
 
 
Billuccho!
23:22 / 19.05.06
It's probably my favorite ongoing series at the moment.
 
 
PyD
22:12 / 26.05.06
The interrogation that takes place in the latest issue - whether tis four or five escapes me at the moment - is just an utterly wonderful piece of storytelling from both Ellis and Templesmith. The pacing is phenomenal and the psychology is really evil. Really savagely fun to read.
 
 
Yotsuba & Benjamin!
04:28 / 27.05.06
Yeah, Fell #5 was one of those airtight single issues, the kind that you know, right when you finish it, that it was one of your favorite single comics you ever read.
 
 
Our Lady Has Left the Building
20:23 / 27.05.06
Yes, that was a fun issue, Simon Pegg walks into a room, explains to Snowtown Warren Ellis how he can read him like a book, gets surprised and then still pulls through. This was so much more interesting than Desolation Jones.
 
 
Essential Dazzler
19:41 / 31.05.06
I absolutely loved this issue. I didn't even notice it was only 16 pages, took me about 3 times longer to read than the average Ellis comic. It's a shame he can only really manage to drop the decompression thing when he's specifically challenging himself to.

A sidenote, NLP has always fascinated me, but it terrifies the hell out of me, no way do I want to be trapped in a room with a guy who can turn me into a stammering wreck with 2 sentences.
 
 
Our Lady Has Left the Building
05:48 / 01.06.06
It happened to me once. As long as it's not an empty room you'll be all right, there's always something you can use to bludgeon the fucker to death with.
 
 
FinderWolf
13:34 / 22.05.07
I have consistently enjoyed this book, and both the paperback and hardcover collection of the first 7 or so issues come out this week, I believe. Recommended.
 
 
DaveBCooper
15:21 / 23.05.07
Fell is good stuff, and nice and cheap. Rather than call it the Slimline or 'Fell' format, though, I like to think that it and Casanova are published in the 'Airboy' format, a la Eclipse comics in the 1980s.
 
  
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