Warren Ellis

Hey y'all, I recently attended an early screening of a soon to be released documentary about comic book writer Warren Ellis whose works include The Authority and Transmetropolitan.

As a comics fan, including several comics I have read that were written and created by Ellis, I found this event to be useful in not only understanding how comics writers work, but the transmedia possibilities that comics have. Warren Ellis has allowed for a film adaptation of his comic RED, and has also written prose and the story for the videogame Cold Winter.

I found the documentary and interviews within to be very interesting, and having a personal interest in comic book writing, this documentary has been an invaluable resource. Documentaries like this allow the viewer to gain an insight into the creative process behind the writing of comics like Transmetropolitan. Warren Ellis in particular draws inspiration from his personal experiences and views, as well as his understanding of the world.

Warren Ellis has also influenced many other comics artists and writers, and created an online space for comics fans and established and aspiring writers/artists to interact and give each other advice. This was the Warren Ellis forum which has since been shut down. A prominent transmedia writer who Ellis inspired is Claudio Sanchez, the frontman for the band Coheed and Cambria whose name and lyrics are taken from Sanchez' comic book series the Amory Wars, for which Sanchez has also written a novel.

   

Warren Ellis also has an interest in technology, a prevailing theme in his works is the rapidly advancing technology of today, and a dissatisfaction with how it has turned out. But he has also used the internet as a direct medium and created the free online webcomic titled FreakAngels.