Image Comics News: [Archive]

rascal_father

27-06-2005, 10:46 PM

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September sees the latest Warren Ellis project hit comic shelves, this time, the writer is paired with artist Ben Templesmith on Fell, a new ongoing series published by Image. We spoke with Image Executive Director Eric Stephenson and Templesmith for an inside look.

Of course, getting everyone on the same page, the solicit for Fell #1 reads:

Detective Richard Fell is transferred over the bridge from the big city to Snowtown, a feral district whose police roster numbers three-and-a-half people (one detective has no legs). Dumped in this collapsing urban trashzone, Richard Fell is starting all over again. In a place where nothing seems to make any sense, Fell clings to the one thing he knows to be true: Everybody's hiding something. Even him.

Of course, that’s the soundbite. Ask Templesmith what the series is about, and you’ll get something a little different.

“It's hard for me to say really...I know the basic setup, and I'm getting to know the characters...there's lots of layers of complexity going on, but basically I'm only finding out myself what's really going on from script to script, which is enormous fun in itself. I mean, it's a Warren Ellis script, what's not to like?

“I would say though, that Fell is a bit of a blank slate...and that the book doesn't seem to really be about him at all yet, but about the people and place around him...and we're probably going to see the ramifications of those people and surroundings affect him more and more as we go on. That in itself isn't rocket science I guess, but Warren will be doing it in his usual amazing Warren way, but on top of that there's also a monthly mini story in each issue, so no matter where you start, there'll always be something beginning. Episodic TV format if you like, but the bit that makes sense, so you can latch onto and watch any episode.”

Templesmith’s view of the series gels rather well with how the series came to Image, according to Stephenson.

“I'd been badgering Warren about doing something new at Image for a while and about a year ago, he started e-mailing with questions about different formats, different ideas he had about how to pace things and so on,” Stephenson said. “The thing about Warren -- and I don't think this is by any means some kind of big revelation -- is he's generating new ideas pretty much non-stop. So really, the most involved part of this whole process for me was offering feedback as Warren decided which way to go with various notions he was entertaining. Once he'd made up his mind, I just got to sit back and wait for the pages to roll in.

“This is going to sound like overloaded hype, but this really is one of my favorite new comics. Warren's just jamming a lot of story into each story. There are plot elements and questions that carry over from one story to the next, but you still get this really satisfying read from each of the individual issues.

“After years of ‘decompressed’ storytelling, it's kind of refreshing to see something as dense as this. It's a type of storytelling comics used to really excel at -- whether we're talking about eight-page EC stories, Will Eisner's Spirit, classic 2000 AD and Warrior or even some of those 17-page stories that were being published in the '70s. People forget that creators like Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, Steve Gerber, Don MacGregor and Steve Englehart were doing some amazing work within that 17-page format.”

Of course, one Executive Editor’s “dense” is another artist’s…

“It was good to know from the outset that Warren wanted to kill me,” Templesmith joked. “He made that clear, which was really good, as I tend to have death wishes lately. Basically the pages are all nine panel grids, with occasional larger panels for emphasis etc. It's a real trick to get everything you need into a nine panel grid format at times, but honestly, since I did Matt [Fraction’s] Bloodsucker story for IDW, I really seem to be getting into the grid thing, so I definitely have to thank him for that which made me look at things in a very different way. It can be such a clear way of telling intricate stories. You can put so many more little things in each issue. small mannerisms, and expressions can matter more. You've got a higher frame rate effectively, which always works for animation after all. This is no big splash page comic, with one big scene shot. This is more...intimate...not unlike storyboarding I guess where you really have to convey what you want going on to the audience. Warren is definitely putting a lot out there for the reader, but at the same time he's not spoon feeding you with it.

“Apart from that, I’m changing the way I do some things on the basic level. Going for a bit more detail, shading etc. Different color palette too. It probably looks quite different, certainly from some of my really raw 30 Days of Night stuff. But each project needs a different look really. I'm trying hard not to be a one trick pony and hopefully I'm evolving, though that's for others to judge so I couldn't agree or disagree...it's all in the eye of the beholder and often I'm too close to see anything in my own work.”

Speaking further of his and Ellis’ collaborative process, Templesmith said: “We had a fair bit of initial discussion about color palette more than anything else...it was really about mood more than any other technical/story issue. So basically I get script, I draw, put up the finished pages on a minisite, and see how Warren likes ‘em. So far, he seems to love them, which is hugely flattering. The script I get is pretty tight, certainly, apart from Matt Fraction’s scripts, the tightest I've ever had, but there's still wiggle room in there. I don't mind tight scripts at all, in fact usually they do make life easier, especially if they seem to have the same ideas I do, which Matt and Warren both seem to, plus I learn a lot! Not everything is dictated, and the fun is certainly not sucked out of working on it for me. I generally try to follow what a writer wants word for word to the best of my ability, so it's really nice to have a little choice myself, and have the writer like what I do on top of what he/she has already said they want is just a bonus.”

Templesmith also confirmed just who might find Fell to be their cup of tea. “Probably not the men in tights brigade, that goes without saying,” the artist said. “Beyond that, I think anyone that likes decent character driven stories, crime stuff, CSI, what you will, should be into that. And of course anyone that likes Warren's work should be liking the hell out of it. Also I guess anyone who's been on the fence about my ‘love it or loathe it’ work might want to check it out, as people seem to keep telling me it's different from anything I've done before.”

And as for Templesmiths’ goal for the series? He already said it.

“Just staying alive. We're in on the book as long as we can keep doing it viably - so hopefully for quite some time. It's my first real ‘monthly’ monthly too...and I have a bunch more things in the pipeline, so caffeine injections and crack habit here I come.”
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