Interviews: Ask Warren Ellis a Question

samzenpus writes "Warren Ellis is an acclaimed British author of comics, novels, and television who is well known for his sociocultural commentary. The movies Red and Iron Man 3 are based on his graphic novels. In addition to numerous other comic titles, he started a personal favorite, Transmetropolitan. Ellis has written for Vice, Wired UK, and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and is co-writing a video project called Wastelanders with Joss Whedon. Warren has agreed to give us some of his time to answer any questions you may have. As usual, ask as many as you'd like, but please, one per post."

Comments

Authors in the industry

[TWX]

I've noticed that some authors are quite happy to see their works adapted into other formats, but some authors like Alan Moore seem upset, to the point of being hostile when this happens, even though they had to license or sell the rights for this to occur. Did you have control over the rights to some of your work that was turned into movies, and if so, how did you feel about that process and the end result? Have there been works by you or other writers that you felt were especially well or poorly executed in their adaptation?

Just talk about Planetary for a bit

[c0d3g33k]

Mr Ellis,

I enjoy all your work, but I view Planetary as a "love letter to the things I love". I would appreciate it if you just wrote a little bit about what you were thinking/feeling when you were working on Planetary. That work covers a lot of territory, but my reaction on first reading was to weep because you captured so perfectly the essence of all those wonderful stories that I loved as a young man. I didn't think anyone loved that shit as much as I did, but Planetary seemed to capture the essence of all those great stories whilst bringing them in to the modern age and reminding us why they were relevant and maybe still are.

So, if you would, just riff a bit on Planetary and all the things you had in your head when you were working that all out. Planetary as the finished work we have as a reference - I'm interested in the stew in your mind containing all that wonderful stuff that eventually was distilled into Planetary. Talk about that a bit, if you are so inclined.

Thanks.

Transmetropolitan Adaptation

[Verdatum]

I don't know very much about comic books. With the exception of my parents' Mad Magazines and silver age Superman comics, I never got into them. Transmet has been one of very few exceptions. By about volume 3, I was rather terrified that this might get horribly adapted into a movie. I just couldn't imagine any way the story could be decently converted into a 90-120 minute format. The animated series adaptation idea, on the other hand, rather intrigued me. I was bummed to see it fall through; the animation looked quite promising (I seem to recall Chris Prynoski/Titmouse Inc. was somehow involved, but can't find confirmation on that). I realize nothing is currently in production, but is there any chance of another attempt at such an adaptation in the future?

Global Frequency

[rokstar]

Any plans on doing more Global Frequency? Loving Trees by the way.

Who do you enjoy reading?

[TJ_Phazerhacki]

What authors (or writers, or artists) do you enjoy reading most? I often find that the people I like to read like to read the people I should be reading.

Also, thank you for Spider.

What would you write if your editors allowed it?

[Khopesh]

When writing within a popular series (e.g. X-Men or Hellblazer), there are certain hard limits in what liberties you can take. As a mundane example, you can't kill characters without planning out a large arc that builds up to it and/or quickly bringing them back, all with editorial approval from up on high.

What would you write within a popular series if only you could get permission to do it?