WARREN ELLIS INTERVIEW--THE DIRT ON ANNA MERCURY

WARREN ELLIS is a well-respected British author of comics and novels, renowned for his social/cultural commentary both online and in his writings. Many would agree that Ellis came into full-glory upon his effort on the Stormwatch spinoff The Authority, a super-hero book which Ellis created to push the idea of "widescreen comics."

Several huge projects later (the 60-issue Transmetropolitan, to note), Ellis began bringing his brand of Brit madness to Avatar starting in 1999, with the introduction of his mini-series Strange Kiss. Since that series, and its multiple spin-offs, Ellis has continued to crank out strange chemical mixtures at Avatar, which now culminates in the February-solicited series, Anna Mercury. And now PREVIEWS’ own Keith Davidsen has recently talked to Mr. Ellis about this new series.

**********

KEITH @ DIAMOND:  In April, you are unveiling your latest comic book miniseries, Anna Mercury.  Who is this beautiful and mysterious spy-adventurer?

WARREN ELLIS: That's a good question.  Because very few people in the city of New Ataraxia seem to know.  She floats and leaps around the city like she's Daredevil, Lara Croft, and a character from Crouching Tiger all rolled into one, but no-one can get a good look at her.  A lot of people don't even think she's real.

She's real.  It's the city of New Ataraxia that might not be real.  And yet there she is in this weird retropolis out of American 1950's science fiction magazines, disrupting the activities of the War Department, Magnetic Science and the Metropolitan Police, apparently working for no-one but herself... because no-one living there would believe who she's working for.

It's a complex one.  On the face of it, she's trying to stop the War Department from destroying the city of Sheol, fifty miles off the coast of New Ataraxia.  But, by the end of the first chapter, you'll see that the canvas is much, much broader than that.  I'm introducing a massive new mythology...

K@D:  So where did you draw your inspiration for this gun-toting überchick?

WARREN ELLIS: In my head, I'm testing out some notions I think of as NewPulp.  Not that I'd say that to anyone else.  I trust you not to repeat it.  So I really started from The Shadow and worked out from there.

K@D:  You’ve had a string of success with your creator-owned series at Avatar, working with the very talented artists in their stable.  For Anna Mercury, you’re breaking in newcomer Facundo Percio, whose promo artwork looks absolutely gorgeous.  What appeals to you most about Percio’s work?

WARREN ELLIS: Just look at the way he renders forms.  It's like the marriage of Milo Manara and Adam Hughes.  The pages are cinematic yet incredibly well "photographed" at the same time.  I personally love the fusion of European-style illustration with Anglo-American comics, and this guy's a perfect example.

K@D:  This five-issue Anna Mercury mini-series will actually be the first volley in a line of miniseries featuring this particular heroine.  Why did you decide to tell her story in this format?

WARREN ELLIS: So that I can get some sleep at some point.  Seriously. For me, I think, it's the way of the future, at least for the next few years.  I want to write complete novels, and then take a break, recharge and re-evaluate before commencing another novel in the series.  For me, it's the best way to keep the quality and energy of the work as high as possible.

K@D:  A common theme through much of your fiction is the idea of resisting corrupt authority.  How do Anna Mercury’s efforts in this respect differ from those seen in your other works, like Doktor Sleepless or Black Summer?

WARREN ELLIS: Hm.  Hard to answer that without giving some major twists away. Let's say, for now, that Anna, in contrast to say Doktor Sleepless, is an agent of stability.  It's her job to actually try and save and preserve societies – or at least pull them back from the point where they can harm themselves.

K@D:  Many people have described you as a futurist – taking scientific and technological breakthroughs and extrapolating out ten, twenty, fifty years into the future to see where they take us (“Angel Stomp Future” from your Apparat collection stands out in my mind as an excellent and frightening example).  What appeals to you about writing against such a backdrop?

WARREN ELLIS: The future's where we live.  All these things exist as potential in the soil here right now.  And using and examining these things gives us an interesting new perspective on the present-day situation.  So, you know, maybe it's the science fiction writer's delusion, but I can't imagine why everyone wouldn't want to read about that.  It's fiction about where we are and where we're going.

K@D:  Your most recent projects have explored the far reaches of science and magic, and yet you went in a completely different direction recently with Crècy, an examination of military tactics in the crucial 1346 battle between England and France.  Any future plans to revisit other moments in history?

WARREN ELLIS: I have a few historical non-fictions that are kind of nagging at me right now.  By spring, I hope to have broken ground on a book about the first English samurai and a true history of the ninja.  That's in the same book, yes. {Ed note: This will be the next APPARAT Graphic Novel.}

**********

You can find Anna Mercury from Avatar Press in the “Comics & Graphic Novels” section of the February 2008 Previews catalog.