Off LIFE issue six

FEATURING AN INTERVIEW WITH WARREN ELLIS PLUS COMICS FROM THE BEST INDIE TALENT AROUND

ISSUE #6 AUG/ SEP 2013 FREE

COMICS

Pages 2 — 27 WARREN ELLIS

Page 14 YOU HAVE BEEN READING

Page 28 — EDITOR

Daniel Humphry @Daniel_Humphry ART DIRECTOR

Steve Leard @SteveLeard COPY EDITOR

Lucy Rice COVER ART

Kindred Studio kindredstudio.net DESIGN

NICE PEOPLE, NEW TALENT AND SEXUALLY GRATIFIED DOGS

It’s funny that the accepted stereotype for comics people is of socially awkward nerds; locked away in poster-lined bedrooms with only obscure web forums and Star Wars air-fix for company.

It’s funny because having already migrated through the worlds of publishing, film and creative agencies – this comics industry is probably the most friendly, sociable place we’ve ever discovered.

Take ELCAF a few months back. A room full of the most talented artists you’ll find anywhere in Europe, all chatting, drinking beers and setting up collaborations with newcomers.

We met one artist, said we liked their work and before long were three sheets to the wind with a submission in tow. Could you imagine the equivalent at a UK film event? We tried it once, only for the producer in question to nose our name badge and explain: “I’ve not the fucking time for no-ones.” Charming.

Nope, unlike other creative media, comics seem to have grown up without the egomaniacs who’d rather nosh a dog than champion new talent. People are friendly, newcomers flourish and everyone’s content. Except perhaps the dogs.

Anyway, enough eulogising. This month we were lucky enough to grab a short interview with Warren Ellis and, believe us, he doesn’t suffer fools lightly. Nor poorly constructed questions.

We’ve also an excellent selection of comics from both familiar faces and newcomers – who we very much do have time for.

Enjoy!

wearerandl.co.uk DANIEL HUMPHRY

OFFLIFE.CO.UK INFO@OFFLIFE.CO.UK @OFFLIFE_COMIC

Editor, OFF LIFE

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WARREN SINCE THE MID-90s, WARREN ELLIS' UNIQUE BRAND OF VISCERAL, AGGRESSIVE YET SOCIALLY INCISIVE STORIES HAVE BEEN A SHOT IN THE ARM TO MAINSTREAM COMICS. HERE WAS A WRITER UNAFRAID TO TACKLE THE MOST TABOO OF THEMES – RELIGION, MASS MEDIA AND MIGRATION – WITH SCATHING, FUTURE-SHOCK SATIRE IN TRANSMETROPOLITAN; WHILE ALSO HOPPING BETWEEN MARVEL STALWARTS SUCH AS X-MEN AND DAREDEVIL. IF ANYONE HAS ‘GOT’ THE INDUSTRY AND KNOWN WHEN TO BOB AND WHEN TO WEAVE – IT'S BEEN WARREN. OFF LIFE WAS FORTUNATE TO GRAB A SHORT INTERVIEW WITH THE MAN WHO IS NOTORIOUS FOR PULLING NO PUNCHES. HERE’S HOW IT WENT... field and proven the form has a potential audience far in excess of previous estimates.

On the other hand, print publishers and the commercial medium have been ridiculously slow to adapt for the internet, and are still way behind where they should be. Interesting times continue.

Since the late 90s you’ve maintained near constant online interaction with your fans. Why has this been important to you?

It meant that I didn’t have to engage in a great deal of prohibitively expensive and time-consuming travel in order to be able to speak with my readers. It’s probably the main reason I still have a career.

Transmetropolitan seemed both a love letter to and Given that so much of your work is linked

an indictment of mass media journalism. What’s your

with technology and its use, do you think that comics

opinion of journalistic and media standards now, 16

are adequately utilising modern technology and

years on from Transmetropolitan first hitting shelves?

the internet?

The interesting thing is less about journalistic and media standards – anyone who didn’t think News Corp was corrupt was simply not paying attention – and more about the ways the state views journalism now.

That’s a tough one, actually. In one sense, the comics medium has absolutely exploded thanks to the net – webcomics. Webcomics have changed the face of the

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ELLIS There has always been tremendous talent in British

I mean, yes, journalism has been disrupted and defunded, but in America there is an outright attack on journalism by the state.

I think perhaps I wasn’t as cold-eyed about that sort of thing as I could have been. Transmet is very much a fantasy of journalism, yes, but the last year has been one of those experiences of seeing real life overtake science fiction in fairly grim ways.

comics, but what was it about the 80s/90s that saw a wave of creators – such as yourself, Ennis and Morrison – bring a sociopolitical edge to the medium?

Probably just the experience of having grown up in the 70s and 80s, and seeing from the work being published in those decades that comics were a place where we could talk sociopolitically.

Even in the most “mainstream” comics of the time, people like John Wagner, Pat Mills and Alan Grant had given us permission to do that.

Comics sometimes come under fire for being too safe or auto-biographically introverted. Would you like to see the comic medium step outside its safety zone more often?

What, for you, is the ideal relationship between

People were doing that long before me, and long after me. Anyone who thinks comics exist inside a “safety zone” just isn’t reading widely enough.

comic writer and artist?

It’s always nice to be on the same page with an artist, when we understand how each other works and are aiming for the same effects. I enjoy finding an artist’s strengths and working to make them look as good as possible.

Why do you think that even respectable media outlets sometimes mock comics as a medium, despite perhaps not having a great knowledge of it?

Finally, how has the comics industry changed since

You’d need to define your terms. Chris Ware won serious book prizes, run by respectable media outlets, for his comics. I don’t see anyone mocking Alan Moore in the newspapers.

those days and are you content with the way it is evolving?

I don’t really have anything to do with the comics industry these days – I certainly don’t keep much of an eye on it – so I doubt I could comment intelligently.

Recently, New York Times writer Joe Queenan dubbed comics a “plebian, populist artform”. Is this is a fair evaluation?

I don’t think it’s unfair. It’s an incomplete analysis, but I doubt he was going for an analysis. It’s a primitive, low-tech medium, and its accessibility and simple means of production had it lauded by Marshall McLuhan and Umberto Eco decades ago.

YOU CAN READ MORE ABOUT WARREN AT WARRENELLIS.COM

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— YOU HAVE BEEN READING — KRISTYNA BACZYNSKI REPOSITORY @KBACZYNSKI PAGE 2

INTERVIEW WARREN ELLIS @WARRENELLIS PAGE 14

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ISSUE #6 OFFLIFE.CO.UK @OFFLIFE_COMIC

DAN BERRY I AM SO BELOVED

BY EVERYBODY @THINGSBYDAN PAGE 11

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