Once again I’ve asked a friend to write a few words on this seminal Warren Ellis work, this time it’s our own Dan! He says:

“Warren Ellis’ City of Silence was written for Epic Comics in 1995, but Epic folded before publishing it, and it didn’t see the light of day until Image released it in three issues in 2000. Silence is a nice mashup of 80s cyberpunk, occult horror, and Ellis’ now familiar (or should I say ubiquitous?) “this one goes to 11”-brand of perversity. The seeds of Transmetropolitan (1997-2002) are visible in it, though to me it feels denser and more disciplined, and the humor is of a different sort.

Ellis writes “the exponential curve of technological innovation went straight up. The more new ideas and tech appeared, the more the masses got a junkies lust for MORE MORE MORE.” But instead of a Vinge-ian or Kurzweilian Singularity, Ellis conjures a Gibsonian dystopia built on occult foundations. Frost, Litany and Gitane are the Silencers (the original title for the series, apparently), FBI agents who protect the City of Silence from dangerous new technologies and ideas (“and their owners”) with extreme prejudice. Investigating the provenance of a piece of circuit-laden pentragram implant/jewelry found on a corpse leads the Silencers towards what looks more and more like an apocalyptic conspiracy.

This is vintage Ellis – raw creativity on display, a voice unlike anything else at the time, and really something to appreciate. Gary Erskine’s art is perfectly suited to the noir-ish feel, as detail-oriented as a haunted Geof Darrow on a bad acid trip – he makes individual subjects appropriately eerie, menacing or ugly, while crafting a beautiful whole. The characters’ visit to another dimension where time runs faster is very cleverly done. I also got a kick of out the omnipresent graffitti, something I hadn’t seen so well done since Truman’s run on First Comics’ GrimJack. D’Israeli, who drew Lazarus Churchyard, another wonderful early Ellis book, does a fantastic job bringing unearthly colors to the City.

I enjoyed the hell out of this, and hope you do, too.”

Thanks Dan! This is a really exemplary piece of Ellis’ work, displaying his wicked sense of humor, and some great art by Gary Erskine. Check it out!