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Fell
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- Publisher:
- Image Comics
- Genre:
- Crime
- Latest Release Date:
- October 31, 2007
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Customer Reviews
Warren Ellis has one of the scariest brains on the planet.
That's doubly true of Fell, his "slimline" creation for Image Comics. His conceptual mind is scary brilliant, with the new format born for this comic finding success both financially and creatively. There's a 16-page story, and then 4 pages of what Ellis calls "back matter," notes and sketches and letters that illuminate the story you've just read.
This tectonic shift in comics formatting is nothing short of genius. Ellis writes those 16 pages in a dense nine-panel grid that makes the story feel substantial even if it's six pages shorter than other modern comics, and the back matter guarantees a high level of depth and participation.
Ellis' creative mind is just plain SCARY scary, using bits of real-life horror to inform the stand-alone tales of Detective Richard Fell. He has been transferred from the big city to work the homicide beat in Snowtown, which is a scary dark place where the vile is a fact of everyday life. The only light in his dank world is his potential love interest, Mayko, a woman who runs a bar and provides an outlet for Richard to discuss his cases and unburden himself of some of the bleakness that must weigh on his soul.
Ben Templesmith's art on this title is murky and sharp at the same time, like an acid fog; it burns and creeps and cuts. It suggests more than it shows; it suggests while it shows.
Once you realize what you get for just $1.99 from Fell, you will want to buy every issue in existence. You will want to take them to bed with you at night and cuddle them close, like warm cuddly kittens with death in their skins.
That's doubly true of Fell, his "slimline" creation for Image Comics. His conceptual mind is scary brilliant, with the new format born for this comic finding success both financially and creatively. There's a 16-page story, and then 4 pages of what Ellis calls "back matter," notes and sketches and letters that illuminate the story you've just read.
This tectonic shift in comics formatting is nothing short of genius. Ellis writes those 16 pages in a dense nine-panel grid that makes the story feel substantial even if it's six pages shorter than other modern comics, and the back matter guarantees a high level of depth and participation.
Ellis' creative mind is just plain SCARY scary, using bits of real-life horror to inform the stand-alone tales of Detective Richard Fell. He has been transferred from the big city to work the homicide beat in Snowtown, which is a scary dark place where the vile is a fact of everyday life. The only light in his dank world is his potential love interest, Mayko, a woman who runs a bar and provides an outlet for Richard to discuss his cases and unburden himself of some of the bleakness that must weigh on his soul.
Ben Templesmith's art on this title is murky and sharp at the same time, like an acid fog; it burns and creeps and cuts. It suggests more than it shows; it suggests while it shows.
Once you realize what you get for just $1.99 from Fell, you will want to buy every issue in existence. You will want to take them to bed with you at night and cuddle them close, like warm cuddly kittens with death in their skins.
5 pts.
Matt already said most of the good things about this comic below, so I'll let his words stand. Just pretend I said those things, except not quite as well.
I do want to comment about the $1.99 price point. Ellis crams a lot into these comics. Each issue is a complete story which you can pick up at any point. Grab the latest one and you won't feel lost at all. I applaud that they can pack a full story into such a short comic, each page stuffed to capacity with art and writing. And they want it to be cheap. That's their point. They think comics are too expensive and want people to afford these easily, and to keep each issue self-contained.
The only reason to read all the issues is that each story is a brush stroke in the painting of Snowtown, and the more you read, the clearer the picture becomes. It's like slowly stepping backwards from a Seurat.
I do want to comment about the $1.99 price point. Ellis crams a lot into these comics. Each issue is a complete story which you can pick up at any point. Grab the latest one and you won't feel lost at all. I applaud that they can pack a full story into such a short comic, each page stuffed to capacity with art and writing. And they want it to be cheap. That's their point. They think comics are too expensive and want people to afford these easily, and to keep each issue self-contained.
The only reason to read all the issues is that each story is a brush stroke in the painting of Snowtown, and the more you read, the clearer the picture becomes. It's like slowly stepping backwards from a Seurat.
2 pts.