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Captain Swing by Warren Ellis & Raulo Caceres
Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,
Yo-ho-ho. If you love your pirates and you’re a little bit burned out by Johnny Depp and the many, many Pirates of the Caribbean, you might be looking for something a little different in the “pirate” category. If you can expand your definition to include Bow Street Runners, flintlocks, and “flying things that aren’t supposed to fly?” then February 2010 has something for you. It’s the start of a new four-issue mini-series by Warren Ellis (Supergod; No Hero) and Raulo Caceres (Gravel; Crecy) from Avatar called Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island.
Described as “an electrical romance of a pirate utopia thwarted,” Captain Swing is set in London, 1830. That would be the Warren Ellis London of 1830 in which copper Charlie Gravel starts seeing things, including the legendary Spring-Heeled Jack. I love the Bow Street Runners. They figure prominently in the mystery novels of Bruce Alexander (Blind Justice) and Richard Falkirk (Blackstone), and I’m curious to see what this new incarnation will be like.
This is an Avatar book, so expect some cover variants and a retailer incentive, but best of all, it’s a new Ellis mini-series and I’m looking forward to it.
[Artwork: One of the covers to Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island, © Warren Ellis]
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Supergod #1: Warren Ellis & Garrie Gastonny
Avatar publisher William Christensen deserves all the kudos he can collect, even the signed, alternate cover, limited edition, convention special kudos. He started out as a fan, became a secondary (or tertiary) sub-distributor with a sharp eye on market trends, and expanded that into a publishing company where talent like Warren Ellis, Jaime Delano, Mark Millar, Garth Ennis and Alan Moore can find a non-Marvel, non-DC home for their more outrageously adult work.
Ellis has made Avatar Press a second-home for himself, regularly turning out original, thoughtful, violent and/or quirky material that I find far more interesting and satisfying than his work for the corporatists. That he and other creators come to Avatar and stick around also speaks highly of Christensen’s ability to not just attract but keep talent.
Now Ellis - with artist Garrie Gastonny - has a new 5-issue mini-series called Supergod. Whatever it is that Ellis is drinking, let me be the latest to say, “I need me a couple of pints of that, yes, please.”
In England, Simon Reddin is relaying “an oral history of how we all died” before he loses power and spends the remainder of his life “in the bloody stone age.” In the events leading up to to that, it’s revealed that London, you see, had its own super-hero, as did India, Somalia and Iran, and the US, and who knows what other country dabbled in the creation of their own Big Daddy Protector And Savior.
Click to continue reading Supergod #1: Warren Ellis & Garrie Gastonny
Ennis and Burrows Save Up for Crossed #6
Posted by Robin Paulson Categories: Reviews, Independent,
I’m sure many, like myself, were disappointed with last month’s Crossed, issue #5. Not a single sadistic zombie was to be found! Little did I realize that, until I read Crossed #6, it was merely a calm before the storm. Trust me—it’s a huge, effing tempest.
Garth Ennis and Jacen Burrows open the issue with our characters face to face (literally) with an undead eliminated by his own kind. Barely two pages after that, we discover just why Kitrick is as depressed as a Prozac-popping Elizabeth Wurtzel (aside from the usual post-apocalyptic depression, that is). I’ve got to say: Ennis and Burrows deliver with this flashback.
Just when you think that they’re going to feed into your Ichi the Killer-like sadism (yes, you who reads these twisted comics) some more, they throw the cutest, most adorable puppy dog at you! Yes, a puppy dog!
Unfortunately, you don’t have much time to fawn over the dog as another revealing past from the bunch comes to the forefront. I’m not sure whose past is worse, to be honest. But I do have some comments about one of them (spoilers after the jump)...
Click to continue reading Ennis and Burrows Save Up for Crossed #6