MARKLEY’S FEVERED BRAIN: I have A VISION… WARREN ELLIS

This post is Filed Under:

Home page Highlights,
Interviews and Columns

Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis Vol. 1

by Wayne Markley

For a number of years now, marvel has been doing a series of trade paperback collections called marvel Visionaries. These books collect the work of the single author, artist, or creative team. some of the titles include Walt Simonson’s Thor, John Byrne’s wonderful four (highly recommended by the way), Kurt Busiek’s Untold Tales of Spider-Man, and Peter David’s Hulk (also very highly recommended, one of the best runs on any marvel book mixing a sense of humor with creative story telling) among others. but the one series of books I want to look at this time around is Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis.

Warren Ellis is an exceptional writer whom I have had mixed feeling about. I am a substantial fan of some of his work like Planetary, Desolation Jones, and his marvel work on Excalibur, X-Factor, and X-Man. I am not a fan of his Anna Mercury or Supergod or some of his other work for smaller publishers. My guess is when working for marvel and DC, he is forced to an extent to focus his storytelling and is somewhat limited on how far he can go in his stories. In his independent work, he is complimentary to push the envelope and do as he sees fit. and all the power to him to tell the stories he wants, but I find his a lot more focused work far a lot more satisfying (and I suspect this has a lot to make with the individual editors). In fact, his superhero work, such as that collected in the Excalibur Visionaries, is some of my favorite X-stories.

Within Excalibur Visionaries: Warren Ellis, he takes a mix of characters, including Peter Wisdom, whom he created (and was also featured in the exceptional Captain Britain and MI13 comic), Kitty Pryde, Captain Britain, Nightcrawler, Colossus and others and tells a series of tight stories that are both imaginative, creative and entertaining. He is also a master of the lost art of the sub-plot. In any given issue, there is a main storyline and two or three smaller stories (often one page) that slowly build into a longer storyline down the road. There are two volumes collecting his run on Excalibur with a large mix of artists, who are admittedly are hit and miss.

Counter X Vol. 1

There are also three volumes called Counter X collecting a mix of Ellis’s other X-work. These volumes include Generation X (issues #63-70), X-Force (#102-109) and X-Man (#63-70). While it may help to read them in order, it isn’t needed to understand the overall story. once again, you get exceptional storytelling with characters you have long known and Warren Ellis’ favorite, Peter Wisdom. If you have the time, it is well worth your time to read the two Ellis Excalibur Visionaries and the three Counter X collections. You will find entertaining X-Men stories that step at a very quick pace and are very well told.

I would also suggest you try some of Warren’s independent work. While it is not my cup of tea, I do have a number of pals who rave about this work, so I suspect it is just a matter of a taste.

Archie: the best of Dan DeCarlo

My recommendation this month for a book you may have overlooked is Archie: the best of Dan DeCarlo Vol. 1. This is a stunning hardcover book reprinting a selection of Dan DeCarlo’s work for Archie Comics. a lot of of these stories feature Betty and Veronica, along with Archie and Reggie. even Jughead pops up here and there. a lot of of these stories are from the 50’s and 60’s, my favorite period of Archie stories. While this book has but a tiny selection of DeCarlo’s work (there are over 15 stories, though), they are a captivating mix of humor, good girl art, and feel good stories. This book is an exceptional gift for anyone, especially yourself. As always, all opinions and comments in this blog are mine and do not reflect the thoughts or opinions of Westfield Comics. I can be contacted at MFBWAY@AOL.COM and I welcome comments or ideas or review copies of books! Adios.