At one point during Patrick Meaney’s documentary, Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts, a series of talking heads, from Matt Fraction to Garth Ennis, Will Wheaton to Helen Mirren, all insist at length how lovely and kind a person the British writer famed for his irascible online persona actually is. His response? ‘I will slap all of them one day.’ It’s a good example of how Captured Ghosts presents both the constructed self of Ellis, an excellent promotional tool that has become an indelible aspect of his writing, and 
the person behind the keyboard.
Meaney admits that this was one of the reasons he wanted to make the film. “Warren’s ‘Old Bastard’ online persona might have more fans than any of his comics do”, he says, “and I think a lot of people are curious to see how much of that persona is a construction and how much of it is the ‘real Warren.’ That kind of mystique makes for a great jumping off point for a documentary. Then, as the filming process went on, we discovered a lot of other interesting elements of Warren’s personality, and built the film out of those elements.” One of those aspects is ‘Ellis the comic industry activist’, who has used his position as a popular writer to draw attention to issues affecting the medium, not to mention giving talented contemporaries, or artists trying to break into comics, a bit of a helping hand. Matt Fraction and Kieron Gillen, both interviewed in the film, are identified by Meaney as having directly benefitted from Ellis’ efforts to promote their work.
What’s more, the sheer range of people appearing in the film to discuss this comic creator’s work shows how the writer has reached outside the narrow confines of the industry to individuals from a number of different mediums. “One of the major themes that emerged as we interviewed more and more people was the notion of Warren as the nexus of a creative network that spans different media. It’s great that Warren is so connected on Twitter, and has such a strong online presence, since I was pretty easily able to go through and make a list of people he’s in contact with, who admire his work, and then reach out to them. And it was surprising just how big fans some of these people were. Patton Oswalt hasn’t just read Transmet, he’s waiting for Captain Swing #4 to come out in monthlies.” One nugget in the film is that Ellis began to attend fan conventions virtually because it was cheaper than traveling, answering questions from the convention floor via instant messaging, which began his career as ‘internet Jesus’.
His influence is even being felt in Hollywood. Beyond the adaptation of RED that starred Bruce Willis and Helen Mirren, ideas from Ellis’ fiction have trickled down into a 
number of other projects. “I asked Joss how much of an influence The Authority was on The Avengers”, Meaney reveals “and he said that though Avengers is a bit less edgy, the spirit of the work is definitely there. The Authority changed the grammar of superhero stories, and gave the sort of down to Earth, media savvy superheroes mixed with huge action sequences that provided the template for Iron Man and Thor. All the new run of Marvel universe films are drawn from the template of The Ultimates, and The Ultimates is basically The Authority in the Marvel universe.”
“I grew in Thatcher’s Britain. We would look out of the window every morning to make sure the bitch hadn’t put Daleks on the streets yet.”
Of course Ellis is himself yet another British comic creator who has taken the US-based industry by storm. It is interesting that both of Meaney’s films to date, Talking With Gods and Captured Ghosts have focused on British writers, with even the third film in development focusing on a naturalized American citizen – Chris Claremont having originally been born in London. It is often asked why these creators from outside America have such success with its 
comic franchises. Meaney cites Geoff Johns as an example of a writer doing excellent work, though also little to challenge the medium. “When we interviewed him, Warren mentioned that the big difference between American comic book writers and British comic book writers is that American comic book writers grow up with ongoing DC/Marvel books and get into comics because they want to write Superman or Spider-Man, while British writers grow up with anthologies and get into comics to do new stuff. There are a lot of good American writers out there, but it seems like once people break in, they’re doing a lot more mainstream superhero work than original work.” This unfortunately does not make for decent documentary material.
Whereas Grant Morrison cavorting with aliens in Kathmandu and the disappointed romanticism of Ellis’ burnt out futures capture people’s imagination more directly. In this respect Sequart and Respect! Films have done the comic community a great service by charting the influence of these creators on the next wave of up-and-coming mystics, mutants and madmen. Too often comics are dismissed as being the purview of man-children, but Captured Ghosts shows how it is possible for comics to attract a diverse spectrum of creative minds. It also underlines Ellis’ challenge to the readership to recognize how strange our world is, how much unrealized potential there remains. Meaney states that this is at the root of the skewed perspective Ellis has on the world. “A lot of his work is haunted by the ghost of what could have been, be it the alternate universes of Ministry of Space and Ignition City or Doktor Sleepless, and its focus on the future we missed out on.”
Details on screenings for Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts are available on the website. Also for the February DVD releases, Meaney promises 90 minutes of bonus ‘Old Bastard’ anecdotes.
This is what they want.
Tags: comic booked, comic films. Emmet OCuana, Documentary, Patrick Meaney, Planetary, Respect Films, Sequart, Talking With Gods, Transmetropolitan, Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts
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Written by Emmet OCuana
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