Warren Ellis' 'Gravel' Comics Coming to Big Screen!

[ad4m22]

Warren Ellis, one of the comic world's finest writers, is a very busy man these days.



Apparently not satisfied with having six comic books on the go at once, a webcomic, a column on Second Life, a novel, a developing television series, a DVD animated movie of Castlevania: Dracula's Curse and early 2000's comic Red in movie development, Ellis' sporadically released comic series Gravel is now heading into pre-production.

Gravel, co-created and now written by artist Mike Wolfer concerns the exploits of 'combat magician' William Gravel. Aside from having the hardest manly name since Chev Chelios, he's an ex-SAS soldier who works with magic that applies to war but also moonlights as a mercenary for a few X-Files-type capers and adventures.

The first draft will be written by Ellis himself, who will then sit back as executive producer. Rick Alexander (TV's Strong Medicine) will be producing.



Source: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118009750.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

[dnwilliams]

he's also scripting the remake of excalibur. i don't know how ellis finds the time to write as much as he does, and the fact that it's of a remarkable standard is all the more unbelievable...i'd be worried he was leaving comics if he weren't so prolific.

[Sheridan Passell]

Poor guy doesn't even have time to shave.

[dalmatianjaws]

He's the Del Toro of the comic world.

What should I pick up of his? I've never heard of him before this post.

[dnwilliams]

Iron Man: Extremis might be the best place to start in terms of accessibility, you'll like it if you enjoyed the movie, it's drawn by the head concept artist, but it's a little more hardcore. It's only one volume as well. Stuff like this happens in it:




Global Frequency is great, but it's really episodic so it depends on whether that appeals to you or not. Think of it as a short story collection and it's really accessible because of that too, and it's only two volumes. It's about a secret rapid response espionage organisation. If you have a certain skillset then you're contacted by the Global Frequency and at a moments notice you have to deal with earth-shattering craziness.




Nextwave is great too, it's a superhero spoof essentially, but 100% better than that sounds, and it's hilarious.





Planetary is my personal favourite thing he's written and I highly recommend it. It's epic:

[ad4m22]

Agreed on the recommendation of Global Frequency - nailbiting tension combined with great ideas and outstanding artwork, with every story drawn by someone else.

I haven't read Planetary, but having seen John Cassaday's name on it, I'm more than convinced.

[dnwilliams]

You owe it to yourself Adam. Global Frequency is like a tease for Planetary creatively speaking.