These days, comics are not cheap. More and more mainstream comics are reaching for the $3.99 price level, and decompression is the rule. Quite often, you need several issues to complete a story arc. When it’s gotten to the point where you need to throw down over $50 to collect the “most important story ever!” in a publisher’s shared universe, it can be tough for the casual comic book fan to find a cheap, one-and-done story that doesn’t require the reader to know decades of continuity, or even just what happened in the last issue in order to enjoy a particular issue on its own.
In 2005, in an effort to combat these trends, Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith started “Fell,” the story of Richard Fell, a homicide detective in the feral city of Snowtown. Preferring to work alone, and given free rein by his fatalistic chief, Fell wanders the streets of Snowtown in search of its’ most vile inhabitants: murderers, attempted suicide bombers, child abusers, and a crooked nun wearing a Nixon mask are all kept under close watch. Detective Fell is a strange man, with Sherlock Holmes’ skills at observation and deduction, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent”’s Robert Goren’s ability to understand and get inside the criminal mind, and “Beverly Hills Cop” Axel Foley’s “respect” for authority and proper police procedure.
The idea was to create a comic with a shorter page count in an attempt to save time and drive the price down to $1.99 per issue. Each issue was to include about 16 pages of story and art, plus back-matter and a letters column. Using a standardized 9-panel page, each issue would include a full one-and-done day in the life of Detective Fell, while simultaneously constructing an ongoing story about Richard himself, the relationships he builds with his new girlfriend, Mayko, and the city itself, and the mystery of the aforementioned nun in a Nixon mask. The format is incredibly effective in the hands of an artist of Templesmith’s talents, allowing him to condense a full and detailed story in so few pages. It reads as long as an average 20-page comic today, although fans of “widescreen” comics may find the smaller panels a bit more individually limiting (although Templesmith is not afraid to throw in a double-sized frame or larger, wherever it is appropriate).
The writing is Warren Ellis at his finest. While my favorite work of his will always be “Transmetropolitan” (no matter what Walt says about it not being the best), “Fell” might be more universally appealing. It’s like Warren Ellis Lite (TM): great dialogue and characters, but with less (or at least, more subtle) sociopolitical commentary. It’s an easy-going, entertaining read that anyone with even a passing interest in the detective genre could enjoy.
Like nearly all of Ellis’ work, it isn’t afraid to point out the dark, dirty side of life. Snowtown is called a feral city because the rule of law is almost non-existant there. It’s reminiscent of Frank Miller’s “Sin City,” except that the characters feel much more individualized and personal, and the crime there doesn’t seem to be organized. In Snowtown, everyone, even the criminals, are lonely and lost. Oftentimes, they are driven to evil by their own madness. While it’s Fell’s job to stop them, he often sympathizes with them, and isn’t above letting minor infractions go unreported if he feels it appropriate. Just don’t cross his line between the misguided and the truly evil. Those who get on his bad side soon find Fell’s brand of justice is swift and unmerciful.
Ben Templesmith is an immensely talented artist, and while he’s forced to work quickly and in very uniform, smaller frames, in a way it seems to focus his talent for storytelling. While his work is highly stylized, it’s potently emotional work. His background in horror comics helps give Snowtown its character. To give “Fell” a dark, smoggy feeling like an inner city at night, Templesmith draws on gray paper using both dark and white inks. He inks and colors everything himself, using watercolors for much of the shading. You can watch a video of him inking and coloring a page of the long-awaited next issue of “Fell” with a live trip-hop DJ at the Noise Pop Festival 2011, and see him use beer to mix with the watercolors. It feels almost haunted–dark, murky, hollow.
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It’s become just a little cliche to say that the setting is another character, but in “Fell”’s case it’s true. The city itself affects each of its inhabitants deeply. The city overwhelms its inhabitants, hanging ominously over them until they crack in one way or another. The strong become predators and the weak become victims. The only one smart and tough enough to try to tame the city is Detective Fell himself, but I fear it might be too heavy a task even for him. His evolving relationship with Snowtown is just as important as his relationships with his supporting cast.
Sadly, “Fell” has only made it to nine issues so far. The comic suffered frequent delays, until Warren Ellis’ computer broke in 2008, taking with it all of his notes and future scripts. It’s been on a long-term hiatus since, as both Templesmith and Ellis moved on to other projects, leaving us all to wonder what’s up with that nun in the Nixon mask. However, a new script for #10 was completed last year and sent to Templesmith, and if the above video is an indication, he has been working on it (if only between his other projects). They have promised to eventually finish their original planned run of 16 issues, but it may be a couple years more before that happens.
Although there is a strong upward current in the industry toward bigger books with heavier price tags, “Fell” attempted to turn and fight against the currents. It wasn’t the first attempt at making a quality comic for a more affordable price, but it certainly proved it was possible. Sadly, there are few books out there today that carry that torch. For every book like “Hawkeye,” there are a half a dozen more like “Swamp Thing” which, as much as we love them, take twelve issues just to lead in to their first major event. The main reason why this is so is because publishers know we’ll pay for it. If you want to support comics like “Fell,” I strongly urge you to vote with your money: go out and buy the trade collecting the first 8 issues. Better yet, print out a copy of this column and mail it to Ben Templesmith and Warren Ellis, urging them to finish this wonderful book. I know I, personally, refuse to remove it from my pull list.
