Customer Reviews

Come In Alone

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Warren Ellis (who writes comics such as Planetary and Transmetropolitan) is an intelligent and witty man. This collection of his "Come In Alone" web-columns enlighten and entertain, giving prolific and sometimes acidic insight into the comic book industry and pop culture in general. If you love science fiction, comics, politics, and wild discourses on the cultures and society which we live in... then check this book out. How one man can write so many funny and intelligent essays in one book is both frightening and inspiring. Warren Ellis is a writer who GET'S IT. So do yourself a favor and get this book.

Warren Ellis teams up with publisher/writer/all-around nice guy Larry Young to bind his Come In Alone columns and infect the world of books forever. It's thoughtful articles with personal insights into the comics medium, as well as some script samples, economic analysis and Instructions to make you a better person.

All that and a pretty cover by Brian Wood. It's cheap, too.

You need this.

Scott McCloud brought us "Understanding Comics" and "Reinventing Comics", which inform on images and the true nature of comics as a visual medium. Ellis picks up where those leave off with a book about the nature of comics itself, the industry, as it were. He tells it like it is about DC and Marvel comics, the independents, where comics have been, and where they could go. Almost guaranteed to offend most comic book fans with its direct attack of super-hero comics and the comic's Industry, this book has a lot to say about what needs to be done to save the medium.

Come In Alone is a fascinating look into the mind of a man who is trying to redefine a medium. Ellis is one of the most acclaimed comics creators working today. He hosts one of the most active forums for comics discussion on the net. Still, he wants to do more. In CIA, he picks comics apart, sometimes bloodily. He performs this autopsy for the sake of the quality of the artform. He wants people to see the pieces-the guts, the bones, the brain and heart so they can better understand this method of storytelling, and, ideally, go out and support the books that do the medium credit, or better yet, create some comics of their own.

This isn't just a book for people who read comics, or people who create comics. This is a book for people who want their mind expanded, people who need a kick in the tail. If you don't love comics before you read CIA, you will by the time you've finished it.

Its worth the cover price for the gorgeous Brian Wood cover alone.

COME IN ALONE is an amazing collection of essays by Ellis on the state of the comics industry today. Focusing largely on the work-for-hire vs. creator owned work conundrum that haunts the medium, it is a flat out, no holes barred look at what should have been, what has been, and what can be done. It is humorous, enlightening and at times stark raving mad. But it is Ellis. Give him your credit card numbers now.

I've read this book the hard way, reading archives on the internet. If you're interested I suggest that you go to comicbookresources.com and read the first several to decide if you want to buy this book.
It's very smart at times, but he tends to wander after, about, oh, column 30 or so, which is understandable, but if you are a big fan of superhero comics and don't really care about the "mechanics" of the graphic literature medium, don't pick this one up, you'll just get pissed off.

This collection is what comics sorely needs more of--higher profile thoughts of the medium's top creators speaking about the medium they work in.

Ellis' collection, here, while sometimes unfocused, like his other writing, still gives fascinating insight into the world of comics itself. And the cover's beautiful. Go buy five. Now.

First of all it's not a comic book! It's a book about comics. There you go, lost the half of you. Second of all it's a book about Warren Ellis "talking" about comics. And there goes the rest! So it's only you and me! But don't worry I got wiskhey! This is how the warning label in the intro. of Warren Ellis new book sounds like. The book is actuly a collection of writing he did for some website for comics and it dates from oct.1999 to dec 2000. In short it's "the man" talking about the industry, his collegues, and the future of comics. There are also some tips from "the man" how to get started in the buisness. If you are a big comic fan and would like to get some inside scoop of the wonderful world of comic, then this book is a intresting reading.

P.S There are no pictures!!!! :)