Zub Tales

Just got back from the “Evening with Warren Ellis” event that the Beguiling had on tonight. It was weird seeing over a hundred people crowded around a bar listening to a comic book writer chat it up. It kind of exemplifies the type of audience and broad market appeal that Warren’s work has. He chatted about anything and everything, covering all sorts of bases about the comic industry, politics, celebrities and interesting things he’s read about. The formal speech he had at the start was decent but when the Q&A began his wit really kicked into gear and it was a joy.

Highlights included:

– The differences between Marvel and DC a decade ago and today.
– Him describing his first meeting with Patrick Stewart.
– An impersonation of Alan Moore discussing his eating habits, smoking spliffs and the magic cave under his house.
– His understanding of the importance of the internet and how technology is changing the way media is being delivered and processed.
– Him comparing Canadians with the Welsh.
– Him describing George Bush and Tony Blair locked into a death match in an 8’ x 8’ room filled with rabid weasels who had the shits.

You got a real sense of how well read he is and how confident he is in his own abilities without coming across as a monstrous ego. He’s constantly got a half dozen or more projects on the go at any point and seems to be readily generating a wellspring of new stories to tell.

It makes me want to tell more stories. It makes me want to have a voice and create things above and beyond the projects I’m assigned. Before I was so entrenched in the web comic scene, which itself is a weird offshoot of indy comics and self-publishing. Now I’m up to my hips in commercial properties and work for the “big guys”. I think I need to balance between those extremes rather then throw all my eggs in one basket or the other.