If you live at all in the comics world, chances are you’re familiar with Warren Ellis. His biggest splash was in the seminal work Transmetropolitan, combining Hunter S. Thompson-style gonzo journalism with a cynical, megalopolis future. More recently, I adored his superhero tale Nextwave, easily one of my favorite comic series of the last year.
Warren has been promoting his upcoming work, Doktor Sleepless, heavily on his site and his mailing list. He was kind enough to grant us this exclusive three question interview about it. (Of course, he granted ANYONE with a comics website who is on his listserv an interview, but that doesn’t make it less cool!)
Here’s what we asked about Doktor Sleepless:
CRITICAL HITS: Though it may be trite, many people start reading a comic based on “If you liked ______, then you’ll like _______.” What would you say Doktor Sleepless is like?
WARREN ELLIS: If you like it when writers don’t find out where you live and then come around and beat the shit out of you, then you’ll love DOKTOR SLEEPLESS. Oh yes.
CH: What sort of super-science can we expect to see in its pages?
WE: I’m extrapolating to only ten to fifteen years from the edge as it is today, so it’s going to be nothing magical. It is, however, going to be strange. I mean, honestly, when consumers and homebrewers find out that you can coat buckytubes so they don’t rot in the human body, all bets will be off.
CH: Finally, you’ve said that a wiki will shadow the comics. Can you give us a hint about what sort of content the wiki will contain?
WE: Everything in the book — everything — has its own backstory. It’s going to be like having a cheat sheet for the entire world, like a noospherical manual for reality.
Thanks again to Warren for answering the questions. I hope that all of you give Doktor Sleepless a look when it comes out from Avatar Press.
Critical Hits is officially bigtime.
“Hddt, NOT NOW SON! I’M MAKING…..TOAST!” – Dib’s Dad is my favorite, and I’d love to read a comic about the same kind of character.