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Fell #1-8
Fell
Detective Richard Fell is transferred over the bridge from the big city to Snowtown, a feral district whose police investigations department numbers three and a half people (one detective has no legs). Dumped in this collapsing urban trashzone, Richard Fell is starting all over again. In a place where nothing seems to make any sense, Fell clings to the one thing he knows to be true: everybody's hiding something.
128 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2005
42 people are currently reading
5573 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,959 books5,765 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 366 reviews
July 31, 2018
Re-read this one last night. Desperately wish there was more to the story, though it's pretty obvious that it's not going to be resurrected after ten years.
That said, as single volumes of discontinued stories go, this one has a lot to recommend it. No big long-term story closure. But the stories themselves are excellent, and the craft of their execution is amazing.
Fair warning: This is dark stuff. Violent in the extreme. Emotionally heavy. Grim. Gritty. I might even go so far as to call it "unremittingly nihilistic."
I don't know if that was going to be the intention of the entire series, but we can't judge that. All I can say that this one extant volume is existentially dark, and there is no upbeat resolution.
Personally, I probably would have found that more palatable back in 2005 when it was written. But right now? In 2018? I'm going to put a warning sticker on it for you. If you're having a hard time dealing with the weight of the world right now, maybe pick something else of Ellis's instead. Lord knows there's a lot of marvelous stuff to choose from...
So again. Excellently
That said, as single volumes of discontinued stories go, this one has a lot to recommend it. No big long-term story closure. But the stories themselves are excellent, and the craft of their execution is amazing.
Fair warning: This is dark stuff. Violent in the extreme. Emotionally heavy. Grim. Gritty. I might even go so far as to call it "unremittingly nihilistic."
I don't know if that was going to be the intention of the entire series, but we can't judge that. All I can say that this one extant volume is existentially dark, and there is no upbeat resolution.
Personally, I probably would have found that more palatable back in 2005 when it was written. But right now? In 2018? I'm going to put a warning sticker on it for you. If you're having a hard time dealing with the weight of the world right now, maybe pick something else of Ellis's instead. Lord knows there's a lot of marvelous stuff to choose from...
So again. Excellently
August 5, 2008
In one of the opening stories, we encounter a coroner eating a sandwich over this corpse, while our protagonist, Detective Fell, can barely contain his vomit. A tomato drops from the sandwich into the corpse, and coroner goes after it with his pincers:
Fell: If you retrieve that piece of tomato from where it fell and then put it in your mouth I will shoot you.
Coroner: ...I was simply going to remove it. I have to go over the bridge for organic tomato, you know.
Four panels later, the coroner pops the corpse-tainted tomato into his mouth.
This works both as funny slapstick and droll metaphor -- Detective Fell was recently transferred from a bland suburb into the impossibly grim and squalid Snowtown, and you can tell that Fell, like the dropped tomato, is going to get popped into some hungry meta-coroner's mouth before this is over.
So yeah, on the one hand, you get these generously nasty hardboiled mystery stories, one after the other, just like the olden days of the Black Mask. But you also get these visual and narrative jokes blooming like night fungus as the "story" goes on. None of this would have worked very well if it weren't for Ben Templesmith's horrific, pupil-dilating visuals, which transform this into a perfect work of art.
Fell: If you retrieve that piece of tomato from where it fell and then put it in your mouth I will shoot you.
Coroner: ...I was simply going to remove it. I have to go over the bridge for organic tomato, you know.
Four panels later, the coroner pops the corpse-tainted tomato into his mouth.
This works both as funny slapstick and droll metaphor -- Detective Fell was recently transferred from a bland suburb into the impossibly grim and squalid Snowtown, and you can tell that Fell, like the dropped tomato, is going to get popped into some hungry meta-coroner's mouth before this is over.
So yeah, on the one hand, you get these generously nasty hardboiled mystery stories, one after the other, just like the olden days of the Black Mask. But you also get these visual and narrative jokes blooming like night fungus as the "story" goes on. None of this would have worked very well if it weren't for Ben Templesmith's horrific, pupil-dilating visuals, which transform this into a perfect work of art.
November 23, 2018
Kresba má taký ten šmrnc staničných záchodov v podchode medzi tretím a štvrtým kruhom pekla v druhej tretine novembra v pondelok za desať pol piatej ráno týždeň pred výplatou a samotné príbehy sú len o čosi menej bezútešné ako stav môjho účtu tri dni po Bibliotéke, ale úplne najdepresívnejšie na tom celom je, že to nemá pokračovanie.
Vyhlasujem to za najlepší komiks, aký som kedy mala v rukách.
Vyhlasujem to za najlepší komiks, aký som kedy mala v rukách.
June 6, 2020
It's 2013, and this series is still to be fully completed. I read the 9 comic book issues that looked at the 'feral city' that is Snowland through the eyes of detective Richard Fell. Good series. 7 out of 12.
October 5, 2016
Warren Ellis created a strange, dark noir investigative tale with "Fell", a comic that doesn't quite look like any other. It doesn't feel much like any other of Ellis's works, the structure isn't as tight, it's more jazzed up and free to roam about the dark, seedy city of Snowtown, a town torn with innumerable murders and sociopathic crimes that the straight, well-meaning lead detective, and the few people he gets close to, are the only lights in the vast, murky city so starved of humanity that humans disappearing and turning up by the docks is as investigated, and cared about, as a kitten caught in a tree in any other town. With artwork that borders on hallucinations, narcotic fogs, all punctured with illuminating presences of ever so bright shafts against harsh or muted colours that don't so much cohere as they drip and spill and smudge in flurries of impressions behind the main action. What Ellis has done so well here, and why, even the last part, a catalogue of mayhem, is insert enough pathos into a landscape without the common human traits, save the very worst. And it hurts. It hurts to see our little, wrangled, lanky protagonist try and pick up the pieces of this town as well as falling sand, trying as well as he can, still producing an immense ray of hope across the dim corners of Snowtown and, in a sense, giving more than just this fictional little shit-hole hope. This could run for a long time and explore so many things, so get back to it, please, Mr. Ellis.
September 8, 2020
Retko dajem brojčane ocene i kad ih dam imam potrebu da to i opravdam. Sem u slučaju stripova. A onda proverim i shvatim da su stripovi dobili više od pola svih mojih zvezdica. A osećam prosto da o stripu ne znam dovoljno da bih umeo il smeo da razložim zašto je nešto dobro. I onda ostaje samo onaj lični doživljaj - ok, tako i knjigama dajem ocene, al tu mogu da argumentujem ponešto ako me u kafani saterate u ćošak - a koga sem mene briga za to :P
No, evo, u pokušaju da pomirim sva svoja htenja, Fell kao da me je udario pesnicom u stomak i izbio mi sav vazduh. Slobodno mogu da upotrebim i visceralno ovde negde a da ne ispadnem prepotentan jer ovaj strip upravo tako deluje. A opet, upravo zbog toga, nikome ga ne bih savetovao. Ili ga bar uzimajte na kašičicu, u malim dozama, kako je Elis i zamislio. A razmišljam sve vreme i s čim bih ga uporedio po tom osećanju i samo mi film Sedam pada na pamet. O ostalim aspektima stripa ne bih sad, al eno, ona dva Ajznera što je dobio dovoljno ga preporučuju.
No, evo, u pokušaju da pomirim sva svoja htenja, Fell kao da me je udario pesnicom u stomak i izbio mi sav vazduh. Slobodno mogu da upotrebim i visceralno ovde negde a da ne ispadnem prepotentan jer ovaj strip upravo tako deluje. A opet, upravo zbog toga, nikome ga ne bih savetovao. Ili ga bar uzimajte na kašičicu, u malim dozama, kako je Elis i zamislio. A razmišljam sve vreme i s čim bih ga uporedio po tom osećanju i samo mi film Sedam pada na pamet. O ostalim aspektima stripa ne bih sad, al eno, ona dva Ajznera što je dobio dovoljno ga preporučuju.
February 9, 2024
Richard Fell, the main character of this dark and violent set of stories, is a detective that was transferred to a decaying trash zone called Snowtown. This zone is the typical urban area consumed by violent crimes and corruption. The graphic novel is composed of 8 different chapters. These chapter stories are simple and straight to the point but quite grimy, violent and dark. Fell sees himself in a crumbling place where empathy doesn't exist, crime prevails and police forces are (basically) nonexistent.
Fell is reminiscent of the Sin City series regarding the violence topic, but with a different pace where the main character defines the real pace of the stories. The content of those 8 chapters is emotional consuming, heavy and obscure. Furthermore, Templesmith's opaque and cloudy artwork highlights Ellis' writing style. In addition, the artwork layout delivers an enigmatic vibe which manages to emphasise the darkish ambient of the narrative.
Mysterious nuns, disgusting rapists and paedophiles and suicide bombers are just a range of villains that take part in the Snowtown's crime world.
Fell is not just a simple set of tales about cheap violence, it's a book loaded with plenty of dark emotions, and it succeeds in unloading all these dark and uncomfortable emotions into the reader.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Fell is reminiscent of the Sin City series regarding the violence topic, but with a different pace where the main character defines the real pace of the stories. The content of those 8 chapters is emotional consuming, heavy and obscure. Furthermore, Templesmith's opaque and cloudy artwork highlights Ellis' writing style. In addition, the artwork layout delivers an enigmatic vibe which manages to emphasise the darkish ambient of the narrative.
Mysterious nuns, disgusting rapists and paedophiles and suicide bombers are just a range of villains that take part in the Snowtown's crime world.
Fell is not just a simple set of tales about cheap violence, it's a book loaded with plenty of dark emotions, and it succeeds in unloading all these dark and uncomfortable emotions into the reader.
Rating: 4/5 stars
September 18, 2019
HQ policial mundo cão do Warren Ellis com arte do Ben Templesmith que você deve conhecer da série vampiresca 30 dias de noite (que inclusive a Darkside está relançando agora por aqui). A proposta era ter edições mais curtas para serem mais baratas (o que faz sentido lá fora com as edições mensais), então cada edição tem tipo umas 18 páginas que contam um caso resolvido pelo detetive Fell em Snowtown. Todos os casos são inspirados em notícias reais que o W. Ellis encontra por aí, mas a atmosfera criada pelo roteirista e ilustrador dão quase um tom sobrenatural. A vida real é tão violenta que a gente sente vontade de acreditar que Snowtown é alguma espécie de purgatório.
O volume 1 reuniu 8 edições. Chegou a ser lançada uma 9ª, mas então o quadrinho entrou em hiato e a 10ª nunca apareceu. Embora cada história seja fechada em si, o cenário em comum e os personagens recorrentes vão construindo coesão e plantando tramas de longa duração. Há vários mistérios por resolver - o símbolo grafitado, a freira sinistra, o romance do Fell - e embora não ter essas resoluções não prejudique a leitura do que foi reunido nesse volume 1 (afinal nem tudo precisa de uma resposta, vide David Lynch), fico torcendo para que Ellis e Templesmith se reúnam novamente em algum momento para um novo tour pelo mundo sufocante de Snowtown.
O volume 1 reuniu 8 edições. Chegou a ser lançada uma 9ª, mas então o quadrinho entrou em hiato e a 10ª nunca apareceu. Embora cada história seja fechada em si, o cenário em comum e os personagens recorrentes vão construindo coesão e plantando tramas de longa duração. Há vários mistérios por resolver - o símbolo grafitado, a freira sinistra, o romance do Fell - e embora não ter essas resoluções não prejudique a leitura do que foi reunido nesse volume 1 (afinal nem tudo precisa de uma resposta, vide David Lynch), fico torcendo para que Ellis e Templesmith se reúnam novamente em algum momento para um novo tour pelo mundo sufocante de Snowtown.
September 4, 2007
One of my favorite comics ever, collected here into a trade paperback. The comics themselves were short, only 19 pages, but extremely dense, each one telling a complete story.
The setting is a creepy suburb called Snowtown, a dark, bleak place overtaken by urban decay. Fell is a detective exiled to this place, and fights something of a losing battle against the hopelessness and pointless, horrific violence that pervade the place.
The stories themselves are dark and often gruesome, and made all the more so by the fact that Warren Ellis is often inspired by actual events. Life creates horrors worse than anything any writer could dream up, after all. The stories are well accentuated by Ben Templesmith's artwork: it suggests as much as it says outright, and conveys the nature of the story far better than would an artist more dedicated to photorealistic depictions.
The setting is a creepy suburb called Snowtown, a dark, bleak place overtaken by urban decay. Fell is a detective exiled to this place, and fights something of a losing battle against the hopelessness and pointless, horrific violence that pervade the place.
The stories themselves are dark and often gruesome, and made all the more so by the fact that Warren Ellis is often inspired by actual events. Life creates horrors worse than anything any writer could dream up, after all. The stories are well accentuated by Ben Templesmith's artwork: it suggests as much as it says outright, and conveys the nature of the story far better than would an artist more dedicated to photorealistic depictions.
May 14, 2016
Wow. This was so dark and gritty, it reminded me of the movie Seven (specifically the gluttony scene). The setting is so seedy and the characters are vile, so naturally I loved it.
February 18, 2023
here’s the thing: i fall on the side of people who love ben templesmiths’ impressionistic art style. i know some don’t love it, but for me it creates a moody dream-like atmosphere. felt the same way about his 30 days of night. he draws what nightmares feels like to me.
besides the art, there are some real dark but clever noir-ridden short stories here. i just really like books and stories about fictional crime ridden towns, so i was probably a bit predisposed to dig this.
but it’s warren ellis after all, so you should probably dig it too.
besides the art, there are some real dark but clever noir-ridden short stories here. i just really like books and stories about fictional crime ridden towns, so i was probably a bit predisposed to dig this.
but it’s warren ellis after all, so you should probably dig it too.
July 1, 2015
Oh man, this was great! I need more.
March 11, 2019
Well, this is a surprise. The theme looked nice, but art reminded me of some crappy indie comics. But it turns out well. Snowtown is a dark, filthy, creepy place. And the style of the art underlines that very well. The detective Fell was transferred here under undisclosed circumstances (to the reader and Fell's new department), too good for the Snowtown, where the crime rate is high and the number of cops, especially the willing ones, is low. Fell meets a few new people and cracks a few crimes. As Fell gave impact to Snowtown streets, the Snowtown has an impact on him. One trade paperback and one extra issue of dark downtown, where the voice of law is more like a whisper, is not enough. The atmosphere is dense, the sun never shines here and the humour is dark. I really enjoyed Fell, even if there is no major plot. It's more like a diary of detective transferred to utter shithole, his life here and a few cases, one after another. And there are few elements which are not actually fully elaborated (even as a reader I expected that). I guess it should be a longer series, but it was halted. Anyway, still good reading with a nice dark atmosphere to it.
July 23, 2015
A mixture of Sin City and Transmetropolitan's absurdity and humor with a straight man-type protagonist surrounded by insanity. It seemed too over the top at first, but really clicked for me around the middle of the first issue. I'm not sure if it got less ever the top or I just got used to it.
I find Ellis's work really hit and miss and can't really think of any other comics he's done that I've liked outside of his work for Vertigo and Wildstorm (and his short run on Moon Knight). So I'm glad I gave this book a shot.
I find Ellis's work really hit and miss and can't really think of any other comics he's done that I've liked outside of his work for Vertigo and Wildstorm (and his short run on Moon Knight). So I'm glad I gave this book a shot.
January 1, 2016
Absolutely brilliant collection of noir short stories about one of the worst towns in the world and the detective who still tries to make it better. It's sad to see that this series is basically dead at this point, and I really hope Templesmith will find some time in his busy schedule to draw more of these, because Ellis said that he is willing to write.
February 8, 2015
So freaking good. Dark and deep with strong characters. One of my fav so far.
March 21, 2025
What a great series. What a shame we never got to see more of it! Talk about cliffhangers. There's so much here we never got to see, such as Fell's big secret, and that weirdo in the nun habit. This is a very dark detective series that could only have come from the twisted minds of Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith. This is badly in need of a revival.
July 26, 2021
No soy muy afín al género policíaco, pero Ellis siempre me propone situaciones tan interesantes que termino enganchado: los personajes ácidos, ambientes pesimistas, la crítica social. Todo lo anterior, muy distinto a lo que estoy acostumbrado a consumir que a final de cuentas acaba gustándome.
Lástima que no haya más... que el cómic esté en parón desde hace más de diez años. Aún así se disfruta por lo que es, historias semi-autoconclusivas con personajes que interactúan muy bien entre ellos.
Lástima que no haya más... que el cómic esté en parón desde hace más de diez años. Aún así se disfruta por lo que es, historias semi-autoconclusivas con personajes que interactúan muy bien entre ellos.
July 13, 2017
Fell is an interesting tale that combines both noir and dystopia in a rather fascinating way. The story centers around Detective Richard Fell, a clever (probably too much so for his own good) police detective who has recently been transferred to the “urban trashzone” known as Snowtown. While the events that led to Fell’s transfer remain mysterious for much of the story, it’s a pretty easy assumption that he messed up big time. Snowtown has a total of three and a half officers, four now that Fell has arrived, for the entire urban area. As you might expect, this is woefully inadequate for an area as crime ridden and desperately poor as Snowtown. Fell’s superior, Lieutenant Beard, copes with the impossiblity of the job by taking enough drugs to remain mostly insensible and no one expects much of Fell. But Fell is determined to provide some measure of justice to Snowtown while he’s stuck there and uses his skills of Sherlock Holmes level observation and judgement of human nature as he navigates the dark alleys and even darker human minds in his new home.
Fell is written by Warren Ellis (known for Red, Planetary, Hellblazer and Transmetropolitan to name just a few), a creator well known for his sociocultural and political commentary. Ellis is a perfect choice for this sort of story and it’s right up his alley. For fans of Transmetropolitan, Fell will feel quite familiar. With the main character being a detective rather than a hotshot reporter, the story remains more noir than dystopian comedy but Ellis’ flair for writing intriguing characters stuck in dark, corrupted environments remains excellent. Fell is not an entirely altruistic character but much like Spider Jersusalem, he does his best by the city that he serves and the cast of characters around him, while not exactly politically correct, are both entertaining and intriguing. Anyone who enjoys noir and intrigue will find a lot to like in Fell.
en Templesmith has worked on a number of licensed properties including Hellspawn, Star Wars and Doctor Who but really made his name with 30 Days of Night and then Fell. Templesmith’s style is distinctly “painterly.” He uses minimalist linework combined with a sort of abstract, watercolor style to create an almost dreamy effect in the panels. The palette alternates between warm, dull browns that comprise much of the sequences during the day and evoke a sense of the ugly, urban environment and cool blues to illustrate the dark alleys and forboding nights of Snowtown. This kind of muted color scheme is an excellent contrast to intensely colorful elements in the panel like the characters’ eyes and hair, graffiti and important items that he wants to draw the reader’s attention to. This style lends itself very well to a noir story like Fell and I was caught up by the way the writing and art blended to create a fascinating world that draws the reader in.
If you’re at all a fan of noir and dystopian environments, Fell is a cannot miss story. The pairing of Ellis and Templesmith blends spectacularly well and once again Image finds a great creator combination for an unusual and compelling story.
Fell is written by Warren Ellis (known for Red, Planetary, Hellblazer and Transmetropolitan to name just a few), a creator well known for his sociocultural and political commentary. Ellis is a perfect choice for this sort of story and it’s right up his alley. For fans of Transmetropolitan, Fell will feel quite familiar. With the main character being a detective rather than a hotshot reporter, the story remains more noir than dystopian comedy but Ellis’ flair for writing intriguing characters stuck in dark, corrupted environments remains excellent. Fell is not an entirely altruistic character but much like Spider Jersusalem, he does his best by the city that he serves and the cast of characters around him, while not exactly politically correct, are both entertaining and intriguing. Anyone who enjoys noir and intrigue will find a lot to like in Fell.
en Templesmith has worked on a number of licensed properties including Hellspawn, Star Wars and Doctor Who but really made his name with 30 Days of Night and then Fell. Templesmith’s style is distinctly “painterly.” He uses minimalist linework combined with a sort of abstract, watercolor style to create an almost dreamy effect in the panels. The palette alternates between warm, dull browns that comprise much of the sequences during the day and evoke a sense of the ugly, urban environment and cool blues to illustrate the dark alleys and forboding nights of Snowtown. This kind of muted color scheme is an excellent contrast to intensely colorful elements in the panel like the characters’ eyes and hair, graffiti and important items that he wants to draw the reader’s attention to. This style lends itself very well to a noir story like Fell and I was caught up by the way the writing and art blended to create a fascinating world that draws the reader in.
If you’re at all a fan of noir and dystopian environments, Fell is a cannot miss story. The pairing of Ellis and Templesmith blends spectacularly well and once again Image finds a great creator combination for an unusual and compelling story.
September 29, 2016
Impresionante!!!!! De aquí sacarían una serie cojonuda. Brutal!!
September 7, 2010
Crime meets horror in this collection of eight stories about Detective Richard Fell -- once a high-flying investigator in the big city, now exiled across the river/bay to a rotting urban wasteland called Snowtown. Imagine Brooklyn or Queens, sitting across the water from Manhattan, or Oakland sitting across the bay from San Francisco. Now imagine them without any daylight and barely any city services, with packs of wild dogs, and rampant with psychopaths. Fell is that lonely knight walking down the dark streets to try and maintain what little law and order there is, but even he is burdened with the secret of whatever misdeed saw him exiled to this forlorn outpost.
His saving grace is that he has a semi-supernatural ability to just look at a perp and figure out what's going on in their head and what the chain of events were that brought them to his attention. In each episode, he "solves" some kind of crime, even if his solution is mainly just picking up the peices as best he can. Running throughout is a friendship with a young woman who works in his local bar, the mystery of his fall from grace, a creepy person in a nun's habit and Nixon mask, and his strange boss, who is obsessed with the Necrinomicon.
Make no mistake, this is dark stuff, full of would-be rapists (sample line, "I'm gonna cut holes in you and bang 'em"), pedophiles, suicide bombers, and more. The artwork is pretty amazing stuff, perfectly in tune with the material. It's got a very streaky, smudgy feel to it, and the palatte is muted and grungy to an extreme. There's no daytime in Snowtown, just a kind of olive-green haze over everything. The people are realistic enough to buy into as characters, but sharp and jagged drawn in a way that emphasizes the raw nature of the setting. On the whole, a very unusual and interesting series I would love to see more of.
His saving grace is that he has a semi-supernatural ability to just look at a perp and figure out what's going on in their head and what the chain of events were that brought them to his attention. In each episode, he "solves" some kind of crime, even if his solution is mainly just picking up the peices as best he can. Running throughout is a friendship with a young woman who works in his local bar, the mystery of his fall from grace, a creepy person in a nun's habit and Nixon mask, and his strange boss, who is obsessed with the Necrinomicon.
Make no mistake, this is dark stuff, full of would-be rapists (sample line, "I'm gonna cut holes in you and bang 'em"), pedophiles, suicide bombers, and more. The artwork is pretty amazing stuff, perfectly in tune with the material. It's got a very streaky, smudgy feel to it, and the palatte is muted and grungy to an extreme. There's no daytime in Snowtown, just a kind of olive-green haze over everything. The people are realistic enough to buy into as characters, but sharp and jagged drawn in a way that emphasizes the raw nature of the setting. On the whole, a very unusual and interesting series I would love to see more of.
October 24, 2012
Detective Fell must have done something pretty bad to get transferred to Snowtown (i.e. the pit of hell). It's a den of crime, violence, and sin and he's one of 3.5 detectives assigned to keep the peace. Fell isn't afraid to take the law into his own hands - to bend it, twist it, when he sees fit. This actually makes him a better, more understanding cop that the ones who play everything by the book. For some reason his transfer doesn't get him down. For some reason his line of work doesn't get him down. For some reason he cares about the people of Snowtown who "aren't nothing" to him.
This collects a number of Detective Fell's cases/investigations after he gets transferred to Snowtown. He's branded almost immediately upon arriving by barkeep Mayko (who later becomes his girlfriend), with Snowtown's protective sigil/symbol - an S with a slash through it. I kept expecting something otherworldly/supernatural to happen because of its predominance (it's used to tag buildings all over the town), but the only strange spirit wanders the streets in the guise of a vice-ridden nun. I'm not sure if s/he's real or not (possibly just some other symbol of the sickness and vice that is Snowtown?).
I'm curious about what Fell did to end up there. He's not revealing anything just yet.
Ben Templesmith's illustrations are haunting as usual. He plays with light and dark in horrifying ways. His style is immediately recognizable. Perfect for this creepy setting.
This collects a number of Detective Fell's cases/investigations after he gets transferred to Snowtown. He's branded almost immediately upon arriving by barkeep Mayko (who later becomes his girlfriend), with Snowtown's protective sigil/symbol - an S with a slash through it. I kept expecting something otherworldly/supernatural to happen because of its predominance (it's used to tag buildings all over the town), but the only strange spirit wanders the streets in the guise of a vice-ridden nun. I'm not sure if s/he's real or not (possibly just some other symbol of the sickness and vice that is Snowtown?).
I'm curious about what Fell did to end up there. He's not revealing anything just yet.
Ben Templesmith's illustrations are haunting as usual. He plays with light and dark in horrifying ways. His style is immediately recognizable. Perfect for this creepy setting.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2009
Not for the faint of heart.
Warren Ellis's writing is often full of everything that lurks in the shadows and goes bump in the night. He explores the underbelly from the underbelly's point of view. That's what Snowtown is, from the perspective of detective Fell. Everyone is hiding something, even our savant Detective who is akin to TV's "The Mentalist" or "Psych" with his powers of observation, common sense. But he also has the ability to imagine the worst, and the TV characters would never find themselves in Snowtown, a secluded community the world chose to forget about. It's dark and dismal, and a nightly beat covers more murders than a whole week over the bridge.
Ben Templesmith's art is like a really great horror film. It lends itself perfectly to the words and images created by the twisted imagination of Warren Ellis. A perfect pairing of two of my favorite people. So far, I believe FELL only goes up to 9 issues (the trade is issues 1-8). Both contributors are incredibly busy, but I hope they finish it some day.
Warren Ellis's writing is often full of everything that lurks in the shadows and goes bump in the night. He explores the underbelly from the underbelly's point of view. That's what Snowtown is, from the perspective of detective Fell. Everyone is hiding something, even our savant Detective who is akin to TV's "The Mentalist" or "Psych" with his powers of observation, common sense. But he also has the ability to imagine the worst, and the TV characters would never find themselves in Snowtown, a secluded community the world chose to forget about. It's dark and dismal, and a nightly beat covers more murders than a whole week over the bridge.
Ben Templesmith's art is like a really great horror film. It lends itself perfectly to the words and images created by the twisted imagination of Warren Ellis. A perfect pairing of two of my favorite people. So far, I believe FELL only goes up to 9 issues (the trade is issues 1-8). Both contributors are incredibly busy, but I hope they finish it some day.
September 11, 2015
Oh how I am tempted to give this a one star. Not because its contents are terrible, but because this series has been on hiatus since 2008. 2008!!! had I known this, I would not have fallen in love with it.
From the writer of Transmetropolitan comes something darker, less in your face, but just as in your face.
Where Trans. was filled with a loud, obnoxious Spider, with wild, bright, sometimes cartoony art, Fell is the opposite. Det. Fell is brilliant, but somewhat quiet (when not showing off or catching a perp), reserved. The art is dark, smudged, but never lazy, and fits the gloom of the city. each story is short, self-contained crime solving with a tiny arc that never gets resolved or even discovered because of the bleeding f$*#@ing hiatus!!!
That said, it's still wildly amazing, and worth the read.
From the writer of Transmetropolitan comes something darker, less in your face, but just as in your face.
Where Trans. was filled with a loud, obnoxious Spider, with wild, bright, sometimes cartoony art, Fell is the opposite. Det. Fell is brilliant, but somewhat quiet (when not showing off or catching a perp), reserved. The art is dark, smudged, but never lazy, and fits the gloom of the city. each story is short, self-contained crime solving with a tiny arc that never gets resolved or even discovered because of the bleeding f$*#@ing hiatus!!!
That said, it's still wildly amazing, and worth the read.
December 17, 2015
4.5 stars (I think?!)
This one was really hard to rate for me. I'm in love and intrigued with Ellis's writing and storyline, but the artwork is what has me confused about my feelings for this trade. The same artwork that is perfectly fitting for its story is also hard to read. There are no clean lines, meaning some of the action gets a little distorted and confusing. This very thing that frustrates me also makes perfect sense for a crime-ridden place like Snowtown. In some panels, the artwork was perfect in that it blurred the lines of right and wrong, and this same messiness hid enough of Detective Fell's problems to keep me intrigued in his off-color police work. Although my feelings weren't consistent throughout all eight chapters, they were higher much more often than not. I need more Snowtown, more Fell, and more Warren Ellis.
This one was really hard to rate for me. I'm in love and intrigued with Ellis's writing and storyline, but the artwork is what has me confused about my feelings for this trade. The same artwork that is perfectly fitting for its story is also hard to read. There are no clean lines, meaning some of the action gets a little distorted and confusing. This very thing that frustrates me also makes perfect sense for a crime-ridden place like Snowtown. In some panels, the artwork was perfect in that it blurred the lines of right and wrong, and this same messiness hid enough of Detective Fell's problems to keep me intrigued in his off-color police work. Although my feelings weren't consistent throughout all eight chapters, they were higher much more often than not. I need more Snowtown, more Fell, and more Warren Ellis.
February 8, 2012
Cosa rara. Cosa macabra. Cosa experimental. Cosa concisa. Cosa llamativa. Qué cosa, estos autores. Si algún día se dignan a continuar la serie, quizás yo me digne a escribir una reseña un poco más elaborada. Eso sí, vamos a aprovechar para quejarnos de la edición española: ¡Contratad un puto corrector, coño! Hacía rato que no veía tantas burradas, tantos errores de traducción y estilísticos en un comic relativamente serio. ¡Dios le da pan...!
August 16, 2017
4 Stars
This was nice and dark; just the way I like it. Not sure if there are otherworldly things going on; or if this is just the dark underbelly that already exists. I do know that I must continue on with this series.
It's so dark here, though.
This was nice and dark; just the way I like it. Not sure if there are otherworldly things going on; or if this is just the dark underbelly that already exists. I do know that I must continue on with this series.
It's so dark here, though.
January 14, 2021
An edited review of this book will come sooner or later, this last one was pretty bad.
November 5, 2021
Pensei dar a este conjunto de histórias a classificação de 2 estrelas porque devo confessar que não consegui sentir nenhuma ligação com cada uma delas... No entanto, yalvez 2 esteelas seja uma classificação injusta, pois de facto elas estão bem arquitectadas, tanto do ponto de vista do argumento, como da ilustração.
Infelizmente, não acho que vá recordar este livro nem estas personagens. Enfim, um livro que se deixa ler...
Infelizmente, não acho que vá recordar este livro nem estas personagens. Enfim, um livro que se deixa ler...
July 24, 2018
A just okay book about criminal cases in a small city called Snowtown. I kinda expected more being that this is Warren Ellis, but it was pretty average.
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