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Garth Ennis And His Big Reveal

Published Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:00:31 -0500

Alex Wilson reported from New York Comic Con

There was small hush over the room as all eyes turned to the corridor between the two sections of seats. Then, a roar of applause as Garth Ennis himself walked into the panel. I was ecstatic. Garth Ennis is one of my favorite writers with titles such as Preacher and Chronicles of Wormwood to his more recent work on Crossed and his newest series Dicks.

I was first row center and I had waited in line for an hour and then waited through another panel to be able to acquire my coveted seat. All eyes were on Ennis as the crowd, along with myself, waited in anticipation for what was promised to be a big announcement.

The first announcement that came out was that Crossed is getting its own web series. The episodes were described as being about five minutes long and each episodes seems like it will be self contained but create an over arching story that falls together in a larger narrative. Avatar and Ennis made it clear they are not trying to pull a New 52 with Crossed but present it in a form that has yet to be explored. Ennis also expressed his intention to eventually turn Crossed into a feature film. The web series and the film would be rated R and the DVDs would be unrated.

Ennis will also be coming back to the Crossed comic with an arc starting at issue 25 and then another one at issue 50. The issue 50 arc will focus on patient zero. There has been much mystery in the series about how the infection came to be and this might shed some light on the subject for curious fans.

We may also see new titles coming out from Ennis soon. He mentioned a new project but wouldn't give any more details than the project containing "sci fi" elements.

When asked if he would ever go back to the big two Ennis said he was "most comfortable at independents," but also pointed out he would consider working on The Punisher again if the chance came along but his love for traditional superheroes isn't very high because he can't see the morality presented in them in daily life. His childhood didn't consist of hero books either so no nostalgia is found in them for him.

My favorite comic by Garth, Chronicles of Wormwood, was mentioned as his version of A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Ennis compared it to League for the reason that he considers Wormwood had a similar premise with taking already established fictional characters (Jesus, Satan, God, Anti-Christ) and using them for a story. When you read Ennis's books, you can possible tell that there are undertones of religion. An audience member asked if he was a "religious man," and Ennis responded with that he is "more and more hardcore atheist with each passing year."

With the announcement of a possible Crossed movie some wonder if any other of Ennis's books would get the film treatment. The Boys was tossed around and the option was sold and is being renewed but he told no one to hold their breath for a film to come out. Preacher was thrown into the spotlight and there had been talk about an HBO series but Ennis said that the money wasn't there and he was told that no one had ever done straight blasphemy for a television series before, especial one that stated God exists and is a dick. "For me, it's maybe a shorter step than most." (Referring to directing film.) He grew up on non-traditional comics and movies, liking western comics very much.

When pointing to influences he mentioned the film Alien. "That haunts my dreams to this day," he said jokingly. The only comic he currently reads is Saga but Ennis has taken an interest in novels, reading more non-fiction than fiction.

One of the most interesting (and funny) parts of the panel came when he was explaining how the character Bueno Excellente received his name.. First off, for those who are unfamiliar with this slightly unorthodox character, he fights evil with the power of perversion. The name came from a friend of his who told the story of a porno film where a man expressed his gratitude for a girl's less than church like action by saying "Bueno Excellente" over and over again. He heard the words and thought they sounded like a first and sir name.

We also found out that more issues of Dicks are on the way so it seems like Ennis is keeping himself busy, dividing his work between Avatar and Dynamite.

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