Comics legend Warren Ellis is the subject of Patrick Meaney's upcoming documentary, Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts.
Photo courtesy Respect Films/Sequart

After probing Grant Morrison’s deep brain in Talking With Gods, indie director Patrick Meaney dissects the internet Jesus himself in upcoming documentary Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts.

“I am a messiah,” acclaimed comics writer Ellis cracks in Wired.com’s premiere clip below. “Ask anyone on the internet.”

Ellis, whose work displays a knack for mad hilarity, merciless action, dark cynicism and incorruptible bravery, is a scathing public wit on camera — much less guarded than Morrison and definitely more animated.

“He’s everything you’d imagine: Funny, dark and cynical, but also a really kind, giving guy,” Meaney told Wired.com in an exclusive e-mail interview about the film, which premieres worldwide Sept. 9. “He always says he doesn’t know why we’re doing this movie about him when he’s just ‘a midrange comics writer.’ But I think if you look at the sheer enthusiasm that others have for him, it’s clear that he’s someone unique in the comics world.”

Featuring the most extensive interview Ellis has ever given, as well as spirited testimonials from disciples and pals like Joe Quesada, Molly Crapabble and Jeff Newelt, the work-in-progress documentary shines a light on one of the comics industry’s few visionaries. Coupled with Meaney’s previous film about Morrison and Dez Vylenz’s superb 2003 documentary The Mindscape of Alan Moore, Captured Ghosts will round out a cinematic holy trinity offering comics noobs a crash course on the medium and its mind-wiping messengers.

Ellis made his mark with transgressive, mind-blowing comics like Transmetropolitan and Planetary, as well as webcomic epic FreakAngels and fetish-heavy novel Crooked Little Vein.

Yet the English writer remains deeply humble and often downplays the importance of his body of work, said Meaney, who developed a serious interest in comics around the turn of the century that anticipated Hollywood’s current onslaught of comics-based movies.

The gonzo dystopia of Transmetropolitan and the cerebral sci-fi of Planetary floored Meaney, but Ellis’ desire to remain internetworked with those who follow his challenging work truly hooked the director on his subject.

“I stumbled across the Warren Ellis Forum, which has now relocated to Whitechapel, as it was a major discussion point for comics masterminded by Warren,” said Meaney, whose favorite new Ellis comic is the transhumanist head-trip Doktor Sleepless. “I was really amazed by the fact that I could post something and within minutes, Warren himself would respond! And, I was fascinated by the strange world that Warren built, the cult that grew up around him, and the way it paralleled what he was doing in his comics.”

The forum was populated by individuals who would go on to become heavy hitters in the comics industry, including Matt Fraction, Antony Johnston and Kieron Gillen, all of whom Meaney interviewed for his film.

That connection with his readers continues to this day. “Warren’s tweeting, blogging, posting all the time,” said Meaney, and the constant communication underpins Ellis’ acerbic and cynical internet persona.

“The main reason we chose to do a doc on Ellis is similar to the central reason we chose to do a project on Grant: They’re both writers who are as iconic and legendary off the page as they are on the page,” Meaney said. “Warren mentions in the film that as a commercial writer, you are a brand, and these are two guys who have done an amazing job of creating an image that is fascinating on its own terms, and particularly interesting in relation to the work. They also both have an air of mystery about them, and there’s always the question of how much of what they’re doing or saying is playing to the image and how much is genuine.

‘We’ll be bringing out different techniques to make Ellis’ ideas come alive, including a muppet version of Ellis.’

“But Warren’s greatest strength, more than anyone else I’ve interviewed, is his skill as a verbal storyteller, to set up a scenario, draw you in and always deliver a great punch line,” Meaney said. “Ellis really knows how to package a story to make it hit, and some of his insane online spirit must have rubbed off on the [Captured Ghosts] interviewees as well, because there’s a lot of wackiness coming from nearly everyone in this film.”

Just how wacky is the documentary?

“We’ll be bringing different techniques to make Ellis’ ideas come alive,” Meaney said, “including, at one point, a muppet version of Ellis, which we’re giving away for Captured Ghosts’ Kickstarter project.”

(Venues interested in participating in what Meaney calls a “global day of Ellis” for the Captured Ghosts premiere should contact Respect Films to sync up. Those who can’t make the September screenings or score the Kickstarter swag can purchase the DVD from Halo-8 in December.)

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