The quotes come from Transmetropolitan, Warren Ellis’ classic dystopian comic, but they sound profane as hell coming from the mouth of a muppet.

“Did you ever want to set someone’s head on fire, just to see what it looked like?” Ellis’ puppet doppelgänger snarls in the new trailer for Patrick Meaney’s forthcoming biodoc, Warren Ellis: Captured Ghosts, exclusively premiered above. “Did you ever stand in the street and think to yourself, ‘I could make that nun go blind just by giving her a kiss? Did you ever lay out plans for stitching babies and stray cats into a Perfect New Human?”

Designed by Jesse Kingsley, the muppet is but one outrageous dimension of Meaney’s latest comics hagiography, which previews July 22 at Comic-Con International and premieres worldwide Sept. 9. As a viewing of Captured Ghosts‘ new trailer shows, the movie boasts a stellar lineup of comics and film standouts busting loose on the English author’s influence and blockbuster personality.

“I’ve been able to shoot interviews with some huge names, including most recently Helen Mirren and Patton Oswalt,” said Meaney, who said his film is 95 percent finished.

“It turns out that Helen is from the same town as Warren, Southend-on-Sea, so there was a real connection between them when they met on the Red set and at last year’s Comic-Con,” he said. “Warren has a massive network of people across all media, so there’s a much broader range of people in this film than my last film, Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods. I said on Twitter that this is probably the only film that features an Oscar winner, an Emmy winner, a Tony nominee, a Grammy nominee and an Adult Video News Award winner.”

Comics futurist Warren Ellis comes alive in Captured Ghosts, previewing at Comic-Con and premiering in September.
Image courtesy Sequart/Respect Films

Ellis’ muppet was originally offered as a coveted prize for one lucky fan who dropped $700 or more on Captured Ghosts’s Kickstarter project. The Kickstarter met its goals, and that lucky fan has been chosen — but won’t be able to score the muppet until it makes its Comic-Con debut and signs a few autographs.

“The muppet clip is directly aimed at people who are aware of Ellis and his legend,” said Meaney. “There’s also a sequence where we see Warren’s reaction to what the people we interviewed said about him that I think is going to go over huge. I’m trying to show different sides of the film, the comedic stuff but also Warren’s emotional side and sequences that explore his thoughts on science and the future.”

One thing Ellis will not be sharing his thoughts on is how he comes across in the film. That’s because he asked Meaney to only send him the parts of Captured Ghosts in which he does not appear, “since he apparently hates to watch himself,” Meaney said.

“His response was that it was like watching his own funeral,” he added. “He’s humble, almost to a fault.”