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Proceeds from these pages go to support the work of the ERIICA Project and
the student creators, including the publication of future editions of
The Workday Comic.
For more information, contact Dr. Travis Langley (email: langlet at hsu.edu). |
Robert N. O'Nale, Jr.
May 8, 2008
Comics and Psychology
Dr. Travis Langley
Desolation
and Isolation in the Protagonists of Warren Ellis
Warren Ellis is
one of the most successful comics writers of the past decade. His work has been acclaimed in every area of
the comics industry that he has worked: superhero comics, adult-oriented
miniseries and graphic novels, and webcomics.
He also publishes a weblog and email diary, which both have a large and
diverse readership, along with an online presence in a number of forums and
websites. Ellis began his comics writing
career in the British comics market of
the early 1990s, following a period in which comics writers and artists from the
United Kingdom became a major influence on American comics.[1]
Ellis made early
strides in his career working on superhero titles for Marvel such as Doom
2099, Generation X and Excalibur, but draws his influences on
writing from science fiction, particularly the 1960s New Wave SF
movement with writers such as Philip K. Dick and Harlan Ellison. Ellis is also strongly influenced from
cyberpunk science fiction, particularly the authors William Gibson, Bruce
Sterling and Rudy Rucker.[2] Superheroes have never been widely popular in
the United Kingdom, and Ellis has always approached superhero themes with some
skepticism, notably referring to superheroes as “underwear perverts.”[3] Ellis's work on superhero titles has been
sporadic, and the consensus among his readership seems to be that his most
interesting work is in his adult-oriented work for publishers like Image,
Vertigo, Wildstorm or Avatar.
This is the area
that will be focused on for this analysis.
The three specific titles that will be discussed are Lazarus
Churchyard: The Final Cut, illustrated by D'Israeli and published by Image;
Desolation Jones, illustrated by J.H. Williams III[4]; and the
story “Frank Ironwine,” from Apparat: The Singles Collection,
illustrated by Carla Speed McNeil. The
intent is to focus on a specific type of lead male protagonist that recurs in
all of these stories.
Lazarus
Churchyard is Ellis's first significant work in comics, published in the
defunct UK comics magazine Blast!, and collected for American
publication by Image in 2001.[5] The story follows Lazarus Churchyard, a
desiccated post-human whose body was mostly replaced by a type of intelligent
plastic. This prevents him from dying at
the cost of extreme psychological and physical stress, and has kept him alive
for 400 years, as of the beginning of the storyline.
Similarly, Michael
Jones is the main character of Desolation Jones, and is a former agent
of the British intelligence agency, MI6.
He has survived a number of extreme medical experiments which leave him
withered and physically sensitive. He is
retired in Los Angeles, which is portrayed in the story as a sort of holding
area for individuals who are not worthy of termination but are a risk to the
intelligence community.
“Frank Ironwine”
is a story without any science fiction tropes, but features a similar
character, a detective who lives a homeless, skid row lifestyle. His methods are sluggish and elusive, yet
successful.
These characters
have a number of things in common. All
of these characters are successful in solving the conflicts escalated within
the immediate storyline, while overall conflicts about the characters'
circumstances are left as a matter of exposition. For example, Jones in Desolation Jones
is successful in solving the problem he is paid to solve, but is powerless to
address his own conditions. Lazarus
Churchyard survives through several separate stories in the collection, but is
never successful at his ultimate goal, achieving his own death. The conflicts in Frank Ironwine's life are
completely unadressed, though the story is short. It is never explained, for example, why Frank
is found at the beginning of the story living in a dumpster.
The essential
theme of these characters is the need to survive and remain stable on a daily
basis. These characters have faced
adversity, but are not necessarily morally culpable for their own
victimization. In Desolation Jones,
for example, Jones's only known impropriety prior to his subjection to the
Desolation Test is an unfortunate, unrestrained alcoholism. The bad events in these characters' lives
lead them to an existence marked by extreme pain, physical disfiguration,
extreme stress and a psychological tendency to be extremely withdrawn and
introverted.
If there is a
psychological quest for these characters, it is perhaps a quest for
normalcy. Lazarus Churchyard seeks in
his storyline the ability to die. Within
the story this would allow Lazarus to achieve an end to his personal suffering,
but it also symbolizes a quest to reconnect with humanity. Michael Jones, by comparison, primarily wants
to be left alone.
These characters
learn coping skills as a matter of desperation, more as a survival reaction
instead of a desire to conform to society.
The characters in these stories are maladapted to any social interaction
and tend to define their own behavioral norms, to the frustration of people
forced to interact with them. For
example, Michael Jones copes with the pain from the Desolation Test by smoking
excessive amounts of marijuana, particularly in public environments that would
put him at risk of arrest were it not for his permanent legal immunity. The characters are also either unaware of or
uninterested in their own personal appearance.
Frank Ironwine is completely unaware of just how shabby and disheveled
he looks to others, and Lazarus Churchyard is unable to make any physical
changes to his appearance. Michael Jones
dresses the way he does to protect himself from an extreme photosensitivity
that is one of the many reasons he stays indoors as much as possible.
Another feature
found in Desolation Jones and “Frank Ironwine” is the juxtaposition
between the introspective and withdrawn male protagonists and extroverted and
domineering female supporting characters.
Michael Jones is paired with Robina, an attractive, purple-haired
assistant who chauffeurs Jones along his investigation. Frank Ironwine is paired with a younger
detective, Karen DeGroot, who also chauffeurs Frank. The notion of domineering female supporting
characters acting as chauffeur for the male primary character is a recurring
fascination for Ellis and appears in a number of his stories. The supporting female character figuratively
helps drive the plot, by pushing the character out of introversion into forward
action. The female characters' well
adjusted psychology punctures the seriousness of the male characters' morose
solipsism.
This character
profile can be found in a number of Ellis's other works. It is found in Fell, a series of
one-shot issues developed for Image and illustrated by Ben Templesmith. It is also found in Ellis's first and thus
far only novel, Crooked Little Vein.
The significance of this character arrangement can be addressed as a
critique of gender dynamics and life in the modern world. In Ellis's more science fiction oriented
work, his characters are more often victims of technological society. This paper did not address one of Ellis's
more well-known works, Transmetropolitan, illustrated by Darick
Robertson, primarily because the main character was developed as an hommage to
Hunter S. Thompson and does not fit the exact character pattern of the other
examples. Even in this case, the main
character, Spider Jerusalem, is a victim of a society that has too rapidly
technologized.
The psychological
implications of this analysis are complex, and a diagnosis can be arrived at
with some comparative examination. A
prognosis that would lead these characters into true normalcy and social
adaptiveness is a more difficult suggestion.
In most of these cases, the events in life that drove them to their
current state are irrevocable, and leave indelible physical and psychological
scars. The process of plot development
in their stories, which leads them out of their immediate comfort zone, is
perhaps the best solution. This forces
these characters to socialize and adapt to life outside. The characters may have lingering scars, and
face societies that are cold and insensitive, but by establishing networks with
friends who can provide sympathy and assistance, they can begin the difficult
process of recovery.
Works
Cited
Comic Book Database, “Warren Ellis,”
http://www.comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=1
Doctorow, Cory, “Marvel Comics:
stealing our language,”
http://www.boingboing.net/2006/03/18/marvel-comics-steali.html
Ellis, Warren and D'Israeli, Lazarus Churchyard: The
Final Cut,
Berkeley: Image
Comics, 2001.
Ellis, Warren and Carla Speed McNeil, “Frank Ironwine,” Apparat:
The
Singles
Collection, Volume One, Rantoul: Avatar Press, 2005.
Ellis, Warren and Darick Robertson, Transmetropolitan:
Back On the
Street, New
York: Vertigo Comics, 1998.
Ellis, Warren and J.H. Williams III, Desolation Jones,
Issues 1-6,
New York:
Wildstorm Comics, July 2005-June 2006.
Ellis, Warren and Danijel Zezelj, Desolation Jones, Issues 7-8, New York: Wildstorm Comics, December 2006-February 2007.