Bloody Good

No guts hanging out, no glory

Comments (0) By Gary Hodges Thursday, Jul 26 2007

Having worked on more than 50 graphic novels for Marvel, DC, and other big-league imprints and penning everything from screenplays to a weekly Web column for the punk-pinup SuicideGirls, Warren Ellis might be the busiest writer in pop entertainment you've never heard of -- though that could change.

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Fresh from San Diego's Comic-Con International, the British enfant terrible comes to the Valley to promote his first novel, Crooked Little Vein. In it, Michael McGill (the classic burned-out private eye who -- if God made Adam out of clay -- was sculpted out of bourbon and eye boogers) ends up with a job of national importance: Find the real U.S. Constitution. You know, the secret one with the invisible amendments, bound in the skin of the extraterrestrial who so unwisely butt-fucked Benjamin Franklin.

Yes, that Constitution.

What's more likely to increase Ellis' recognition (or notoriety) is his upcoming comic series Black Summer. The premise: If superheroes are vigilantes who value order over law, what happens when the President himself is a villain -- one who, say, starts an illegal war? If you're superhero John Horus, you kill the President, consequences be damned (and they are many).

The signing marks Ellis' only in-store appearance of 2007.