Fell, by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith
Fell is a comic that was made as an experiment in producing a comic that would be as cheap as possible for the consumer- thinner than most monthlies, no ads, and with each story functioning as a single story set within the larger story of Detective Richard Fell. I like that. While I'm a big fan of sweeping epics and the like, the idea of each issue being a story in itself is something that I feel isn't seen enough these days (but then, I haven't been into any continuing series of any sort for quite some time, so what the hell do I know).
ANYWAYS, Richard Fell is a police detective who has transferred from "across the bridge" to Snowtown, a hellish, crumbling nightmare of a place that is often (and best) described as a "feral city", which is also the title of the first collected volume. Each issue deals with Fell resolving one scurrilous situation or another, while adding to the larger concepts of what exactly is going on in Snowtown, a place that seems to be regarded an entity in it's own right which will "take" that what it regards as "not it's own". As well, we begin to find out bits and pieces of the reason why Fell has crossed the bridge to come to Snowtown, and why he can't go back.
This will probably come as no surprise, but I really like Warren Ellis, and I think this is some of my favourite stuff he has done. The city of Snowtown and it's harried inhabitants are extremely evocative, especially as rendered by Templesmith's eery, noirish style, managing to inflict a third-world warzone sensibility to a city that is nominally just another American city. Regardless, Fell comes highly recommended by me. In the spirit of making comics that are both cheap and accessible, the entire first issue is up for free reading
here.
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