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Do Anything Volume 1
Graphic novelist Warren Ellis reflects on the history of the comic book medium and its secret relationship with society and culture.The robot head of comic book legend Jack Kirby lives on Warren Ellis' desk! (Actually, it's the stolen and repurposed head of the missing Philip K. Dick robot, which Mr. Ellis confesses to swiping off the back of a plane.) Take a look at the world of graphic storytelling through its hazy android eyes, a rattling ghost-train ride through the history of comics. David Bowie, the CIA, mad architects, Will Eisner, Frank Zappa, Tintin, the designer of Skylab, a train station in Paris, Arthur C. Clarke, the circus, the Black Panther Party, and William S. all of these things are connected by Jack Kirby, all part of the secret history of comics, and all illustrating the special nature of this exciting medium as the place where you can do anything.
48 pages, Paperback
First published April 20, 2006
4 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
Warren Ellis
1,910 books5,766 followersWarren Ellis is the award-winning writer of graphic novels like TRANSMETROPOLITAN, FELL, MINISTRY OF SPACE and PLANETARY, and the author of the NYT-bestselling GUN MACHINE and the “underground classic” novel CROOKED LITTLE VEIN, as well as the digital short-story single DEAD PIG COLLECTOR. His newest book is the novella NORMAL, from FSG Originals, listed as one of Amazon’s Best 100 Books Of 2016.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
The movie RED is based on his graphic novel of the same name, its sequel having been released in summer 2013. IRON MAN 3 is based on his Marvel Comics graphic novel IRON MAN: EXTREMIS. He is currently developing his graphic novel sequence with Jason Howard, TREES, for television, in concert with HardySonBaker and NBCU, and continues to work as a screenwriter and producer in film and television, represented by Angela Cheng Caplan and Cheng Caplan Company. He is the creator, writer and co-producer of the Netflix series CASTLEVANIA, recently renewed for its third season, and of the recently-announced Netflix series HEAVEN’S FOREST.
He’s written extensively for VICE, WIRED UK and Reuters on technological and cultural matters, and given keynote speeches and lectures at events like dConstruct, ThingsCon, Improving Reality, SxSW, How The Light Gets In, Haunted Machines and Cognitive Cities.
Warren Ellis has recently developed and curated the revival of the Wildstorm creative library for DC Entertainment with the series THE WILD STORM, and is currently working on the serialising of new graphic novel works TREES: THREE FATES and INJECTION at Image Comics, and the serialised graphic novel THE BATMAN’S GRAVE for DC Comics, while working as a Consulting Producer on another television series.
A documentary about his work, CAPTURED GHOSTS, was released in 2012.
Recognitions include the NUIG Literary and Debating Society’s President’s Medal for service to freedom of speech, the EAGLE AWARDS Roll Of Honour for lifetime achievement in the field of comics & graphic novels, the Grand Prix de l’Imaginaire 2010, the Sidewise Award for Alternate History and the International Horror Guild Award for illustrated narrative. He is a Patron of Humanists UK. He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex.
Warren Ellis lives outside London, on the south-east coast of England, in case he needs to make a quick getaway.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 7, 2023
Honestly my first thoughts on finishing this are mostly versions of "What the f&*k did I just read?"
I am guessing most of the folks who gave this 4-5 stars are big Warren Ellis fans. I'm also guessing they are like, deep cut, "I liked them before they were cool" types. Because I think that's where most, or all, of the value in this... uh, text resides.
This reads like the ramblings of the old guy at Neo who is clearly on a bunch of drugs just name-dropping all the I-was-cool-before-you-were-born artists they saw, met, did drugs with, whatever, maybe minus the "Is this dude hitting on me?" vibe.
I somehow thought this book was going to be some kind of semi-inspirational nudge to creativity or to getting into comics or writing - the "Do Anything." to me called to more of a, seriously get off your ass and just be creative vibe. But... I think a more apt title than "Do Anything." for this would be, "I'm Warren Ellis, and they'll let me print anything, even 4 am drunken ramblings, which are mostly me just mentioning the names of a bunch of people I think are cool, to impress you into thinking I'm cool, too."
It also, sort-of, kind of? has a SLIVER of what I guess could be best called a "biography" of Jack Kirby in it, but man, do you have to dig for that. I don't know how much you can trust of what you read about Kirby in here, anyway. Considering his EARLIEST work anywhere near comics was in '86 and Kirby died in '88, I'm doubtful they ever actually even met. Odd that with so much talking about Kirby in this he wouldn't maybe mention that, one way or the other.
You can read this entire work (and a bunch more besides, as the column was ongoing for quite a while and still might be?) online, in its original column format, at bleedingcool . com - I think the name of that website really says it all.
I am guessing most of the folks who gave this 4-5 stars are big Warren Ellis fans. I'm also guessing they are like, deep cut, "I liked them before they were cool" types. Because I think that's where most, or all, of the value in this... uh, text resides.
This reads like the ramblings of the old guy at Neo who is clearly on a bunch of drugs just name-dropping all the I-was-cool-before-you-were-born artists they saw, met, did drugs with, whatever, maybe minus the "Is this dude hitting on me?" vibe.
I somehow thought this book was going to be some kind of semi-inspirational nudge to creativity or to getting into comics or writing - the "Do Anything." to me called to more of a, seriously get off your ass and just be creative vibe. But... I think a more apt title than "Do Anything." for this would be, "I'm Warren Ellis, and they'll let me print anything, even 4 am drunken ramblings, which are mostly me just mentioning the names of a bunch of people I think are cool, to impress you into thinking I'm cool, too."
It also, sort-of, kind of? has a SLIVER of what I guess could be best called a "biography" of Jack Kirby in it, but man, do you have to dig for that. I don't know how much you can trust of what you read about Kirby in here, anyway. Considering his EARLIEST work anywhere near comics was in '86 and Kirby died in '88, I'm doubtful they ever actually even met. Odd that with so much talking about Kirby in this he wouldn't maybe mention that, one way or the other.
You can read this entire work (and a bunch more besides, as the column was ongoing for quite a while and still might be?) online, in its original column format, at bleedingcool . com - I think the name of that website really says it all.
November 1, 2010
Ellis succeeds at writing about comics in the most circuitous way possible. With the sometimes narrator of the robotic head of Jack Kirby, Ellis provides a sort of ethnographic history of comics, charting the confounded, conflicted, and intensely political world of comics writers, artists, and bussinesspeople. Though the volume is slim, it contains more ideas, explication, and people than a single reading can divine. It will be worth returning to often. As usual, Ellis's wit is rich and heady, not unlike working through a satisfying pint of dark stout. Ambiguities, uncertainties, tangents, and in-jokes run rampant, but Ellis proves himself an adequate guide into, if not out of, the history of comics. His constant references to potential later volumes and other robotic heads of comics' figureheads suggests that future jungles, depths, and psyches are yet to come. I eagerly await them.
December 29, 2012
So that no-one makes the mistake I did when buying this book, I should make it clear that this is not a "graphic novel" as stated in the product description but is a collection of online articles Warren Ellis wrote for BleedingCool.com in 2009 and they are reprinted here. It's not a comic. No illustrations are here except for the one on the cover, but the book is printed in the comic book paperback format. The articles are still available online as well so if you wanted to just read them you could do so for free. As for the content? Interesting musings on comics as a medium and the history of comics through the conceit of a robotic head Warren has on his desk. Mostly though it's a bit rambling and I wanted to read a comic book instead of this. So just be warned, no comic here, just Ellis' thoughts on the comics medium.
April 8, 2025
A bizarre, almost stream-of-consciousness oral history of the comics medium, from the mind of one of its most unconventional storytellers. Anything Ellis writes is certainly worth reading.
May 8, 2010
i will read this many times. it will take weeks or months to run down all the things i don't get, or want to know more about. and i will play bowie and eno the entire time.
November 23, 2020
"Do Anything" by Warren Elias is a romp through his thoughts on comic books, graphic novels, visual novels, Gil Kane, Bernie Hogarth, Stan Lee, William S. Burroughs, Brian Eno that stretches through decades. Oh, wait, there is the robotic head of Jack Kirby that smokes Warren's good Cuban cigars. It is a dizzying and frantic pace of his thoughts and snippets of the reality studio mixed in.
The potpourri of ideas encapsulated is wide ranging from the mentioning of the architect Francois Roche, which has antecedent in the artworks of Roger Dean, to the French artist Druillet's work that precedes the iconic and incomplete masterpiece of Jack Kirby's "Fourth World".
A book that ends with the musing that the artistry of Jack is, in part, his seminal experiences in World War Two as not just a front line soldier but he was a killer of men. This was the truth of war. The author brings up one of the main characters in the "Fourth World" Orion. He writes that Orion through the technical wizardry of "Mother Box" is able to hide his true face from all. Is this not just the way that Jack Kirby would talk about his life experiences? He was a fighter. But the brutal reality of war is men killing men. Jack had to do that as a scout for his unit- that he did not talk about.
Well worth reading and to think about Jack "King" Kirby, comics, and the interconnectedness of the reality studio.
The potpourri of ideas encapsulated is wide ranging from the mentioning of the architect Francois Roche, which has antecedent in the artworks of Roger Dean, to the French artist Druillet's work that precedes the iconic and incomplete masterpiece of Jack Kirby's "Fourth World".
A book that ends with the musing that the artistry of Jack is, in part, his seminal experiences in World War Two as not just a front line soldier but he was a killer of men. This was the truth of war. The author brings up one of the main characters in the "Fourth World" Orion. He writes that Orion through the technical wizardry of "Mother Box" is able to hide his true face from all. Is this not just the way that Jack Kirby would talk about his life experiences? He was a fighter. But the brutal reality of war is men killing men. Jack had to do that as a scout for his unit- that he did not talk about.
Well worth reading and to think about Jack "King" Kirby, comics, and the interconnectedness of the reality studio.
April 24, 2019
Talvez o que me cativou em Warren Ellis seja esta sua acessibilidade aos leitores. Claro que é um dos mais interessantes argumentistas de comics na atualidade, com a sua marca de personagens unidimensionais exacerbados e uma intuição para o pulsar da hipermodernidade. Mas não se limita aos argumentos, tem-se exposto regularmente aos seus fãs, sendo um predecessor no uso da internet como meio de comunicação e aproximação pessoal do autor aos seus leitores. Algo que faz de forma experimental, afinando, refinando e mudando de plataformas. Orbital Operations, a sua newsletter semanal, é leitura obrigatória. Fala-nos de tecnologia, futurismo, música, cultura global e, claro, comics. Para lá da newsletter, vai publicando num blog (antecipou em dois anos a corrente tendência de fuga às redes sociais) e de vez enquanto edita, em coleções digitais, intervenções suas em painéis sobre banda desenhada ou futurismo.
Do Anything colige um conjunto de crónicas que Ellis escreveu para a Bleeding Cool. São perfeitos connect the dots, com Jack Kirby como ponto de partida, sobre a cultura visual da banda desenhada. E, vindo de quem vem, inclui bizarros voos especulativos e o tipo de frases contundentes que tanto admiramos no seu estilo literário.
Do Anything colige um conjunto de crónicas que Ellis escreveu para a Bleeding Cool. São perfeitos connect the dots, com Jack Kirby como ponto de partida, sobre a cultura visual da banda desenhada. E, vindo de quem vem, inclui bizarros voos especulativos e o tipo de frases contundentes que tanto admiramos no seu estilo literário.
June 26, 2019
Warren Ellis expounds as only Warren Ellis can. It's a bit like being stuck in a booth with him at a bar when he ripped off his tits on high grade speed and wants to talk to you about Jack Kirby. To start with...
October 20, 2012
A narrative compilation of notions from comics history. The moral of the text is the titular phrase. Many long sentences. Best read next to something which can do the internet.
Actually, I'm going to base the next phase of my comic writing auto-education on some of the references in here. Druillet sounds like a champion.
Actually, I'm going to base the next phase of my comic writing auto-education on some of the references in here. Druillet sounds like a champion.
February 13, 2015
Warren Ellis is never less than interesting, and this book is no exception. Sadly, it does tend to ramble a little, not really focused on a topic for any length of time, but again, it's never less than interesting.
May 6, 2010
What if William S Burroughs wrote a brief history of the early days of superhero comics.
May 18, 2010
A collection of columns from the website Bleeding Cool. Short and to the point. Well worth seeking out.
September 2, 2010
Marvelous and illuminating ramblings wrung from the robot head of Jack Kirby.
February 16, 2011
this is more like it. wish it was longer. if Lester Bangs wrote comic crit, this is what it could be
October 17, 2012
If you like comics this is fascinating and worth a look.
August 27, 2013
i just love reading warren elli's non fiction.......
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews