If you (for god knows what reason) wanted to send me something physical, the best solution right now would probably be to send to my literary agency in New York City.
Warren Ellis c/o Lydia Wills Paradigm 360 Park Avenue South 16th floor New York New York 10010
I don't have a solution for people living closer to me as yet.
For people wanting to send me to their sites, wanting to email stuff or tell me about new music or send me tips or whatever, I've set up a Gmail account that I'll check once or twice a day: degaussing [-at-] googlemail com. This isn't, I stress, my main email account, and it's not for asking me when some comic's coming out. Always interested in new music, new art, new madness etc.
This week (Wednesday in North America, Thursday in the UK), NO HERO 0 is released. It is the first, short chapter in an eight-chapter serialised graphic novel. Its retail price is one dollar. The idea is that it gives you a cheap entry to the serial -- we figure that, since it's only a dollar, you may be convinced to give it a try, and if you don't like it... hell, it was only a dollar, right?
We just got the numbers on NO HERO 0. The initial orders have come in at 18000. That's the same number we had for initial orders on BLACK SUMMER 0, a project on which we did the same thing. The reorders on that book were so massive that we eventually sold twice that number -- and that's before we did the special reprint book that contained 0 and 1 because the reorder action on issue one also wiped out the overprint (copies printed above and beyond the order number). So we did a 100% overprint on the issue 0 unit and still couldn't meet the eventual demand. NO HERO appears to be following the same pattern.
Now, how does this affect you, the potential interested party who'd like to read it?
It means that your local comics store is likely to burn through their copies pretty fast on New Comics Day. Remember, 0 is the start of the story, the first chapter, the cold open before the credits if you like. If you want a copy, let your local store know, or make a point of getting in there this week, because odds are that it won't be there next week. Give them a call, drop them an email, stick your head around the door. And if you get there and they don't have a copy -- you now know that Avatar have something on the order of 20,000 extra copies sitting in warehouses ready to be sent out to shops like yours whenever they ask for them. So don't be afraid to ask your local store to order you a copy.
I'm making headway with this new wave of projects through Avatar -- CRECY continues to sell at an absurd rate, and I found out today that sales on ANNA MERCURY 4 actually went UP, which, on the fourth issue of an opening five-issue serial, is unusual. (And I feel a little more justified about hiding the reveal at the end of the first issue now).
I could go into a rant about these books continually being underordered and stores having to meet double their estimated demand through reorders. But it's tough times out there. I saw a retailer talking about cutting out midlist orders completely in order to stay afloat in the bad economy, not so long ago.
On Friday June 27, I'll be doing an onstage appearance in conjunction with the Wizard World Chicago convention in Rosemont, Illinois, by arrangement of Avatar Press.
The thing is happening at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center -- we don't have a room number yet, because the Wizard World staff will be basically taking the walls off a series of rooms to create a 1500-seat hall. I imagine the event will be signposted in the lobby of the convention center. The hall will be furnished with two bars for your alcoholic poisoning. The doors will open at 9pm. I will be wheeled onstage around 9.30pm. I believe the plan is to have me gonged offstage around midnight.
The event is free. It is my understanding that you do not need a convention ticket to enter. So, whether you're attending the convention or not, you can show up for this and get in with no problems.
Important point. I will be smoking onstage. You will not be smoking in the convention center. This event has been categorised, believe it or not, as performance art. As having access to nicotine is essential to my performance, I have been accorded the right to smoke. You will all have to suffer.
The format for this appearance is Q&A. This is where I take questions from the audience, and then ramble on at length about five other things without even getting within the same zipcode as your actual question. So, there's no prepared talk this time, it's just me cueing off questions from the floor, telling stories, and pretending to dispense The Starry Wisdom while actually telling you nothing of worth or relevance.
I dunno. I might read a bit from something.
I think that's it. We're handling further queries on Whitechapel right now.
Or, to prevent anyone else sending ME the link -- yes, Cully Hamner and I sold the graphic novel RED to Summit Entertainment for film adaptation. Story here, my thoughts here.
It's Friday, it's gone noon UK time, so the new FREAKANGELS episode is up for your cost-free enjoyment (as are all previous episodes): http://www.freakangels.com/?p=40
