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"People keep saying to me, you're doing a good job, Spider, you're really changing things, Spider. And it's all bullsh*t. I'm not changing a f***ing thing. I'm a writer. A journalist. I can't change sh*t.

What I do is give you the tools to understand the world so that you can change things.

And I'm stuck here, only hoping that you do."
—Transmetropolitan: I Hate It Here

A few weeks ago, I went on at some length about Christopher Priest (I suspect my editor wonders why I promised only 300 words a week—I did it so I never have to count), one of my two favorite writers in comics. This week I'll tell you why Warren Ellis should be allowed to do pretty much whatever he goddamned wants.

Warren ran a stealth tour called October Revolution. (You can read about it on his Web site at www.warrenellis.com; I got a cool little booklet.) I went to see him at the pre-event at Golden Apple Comics, with the express intent of finding out the precise root of the term "toerag." He told me about its medieval origins as the lowest factor in society, and was every bit the barrel-chested, hard-drinking, twinkle-eyed madman he's been characterized as.

I went home and cracked open Transmetropolitan #33, the book that introduced me to Ellis. I read the delicacy with which he presented "filthy assistants" Channon Yarrow and Yelena Rossini. I pulled out the Year of the Bastard TPB and marveled at Ellis' intricate, political style. I tried to reconcile those complexities with a man who looked like any normal bloke walking down a London street.

From Lazarus Churchyard to the hit-and-miss muddles of Counter-X, from Planetary to Transmetropolitan, from the foundation work on The Authority to the expanded horizons of The Ministry of Space, Warren Ellis is one fantastically creative mind. Not everything he touches turns to gold—tons of his aspirations for Marvel's 2099 Universe remain stillborn, likewise his Counter-X experiment, sullied by the lesser inspiration of journeymen following in his footsteps. There's even been a spare issue or two of Transmetropolitan that, while still feeding the meta-narrative, was less than stellar.

However, despite his missteps, Warren Ellis is always trying. Unlike several of his ultimately talented but overly nostalgic colleagues, Ellis seeks to find new ideas and new stories, even when he plumbs the past. He's branched into novelizations such as his recent From The Desk Of..., which talks about his wacky Daredevil deal, consulted on video games and has generally become an evangelist for the improvement of this industry of ours. The fact that he's still trying, despite the depressingly downbeat mood of the comics industry, makes Ellis an inspirational figure.

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On top of that, there's Transmetropolitan. Before Straczynski introduced us to Rising Stars, Ellis started a "long-form serial": a five-year story involving Hunter S. Thompson-inspired futuristic journalist and "professional horrible bastard" Spider Jerusalem. Working its way through Year Four with its best sales and reviews thus far and a number of softcover collections (including my favorite, I Hate It Here, a collection of Spider's columns), Transmet is an intricate story that entertains and skewers the sad realities of modern life by covering them with a sci-fi veneer and spinning them around.

F'r instance, "#27: Monstering" showed the intrepid trio hounding a corrupt politician to the limits of sanity in a book that merges character and continuity into one of the series' highest points of humor. Then there's the grim "#40: Business", where after parting company with "organized journalism," Spider realizes, "I can say what I want, when I want now. So I have to make even more certain than before—I have to make sure I'm saying something worth saying." A stark look at the realities that force children into prostitution, "Business" is as relevant in the streets of The City as it is in the streets of your city. Transmetropolitan will stand the test of time as a work of serious literature in an entertainment medium that is consistently underrated.

So, with Ellis' continued commitment to improving the State of Comics in mind, if the man himself walks up to you and tells you he wants to do something, the proper response is, "Yes, that sounds fine. Let's do it."