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 A big selling point for comics recently seems to be that the concept has been optioned by a movie house. "Optioned" means the right of the producer to make a film based on what is usually a novel concept. Usually it involves the small payment of a a sum of cash, and expires after 3 years. It generally allows the producer to explore casting, finance etc. The writer is happy because he or she gets a small wad of cash for doing nothing. At the end of the day, though, there is no guarantee a film will be made out of it. In his book come in Alone (previously discussed), Ellis makes a big deal out of some his his films being optioned. Maybe I'm just jealous (we're both 24 and I've got nothing optioned), but its really not such a huge thing - not compared to the actual production of the film. Global Frequency is "optioned". It is a novel concept: 1000 people throughout the world can be called upon for special emergencies which governments can't or won't get involved in. These people all have special abilities, not in the superhero sense, but in terms of them being spies, computer hackers, MIT professors, sharpshooters, helicopter pilots, electromagnetic weapons experts, magicians, linguists, ex-Soviet scientists etc etc. Ellis has set up a website:www.global frequency.org as part of the sales pitch for the book. Here is the text from the site: Quote:
There are a thousand and one people on the Global Frequency.
A worldwide independent defense intelligence organization with a thousand and one agents, all over the world. Anyone you know might be with them. It's the world's little open secret. You could be sitting there watching the news and suddenly hear an unusual cellphone tone, and within moments you might see your neighbor leaving the house in a hurry, wearing a jacket or a shirt with the distinctive Global Frequency symbol... or, hell, your girlfriend might answer the phone, and then put on her Global Frequency badge and promise to explain later... for all you know, they have your file, and you'll be recruited next... anyone could be on the Global Frequency, and you'd never know until they got the call...
...from Aleph, central dispatcher for the Global Frequency, getting her orders from Miranda Zero, creator and operator of the organization. Not her real name, but the only one you're getting. Her real name and identity were erased from the world's records the moment she went into business for herself. Global Frequency is run on the cash she made doing bad things in the Nineties, and on the hush money paid her by the G-8 industrialized nations for...
...for what the Global Frequency does. Clearing up after the 20th Century. Keeping an eye on the bad mad things in the dark that the public never found out about. All the black projects, the mad science, the chilly encounters with the unknown, the Cold War traps... they're all sitting there like landmines. Eventually someone will trip over one of them. Global Frequency are there to catch them when they fall, and defuse the mines before they explode into mainstream consciousness and cause more pain and horror than they already have...
You can join the Global Frequency by signing up on for an e-mail account: something cool for the geeks who want to pretend they're part of a global speicl operations force, I guess. Out of curiosity I pressed the button "submit!" without entering my name, and got bumped to the Comic book Resources site =- they are fielding the e-mail software for Global Frequency, and the illusion was broken.
In the first tpb, Ellis uses this arcane collection of speiclists in a variety of scenarios, which as the book progresses become less and less superhero-y and more and more realistic. Here is the basic threats for each story, without giving away too much:
1. Soviet spy/teleporter linked to a nuclear weapon in Russia
2. USAF rogue cyborg in Nevada
3. SETI problem in San Francisco
4. on-line cult with hostages in Melbourne
5. mental disturbances in Norway
6. biological terrorists in London
Ellis winds it down into the sphere of the believable as he goes along. I think he realised the initial tone was wrong, and wanted to make it more believable.
Did I like it? I really liked the concept. I wasn't very fond of the execution. Judge for yourself. 6 out of 10.
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Sorry, both 34, not 24! I wish!
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I suppose I can respect that Ellis was trying something different here, but it's almost as if his hate of the ongoing comic series format destroyed any chance he had of crafting a genuinely good book here. Going out of his way to assure that there would be absolutely no tie-ins, no broader storyline, no returning characters other than Miranda Zero and Aleph.....if it was a 6 issue thing then I might have thought Ellis capable of showing me something new each episode, but not 12. As it turned out he ran out of ideas really early on, and began reusing a lot of the same tired ideas, concepts and characters. The few interesting ones, while providing momentary entertainment, were lost, due to his determination to never use or mention them again.
I thought perhaps the least original or intriguing character in the entire thing was Miranda Zero, the main character. Ellis' diverse array of female characterizations include: the tough, in-your-face queen-bitch....and the tough, in-your-face queen bitch. Jenny Sparks, Jakita Wagner, Sarissa Leon(Mek), Channon Yarrow(Transmet), etc.
I don't love the "neverending" style of writing that comics are famous for, either, but even the best writers can have a tough time writing really good stories in one, completely independent issue(Ellis had a tough time telling a good story in 3 with Mek). There is something to be said about expanded characterization, in my opinion.
MisterJLA is RACKing awesome.
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Miranda Zero bores me stupid as a character. She has absolutely no appeal to me whatsoever. Its hard to think of a more two dimensional vehicle in comics, and that's really saying something. She could fit into an Image book as a female detective, secret agent, restaurant owner, casino operator or hotel concierge, and I wouldn't even blink.
Aleph is slightly more interesting, in her role as co-ordinator and hostage negotiator. It was an interesting choice of names for someone involved in a high profile global conspiracy: "Aleph" is the new name of the Japanese cult responsible for the gassing of Tokyo's subways back in the 90s. I doubt it was intentional.
Ellis is a bit of an anti-corporate type, and in writing characters wielding authority (pardon the pun) he often misses the mark I suspect becauise of his lack of exposure to the insides of corporations.
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Aleph is also the Alliance for Jewish Renewal....surely that played a role in the creation of the character.....
MisterJLA is RACKing awesome.
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I assumed he just used the name because of its dictionary meaning as the Hebrew version of "Alpha". Aleph is the first of the 1001 people in Global Frequency. Miranda Zero is before that (zero is before 1).
If that really is the rationale, its just annoying.
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Aleph/Alpha, if I recall issue 11, is where the name came from, yes.
While I really dig the series, as just short bursts of interesting storytelling, I gotta agree with you on Miranda Zero. The thing about her, though, is that she is EVERY Warren Ellis character.
A tough, take no bullshit chain smoking, black clothes wearing snide character fighting against the world.
Spider Jerusalem, Pete Wisdom, Jenny Sparks, the chick from Mek, etc. He's played this character out. It's tired.
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Quote:
Mr. Nobody said:
A tough, take no bullshit chain smoking, black clothes wearing snide character fighting against the world.
If she was seriously overweight, male and living in London, she'd be Warren Ellis.
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Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you) 50000+ posts
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or at the very least Nowherman......
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Perhaps Ellis is Nowhereman?
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But I thought Dee Snyder was Nowhereman...? 
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Kisser Of John Byrne Ass 15000+ posts
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I purchased the first issue and made no repeat offenses...
I compare it to Morrison's recent Vertigo wank-fest..so bad I can't remember the title. A decent concept as stated, but not realized.
Oh..it was called the Filth...yawn.
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The first issue was probably a bad way to start. It was very wanky. By the end of the first tpb you can see the change in tone.
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Doog the MIGHTY 10000+ posts
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Quote:
Pig Iron said:
I purchased the first issue and made no repeat offenses...
I compare it to Morrison's recent Vertigo wank-fest..so bad I can't remember the title. A decent concept as stated, but not realized.
Oh..it was called the Filth...yawn.
I took the ending of the Filth as pointing out there was no meaning to the story, and in the end it was all garbage.
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