ILS' own Jeff Light managed to get a few questions in with Warren Ellis, author of graphic novels and comics such as Transmetropolitan, Planetary: The Fourth Man, Orbiter, and Global Frequency. This well respected author has teamed up with Swordfish Studios (to be published by Vivendi) to create a Playstation 2 first person shooter know as Cold Winter.

JL: Hello Warren; Jeff Light for IntoLiquidSky.net. Thanks for being gracious enough to answer our questions. How did you get involved with making Cold Winter? How much impact do your ideas have on the gameplay itself, and how did you approach writing a videogame?

WE: I've worked with them before, on HOSTILE WATERS/ANTAEUS RISING. They just called and asked if I wanted to work with them again. As with HOSTILE WATERS, they had a very rough outline of how they saw the game's structure -- it was my job to expand on that structure, creating missions and settings, and writing the spine of cinematics that explicate the plot and themes. I don't have any real impact on gameplay -- that's down to the wizards with their physics engines and the other things I do not understand.

JL: Movie adaptations of comics have been storming the theaters the past few years, ranging from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to American Splendor. You yourself are said to have possible movie and TV deals in the works. How do you see the comic industry affecting the movie industry and vice versa?

WE: Comics provides movies with another stream of raw material. Movies are a beggar medium, for some reason, at least on the commercial end -- in any given season there will be more adaptations and sequels than new original work. Movies provide comics with... well, nothing. Movie performance doesn't really impact comics sales very much.

JL: You're very outspoken about comics on the web... how do you feel about the packaging of comics on DVDs with voice-overs that's currently entering the mainstream market?

WE: News to me, sorry.

JL: What's the biggest misconception you've discovered Americans have of the British, or barring that, of you?

WE: None. It's all true. Even the baby eating.

JL: Thanks so much for your time.

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