Warren Ellis' STRANGE KILLINGS
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Ellis' STRANGE KILLINGS

STRANGE KILLINGS, a new mini-series by Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer, begins in January from Avatar Press.

Plans continue for successive, self-contained mini-series.

"I think William Gravel stands with TRANSMET's Spider Jerusalem as being among the best of Warren's characters," says Avatar Press editor-in-chief William Christensen. "But Gravel's world is distinct among Warren's many diverse and exceptional creations.

"And it's a place that makes Sin City look like Disney World sometimes, so to launch this project Ellis has turned in an amazing tale that I think may be one of his best yet.  His treatment for Mike was perfect, giving Mike some room to do his fantastic work on the action scenes yet also providing the tight layout and dialogue for all the character development scenes. After doing so many books together, I think these two have started sharing some brain waves and the final pages are fantastic. Really, the best of all worlds."

"Avatar and Mike Wolfer wanted to do more William Gravel stories," Ellis says. "The dodgy bastard seems to get a grip on people like that. I, on the other hand, wanted to see Mike working his own inimitable storytelling. So here's what we're doing. It's like the 'Plotmaster' gig I did for Marvel a couple of years ago. I'm writing detailed treatments for new William Gravel stories, which Mike will break down and adapt. My words, his storytelling. Mike tells stories in a tense, staccato way, which gives these new William Gravel pieces a real freshness. It's a good reason to do these."

"The vision of STRANGE KILLINGS is Warren's," Wolfer says. "He will lay various scenarios before us and challenge us to believe that what we know of our world is the whole truth. We will see, hear and feel things that are beyond depravity, all the while knowing that these atrocities could be happening while we are asleep in our beds... And that they could quite possibly be happening in the house next door. The visualization of STRANGE KILLINGS will be my own. I am taking Warren's ideas and breathing dark, two-dimensional life into them. It is a joy that is tempered with unease, as I sometimes can't believe that I'm actually going to draw some of the vile and controversial scenes with which Warren has chosen to entertain us."

Here's how Avatar describes the story:

"STRANGE KILLINGS is the story of Sergeant Major William Gravel, a brilliant soldier of Britain's SAS. He's also the only known combat magician in the occult sphere. Placed on 'K' duty - deniable operations - when he's found to be taking unofficial black market jobs for money due to mysterious personal reasons, Gravel is plunged into the dirty life of a secret black-ops world. Still, with his power Gravel could probably change the world if he was capable of actually getting his life together. Instead, he's constantly involved in other people's lives and dirty secrets, running headlong towards the day when he hits something he can't escape from, shoot, or wish away."

STRANGE KILLINGS will be three issues.