This time folks we are beyond lucky to have the pleasure of chatting with Warren Ellis, writer of many comic books, but today we’re specifically discussing Ellis’ latest series “Injection”. Warren Ellis has had a very illustrious career writing some of the most prolific stories in modern comics. From his amazing “Transmetropolitan” to his recent amazing “Moon Knight” run, Ellis has provided all of us with the kind of comics that aren’t just fun to read, but make us think. His latest series “Injection” tells the tale of five geniuses poisoned the 21st century and then scrambled to save the world from a terminal case of weird. Ellis once again pairs himself with the likes of artists Delcan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire, members of what I consider to be the best “Moon Knight” creative team to date. With the next story arc of “Injection” about to begin I had the pleasure to talk to Mr. Ellis about the book and what’s to come in this upcoming arc.

“Injection” #6 releases on January 13th, and “Injection” Volume 1 is currently available, both from Image Comics.

Outright Geekery: My first question is what takes your mind to a place where you can think of a world like the one in “Injection”?

Warren Ellis: A lifetime spent in Britain, probably. And picking up the infamous “Folklore Myths And Legends” book at an early age. That thing warped the minds of a generation of freaks. Reader’s Digest has a lot to answer for. It started with me looking for a fictional container to develop all the things I’ve been talking about at tech, futurist and philosophical events over the last few years — you can find a bunch of my talks wrapped into an ebook called “CUNNING PLANS” if you’re interested — and sort of evolved into a combination of that stuff, the relationships between folklore and technology, and the future and deep history, and things that I think of as very British frames of storytelling. It was a way to express a fair bit of my authorial DNA, things like Nigel Kneale’s Quatermass, the classical periods of Doctor Who, Ian Fleming and Ian Mackintosh, etc etc.

So, to answer the question — I didn’t have to go anywhere, these are basically the haunted marshlands of my everyday mind. It’s horrible. I should get a lot more sympathy for my condition than I do. You don’t care. Next question.

OG: How hard is it to tell a story knowing everything, yet only giving what is necessary for the moment in each issue?

WE: I had the first five issues pretty well planned out — at the end of issue 5, we know what the CCCU did, what the Injection is and what the stakes are. Or seem to be. I have the overall shape of the entire planned 25-issue, five-volume run of the book. Now we know what they did and what’s escaped into the world, we start learning the changes it’s forcing on some of the characters — and some of them are going to change in bad ways, In the next volume or two, we see them coming to terms with having to somehow get the genie back in the bottle, but that may not be the biggest threat.

OG: Now with enough of the background and pieces of your dark chessboard seen, I’m dying to know: What new game does the Injection want to play in the next arc?

WE: Issue 6 is indeed the first part of Volume 2, which means we shift our focus to Vivek Headland, Anglo-Indian consulting detective, living in New York. Honestly, I think any reader could come in at issue 6 and come away with an “issue one”-like reading experience. Because here we are opening a case, and the Injection and its presence isn’t immediately felt. Vivek’s home is attended by a rich man who has had a ghost stolen from him, and there is also an issue around the criminal delivery of human meat. Detective stories and the supernatural have long been a British tradition — my favourites were always the Carnacki stories, written by William Hope Hodgson, a fellow man of Essex.

OG: With your indie titles you’ve always seemed to choose the perfect artist for each title. Did you always know Shalvey and Bellaire would be the ones to help you tell the story in “Injection”?

WE: Well, I wrote it *for* Declan and Jordie. We meshed so fast on “MOON KNIGHT” that we quickly started talking about doing something original after our MK run was ended, so I devised the whole thing with them in mind. That’s why a chunk of it has taken place in Dublin, where Dec and Jordie live. My ideal situation is always writing for a specific artist or team from the start.

OG: And lastly what do you want people to take away from Injection?

WE: As I reflect on volumes one and two, I start to see a few small similarities with “Planetary” — above and beyond the stories and characters, it’s sort of a meditation on certain kinds of stories and cultural touchstones, and about the nature of the future and the inescapable nature of history. It means a lot to me. There’s a lot in there about our current place in time.

But then there are a lot of gags about cannibalism in the new issue topped myself by writing the phrase “vaginal ectoplasm”. So who the hell knows?

I’ve spent a lot time talking about the Injection and if my previous reviews haven’t made you pick up the book, now’s the time! Do yourself a favor and grab Injection Volume 1 before the new issue drops and enjoy everything that is to come. I have a feelings its going to be brilliant.

“Injection” #6 releases on January 13th, and “Injection” Volume 1 is currently available, both from Image Comics.