Joss Whedon

Warren Ellis is writing Astonishing X-Men.

Let’s let that sink in a little bit.

Warren Ellis has been to pretty much every corner in the comics industry. He’s worked exclusively at different times for Marvel and DC, has done lng-running series such as Transmetropolitan and Planetary, and has more graphic novels in print than any other comics creator in the English-speaking world. He’s written video games, is writing a TV series for AMC, and just released his first prose novel. But one thing he’s never tackled head-on until now is the core X-Men.

Astonishing.

Newsarama: First off, why X-Men?

Warren Ellis: Well, Chris, I’m closing in on 40 now, so I’m pretty much washed up and preparing for the time where I’ll have to sell what operating internal organs I have left for bill money, and I’m looking around to see what’s left in commercial comics that I haven’t done. And one of the things I haven’t yet done is work on a big franchise, just to see what it’s like. I worked in the X-Office back in the 90s, but they never let me near their big toys in case I broke them or put them in my mouth or something. So when this came up, and when the degree of creative freedom that comes with it became clear, I thought, why the hell not? I mean, you never get to make your "stamp" on these things, because the franchise needs to keep running and everything gets dug over and re-invented in the end. But I like the technical challenge in these commercial gigs: to bring the property into the era of its production, as it were, and to write stories I’d like to read.

Click on the link :

http://www.newsarama.com/Comic-Con_07/Marvel/AXMEllis.html