Warren Ellis - Crooked Little Vein
I kinda went into this one with low expectations. I’ve been a big fan of Warren Ellis’ work in comics over the last few years (notable standouts being Transmetropolitan, Planetary, Nextwave and Fell), but in recent months he’s become a bit of a parody of himself in my eyes. The regular “Bad Signal” e-mails he sends out were filled with little more than him complaining about his health problems and dreading public appearances (aw, poor you — success is so terrible), and he’s launched three or four different comics titles that seem like basically the same old thing he’s done already and haven’t really seemed to go anywhere. So when I heard he had a novel out, I dutifully picked the thing up when it was released (to show my support) and threw it on a shelf for later consideration.
Some time passed, and my “burned out on Warren Ellis” feelings faded a bit. So I picked it up and gave it a chance. And I immediately found myself wishing I’d done so months ago, because really, this is exactly the sort of book I used to read when I was reading regularly. It’s intelligent and darkly satirical, it’s weird but not inaccessible and it doesn’t give you a hundred thousand insignificant details to memorize rather than just jumping right to the point.
Sure, there’s the occasional passage in which Ellis takes his over-the-top act a little too far over-the-top (particularly when criticizing post-9-11 America), but these instances are outweighed by what’s actually a pretty solid read. The story (such as it is) is the typical “noir-style detective gets hired by a powerful client to locate an impossible artifact,” but that’s all pretty incidental in the grand scheme. What it really is is Ellis’ analysis of modern culture: the impact of mass communications on our daily lives and the mainstreaming of previously deviant ideas.
But beyond that, even, Crooked Little Vein is really just an excuse for Ellis to lead us through the skeevy sexual underbelly of America. I can think of no better tour guide than the guy who (as far as I know) coined the expression “dad paste dispenser.” If anyone can make me read several chapters involving men who inject their testicles with saline, it’s Warren Ellis. And that’s probably the highest praise I can offer.