Fell by Warren Ellis Review: A Dark, Gritty Noir Comic

“Fell” was written in 2006 as Warren Ellis’s experiment in making serial comics more affordable. Unfortunately, the experiment did not last, and the series ended after just nine issues. That is a shame, because Fell is the kind of comic that feels like a rough little gem hiding in plain sight. Each issue stands alone, but every one of them drags you further into Snowtown, a place so filthy and broken it feels like the city itself might be rotting from the inside out.

This comic is dark, gritty, bloody, and in no hurry to make itself palatable. There is no real closure here, no big comforting arc, no polished message tying it all together. What there is instead is Detective Richard Fell, and honestly, that is enough. He feels like Sherlock Holmes if Sherlock had been dropped into a feral city and left to develop a taste for the absurd. Add just a little Spider Jerusalem from Transmetropolitan and somehow the whole thing clicks.

That should not work as well as it does. But it really does.

Fell is ugly in a deliberate way. It is sharp, strange, and more interested in showing you the open wound than bandaging it up. I liked that about it. But I would also be careful who I hand it to right now. The world is already heavy, and Snowtown has no interest in making that feel lighter. If you are not in the mood to spend time in the dregs of humanity, maybe save this one for later. If you are, Fell is worth the trip.