On August 5,Image Comics announced the “return” of Warren Ellis to comics with a reprint of Ocean and then on August 11 they announced the were publishing his new graphic novel, Ghost Drive Station. The announcement wasn’t well received by many, as Ellis was publicly accused of sexual misconduct by more than 60 individuals.
The lack of accountability is the sticking point, and Ellis is once again welcomed into the comic industry fold. At the time of the announcements, parties involved were silent but now Ellis has spoken up and addressed the issue.
Ellis, in his Orbital Operations newsletter, addressed the situation after plugging his new projects:
A few people have asked me about past events in my life. It’s not my place to pick at it in public or speak for others. I will say that I got to apologise directly to a group of people and offer amends, which I remain very grateful for, and I keep that door open. I learned a lot and still am. I fucked up in a number of ways over the years, it doesn’t matter that I never acted with malice in mind, I hurt people, I’m sorry, and I’m trying to do better every day. That’s all I have to say for now.
With the guidance of our facilitator, we asked Ellis to take the steps necessary for community accountability work to begin. During the process, as far as was communicated with us, Warren Ellis did not take these steps. Despite numerous discussions and hours of writing, working with Ellis remained contentious; he and our group were unable to achieve community together. Our facilitator concluded that a community accountability process with Warren Ellis is impossible under current conditions, and we agreed. In October of 2022, in a conversation with Ellis which was conveyed to us with Ellis’s consent and approval, our facilitator discussed this conclusion and our group’s intention to move on from working with him.
Ellis is just one individual with questionable history and behavior that has dipped their toes and seemingly returning to comics. It’s an unfortunate trend of 2026.
“Cancel culture” has been debated in over a decade at this point. While the issue itself has ebbed and flowed, the reality is few celebrities and entertainers that have been “canceled” have stayed “canceled.” When it comes to entertainment, perceived profitability is what matters and no matter how problematic someone is, if corporations can make money off of them, they’ll be forgiven. Comedian Louis C.K. was accused for sexual misconduct in 2017 but Netflix rolled out the red carpet and gave him a platform in 2026 for a set during the Netflix is a Joke Festival at the Hollywood Bowl. He also won a Grammy for “Best Comedy Album” in 2022, his third win and first since the accusations.
At its worst, “cancel culture” is just another part of the ongoing culture wars used to score political points and galvanize a political party’s base to drive votes or put pressure on a business. That corruption does a disservice to the real world abuse and bigotry it’s supposed to address.
Comic publisher Image Comics has done their own disservice by recently welcoming back at least two individuals who have both been accused of misconduct in the comic industry.
The accusations against Ellis had some immediate impact. He had a story pulled from Dark Nights: Death Metal. DC completed the release of his Batman’s Grave series but it has not been collected. Recently his run on The Authority was released as part of DC Compact Comics line, as there were plans to bring the superhero group to the big screen, but those plans have fizzled. In general, Ellis went away, even taking a break from his weekly email newsletter, only to eventually return to that in 2022 with regular updates.
And now, Warren Ellis has returned to the world of comics with two releases by Image. On August 5, Image announced that Ocean from Ellis and Chris Sprouse was returning to print in October. It was originally released by Wildstorm/DC Comics in 2004. It was optioned to be adapted for film in 2007 but there hasn’t been much news since the initial announcement.
A reprint isn’t the only announcement from Image regarding Ellis. On August 11, the publisher said it would be releasing his new graphic novella with artist Lordess Foudre, Ghost Drive Station, this November.
I have spent the day re-reading the entirety of SoManyOfUs.com, including every testimonial. I’ve also re-read dozens of documents and communications from the transformative justice action SMOU-TJ and Warren Ellis started. I wanted to remember the hope I held at that time. I also wanted to see if I could approach this moment with gratitude instead of anger.
To believe in transformative justice is to believe people capable of change. But, as our mediator said during the process, “transformation is heartbreak.” It is crushing and painful, but it is also our right as human beings. I haven’t spoken to Warren Ellis in over 6 years. I don’t know who he is now. I don’t know how he’s changed, but I’m sure he has. I know Warren read all of SoManyOfUs.com and I can’t imagine an outcome where doing so doesn’t change you. But, as Kai Cheng Thom says, “Change is inevitable, growth is optional.” I was often sad that Warren, when confronted with the consequences of his actions, didn’t react in the way I expected him to. But I am grateful it led to me untangling 15 years of complicated feelings and hurtful actions.
I’m grateful that I believe we can change and hold ourselves accountable in this world. But, quoting our mediator again, “being called to accountability feels like being reminded that your shit stinks. and coming clean is hard to do.” It can feel impossible to look in the mirror and confront the worst version of ourselves. Without having the necessary support systems in place to make it possible, I don’t blame or fault anyone for not being able to do it.
We all tried our best. When our attempt at a community accountability action failed, I was disappointed, but grateful that we tried. And grateful to know that Warren had tried, too.
I currently work as an editor in comics, with books I work on being published by Image. I love comics. I love the comics community and how we all keep making them despite it being so hard, with no financial security, and no safety nets. I see groups within the community doing so much good and fighting hard to make the industry more sustainable and safer for everyone involved.
But there is no set process for anyone in the comics community to account for our actions and change our behaviour after harm or abuse has happened. This has led many people to be forced out of the industry – victims, perpetrators, and witnesses. My heart hurts for all the people who were bullied, ostracized, shunned, or threatened out of this community, particularly those I spoke to back in June and July of 2020, impacted by Warren’s actions. I hope one day this changes.
I’m grateful to everyone who was wondered if Warren has “made amends to the satisfaction of all involved.” It shows me solidarity and care are widespread within comics. I wouldn’t say I’m satisfied, but I also would say I am no longer personally invested in Warren’s transformation.
I am personally invested in the books I work on that come out with Image, and I really hope you don’t take any disappointment you feel in Image’s actions out on the creators whose work they publish. Seeing people boycotting Image comics feels a cruel joke when that directly affects my livelihood and that of the people who respect and support me. But I get it – this seems like a financial decision from Image, so respond in a financial fashion. I hope we can all keep ourselves open to change in the future.
My resolve to expand my capacity to hope for change – after a night of anger and crying and shouting – is renewed. Thanks for hearing me out and for reading all of this.
In 2020, Jason Latourwas accused of harassment by multiple individuals. Again, the original accuser wasn’t looking to harm a career but instead raise awareness of his behavior, as well as the “creeper” behavior in general. Numerous other individuals spoke up about their own interactions with Latour and were described as “inappropriate behavior.” Latour did attempt to take responsibility for his actions and apologized in Tweets that were later deleted. If he actually attempted to apologize to individuals or really took responsibility is unknown.
Around the time of all of this, Southern Bastards was one of the hottest comics on the market, having won multiple awards and being well regarded by both critics and readers. Created with writer Jason Aaron, the series paused due to the accusations against Latour and hasn’t returned to comics. In October 2025, it was announced that Hulu ordered a pilot based on the series.
But, like so many “canceled,” Latour returned to mainstream comics with a contribution in the Image 30th Anniversary Anthology #12 which was released in 2023. His crowdfunded graphic novel Super Ego got a bigger release from Image in May 2026, with an announcement of it in February 2026. It didn’t make much of an impact on release, honestly I didn’t know it was and thought it was still yet to come out.
At the time of that announcement, we said “2025 was the year of court cases for the comic industry and two months into 2026, it sounds like it’ll be the year of attempted returns by those in the comic industry previously accused of harassment.”
The embrace of Ellis and Latour are just two examples within the comic industry of its recent warm embrace of its troubled past. While some individuals have completely left the industry, others still find work or dip their toes in to test the waters and see the reaction. In early February 2026, Neil Gaiman broke a year of silence to address allegations against him for sexual assault among other alleged crimes. It was the first step in his attempt to re-enter the public sphere in the build up to a new book release.
There’s some irony in Image’s choice to welcome back these two individuals. In November 2021, Image employees began the unionization process with Comic Book Workers United. They had nine goals, one of which was:
A collective voting option to allow stay a say in canceling publication of any title whose creator(s) have been found to have engaged in “abuse, sexual assault, racism and xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, ableism, etc. until such time as said creators have engaged in meaningful reparations toward affected person(s).”
Now, we as consumers have a choice, if we welcome these returns and purchase their published comics or send a signal to publishers these individuals are unwelcome back until they show actual signs of acknowledging the harm they’ve done and accept responsibility. Image Comics has shown where it stands, now it’s time for the consumers, retailers, employees with publishers, and other creators to show if they really believe accusers and are against this behavior, or if it was all performative to score points online and look good to others.
The Authority are heroes in only the strictest sense of the word.
Ruthless and unforgiving, this group of insanely powerful superhumans face down countless menaces to Earth, protecting mankind with their cold version of justice. An invasion from an alternate Earth, an international terrorist who is laying waste to major cities and a hostile alien intelligence who calls himself God all fall under their rule.
This is THE AUTHORITY. Pay allegiance. Or get your head kicked in.
Story: Warren Ellis Art: Bryan Hitch, Phil Jimenez Ink: Paul Neary, Andy Lanning Color: Laura Martin, David Baron, Chris Garcia, Michael Garcia, Eric Guerrero Letterer: Ali Fuchs, Ryan Cline, Bill O’Neil, Robbie Robbins, Josh Reed
Get your copy now! To find a comic shop near you, visit http://www.comicshoplocator.com or call 1-888-comicbook or digitally and online with the links below.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and make a purchase, we’ll receive a percentage of the sale. Graphic Policy does purchase items from this site. Making purchases through these links helps support the site
The critically acclaimed espionage/science-fiction thriller Desolation Jones—by writer Warren Ellis and artist J.H. Williams III with colorist José Villarrubia and letterer Todd Klein—will be collected into a hardcover in the upcoming, Desolation Jones: The Biohazard Edition. This deluxe edition will collect Desolation Jones issues #1-6—along with an extensive gallery showcasing select, raw artwork by Williams III—and be available this November from Image Comics.
In this new edition, the art and lettering placements will also feature minor retouches throughout by Williams III.
Desolation Jones follows one Michael Jones, a former agent for British intelligence before a procedure to make him a better operative left him mentally and physically shattered. Now he survives in Los Angeles as a private investigator, eking out a living within the city’s ghost community of damaged spooks. If he had any better future to look forward to, he probably wouldn’t be embarking on his newest job: locating the lost pornographic home movies of… Adolf Hitler.
Desolation Jones: The Biohazard Edition (ISBN: 9781534350755) will be available at local comic book shops on Wednesday, November 27 and independent bookstores, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and Indigo on Tuesday, December 10.
Bruce Willis reassembles his old crew when Red 2-Film Collection becomes available on Steelbook on April 2 by Lionsgate. This double feature comes with deleted and extra scenes, along with audio commentary and a multi-part documentary. Red 2-Film Collection will only be available at Walmart on Steelbook for the suggested retail price of $39.99.
Red: Frank (Willis) is a former black-ops CIA agent living a quiet life alone… until the day a hit squad shows up to kill him. With his identity compromised, Frank reassembles his old team — Joe (Freeman), Marvin (Malkovich), and Victoria (Mirren) — and sets out to prove that they still have a few tricks up their sleeves. Stand back and watch the bullets fly in this explosive action-comedy.
Red 2: Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses (Willis) reunites his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. To succeed, they’ll need to survive assassins, terrorists, and power-crazed government officials, all eager to get their hands on the superweapon.
Red is based on the comic series by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner.
This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: Wolverine: Not Dead Yet
With a new Wolverine series have started last month, I wanted to take a look back at one of the very first Wolverine story arcs I read that wasn’t reprinted from older comics. I didn’t know it at the time, but Not Dead Yet was written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Lenil Francis Yu. When I first read this story, I wasn’t as concerned with knowing who had written it because I didn’t follow creators at the time, only the characters. Only Wolverine and the X-Men.
Originally published in Wolverine v. 2 #119-122 back in the late 90’s, the story was both my first introduction to American comic books and how they were laid out with the advertisements, the page sizes, the recap pages and the preview page with Stan’s Bulletin Box. It really was a transformative experience in how I experienced my comic books at the time as I went from the UK reprint magazines to the real thing. They were unlike anything I could get my hands on at the time; the reprint mags contained three issues, were slightly smaller, and had only minimal personality to them that wasn’t in the original comics. The other comics I was reading at the time were all weekly anthology magazines too – there wasn’t a dedicated 30 odd pages to a single comic and all the little extras that go with it. Looking back on those single issues now, I feel that we’ve lost something along the way as technology has progressed and the need for previews in comics has decreased – but that could just be the nostalgia talking.
This is quite possibly one of my favourite Wolverine stories that I’ve ever read. It’s certainly the one I will always point readers to if given half a chance. The story takes place during the time Wolverine had no adamantium in his body, it is told both in the present and the past by use of flashbacks that serves to emphasize the relationship between the ol’ Canuckle head and a Scottish assassin called McLeish who eventually sets his sights on our favourite mutant. Wolverine is being hunted by one of the best, a man who has planned for years to be able to take down the nearly unkillable Canadian mutant with adamantium bones, but what he doesn’t know is that Wolverine’s bones are no longer coated with the metal, and Logan is suddenly much more vulnerable than he used to be. I keep coming back to this story every few years, and I have mentioned it several times on my blog, too. It’s available in trade paperback format, and I highly suggest you pick it up.
I mentioned earlier how I didn’t realize who the creative team was when I read this story more than twenty years ago. In all honestly, it was for another 40 issues of Wolverine when Frank Tieri and Sean Chen started writing the book. So it was years later that I finally realized that Warren Ellis wrote the book, and I remember being somewhat surprised. I’d read and enjoyed a lot of his stuff over the years, but never realised that one of my favourite stories was penned by him.
Wolverine: Not Dead Yet has a timelessness to it that’s only betrayed by the amount of payphones and the style of cars and the odd fashion choice if you’ve a keen eye for those things. This is a tale that focuses less on Wolverine being a superhero and instead takes him back to the shadowy underworld of his past in a much more grounded setting. There’s no spandex in sight, and consequently the story has more of an immediacy to it. This was a time when Wolverine would frequently get his fightin’ togs on when he had a chance, and in Not Dead Yet he doesn’t have that chance.
When it comes to classic Wolverine stories, Not Dead Yet is seldom counted on the list, and one could ask if I would hold it in such high esteem had I not read it at such a formative time in my life. The answer is an easy yes; I read a lot of stories around that time, but none have stayed with me the same way Not Dead Yet has. The story still holds up to this day, and is honestly one of the most common places I’ll start with when going through the back issues of Wolverine in my comic boxes. That‘s why I wanted to focus on this as an Underrated gem this week.
That’s all we have for this week, folks. Come back next time when there’s something else Underrated to talk about.
This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: Wolverine: Not Dead Yet
With a new Wolverine series have started last month, I wanted to take a look back at one of the very first Wolverine story arcs I read that wasn’t reprinted from older comics. I didn’t know it at the time, but Not Dead Yet was written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Lenil Francis Yu. When I first read this story, I wasn’t as concerned with knowing who had written it because I didn’t follow creators at the time, only the characters. Only Wolverine and the X-Men.
Originally published in Wolverine v. 2 #119-122 back in the late 90’s, the story was both my first introduction to American comic books and how they were laid out with the advertisements, the page sizes, the recap pages and the preview page with Stan’s Bulletin Box. It really was a transformative experience in how I experienced my comic books at the time as I went from the UK reprint magazines to the real thing. They were unlike anything I could get my hands on at the time; the reprint mags contained three issues, were slightly smaller, and had only minimal personality to them that wasn’t in the original comics. The other comics I was reading at the time were all weekly anthology magazines too – there wasn’t a dedicated 30 odd pages to a single comic and all the little extras that go with it. Looking back on those single issues now, I feel that we’ve lost something along the way as technology has progressed and the need for previews in comics has decreased – but that could just be the nostalgia talking.
This is quite possibly one of my favourite Wolverine stories that I’ve ever read. It’s certainly the one I will always point readers to if given half a chance. The story takes place during the time Wolverine had no adamantium in his body, it is told both in the present and the past by use of flashbacks that serves to emphasize the relationship between the ol’ Canuckle head and a Scottish assassin called McLeish who eventually sets his sights on our favourite mutant. Wolverine is being hunted by one of the best, a man who has planned for years to be able to take down the nearly unkillable Canadian mutant with adamantium bones, but what he doesn’t know is that Wolverine’s bones are no longer coated with the metal, and Logan is suddenly much more vulnerable than he used to be. I keep coming back to this story every few years, and I have mentioned it several times on my blog, too. It’s available in trade paperback format, and I highly suggest you pick it up.
I mentioned earlier how I didn’t realize who the creative team was when I read this story more than twenty years ago. In all honestly, it was for another 40 issues of Wolverine when Frank Tieri and Sean Chen started writing the book. So it was years later that I finally realized that Warren Ellis wrote the book, and I remember being somewhat surprised. I’d read and enjoyed a lot of his stuff over the years, but never realised that one of my favourite stories was penned by him.
Wolverine: Not Dead Yet has a timelessness to it that’s only betrayed by the amount of payphones and the style of cars and the odd fashion choice if you’ve a keen eye for those things. This is a tale that focuses less on Wolverine being a superhero and instead takes him back to the shadowy underworld of his past in a much more grounded setting. There’s no spandex in sight, and consequently the story has more of an immediacy to it. This was a time when Wolverine would frequently get his fightin’ togs on when he had a chance, and in Not Dead Yet he doesn’t have that chance.
When it comes to classic Wolverine stories, Not Dead Yet is seldom counted on the list, and one could ask if I would hold it in such high esteem had I not read it at such a formative time in my life. The answer is an easy yes; I read a lot of stories around that time, but none have stayed with me the same way Not Dead Yet has. The story still holds up to this day, and is honestly one of the most common places I’ll start with when going through the back issues of Wolverine in my comic boxes. That‘s why I wanted to focus on this as an Underrated gem this week.
That’s all we have for this week, folks. Come back next time when there’s something else Underrated to talk about.
This is a column that focuses on something or some things from the comic book sphere of influence that may not get the credit and recognition it deserves. Whether that’s a list of comic book movies, ongoing comics, or a set of stories featuring a certain character. The columns may take the form of a bullet pointed list, or a slightly longer thinkpiece – there’s really no formula for this other than whether the things being covered are Underrated in some way. This week: Wolverine: Not Dead Yet
With a new Wolverine series have started last month, I wanted to take a look back at one of the very first Wolverine story arcs I read that wasn’t reprinted from older comics. I didn’t know it at the time, but Not Dead Yet was written by Warren Ellis and drawn by Lenil Francis Yu. When I first read this story, I wasn’t as concerned with knowing who had written it because I didn’t follow creators at the time, only the characters. Only Wolverine and the X-Men.
Originally published in Wolverine v. 2 #119-122 back in the late 90’s, the story was both my first introduction to American comic books and how they were laid out with the advertisements, the page sizes, the recap pages and the preview page with Stan’s Bulletin Box. It really was a transformative experience in how I experienced my comic books at the time as I went from the UK reprint magazines to the real thing. They were unlike anything I could get my hands on at the time; the reprint mags contained three issues, were slightly smaller, and had only minimal personality to them that wasn’t in the original comics. The other comics I was reading at the time were all weekly anthology magazines too – there wasn’t a dedicated 30 odd pages to a single comic and all the little extras that go with it. Looking back on those single issues now, I feel that we’ve lost something along the way as technology has progressed and the need for previews in comics has decreased – but that could just be the nostalgia talking.
This is quite possibly one of my favourite Wolverine stories that I’ve ever read. It’s certainly the one I will always point readers to if given half a chance. The story takes place during the time Wolverine had no adamantium in his body, it is told both in the present and the past by use of flashbacks that serves to emphasize the relationship between the ol’ Canuckle head and a Scottish assassin called McLeish who eventually sets his sights on our favourite mutant. Wolverine is being hunted by one of the best, a man who has planned for years to be able to take down the nearly unkillable Canadian mutant with adamantium bones, but what he doesn’t know is that Wolverine’s bones are no longer coated with the metal, and Logan is suddenly much more vulnerable than he used to be. I keep coming back to this story every few years, and I have mentioned it several times on my blog, too. It’s available in trade paperback format, and I highly suggest you pick it up.
I mentioned earlier how I didn’t realize who the creative team was when I read this story more than twenty years ago. In all honestly, it was for another 40 issues of Wolverine when Frank Tieri and Sean Chen started writing the book. So it was years later that I finally realized that Warren Ellis wrote the book, and I remember being somewhat surprised. I’d read and enjoyed a lot of his stuff over the years, but never realised that one of my favourite stories was penned by him.
Wolverine: Not Dead Yet has a timelessness to it that’s only betrayed by the amount of payphones and the style of cars and the odd fashion choice if you’ve a keen eye for those things. This is a tale that focuses less on Wolverine being a superhero and instead takes him back to the shadowy underworld of his past in a much more grounded setting. There’s no spandex in sight, and consequently the story has more of an immediacy to it. This was a time when Wolverine would frequently get his fightin’ togs on when he had a chance, and in Not Dead Yet he doesn’t have that chance.
When it comes to classic Wolverine stories, Not Dead Yet is seldom counted on the list, and one could ask if I would hold it in such high esteem had I not read it at such a formative time in my life. The answer is an easy yes; I read a lot of stories around that time, but none have stayed with me the same way Not Dead Yet has. The story still holds up to this day, and is honestly one of the most common places I’ll start with when going through the back issues of Wolverine in my comic boxes. That‘s why I wanted to focus on this as an Underrated gem this week.
That’s all we have for this week, folks. Come back next time when there’s something else Underrated to talk about.
In this final issue, Scorn makes his final move to destroy justice in Gotham City! Injured and alone against an army of chaos, Batman has one chance to save the city: his ability to think like the victim. But the victim is always dead. The Batman can only win by using the approach of his own death.
Scorn’s plan is revealed, and it is nothing less than the reshaping of the structure of Gotham City. Where the Batman imagines a city without crime, Scorn wants a city built on it. The Batman can’t think like him, though-he’s half-dead already!
