Image Comics announced that it would not be going forward with a reunion of the Fell comic book series by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith until Ellis had made amends to the group of women who Ellis abused with his with sexual misconduct over a series of years.The announcement that Ellis and Templesmith would be reuniting to do a new Fell graphic novel was met with a great deal of criticism, as it has been less than a year since a group of women formed the website, SoManyOfUs, to detail their experiences of abuse at the hands of Ellis over the years and Ellis had not publicly commented on the topic since last June, when he released a statement ending with:
I will continue to listen, learn, and strive to be a better human being. I have sought to make amends with people, as I have been made aware of my transgressions, and will continue to do so. I have apologised, I apologise, and will continue to apologise and take total responsibility for my actions without equivocation.
I am going to be quiet now, to listen more than I speak, for other voices matter far more than my own right now.
At the time SoManyOfUs clearly stated on its website that it was offering Ellis a way of making amends, namely:
A final thing that some of us are open to is the possibility of a mediated transformative justice action with Warren Ellis. There is still a chance for him to be of help on a larger scale. If Warren wants to get in touch with us to start this process, we are interested in cultivating healing, accountability, resilience, and safety for all involved. Specifically, we would like to see Warren:
1 Acknowledge his actions in their entirety
2 Acknowledge his pattern of harmful behavior
3 Acknowledge that he has callously hurt people
4 Contribute to transformative work to dismantle the systems which allowed this to go on
However, Ellis did not take them up on this offer until after Fell was announced and there was a backlash to the announcement.
On Thursday, Ellis reached out to agree to the mediated discourse:
Ellis then released a new edition of his newsletter, where he wrote further on the topic:
In the past, I have been careless and unthinking in my personal relationships, and I again apologise without reservation. In the last year, I've entered therapy and taken other measures to change my behavior, and am continuing to process the help and advice I've received. I've had a lot of long, hard conversations with people who are or have been close to me, and I need to have a lot more. I'm working on change. I've been silent because I had a lot of work to do and still do, and have repairs still to make, and wish to proceed mindfully without causing further harm.
I have, of course, been silent and isolated for too long, and should have addressed things sooner and proceeded with more speed. I apologise.
All of this should especially have been addressed before word of a new project came out via my collaborator. That was my mistake and the book was prematurely announced without Image's input or knowledge. I should have brought up to him beforehand that I still had work to do to address my past. I should have worked with Image to make sure they were ready and comfortable to commit publicly to the project when I still had work to do to address my past. This is another example of my lousy judgment. I now add both him, and Image, to the list of apologies I owe.
Naturally, trying to mend my errors now makes it look like the only reason I’m speaking at the moment is to serve that project. It's not, but that's irrelevant: this is about me trying to make things right—regardless of how it looks for me or how good or bad the timing is . So here are my thoughts:
Image, meanwhile, announced today that it would not be going forward with the Fell project and "will not be working with Warren on anything further until he has made amends to the satisfaction of all involved. It is our sincere hope that the conversations that are beginning now will result in positive changes for everyone. Please visit SoManyOfUs.com.â€
Source: Twitter