Do you follow, or are aware of, more than one public figure by the same name?
Turns out, I do.
Warrens Ellis
Warren Ellis, writer
The first Warren Ellis in my own media diet is the English comic book writer by that name. He is actually the first one that comes up when you search for this name, so let’s assume he’s the more famous of the two.
This Ellis was born in 1968, and is mostly famous for having written the comic Transmetropolitan. Other works you may be familiar with include Red (“Retired, Extremely Dangerous) which was adapted into a film starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren in 2010, but he was a busy guy for a long time.
Warren Ellis fell from favor in 2020 when it came out he was a bit of a fucking cad, and had used his (minor!) fame as a cudgel to coerce women into sexual relationships with him under false pretenses. (It’s never good when one’s Wikipedia article includes a “Sexual coercion allegations” section.)
His career has been quieter since then, but we can take it as read that THIS particular nerdy-subculture comic book writer is likely quite relieved that a much more famous nerdy-subculture comic writer turns out to have been a MUCH MUCH BIGGER sexual creep not too long afterwards.
Warren Ellis, musician
The second Warren Ellis I encountered was the musician by that name, whose Wikipedia article is literally titled “Warren Ellis (musician)” to differentiate him from the writer.
This Ellis is Australian and a bit older (b. 1965), and is mostly famous as a member of Nick Cave’s band The Bad Seeds. The Seeds are a VERY long running band (43 years and counting!), and as such have had some lineup changes. Ellis joined relatively late (1997), but really only came to prominence as Cave’s principal collaborator once Cave’s prior main creative partner Mick Harvey retired, which is how he hit MY radar.
I’ve been tangentially fond of Cave without really delving deeply for a long time, but his “grief” records (2016’s “Skeleton Tree” and 2019’s “Ghosteen”) sounded profoundly different. They were a huge leap by my lights — more experimental, more personal, more real. That sent me reading.
The difference is Ellis. (Turns out, the Cave/Ellis records started one album prior. 2013’s Push The Sky Awaywas the first Seeds album completed without Harvey.)
Ellis, to the best of my knowledge, has no dark secrets, but he IS also a member of a band called the Dirty 3.
Alexes Ross
Alex Ross, comic artist
Once again, the first example I countered is also the one who “owns the name” on Wikipedia. Ross, born in 1970, is something of a giant in the comic arts world. His painterly covers and panels evoke Olympus more than pulp stories. More than one person has brought up Rockwell as an influence.
He cowrote and drew the very well-received limited series Kingdom Come back in 1996, and his profile has really only grown since then. (N.B. that means he did that work at 26). Even if you aren’t a reader of comics, it’s reasonably likely you’ve seen Ross’ art. A simple image search for his name will answer that question for you.
Alex Ross, music writer
This Alex Ross (b. 1968) I “ran into” by reading his thoughtful, fascinating pieces about modern classical music in The New Yorker. His first book is called The Rest is Noise (2007), and it’s spectacular, and may well be a reason why he won a MacArthur Fellowship the following year. Yes, this means he’s a Genius. (It was also a finalist for a Pulitzer that year.)
It’s actually a piece by (this) Ross that prompted this post; he’s now writing more widely for the New Yorker beyond music. Over lunch I started an interesting article about German philosopher Jürgen Habermas (“Jürgen Habermas Defended Reason in a Darkening Age), June 15, 2026 issue), and was pleased to see the byline was Ross’.
And this got me thinking
I mean, it’s only 2 names, but 2 still seems like a lot, no?
It’s also kinda weird that in both cases, there’s a “comics” person and a “music” person. I consume a LOT of music, but my comics consumption is pretty limited, so #shrugemoji I guess.
