Apparat, apparently not.

There's a small rumor, gathering force that Warren Ellis' Apparat books from Avatar (due in November, with a sampler this month) don't exist; that the whole thing's a bit f**k you to the fanboys. Why would someone think this?

Well, from Ellis himself:

"Four imaginary first issues of four imaginary series from an imaginary line of comics on an imaginary launch week...what adventure comics might've looked like today if superhero comics hadn't have happened. If, in fact, the pulp tradition of Weird Thrillers had jumped straight into comics form without mutating into the superhero subgenre we know today."

I think this is highly unlikely given that orders will have been placed for these, and the talents of Carla Speed McNeil, Laurenn McCubbin, Jacen Burrows and Juan Jose Ryp are attached and would have to be part of the deception, alongside Avatar themselves.

Here's hoping that this is all just crap, and I'll just sit here festering until the Apparat preview drops into my letterbox.