Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities Legion World talks Comic Book Writers! Week Two: Mark Millar

So, I meant to continue these weekly, but I got side-tracked with all that 'real life' stuff. Any way, I thought I'd get to one of the more prominent Marvel writers writing comics these days, and we can discuss Mark Millar.

I'll be honest, when I first starting reading Millar's comics and his interviews online, I kind of didn't really like him and found his work to be overrated and 'in my face'. But as a few years as I've gone by, I really think Mark Millar is as talented a writer as people say and think his name alone on a comic would make me check it out. I never read his Wildstorm stuff and couldn't tell you for the life of me what things he wrote pre-Ultimate universe, but some highlights of recent years:

Ultimates - This series is awesome. When it comes down to it, despite an annoying Hank Pym, annoying Cap and lateness of issues, this series is one damn good comic. Kick-ass fights, explosive ideas and just a feeling of pure energy and excitement that was needed in the comic industry when it came out. Given that its an entirely seperate universe, the characters in Ultimates are very interesting (Thor is my fave), and I really like see Millar going nuts. After reading Ultimates Vol. 2 (which I think is even BETTER than the first volume) I want to meet Mark Millar in a Scottish pub and really see if he's as crazy as I suspect.

Wolverine - If ever there was a character in comics pushed in our faces to a degree of uncanny annoyance, its Wolverine. I think 95% of people I speak to online actually dislike the character because of this. I find him a bit annoying myself. But Mark Millar's 'Enemy of the State' story is hands down the best Wolverine story I've ever read and one of Millar's best works. Millar seemed to completely capture what Wolverine is all about in a way that reminded me of when Wolvie first took on the Hellfire Club in the #130's of the original book, or the Brood a few years later. Once again, its the way Millar builds into these vast stories to the point where they encompass such a wild scope of ideas.

Ultimate X-Men - I feel, by and large, that this is the weakest of all the Ultimate titles and pretty much has been since Millar left. However, the first 35 issues or so where kick-ass. Millar's rendition of Colossus pretty much ensured he'd be brought back in MU Proper and his battles with Magneto and Stryker were intense to a point that most stories usually don't reach.

Ultimate Fantastic Four - And this, I feel, is the best work Mark Millar has ever done, and its cool that its happening right now. I honestly do not think anyone has ever really captured the Fantastic Four like Stan & Jack did (and I've read the entire run from #1 to now), but Mark Millar has done so in his twelve issue run in the Ultimate universe. The wacky science-fiction, a thousand ideas coming at you every minute, the non-stop fun interaction b/t the four...its as Silver Age fun a comic book can be these days in a way that almost makes it feel more 'modern' that pretty much anything on the market. This comic is in my top five for 2005. The Greg Land art is pretty nice too

Civil War - And now, Civil War. I trust that this will ultimately be good, because Millar is behind the driver's seat. Where Bendis can't really handle these huge casts and action-oriented stories, Millar excels, and I think that's why this will end up being much better than House of M. I'm looking forward to it.

I also think it should be noted that the artists Millar works with are usually top-notch (Romita, Land, Hitch) and seem to really be in synch with him, which might a further tribute to his talent.

I know he's a very 'controversial' writer these days and some of LW don't like his work, so I'm interested in all your thoughts. Personally, it took me awhile to warm up to him, but I think he's top-notch and I'm looking forward to him writing comics for a long time. (Oh, and I know I left some comics out that he's done, but that's for you guys to bring up )

Oh yeah, Trouble was fun too! And a romance comic, which basically puts Aunt May (who is sacrosanct to this lifelong Spidey fan) in a bad light, is as tough a sell as ever for this lad!

He did a run on Authority with Quitely. His DC work I'm most familiar with is the elseworld's miniseries Superman: Red Son which I really enjoyed.

I think he did a short run on Flash which I didn't read. I know he wrote a year and half of the Johnny DC Superman Adventures animated series comic. These have been reprinted in digest form i think.

What about the amazing and ultra-violent Wanted? Another excellent Millar title.
I love his Ultimates with an unholy passion... His Ult FF is awesome, and Ult X-Men is good too.

Red Son was truly a masterpiece. Incredible stuff.

And who could forget Midnighter giving 'Captain America' some tough, jackhammer-assisted love in the pages of Authority?

I understand why people mightn't like him - gratuitous is a word I hear bandied about - but if you can't be gratuitous in a comic book, where can you?

I thought Wanted was crazy awesome in an over the top way. I literally felt guilty at how much I enjoyed it!

I think Millar's "Swamp Thing" run (which was the first I'd ever heard of Millar) was a really underrated bit of top-notch work. Other than Alan Moore's legendary run, it's the only version of Swampy that I've really enjoyed. His run also featured the first Phil Hester artwork I'd seen. I have no clue as to why DC hasn't marketed the run as TPBs. I think DC's really missing the boat there.

Otherwise, of the Millar work I've read (haven't read Ultimate FF), Ultimates is definitely the ultimate. He and Bryan Hitch are right up there among the best writer-artist duos in recent history!

Let down by an over-"in yo face" ending, I felt.
What a great tale it would have been as a Secret Society of Super-Villains Elseworlds! I think that's how Millar first pitched it. Great to see thinly veiled versions of the Red Skull, Bizarro and the rest too.

I really liked his Superman Adventures. He seemed to have a perfect grasp of Superman in a modern context.

Ultimates is pretty good, but there is something that leaves me cold about the title. Perhaps it will all read better in one large sitting. Its good stuff, but not my favorite.

Red Sun. My second favorite thing Millar has ever written. Best Superman Elseworlds I have read.

The Authority. The only person other than Garth Ennis or Grant Morrison that could have taken over The Authority from Warren Ellis. Mark Millar not only took what Ellis did and ran full bore, he added depth to the concept and really gave the Authority worthy villains. The Title wasnt the same after he left.

The Flash. Good. Real solid run with Grant Morrsion. Again, why hasnt DC traded this? Its Morrison AND Millar. Two built in Audiences.

Wanted. My Favorite Millar piece. If you cut out the rape stuff, it would translate pretty well to film.

JLA fill-ins. My absolutely favorite moment in any DC comic in the last ten years came from one of Millar's fill-ins. Barda is wearing a pretty red dress... a pretty red dress with a yellow and black stripe on it. Oh. Its actually Plastic Man. Hijinx ensue.

In the years since this thread went inactive, Millar has had a run on the mainstream Marvel Universe version of Fantastic Four which, for me, confirmed what a fraud he is. When it came time for him to put up or shut up by doing stories that didn't rely on exploitation gimmicks, he failed. Failed MISERABLY! His FF run was timid, self-conscious, bland, and wholly uninspired, the work of a writer with nothing of substance to offer. Tellingly, he hasn't done anything since in the mainstream Marvel Universe, and probably will not, what with his loyal followers buying his "original" creations. Fine. Let him occupy his niche, as much as I despise it. Just keep him away from the icons.

I haven't read much of his work.

Swamp Thing comes to mind, which wasn't particularly good, except for the "Chester Williams, American Cop" spoof.

Consider yourself very lucky indeed.

I don't think I've ever read anything by Millar either. From what I've seen and heard of his work though I can't say I feel like I'm missing out on much. He seems like the epitome of the modern ultra-violent, shock-tactic, all style and no substance writer. And he comes across as a douche in interviews too. I hope he stays in his own little comics niche so I never need to bother with him.

For a Millar hater like myself, this is manna from heaven:

http://www.bleedingcool.com/forums/showthread.php?44932-Grant-Morrison-On-The-Mark-Millar-Question

I really liked his Swamp Thing run, and enjoyed his two collaborations with Morrison that I read (Flash and Aztek). I understood where he was going with Authority, but like a lot of Garth Ennis work, I think he tended to wallow a bit too much in the "Shocking" stuff than was necessary to make his point. I've only skimmed what's come after, but it looks like more of the same in his creator owned stuff. It's like he's become the sensationalist "Shock and Awe" comic creator he was sending up earlier in his career.

I've noticed that with a few creators. They come in with something that's a tongue-in-cheek poke at certain sensibilities (literally making Ultimate Captain America into a 'jack-booted thug' and stating so textually, in case anyone missed it) and then the fans of that sort of thing *eat it up* and leave them in the awkward position of pandering to the fans they thought they were poking fun at, because now they are associated with the exact sort of writing and characterization and sensationalism that they were unsubtly trying to lampoon.

In attempting to be sarcastic or 'ironic' or whatever, they end up being stuck writing the sort of stuff they were supposedly caricaturizing...

And then they get bitter and grumpy and blame it on the stupid comic fans who didn't 'get' their too-clever-by-half prose, since it didn't necessarily occur to their fans that they were paying the creator money to have the entire genre lampooned, and their tastes mocked.

Lobo was the ultimate example of this. Made into a exaggerated version of everything that was wrong with comics...and the fans loved it.

Personally, I think he knew exactly what he was doing and what repercussions it would have. He has a long history of glorifying bullies and fascists and then, when he's called on it, he puts on the puppy-dog eyes and the shit-eating grin and gets all like, "I was just being ironic." BULL, I say!

In that thread that I linked to on the previous page, one poster says that Millar wants to retire at 45, so it makes sense that he'd pander to the lowest common denominator.

Is anyone else reading Superior? It's kind of fun.

I'm also reading and think it's excellent. (I reviewed in the random comics thread IIRC). Certainly better than any Capt Marvel story in 20+ years.

It's potentially the best thing Millar has done in quite a long while.

The fall-on-the-floor gorgeous artwork certainly helps too!

Superior finished up with #7 and I actually think its the best work Mark Millar has ever done. I think he's really began to mature as a writer, and especially with his creator-owned properties, is delivering some very solid stories.

The Leinul Yu artwork is also the best he's ever done as well, which helped. The coloring being nice and bright really enhanced Yu's work in a way a lot of his past Marvel stuff didn't.

What was so nice about this was that Millar set-up the entire story to be going the way a lot of his stuff does--towards the sensational or lurid--and then gave a nice bait & switch by re-focusing on the heroic aspect of the series. This is true not only for the main character, but for the reporter, who after 5 issues of coming off as "Lois Lane taken the extreme worst stereotype", suddenly gets to be rounded out a bit in #6 and #7 and really shine through as one of the best reporter characters I've read in years.

I think Millar is having a bit of a Renaissance right now with his creator-owned stuff. Kick-Ass was pretty good; Nemesis was better; and finally Superior was just flat out spectacular. Coming up, he has three things which look equally as good: Supercrooks (with Yu), Secret Service (with Dave Gibbons) and Jupiter's Children (with Frank Quitly). All three of these things look VERY good, and if they are on par with Superior, they'll be totally worth every cent.

It pleases me to see Millar moving away from his Marvel stuff and doing his own series. Even better, it pleased me to see Millar moving away from the uber-sensationalist style of story-telling. It's still there to a degree, but he's actually putting a little heart back into his work, and that slight shift goes a real long way.

I agree. Superior ended strong. The story had a lot of heart without being overly sentimental. As I read it, I kept thinking it would make a great movie.

I just finished Grant Morrison's "Supergods", and was surprised given the animosity Grant holds for Millar that he was actually (relatively) complimentary towards his former writing partner. Granted there were a few backhanded compliments and Morrison doesn't hesitate to take credit for a lot of Millar's ideas, but he was actually quite effusive in a few sections, especially when talking about the Authority.

Thought for the night:

Whereas Alan Moore saw the whole of the moon, Mark Millar metaphorically mooned the readers, and laughed all the way to the bank.

His Superman Adventures is my favorite work of his. I am not a Superman fan but he made me enjoy that comic.

Next is his non big two work. His creator owned stuff has been good and his Authority was good as well (not as good Ellis' Authority but close...and Mark would agree to that I think)

At Marvel I liked his Ultimates but I didn't buy into it 100%. Still think it was fine crafted work. Same with Civil War...well crafted but I thought Cap, Iron Man, Hank Pym and Mr. Fantastic were entirely out of character. Probably the biggest example of so many characters being out of character...but the story overall was good. I just had a problem with how it got there.