How Mark Millar would've done DC's New 52

This is what the acclaimed writer of such titles like Wanted, Ultimates, Kick Ass 1 and 2, and Superior has to say:

"Congrats to Johnny DC for getting good numbers and plenty of returns on their investment on the DC reboot. But how would yours have been different? I'm taking today off to arse around, but before I go I'm curious: Who would you have nabbed for the books?

I love playing this game. My friends and I were chatting about it just this morning. DC would need to pony up serious cash (as Marvel's biggest creators [are] generally paid WAY more), but imagine you've got access to the WB vault and you can literally buy anyone. Even Image guys who were making a million an issue in the 90s. You've got access to EVERYBODY. How would your DC 52 differ? Mine, for starters, would be about 25-30 books :)

But go for it. I'd love Leinil Yu on Batman, McNiven drawing Justice League, Kirschl drawing Teen Titans, Brendan McCarthy on The Flash. Kev O'Neill (does the best aliens) on Green Lantern (with Pat Mills on scripts) and Frank Miller doing anything he wants."

That's pretty insightful. Leinil Yu illustrating the goddamned Batman? Awesome.

How about Ed Brubaker and Steve McNiven's Batman? Damn, that would be uber-awesome. 

And nice to see somebody who still believes in Frank Miller. He is not the best artist, but he's an awesome writer/artist who can take an idea and turn it into something epic. 

But I wish Millar wasn't such an egotistical prick. Saying that Marvel pays way more than DC is uncalled for, even if it is true. 

[via ComicBookMovie]

Preview Of Mark Millar & Leinil Yu's SuperCrooks

What if all the super-villains in America go to a place where there are no superheroes?

That's the basic premise of Mark Millar and Leinil Yu's upcoming project titled SuperCrooks - which bears similarities to the obvious concept of Kick-Ass.  Here's the a snippet of CBR's interview with Millar: 

"So a bunch of supervillains head for Spain for one last job, for a heist. And I love heist movies – I’ve always wanted to do a ‘men on a mission’ story with supervillains. So the idea is a bunch of super-villains get together to pull off one last job; the biggest job of their career."

The comic book will be set in Spain for a more exotic feel according to Millar, and from his description, SuperCrooks will be something like "The Italian Job" meets "Kick-Ass" meets "Superior" (mainly because one of the characters look like Tad Scott).  Here's some of the preview sketches from Yu (courtesy of CBR): 

This looks like another good comic book series, but hopefully Millar and Yu will be able to finish their pending projects first as soon as possible, mainly Superior - because after 4 issues and an insanely good monkey cliffhanger, we're all left hanging in the air waiting for any word on when the #5 will be released. 

I could say the same thing for Kick-Ass 2.

Head over the Comic Book Resources for the full interview.

 

Comic Book Review: Wanted (2004)

Wanted

Written by Mark Millar

Art by JG Jones

Published by Top Cow
Number of Issues: 6

Imagine yourself in a world where you can do almost anything, do every vile thing that you ever wanted to do in your life and get away with it. 

Sounds fun right?

That’s what this comic book series is all about.  Forget the Angelina Jolie-flick that you watched a couple of years ago: that doesn’t match with the original that inspired that entire film. Not even close.



The Story:

Wesley Gibson is just your ordinary corporate slave who lets everybody abuse him. The guy lives in a cubicle in his office, gets yelled by his boss every day, his girlfriend cheats on him, he has a sack-of-shit best friend that fucks his girlfriend behind his back, and he suffers from what he describes as sudden “panic attacks”. 

All of that would change when a mysterious woman named “The Fox” appears to Wesley and tells him that she is a member of powerful secret society known as “The Fraternity” – a group of super villains who has taken over the world and commits every crime without facing any consequences as long as they remain hidden from the world.

Fox reveals to Wesley that he has powers and that he is the heir to the greatest super powered villain named  “The Killer”… Wesley's long lost father who was killed by an unknown assassin.

Wesley joins in the group, trains and lives the life of a super-villain – jumping of parallel universes and putting bullets into superheroes’ skulls and doing anything he wants: be it killing random strangers including his best friend, raping an A-list celebrity, or just raising hell whenever he sees fit.

But little does Wesley know that a renegate faction within the Five Houses of the Fraternity led by Mister Rictus is starting to plan their own coup-de-etat with the aim of revealing themselves to the world and eventually, conquering it.

As every other member of the Fraternity is eliminated one-by-one, it’s up to The Fox and Wesley to start nailing bullets on Mister Rictus’ gang and finally clearing the mystery behind his father's death.

The review:

This is one of the best comic books at the time it was released and still is one of the greatest creator-owned books ever, six years after its publication.

And quite a few could dispute that fact. Mark Millar did what anybody couldn’t do at the time: deconstruct the human moral fiber, gave it a devilish twist, and mocked the whole superhero genre and the reader all at the same time –  while giving everyone an engaging story that everyone raved about.

Millar poked fun and taunted the superhero world in this book as evidenced by how he made them very much laughable and completely helpless to the group of super villains: getting themselves eliminated one by one and even forgetting about who they really are.

To add insult to injury, their profiles contain obvious similarities to some of the most popular costumed superheroes - from Superman and Green Lantern, to Spiderman and even Batman and Robin. Its a big middle finger to two of the biggest comic book companies.

Millar also taunts the reader through Wesley Gibson and talks to them about “getting out of their pathetic lives” with his straight-to-the-point and profanity-infused narrative, highlighted by a classic fourth-wall breaking scene just like at the end of the film adaptation.

But for all the mockery, Wanted ultimately showed the darker side of humanity, of how much chaos we human beings can make if there wasn’t anything to stop us from doing the cruelest of things.

J.G Jones art is superb and you could see his complete attention to detail. Every scene, even the “serene” ones, is handled with such precision that reeks of awesomeness.

The action scenes are illustrated with such vibrancy and dynamic that you won’t feel that it was forced to be over-the-top just to fit Millar’s plot.

As for the covers, the stark black and white cover heading with a portrait of a main character in the middle is simple, yet breathtakingly attractive. 

And the clear resemblance of Wesley Gibson to rapper Eminem and Fox’s to actress Halle Berry doesn’t hurt either. That's just the icing to the cake. 

To sum it up, Wanted is not for the faint of heart. It is not the type of comic book that you would want to read if you’re just trying to find your way in to the world of comics, and not one that you would recommend to someone like your sister or your mom.

But its originality and its bold critique on the “mainstream” superhero genre and its depiction of the savagery of human beings (that it would almost make you feel dirty) makes it one of the best and memorable comic book series to ever hit the shelves – never to be duplicated again.

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Comic Book Review: Kick-Ass 2 (Issues 1 and 2)

 Kick-Ass 2 (#1 and #2 of 6)

Written by Mark Millar

Art by John Romita Jr.

Published by Icon/Marvel Comics

So Mark Millar and John Romita Jr is back and so is Dave/Kick-Ass and Mindy/Hit-Girl doing their thing in the sequel of the successful first comic book series of the same name. 

What's up with our 'superheroes' nowadays?

A quick breakdown: 

You didn't imagine this could happen
the first time, did ya'?

Dave is being trained by Mindy so he could be a better superhero, but just like before, his ass gets kicked by the 11 year old.  But he is still going out at night in his costume and he loves the attention he is getting because everybody in the neighborhood knows his legend, including the bad-guys. Now, Millar took the next logical step in this vigilante story: he puts a lot of costumed vigilantes now and its natural that the villains would pile up too. Thus, we get some of these guys teaming up forming their own groups or teams - yeah just like the X-Men, Avengers, Hellfire Club etc - to assume superiority, because at this point, one or two guys can't just cut it anymore. So this whole 'superhero' thing has just become a widespread phenomenon, just like the criminals are also ready to raise hell in every corner of the street.

And because everybody wants a piece of his damn ass - Kick-Ass joins his first ever superhero group in order to have some backup and then... goes on to beat up some big time mafioso dudes with new found friends. Oh he is really taking this up another notch. 

Fuck you Dave. That little twerp
is still kicking your butt.

As for Mindy, she's got a new dad now - well, stepdad (remember that police guy at the end of the last issue of Kick-Ass?)  - and she's fucking grounded. Yeah, she is prohibited to wear the costume, go out at night, contact Dave, and even her stash of the most dangerous weapons available to human kind has been confiscated. That means, no vigilante work, no hacking-and-slashing, and no killing sprees for the little kid. I feel bad for her because she's so fucking bored to death. 

With all of that said, I wonder how Dave would fare in his vigilante quest without Mindy? Will Dave get some far more serious beating this time? How will Mindy react to this grounded predicament she's in? 

2 issues has just been released I'm pretty excited on what's gonna happen next in this saga. Millar takes our heroes into new twists in their lives, logically writing the whole background this sequel is going to have. I really liked he fact that he put Mindy in a little bit of a hiatus allowing more room for Dave to maneuver. More Kick-Ass and a little less of our cutie. Because if you have been reading this series before, you may have noticed that the title could have been "Hit-Girl" instead of  "Kick-Ass."

John Romita Jr has incorporated the same style he did on the first book, but he made sure that this would have a new, updated feel as well. He's got a really good artistic approach for this sequel and that is something to watch out for every single issue. 

Kick-Ass 2 has started on a pretty slow note mainly because Millar wants to establish the backdrop of the whole story first before getting in to more angst and violence. But don't get me wrong, this has not turned into a dramatic, boring and "clean" show. It is still bloody and violent as ever, I guaran-damn-tee you that. 

My Valentine Email... (With A Little Bit Of Help From Some Comic Nerds And Mark Millar)

This isn't the card that I sent. 

Just sent an email to my girlfriend a couple of minutes ago.  We're actually going to celebrate our 1st year anniversary this coming Saturday, so yeah, I feel all warm and cuddly right now writing this. I just feel mightily blessed.

But first, I have to thank the guys at ComicsAlliance, Chris Haley (of LetsBeFriendsAgain) and the incomparable Mark Millar for creating awesome valentine cards featuring our favorite comic book heroes. Now, we finally got something bad-ass to send to our parents, girlfriend(s), ex-wives, ex-girlfriends, uncles, crushes, flings or whoever (Click on the ComicsAlliance link for the cards).

Okay! *Ahem* ... my letter  goes something like this...


You’re always my Wonder Girl, my Supergirl, and my Lois Lane… And my cute Hit Girl for that matter, because you hit me (and my heart) harder than anybody else.

Oh, I actually asked that purple-wearing and sword-slashing 12-year old to send my kick-ass message to you:

I love you always. 

Comic Book Review : Kick-Ass Book #1

Kick-Ass
Issues: 8
Writer: Mark Millar
Artist: John Romita Jr
Published by Marvel Comics under their Icon Imprint

My girlfriend and a co-worker of mine has been telling me that I should watch Kick-Ass - you know the movie starring Nic Cage. Well, I figured that I should read the source material first before watching the flick, so after 2 hours of reading eight comic book issues with about 30 pages in each, I am finally going to review it for ya'.

Written by Mark Millar and one of my favorite comic book artists in John Romita Jr, Kick -Ass  is a simple story of what could have been if a guy like me decides to go on vigilante/superhero mode just because I'm bored as hell and because I wanted to satisfy my inner fanboy. Admit it, we all have dreamed of becoming a superhero at one point in our lives (I still want to become one actually. No kidding), and thought of doing all these crazy stuff that comic book characters do. This book manifests that.

Is being a superhero cool? Yes maybe, but definitely not easy.

A 16-year old high school student named Dave Lizewski decides to become a superhero without any formal training in martial arts or whatever. He's just your ordinary guy. A nobody who just wants to live life to the fullest while satisfying his comic book nerdasm. After his first attempt at crime-fighting fell completely out of place, he continues his saga and for the 2nd time he succeeds. He becomes a Youtube and national sensation, inspiring a legion of wannabe-superheroes wearing masks and spandex costumes, all the while being christened as.... you guessed it: Kick-Ass. The new guy in town ready to uphold his own brand of justice.

"Pow!"

But then the quickly finds out that trying to be a hero, saving people's (and a cat's) ass(es ) and helping them resolves their issues/beef with others is not that easy. To add to the pressure, he also realizes that he is not alone. Oh no, absolutely not. He meets father/daughter tandem of Big Daddy and Hit Girl, who is planning on to take out the big mob syndicate, and they recruit him. These guys are sooooo bad-ass, especially the latter - only 10 and 1/4 years old (according to Millar), a martial arts and weapons expert, and kills bad guys like she was the freaking Punisher. She puts bullets in the skulls of thugs, and chops their limbs and heads off like she was just playing with plastic knives and vegetables.  How many little girls get to do that in their lives? Sick.

The lovable purple wearing Hit-Girl

Were they able to defeat the mob? I won't tell you the answer to that because that is definitely spoiling the whole thing for you. You've got to read the book to see all the happenings in between those things that I mentioned because there are so much - and I repeat - so much to discover as our "superheroes" go on their crusade. Putting them all here would be a complete waste of my and your time. But for sure, there are plot twists, 'aw-shucks' moments, and 'holy crap' stuff  that you would never thought would see in a comic book that features a sixteen year old teen and a ten year old Barbie chugging along with his Dad. Its absolutely crazy-insane.

"Big Daddy". Sounds like a wrestling moniker. Cool.

Millar is at his best again with this book, he shows off his simplistic story telling that captures the imagination with that fast-paced writing style. He gets to deliver everything in his arsenal in a span of 8 issues, which is remarkable because he was able to give almost anything you want from entertainment, violence, gore, drama, action, profanity, a lot of witty humor and an all original story in just -  more or less - 250 pages. His characters are easy to like, which makes the death of one character (yes someone dies towards the end) very very dark and sad. If you don't feel yourself feeling gloomy after you read that panel, then something's vert wrong with you. 

On the other hand, Romita's excellence in illustrating the gory details of Millar's story is nothing new, but I still can't help but be amazed with his very cartoonish-yet-powerful art. I have seen his work on Daredevil before with Frank Miller and I have to say that he totally upped his game in this book, giving it a more modern feel for the new generation of readers. I loved the way he told the story with his pencils, as he totally captured Millar's script and gave the original characters true justice. It is a nice thing to see.

If this is disturbing to you, wait till you get your hands on the book.

Kick-Ass is a fun, easy and a very enjoyable read, and one comic book that should include in your collection because it is that good.  By the way, go check out the tagline on the cover page above:

The greatest superhero comic book of all time is finally here!

You know what? For a minute I actually believed that line. And in all fairness... Kick-Ass almost lived up to that.