CSN @ NEWSARAMA: WANTED'S MAN - MARK MILLAR ON WANTED

[MattBrady]

by Cliff Biggers

Want to read Mark Millar telling a story that’s entirely his own—his own concepts, his own characters, his own supervillains, his own world? Then you want Wanted, one of four creator-owned books that will appear from four different publishers in December as a part of Millar’s Millarworld initiative.

Wanted #1, published by Top Cow, has been described as “Watchmen for super-villains.” Millar offered CSNewsarama a little more information on the limited series and its concept. “The idea here is that super-villains took over the world in 1986,” Millar said. “This isn’t the Marvel Universe. This isn’t the DC Universe. This is the world outside your window, and the first couple of issues explain how this happened and why we’re the only Earth in the multiverse that isn’t protected by superheroes.

“This all unfolds through the eyes of a young, angry, white-collar worker, frustrated with his lot in life, who discovers that his Dad was the most dangerous supervillain who ever lived and, upon his death, our protagonist basically inherits his position within this secret supervillain organization. It’s a story that works on a number of levels, but the main thrust of this is a repressed white guy with a terrible job, a bad relationship and serious confrontation issues suddenly having the pole up his ass removed. It’s incredibly sick and incredibly violent as he cuts loose and rapes, kills, and destroys everything from Big Brother contestants to people he had a crush on back in school—but it’s also very human, too. It’s a book about what it’s like to be living in the 21st century and not being the millionaire you grew up expecting to be.”

Does this book deconstruct the super-villain concept, putting a human face on the masked adversary? Or is it a human interest story, a la Watchmen, only with super-villains as the main characters? Millar explained the tone and approach he’s bringing to Wanted. “Movies like Goodfellas and The Godfather always appealed to me because the forces of what we perceive as good—that is, law and order—are almost redundant, and the morality play takes place between what we perceive as the bad guys and their varying degrees of sociopathic behavior.

“I wanted to do the same thing with this book, but it evolved a great deal from simply being a realistic take on the whole super-villain thing. When I first conceived the project, it was just an exploration of what life is like on the other side of these comics we’ve all been reading since we were kids. What it was like for the bad guy and what happened when he was waved off to jail by The Flash or whomever.

“However, since then it’s grown a great deal and become something a great deal bigger and more personal and the characters are really unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in a traditional superhero book. The concept has also become much more movie high-concept, if you like, and I don’t want to give too much away here, but this covers everything I ever really wanted to say about supervillains, superheroes, Adam West, Linda Carter and Christopher reeve. It’s a vast complex story with everything that’s important to me interwoven in six, very tight issues. Forget decompressed story-telling; this thing moves like a rocket and I wanted to leave the reader breathless at the end of each issue.”

So what motivates a super-villain, as Millar sees it? Mark Waid has already explored the whole “taking over the world” scenario on Empire; what motivates Millar’s bad guys? “I really go into this in some depth in the series and, like everything else; it boils down to sex and money. Every decision we ever make in our lives from what clothes we buy to what haircuts we get to how hard we work essentially boil down to these two things. However, what’s also important is the sense of freedom being part of this Fraternity gives them. They really do have a license to do anything they want and losing that fear that people have in them (of unemployment, rejection, poverty, taxes or whatever) is a very alluring prospect. These guys are allowed to live without consequence and take part in everything from temporal jumps to raids upon neighboring parallel realities. Who wouldn’t give up their white-collar jobs?”

But what about the M. Night Shyamalan view that the existence of super-heroes and super-villains is interlinked—that for one to exist, the other must exist as well? “No, that’s funny, because as much as I love Unbreakable I think that’s just 20th century thinking. The Ultimates is basically superheroes in a world without supervillains for them to hit every month. Conversely, Wanted is a world where
super-villains have free reign. What makes it different from Darth Vader or any other story where the bad guys have won is that it’s all been done in secret. This is happening right outside our window. There are guys driving past us who can travel through mirrors and alien super-computers with 12th Level Intellects, but we just don’t get to see it all. I actually believe this on some level, too.”

Don’t look for gaudy costumes in contrasting primary colors in this series. “These are post-Matrix super-villains in the sense that they operate in our world and, since the heroes aren’t a problem any more, there’s no need to wear the costumes. However, when they’re initiating a new member or having a meeting I’ve opted for the quasi-masonic approach to this secret society and made it compulsory for them to dress in costume when they enter the inner-sanctum of their secret headquarters in either of the five continents. Some of them wear variations on the costumes for assignment purposes, but it’s really more about being practical than looking like a Carmine Infantino drawing... however cool those drawings are.”

Wanted lets readers see the world through the eyes of Wesley Gibson, “our reader-identification figure. He’s a frustrated white guy who isn’t happy with his lot in life and wonders where the hell is the Ferrari and supermodel the magazines and TV shows promised him when he was growing up. He hates his job, his girlfriend is sleeping with his best friend, cholos follow him off his bus every night and chuck beer-cans at him, and he really just hates himself. Until someone puts a gun in his hands and he discovers that, like the father he never met, he’s extremely good at killing people and can make all these problems disappear.”

Again, Wanted is one of five Millar first issues in December—four Millarworld titles and the high-profile Ultimate Fantastic Four #1. Did Millar plan the Millarworld event to coincide with the debut of the latest Ultimate series? “Well, Ultimate FF is almost certainly going to generate a lot of sales and interest so it would have been crazy not to hitch my wagon to that lucky star in some sense. What I’ve created here essentially is the first pan-industry cross-over, and my hope is that the big companies can feed the small companies, and the kind of people who enjoy smaller books like the Avatar titles will venture into the mainstream and try material like the Ultimate Fantastic Four.

“It’s a microcosm of how I feel the industry should work more. Multiplexes are successful at the moment because they accommodate both the art-house audience and the blockbuster audience, the blockbuster audience ostensibly supporting the venues that play the art-house material. I don’t see why comics shouldn’t work in the same way.

How far back do the concepts for the four Millarworld books date? How long have they been in active development? “Well, I first explored the idea of Chosen in a small-press book I had published when I was nineteen—which, quite characteristically, had the bombastic tag-line of being a much-anticipated sequel to The Bible. It’s evolved enormously since then and is really quite unrecognizable.

“Likewise, Wanted started life as a project for two big two and, when they both thought it was too extreme, gradually evolved into something much better and which I own lock-stock and barrel. All the others have been in my head for a while as I played good boy and wrote all the company owed stuff the last couple of years. It’s enormously cathartic getting all this down on paper, let me tell you.”

Since Millar doesn’t seem like the sort of glutton for punishment who’d leave himself overwhelmed with the writing duties with five different series at once, is it safe to assume that all the limited series are pretty much complete, at least as far as the writing is concerned? How likely is it that these books will all appear on time? And even with advance planning, isn’t this a lot of work to juggle? “Yes, but working on The Ultimates has taught me a great deal about the importance of getting your book out on time, and I’m now somewhat paranoid about it. So much so, in fact, that I made sure I started this stuff a year before it was published and have scheduled most of the books in such a way that the artists are completing the final issues before the first books are even published.

”It looks like a lot of work, but I spread the books over perhaps eighteen months and this happened at the same time as I took a little break from my Marvel contract. I’m signing my new deal with Marvel very soon, and by this point, all of these books will be completely finished on my end. I’m relatively slow because I like to think the material
through a lot, but this wasn’t impossible with a little planning.”

Of course, Millar is involved in Wanted and the other Millarworld books as more than the writer. “My name is on these things in the credit box—but for the first time, it’s also in the ownership bar down at the bottom of the page, so I’ve been painfully hands-on, doubtless irritating the hell out of editorial and marketing with my constant
revisions, vetoes, suggestions and so on. Unlike, say, The Ultimates or X-Men or The Authority or Superman: Red Son, these characters have been created by me from scratch, so I felt a genuine responsibility to make sure they reached the finished page looking as good as they possibly could and as close to my original vision.

“Of course, picking pretty much the best line-up of artists in the industry made this a good deal easier. Whatever I had in my head for each issue was improved upon enormously by these guys. It was a bit like being a director and surrounding yourself with the best actors, writer and cinematographers. When you’re surrounded by people like JG Jones and John Cassaday and so on, it’s almost impossible to make an arse of something.”

Wanted #1, featuring art by J. G. Jones, is scheduled for a December 5th
release from Top Cow.

this article originally appeared in CSN #853. CSN is available for free in comic shops nationwide.

[Brian Garside]

This looks pretty cool.

It kind of reminds me of what Warren Ellis was doing when he came up with his "Old Bastard's Manifesto". Unfortunately that movement sputtered out, but Mark Millar looks like he's got the legs to keep his work going.

I have no idea how the man does it though, 4 new books, plus Ultimates (which admittedly is only bi-monthly), and now the new Ultimate FF book?

He must be trying to give Brian Bendis a run for his money.

[djcoffman]

This actually looks kinda cool, because Im an adult.

But my other personality says "Oh great! Just we need, another MATURE READERS book, that will turn parents off of buying comics for their kids! Yeah!"---

While it looks cool, im getting kinda tired of the, SUPERHEROES LIKE YOUVE NEVER SEEN THEM BEFORE!!! but we have seen them before. DRUGS, SEX, RAPE, whatever--- Whatever sells right.

[shakey]

Now it's Mark's turn to enter the "creator owned concept realm"

I'm confident in all of these projects. The guy can flat out write.

[Tom Daylight]

Originally posted by Brian Garside
I have no idea how the man does it though, 4 new books, plus Ultimates (which admittedly is only bi-monthly), and now the new Ultimate FF book?

He must be trying to give Brian Bendis a run for his money.

They're only mini-series - I guess he's been working on nothing else since he finished Ultimate X-Men. (Since that happened in May his only publications have been the five issues of Trouble and one issue of The Ultimates...)

[mavok]

Mark Millar is a fantastic writer. In fact, he stands out as the ultimate contemporary writer of our time. Top Cow wanted him and Marvel holds onto him for all he's worth.

I was introduced to Millar with the Authority. Since then I've read his Ultimate X-Men, Superman: Red Son, Ultimate War, am currently reading the Ultimates, and I'm really looking forward to Wanted (as well as his Spider-Man maxi and not to mention Ultimate FF).

But..In my opinion, people need to stop comparing Wanted to the Watchmen. People's expectations have sky rocketed since they heard that Wanted is sort of an analogy to the Watchmen...My point is (not to make this long winded), is that I don't think anyone will be satisfied when comparing any title to the Watchmen without the title completly copying it.

I dunno, maybe its just me

mavok

[Jacob W]

Originally posted by MattBrady
Wanted #1, published by Top Cow, has been described as “Watchmen for super-villains.”

“Forget decompressed story-telling; this thing moves like a rocket and I wanted to leave the reader breathless at the end of each issue.”

I think the whole comparison to Watchmen irks me a bit. Watchmen was incredibly complex, and really worked with the synergy or pictures and words and how they can play off of each other. This seems more like a movie on paper, and while they are neat, I don't see the comparison to Watchmen.

Not even with realistic portrayal of "supervillains", but that was done in Watchmen already.

But, I do think this would be decompressed storytelling, hence why it would rocket through the issue. It seems more like full of shock value, which I don't care for.

Seems more like a lot of sizzle but no steak.

I won't get it.

[Jacob W]

Originally posted by mavok

But..In my opinion, people need to stop comparing Wanted to the Watchmen. People's expectations have sky rocketed since they heard that Wanted is sort of an analogy to the Watchmen...My point is (not to make this long winded), is that I don't think anyone will be satisfied when comparing any title to the Watchmen without the title completly copying it.

I dunno, maybe its just me

mavok

I thought it was moreso Millar who was comparing it to Watchmen, or being the one to mention the Scottish Tabloids mentioning it.

[mavok]

Originally posted by Jacob W
I thought it was moreso Millar who was comparing it to Watchmen, or being the one to mention the Scottish Tabloids mentioning it.

It could have been, I don't really know for sure. I don't think it matter if Millar himself said it really. The point is though, the comparison is out there like you've mentioned. I guess really all I mean to say is that the readers/fans shouldn't expect any sort of Watchmen, and take it for what it is. With that said, if it does live up to expectations or even succeeds...well then just enjoy!

btw, I completely agree with what you said...Watchmen was very complex, very well written, and very well thought out. It was/is the best story I have read.

mavok

[Jacob W]

Originally posted by mavok
It could have been, I don't really know for sure. I don't think it matter if Millar himself said it really. The point is though, the comparison is out there like you've mentioned. I guess really all I mean to say is that the readers/fans shouldn't expect any sort of Watchmen, and take it for what it is. With that said, if it does live up to expectations or even succeeds...well then just enjoy!

btw, I completely agree with what you said...Watchmen was very complex, very well written, and very well thought out. It was/is the best story I have read.

mavok

I was just mentioning that it seemed like Millar was doing a lot of the comparisons, are showing people the comparisons.

Although, in a sense, there is a similar sense with Widescreen and the 9-Panel grid in at least one sense. They are both easy for newcomers to comics to read. Although, widescreen doesn't abuse the page as much.

[Greg O]

Millar himself consistently touted it as 'Watchmen for super-villians' going right back to when 'wanted' was originally a 'Society Of Super-Villians' maxi for DC.

GOD

[mister_costa]

I think multiplexes and the distribution system have generally hurt movies both blockbuster and art-house. They've required blockbuster movies to become dumber and dumber and art house movies to become increasingly pretentious and unapproachable.

[dr.no]

The promotion for this title is starting to irritate me. It's simply to much.

Lets hope that it will be worth it.

[Dave Hudson]

Originally posted by dr.no
The promotion for this title is starting to irritate me. It's simply to much.

Lets hope that it will be worth it.

So why did you click on the link to read the article?

And why did you then bother to post a comment?

[gOgIver]

Man, this is taking too long to come out!

[roblewmac]

I'M curious I like books from the villians prosective but red son did'nt impress me in the least. So I may pick it up but decemer has a lot of good stuff i'd rather buy

[MichaelCoughlin]

Originally written by that crazy cat Mark Millar:
It’s a story that works on a number of levels, but the main thrust of this is a repressed white guy with a terrible job, a bad relationship and serious confrontation issues suddenly having the pole up his ass removed

I read this and thought, "Hey, I can relate to this. It's kind of like "Office Space" on crack. Maybe I could be this guy!"

Then I read the rest of the quote.....

The insanity that is Mark Millar continued to state:
It’s incredibly sick and incredibly violent as he cuts loose and rapes, kills, and destroys everything from Big Brother contestants to people he had a crush on back in school...

Then suddenly I got very quiet and realized that I don't really want to be "that guy" anymore.....

[Fazhoul]

Originally posted by GOD
Millar himself consistently touted it as 'Watchmen for super-villians' going right back to when 'wanted' was originally a 'Society Of Super-Villians' maxi for DC.

GOD

Now how cool would that have been? Of course, it would have had to been a Vertigo title. Anyway, the series looks promising especially with the great art by J.G. Jones.

[Charles RB]

Originally posted by MichaelCoughlin

Then suddenly I got very quiet and realized that I don't really want to be "that guy" anymore.....

I think that's the point.

Seems sorta interesting but I'll wait for the trade- by then it'll have been reviewed and I'll have a better idea whether I actually want it.

Personally, I'm more interested in Unfunnies. Sick evil humour? Yes please!

[The Big Joe]

Orginally posted by dr.no
The promotion for this title is starting to irritate me. It's simply to much.

Lets hope that it will be worth it.

Originally posted by Dave Hudson
So why did you click on the link to read the article?

And why did you then bother to post a comment?

NAILED!

[whoME?]

Originally posted by Brian Garside
This looks pretty cool.

It kind of reminds me of what Warren Ellis was doing when he came up with his "Old Bastard's Manifesto". Unfortunately that movement sputtered out [...]

i beg to differ. the movement may not yet have it's full head of steam, but it'll get there. Ellis sparked something in a whole lot of people and the results are not going to be immediate, but they are going to be spectacular.

you can already see it in the work being put out by Larry Young's AiT/PlanetLar, by many of the creators at Oni and Image, as well as a whole load of independents/self-publishers. Millar himself was hand-chosen by Ellis to take over The Authority because Ellis saw in him all the things that Ellis believed to be necessary for the industry. Millar is a paragon of the ideals of the Old Bastard's Manifesto.

believe me... in about 5 years Ellis is going to be sited as one of the most influential idealogues this industry has had.

[Basto20]

[quote]Originally posted by djcoffman


But my other personality says "Oh great! Just we need, another MATURE READERS book, that will turn parents off of buying comics for their kids! Yeah!"---



Heh. I don't remember my folks every buying me comics. My friends got me started. Besides if the kids don't get their sex and violence from comics, they'll get it from somewhere else (like the news). I trust Millar more than Fox News these days.

and now i feel old

[MichaelCoughlin]

[quote]Originally posted by Basto20

Originally posted by djcoffman


But my other personality says "Oh great! Just we need, another MATURE READERS book, that will turn parents off of buying comics for their kids! Yeah!"---



Heh. I don't remember my folks every buying me comics. My friends got me started. Besides if the kids don't get their sex and violence from comics, they'll get it from somewhere else (like the news). I trust Millar more than Fox News these days.

and now i feel old

trust him more for what? the status of how supervillians would act if they were real? i don't quite follow this statement. and if you don't trust Fox News, why are you watching it? and if you're not watching it, how do you know you can't trust it?

[Jacob W]

Originally posted by whoME?
i beg to differ. the movement may not yet have it's full head of steam, but it'll get there. Ellis sparked something in a whole lot of people and the results are not going to be immediate, but they are going to be spectacular.

you can already see it in the work being put out by Larry Young's AiT/PlanetLar, by many of the creators at Oni and Image, as well as a whole load of independents/self-publishers. Millar himself was hand-chosen by Ellis to take over The Authority because Ellis saw in him all the things that Ellis believed to be necessary for the industry. Millar is a paragon of the ideals of the Old Bastard's Manifesto.

believe me... in about 5 years Ellis is going to be sited as one of the most influential idealogues this industry has had.

Well, it depends on what exactly the movement started? And there could be different variations of how it started. Hell, it could have started just with the creation of a graphic novel, or maybe pulp stories (in prose) then going to full story paperbacks.

But I don't know, Millar goes with superheros, adn likes or maybe going so far as to love superheros. He may use the decompressed, widescreen storytelling that Ellis used provactively, and make superheros with more slambang action, but I wouldn't call him the paragon of being anti-superhero or even reinventing the industry.

Millar has serviced superheros, and not really gone on to actually create something until now. And it still deals with superhero characters or parodying children's things. There is a similar marketing sense though, to Ellis and Millar. How they describe and name the work they do.

And I do think Ellis worked more with engaging Pop Comics, which are probably closer to European Graphic Albums in length. Oni Press seems to be going for bigger reads, and not as short as Ellis' pop comics, while Image Central, while is heading more towards graphic novels as well as, is still catering to creator-ownership in a sense.

And I thought maybe Neil Gaiman who actually does signings in bookstores and does little tours, would be more influential in getting books into bookstores. Warren Ellis worked in some regard, but there are a LOT more individuals and creators who are also fairly notable in any of the seens of pushing graphic novels into book stores or as a medium, and on several different continents.

I do think that Ellis more created an image for himself with that Manifesto, and where he stood, what he thought, and summed up where he thought the industry should go. Just cause he said it doesn't mean that others didn't think the same thing before him.

I really do enjoy Ellis' stuff. And influential yes, he really put a cap on the end of the fairly creative tail end of the 90s, along with the ABC line and 100 Bullet's debut, along with some crime work. Pushing creator-ownership, yes, he is influential in that market. But not giving some credit to Gaiman or the steady rise of Manga or Alan Moore or the Vertigo imprint for adding a stone here or a step there, I think is just a bit discrediting.

[G Dog]

Originally posted by mavok
But..In my opinion, people need to stop comparing Wanted to the Watchmen. People's expectations have sky rocketed since they heard that Wanted is sort of an analogy to the Watchmen...My point is (not to make this long winded), is that I don't think anyone will be satisfied when comparing any title to the Watchmen without the title completly copying it.

I agree, though you might want to tell Millar that, since he's the one who first compared it to Watchmen.