"THE POTENTIAL TO BE MARVEL'S NARNIA: MILLAR ON 1985

[MattBrady]

First announced at Marvel’s retailer presentation in Baltimore back in September, The Sunday Herald has reported more on Mark Millar’s 1985, coming out in the summer of 2006.

As previously reported, the project won’t be presented strictly in a trdaditional comic art style, rather, it will combine Millar’s story with art, as well as actors in costume, photographed on sets and locations. According to the Herald, the project itself will cost Marvel “millions of dollars” and will use nearly 100 actors, special effects, and a video diary of the project will be developed as well. Reportedly, shooting began in an “American desert location” last week. Millar will visit Marvel offices next month to evaluate the progress of the project.

As Marvel Editor in Chief Joe Quesada explained to Newsarama in November, 1985 is the realization of an attempt to bring a fumetti style project to Marvel (long time Marvel watchers will recall that former Marvel Publishing President Bill Jemas had once made plans for a fumetti-style project which never got off the ground).

Quesada said: “Using old school terminology, the comic is going to be a Fumetti, though with today’s computers Fumetti doesn’t quite do it justice.

“For those that don’t know Fumetties are comics that are done with real people or models. They’ve been use most often in foreign countries and for everything from Soap Operas to movie adaptations to instructional manuals. In 1985 we’ll be taking that to a different level with digital effects and backgrounds, all state of the art stuff to hopefully create something like you’ve never seen before.”

“This has the potential to be Marvel’s Narnia,” Millar, who’s no stranger to hyperbole told the Herald. From the paper’s article:

The story – which is unrelated to 1984, the classic dystopian novel by George Orwell – follows a little boy in the Midwest who suffers from a psychological disorder and cannot distinguish between fantasy and reality. He begins to see Marvel villains appearing in his home town, but nobody believes him because of his condition. However, it soon becomes apparent that they are real as people start to die in mysterious circumstances.

Millar, who says it has needed all his powers of persuasion to take the project forward, believes it will make the most of computer-generated effects in the same way that computer animation has revolutionised the movie industry.

Marvel’s team has scouted for locations, built sets, created superhero costumes and monster models and hired almost 100 actors, including fire-suited stuntmen to be set alight. The storyboard is drawn up and actors photographed in position, then combined with the storyboard with the help of computer artists, creating a succession of what will look like film stills.

In that regard, while the project will be something new for Marvel, “fumetti-style” works have been percolating through the industry in recent years, with such titles – including I, Paparazzi, Veils, and In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe published through DC’s Vertigo imprint, and championed by artists José Villarrubia, Steven Parke and Stephen John Philips. Likewise, some of Tokyopop’s most popular comics in recent years have been their fumetti-style Cine-Manga titles, which include freeze-frame stills of both animated and live action television series and films (such as Lizzy Maguire, which was the publisher’s most popular title in 2003). Additionally, Dorothy of Oz from Illusive Productions has used the approach with the Oz property, reinterpreting the story of a Kansas farm girl in Oz.

In terms of actors, Millar told the Herald that the story stars unknowns, so as not to date the book or anchor certain actors to specific characters. “This year’s hot star is yesterday’s Heath Ledger, and I wanted this book to be in hardback forever, charming and timeless,” Millar told the paper. “Nobody’s ever done a book like this before. Between building sets, hiring actors and making costumes it’s cost Marvel a fortune, and I’ve had to use all my goodwill to get it made.

“It feels very similar to directing a movie. Nothing as ambitious as this has ever been tried and it’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time.”

Of course, the idea is not entirely new to Marvel either, but, the least remembered about The Marvel Fumetti Book (although it did contain Peter David’s first – albeit uncredited – comics work) from 1984 – which saw a Hulk-costumed Stan Lee terrorizing writers - perhaps, the better.

Update: In a brief note clarifying the "Narnia" reference, Millar told Newsarama: "The Sunday Herald missed out the relevance as it's a story about a boy in our world finding a way into the Marvel Universe. I pitched this as Marvel's Narnia a year ago and the fact that it's the number one movie right now is just a nice bit of serendipity."

Additionally, when asked about the project costing "millions," the writer told Newsarama: "No, this isn't costing millions. It's costing a lot of money and, as far as I'm aware, this six issue series will probably be the most expensive and ambitious thing Marvel has ever tried. But we've tried to be clever about this and the art team have managed to do the most amazing things within a sensible budget. It's obviously a gamble in publishing terms because we haven't seen a superhero comic like this before, but everyone is confident we're doing something good and will make the money back in the comics, the trade and the hardcover. It's very exciting."

Millar is currently on sabbatical from comics, which is why, the writer told us in our brief e-mail exchange that there isn't a proper interview with him about 1985 here at Newsarama. Though, Millar noted, the artists will be talking in January the day before Newsarama debuts the exclusive video-blogs of the project's development.

Finally, in his "back from the dead" Holiday greeting to his messagbaord, Millar did confirm that the above-named Parke and Philips are the art team on 1985, along with Klaus Janson on breakdowns and another unnamed penciler.

Millar wrote:

Steve Parke and Stephen Phillips' work on 1985 I'm genuinely sending out to friends every time they send me a page. For anyone who picked up the Sunday Herald yesterday, they ran an unfinished page or two as a preview and you saw the storyboard process employed as Klaus Janson breaks down the pages for the art team, actors and model-makers to put together as a finished product. If you want to see some of their early, non-superhero material check out www.imagecarnival.com. 1985 looks very different because the budget is immense and the storyboards give the thing an entirely different vibe. But this should give you a LITTLE idea what to expect from next year's MUST HAVE six issue limited series. I won't be doing any online interviews again until I'm back in late April/ early May, but the artists will be talking about this and our Singer-style video blogs of the production begin in a couple of weeks time. If you want to see the crazy guy in the absestos suit setting himself on fire to play the Human Torch then you dare not miss our five minute online previews starting in January. Also, find out who our superstar penciler will be for the comic book sequence and how it ties together with the last three issues of Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck's Secret Wars series.

[Nightfly]

will this (like Narnia) be a Christian allegory too?

[Jon Snow]

I don´t think it wil,but so what if it is?

What would be wrong with that?

[Nightfly]

Originally posted by Jon Snow
I don´t think it wil,but so what if it is?

What would be wrong with that?

I'm sorry if my question implied a negative.  Nothing would be wrong with it.
I am not a Christian, if that matters, and so for the most part it would simply inform me of its POV.

It would also mean that I'd likely not buy it, for obvious (above stated) reasons.

[Jon Snow]

No worries,man,and i apologise if i came a bit too hard.

I´m actually divided about being a Christian or not,´cause even though i do believe in the figure of Jesus Christ,it´s not necessarily the one from the bible.

If done well,i think that christian allegories actually strengthen a work,like in Astro City where there´s a Christian team,but all credit goes to Kurt Busiek for not making them religious zealots,like christians so often are stereotyped.

This project,if done right could be so huge.
I think that out of all the comics that are going to come out in the near future,this one may be the one that for its scope and format,may go down in comicbook history as a classic alongside the likes of Watchmen,Marvels and Dark Knight.

My fear,though,is that like as not,this will be quite expensive,so perhaps Marvel should forego the idea of splitting this in periodicals,and go with a hardcover edition.

But that´s just me,i guess.

[MattBrady]

guys, being that there was no giant, talking lion in the Marvel U circa 1985, I'm thinking the comparison was one that was more figurative (having long-term appeal, child protagonist in a world where larger machinations are taking place, etc) than literal.

Of course, in Millar's view though, Narnia could've just been the delusions of four kids shut tight in a wardrobe after the air turned bad, and that could be the reference there, but in all honesty, let's go with the he was making a figurative comparision angle, and said it at a time when comparing things to Narnia might perk up some ears that otherwise would've passed by a story about a new Marvel comic.

MattB

[Nightfly]

done.  happily.
I just wondered.

[Jon Snow]

Matt,

Just wondered...what if he got a lion-like character from Wundagore and tossed in the Power Pack?


Now that would be Narnia!

Seriously,though,the more i think about this project,the more i like it.

Millar rarely disappoints and after reading Ultimates 2 # 9,any doubt i might still have had regarding his work is totally dissipated!

[Nightfly]

Yeah, I guess I don't expect religious proselytizing from the creator of Wanted

[Kevin T. Brown]

Marvel's "Narnia"? Heh. He better hope it doesn't turn into Marvel's "Ishtar".....

[Aaron]

So THAT'S where those "millions of dollars" Marvel lost last year went to! :-)

[Jon Snow]

Man,for the life of me i have no idea what "proselytizing" means!

Can you tell me?

[Blind Assassin]

OMG!

I have that Marvel Fumetti comic shown in the main article.

[beetle1million]

Originally posted by Nightfly
Yeah, I guess I don't expect religious proselytizing from the creator of Wanted

Well, check out Chosen. Or his Swamp Thing work. Or his own background (though I believe some of the claims he's made, regarding his experience and background with the church, have been refuted).

[RichJohnston]

No mention of the wonderful Senay Boztas?

[Simon Garth]

Originally posted by Jon Snow
Man,for the life of me i have no idea what "proselytizing" means!

Can you tell me?

Evangelising - reaching out to others and coverting them to your point of view - preaching the benefits of a point of view.

[Jon Snow]

Oh,right.

Thanks!



No idea whatsoever,but now that i do know what it means ,i´ll have to disagree.

Millar has pov´s and opinions and stories so diverse that i don´t really see him trying to convert anyone to any given point of view.

[rahnefan]

...

[swanstand]

This is great!! 1985 was the year I really got into American comics, being a displaced American kid abroad, so to see what is obviously a love-letter to the period being done like this (in this format too) is very exciting.

Fumetti style comics were really popular here in England too in the `70s & `80s. There was one comic, "Look In" (I think it was called) that used to do them alot.

Any Brits out there want to clarify?

[Jon Snow]

"Finally, in his "back from the dead" Holiday greeting to his messagbaord, Millar did confirm that the above-named Parke and Philips are the art team on 1985, along with Klaus Janson on breakdowns and another unnamed penciler.

Millar wrote:

Steve Parke and Stephen Phillips' work on 1985 I'm genuinely sending out to friends every time they send me a page. For anyone who picked up the Sunday Herald yesterday, they ran an unfinished page or two as a preview and you saw the storyboard process employed as Klaus Janson breaks down the pages for the art team, actors and model-makers to put together as a finished product. If you want to see some of their early, non-superhero material check out www.imagecarnival.com. 1985 looks very different because the budget is immense and the storyboards give the thing an entirely different vibe. But this should give you a LITTLE idea what to expect from next year's MUST HAVE six issue limited series. I won't be doing any online interviews again until I'm back in late April/ early May, but the artists will be talking about this and our Singer-style video blogs of the production begin in a couple of weeks time. If you want to see the crazy guy in the absestos suit setting himself on fire to play the Human Torch then you dare not miss our five minute online previews starting in January. Also, find out who our superstar penciler will be for the comic book sequence and how it ties together with the last three issues of Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck's Secret Wars series."


If anything was hyperbole,it was the costing millions of dollars thing,i guess.
I was already psyched for this,but Klaus Janson on breakdowns?
Hotdamn!


And tying this to one of my favourite comics ever (Secret Wars) is pure gold in my book!

Superstar penciler?
Rich,do you have any news about this?

[Korvac]

I don't feel as though I can say a thing about this project until I see some sample pages. Right now I'm not getting good vibes about it but I won't judge yet.

[JoeZhang]

Additionally, when asked about the project costing "millions," teh writer told Newsarama: "No, this isn't costing millions. It's costing a lot of money and, as far as I'm aware, this six issue series will probably be the most expensive and ambitious thing Marvel has ever tried.

Millar has a nice little system going here - if you look at the record of the journalist who is publishing those puff pieces (she has done a number of puff pieces for millar), there is a common pattern.


1) she produces a piece that contains "facts" that are largely untrue (Millar created the authory, Eminme has signed for Wanted etc) or just plain wrong.

2) Millar then issues a correction in the fan press (like newsarama). This means that to the wider media and the world the original piece is still "correct" and factual.

It's a nice little arrangement they have.


Wonder if she will do the same for me with my upcoming comic "dracula vs. King Arthur vs. Sherlock holmes vs. Little Bo Peep".

[algertman]

I'm glad Millar is doing this. He's hit-or-miss with me alot of the time but I think this will b great

[BanMan]

It sure cost a lot of anything. If it's a flop it'll really set Marvel back. But it's a risk. And if it works I'll be happy. I'm just curious as to how many Marvel characters will actually be in this.

[Punchy]

Sounds weird.

It's Millar, I'll get it