American Jesus (comics)

Mark Millar (; born 24 December 1969) is a Scottish comic book writer and television producer who first came to prominence with a run on the superhero series '' The Authority'', published by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. Millar has written extensively for Marvel Comics, including runs on ''The Ultimates'', which has been called "the comic book of the decade" by ''Time'' magazine and described as a major inspiration for the 2012 film '' The Avengers'' by its screenwriter Zak Penn, ''X-Men'', ''Fantastic Four'' and ''Avengers'' for Marvel's Ultimate imprint, as well as ''Marvel Knights Spider-Man'' and ''Wolverine''. In 2006, Millar wrote the ''Civil War'' mini-series that served as the centrepiece for the eponymous company-wide crossover storyline and later inspired the Marvel Studios film '' Captain America: Civil War''. The "Old Man Logan" storyline, published as part of Millar's run on ''Wolverine'', served as the inspiration for the 2017 film ''Logan''.

Millar has written numerous creator-owned series which have been published under the unified Millarworld label, including '' Wanted'' with J. G. Jones, '' Kick-Ass'' with John Romita, Jr., ''Nemesis'' with Steve McNiven, ''Superior'' and ''Supercrooks'' with Leinil Francis Yu, ''The Secret Service'' with Dave Gibbons and '' Jupiter's Legacy'' with Frank Quitely. Some of these series have been adapted into live action and animated series and feature films, such as '' Wanted'', '' Kick-Ass'', '' Kingsman: The Secret Service'', '' Jupiter's Legacy'' and ''Super Crooks''. In 2017, Millarworld was purchased by Netflix with the aim for Millar to continue developing original properties that would later be adapted by the studio into various formats.

In addition to his work as a writer, Millar serves as an executive producer on all film and television adaptations of his comics. Between 2012 and 2016, he was employed by 20th Century Fox as a creative consultant for adaptations of Marvel properties.

In 2013, Millar was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to film and literature.

Early life

Millar was born on 24 December 1969 in Coatbridge, Scotland. He spent the first half of his life in the town's Townhead area and attended St. Ambrose High School.

Millar has four older brothers,"The Third Degree: Mark Millar". '' Jupiter's Legacy'' #1 (April 2013). p. 27 Image Comics. and one older sister, who are 22, 20, 18, 16 and 14 years older than him, respectively. He was first introduced to comic books at age 4 by his brother Bobby, who at the time was attending university and, as of 2010, worked at a special needs school. The first comics that Millar read were the seminal 121st issue of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', which featured the death of Gwen Stacy, and a Superman book purchased by Bobby that day. Millar's interest in the medium was further cemented with the black-and-white reprints of other comics, purchased for him by his brothers, so much that he drew a spider web across his face with an indelible marker that his parents were unable to scrub off in time for his First Communion photo a week later.

Millar's mother died of a heart attack at age 64, when Millar was 14, and his father died four years later, aged 65. Although Millar enjoyed drawing comics, he was not permitted to go to art school because his family frowned upon such endeavours as a waste of time for the academic Millar, who studied subjects like chemistry, physics and advanced maths. He initially planned to be a doctor, and subsequently decided that becoming an economist would be a viable alternate plan, but later decided that he "couldn't quite hack it" in that occupation. He attended Glasgow University to study politics and economics, but dropped out after his father's death left him without the money to pay his living expenses.

Career

1980s–1990s work

Millar was first inspired to become a comic book creator after meeting Alan Moore at a con in the mid-1980s. Years later, when an 18-year-old Millar interviewed Scottish comic book writer Grant Morrison for a fanzine, he told Morrison that he wanted to create comics as both a writer and an artist. Morrison, who then-recently returned to comics after spending most of the decade touring with his band The Mixers and had limited experience both of writing and drawing stories earlier in his career, suggested that Millar focus on one of those career paths, as it was very hard to be successful at both, which Millar cites as the best advice he has ever received. Soon after, Millar sold his first script, ''Saviour'', to an independent Leicester-based publisher Trident. Illustrated by Daniel Vallely, Morrison's former bandmate in The Mixers and, earlier, The Fauves, ''Saviour'' provided a mix of religious themes, satire and superhero action that quickly brought Millar to the attention of the wider British comics industry and resulted in several script commissions for the long-running anthology '' 2000 AD'' and its sister title ''Crisis''.

In 1992, Trident's owner Neptune Distribution went bankrupt, leaving both ''Saviour'' and '' The Shadowmen'', Millar's second series at the publisher, unfinished. By that time, Millar already became a semi-regular contributor to ''2000AD'' and its adjacent titles, and his output included several ''Robo-Hunter'' serials, a six-part prison story "Insiders" for ''Crisis'', a ''Judge Dredd'' spin-off series ''Red Razors'', as well as numerous newspaper strips starring Dredd himself for '' Daily Star''. The following year, Millar, Morrison and writer John Smith were given editorial reins over ''2000AD'' for an eight-week run titled "The Summer Offensive". The controversial initiative resulted, among other things, in the first major story co-written by Millar and Morrison, '' Big Dave''.

In 1994, Millar crossed over to the American comic book industry, taking over the long-running series ''Swamp Thing'', published under DC Comics' Vertigo imprint. The first four issues of his run were again co-written with Morrison, who, according to Millar, "came on board <...> to make sure that DC selected me above anyone else pitching for the gig". Although Millar's further work on ''Swamp Thing'' brought some critical acclaim to the ailing title, the book's sales were still low enough to warrant cancellation by the publisher. For the next few years, Millar continued to write sporadically for ''2000AD'' and various American publishers, often co-scripting the stories with Morrison, with whom he shares the writing credit on the mini-series ''Skrull Kill Krew'' for Marvel, a short run on ''Vampirella'' for Harris, a year-long run on ''The Flash'' as well as '' Aztek: The Ultimate Man'' for DC.

Several of Millar's unrealized projects of this period include a revamp of Marvel's 2099 imprint and an "end-of-the-world" storyline for '' Marvel Tales'', both co-created with Grant Morrison. In late 1998, Millar and Morrison, along with Mark Waid and Tom Peyer, developed an extensive proposal for the Superman titles that was scheduled to launch in January 2000. The proposal was greenlit, and the team's tenure as collaborative writers was scheduled to begin with upcoming editor Eddie Berganza's first issue. Upon returining from his vacation, then-current DC editor Mike Carlin was shocked to discover that big changes were being implemented to Superman without his knowledge and vetoed the project. In 1999, Millar also developed pitches for Phantom Stranger and Secret Society of Super-Villains as well as a revamp of his debut series ''Saviour''.

In the late 1990s, Millar made the first attempt to branch out from comics into screenwriting with a vampire-themed black comedy-drama '' Sikeside''. The script was eventually picked up by Channel 4 with Millar as both writer and director, and, although it was initially written as a TV movie, the production company asked Millar to develop it into a six-episode series instead. Described as "'' Buffy'' meets ''Trainspotting''" and planned to be filmed in Millar's hometown of Coatbridge, ''Sikeside'' was ultimately cancelled during pre-production. In a 2010 interview, Millar mentioned that he has sold the rights to the script to producer Angus Lamont who wanted to turn it into a film for a theatrical release.

In 1999 and 2000, Millar wrote a newspaper column for ''The Evening Times

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases