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.

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. 

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...

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.