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Underground > Comic Books >

'Chosen' by Mark Millar

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15:14 / 12.02.04

OK, this was the series in Millar's new bunch of minis that I was most curious about, given his personal beliefs and the whole "What if the Second Coming happened to an ordinary kid today?" concept.

It came out yesterday and reads decently - mostly set-up, though. How he's gonna fit this into just 3 issues is beyond me, but the art by Peter Gross (Books of Magic) is excellent and the writing is certainly a lot better than WANTED, IMO. Anyone else get this?

Interesting how his face is blacked out when he's an adult. A little creepy how his followers are dressing him and calling him "Lord," though that what's his followers called him when he was the big J, if you believe he was divine and all that.

The Jesus cover with the "Frankie Says RELAX" shirt is terrific, I think. Although wasn't it "says" and not "say" back in the 80s?

And what game was the kid playing on his watch? I remember those watch video games, they kinda sucked, they were so small you could barely press the buttons!

15:29 / 12.02.04

It was "Frankie Say." Like "Confucius say..."

15:34 / 12.02.04

I've only read the preview. I was almost sucked in by his reference to finding porno in the woods, a topic which I am strangely obsessed with.

15:52 / 12.02.04

Thanks, Jack Fear, for the clarification. ahhh, those bygone days when Frankie Went To Hollywood.

16:22 / 12.02.04

As I understand it Chosen, Unfunnies, Wanted and the Ashley Wood 1 Shot Run! are all supposed to be interconnected and Run explains that connection. Is this another Millarworld Marketing Ploy? I also heard that Frank Quitely was on board to draw a Run! sequel, POW! Any truth to these rumors?

16:30 / 12.02.04

It's a moot point now: RUN's not coming out, cos Ashley Wood hasn't drawn a single panel and isn't answering his phone.

18:18 / 12.02.04

Just to add, apparently Image has a deal for these books where the artists have to draw the whole book before they get paid, and that must be a bit unusual (Millar said this in a recent Newsarama interview about his Millarworld books). But not returning phone calls for long periods of time is odd. Then again, even if Ashley Wood objected to the Image arrangement for payment, he must have agreed to it and known the terms when he accepted the assignment, no?

19:25 / 12.02.04

I just saw Don MacGregor over on the Fourth Rail reviews (www.fourthrail.com) also said the scenes with the adult Messiah were "creepy." So I'm not the only one...

20:31 / 12.02.04

Did I say Don MacGregor? I meant Don MacPherson. Don MacGregor wrote some Marvel Comics BLACK PANTHER stories in the 70s.

21:39 / 13.02.04

Peter gross ROCKS!!!

he kicks ass on Lucifer as well...

This is some of the best Miller work I've read in a long time (not saying too much)

the watercolor feel was great.
the 80's geekery was about right... not too heavy not ignored.

as a 3 part story I'm certainly curious how it'll play out.

21:57 / 13.02.04

Er, I know this is a thread about Chosen, but before Run completely falls off the radar, is there any chance someone could explain to me why Ashley Wood actually has a career? I mean, when he’s good, it’s not as if he’s that bloody good, and when he’s bad he’s Fucking Atrocious, his ‘contribution’ to the Invisibles being unreadable shit. And then there’s all this other stuff he pulls. Why does anybody bother employing him?

22:48 / 13.02.04

I think Ashley Wood's work fills the niche originally occupied by the likes of Bill Sienkiewicz and Dave McKean, now that they've made themselves a solid career outside of comics. There's a section of comics readership that wants that style of artwork and that's where Wood (and to a lesser extent Ben Templesmith) comes in.

Not that that excuses not answering your phone, mind....

22:25 / 15.02.04

This was actually pretty good. Loved the bits with the porn in the woods and "I'm a friggin Mutant". But it was mostly set up I'll have to see next issue.

Imaginary Mongoose Solutions

01:20 / 17.02.04

In regards to them being interconnected, there's a line in Wanted #2 where the Fox says something to the effect of "Yeah, the Professor could cover up the second coming of christ if he wanted to. Come to think of it, I think he actually did a few years ago."

06:00 / 19.02.04

Will get this on my next trip.

Was really excited about Run.

Unfunnies was actually quite funny. Very surprised.

20:48 / 06.03.04

Anyone think all the people in "Chosen" are mormon. After all they talk about elders and jesus has returned in america.

21:15 / 06.03.04

this was all sold out by the time i got there. bit annoying that, because i've been waiting years to see how saviour was going to end. is jonathan ross in it?

15:47 / 07.03.04

yeah, they all looked like mormons.

but #1 disappointmented me. bits of MATRIX, bits of o M. Knight Shyamalan atmosphere, cranky dialogue [except for the scene with the suspicious teacher]. the plot maybe asks for 6 issues, but let's see how it's gonna be played out.

WANTED #2 was a good surprise, though; quite enjoyable compared to #1. 'Fuck you's all around.

13:36 / 17.03.04

I think the second issue of this is out today or next week. Hopefully the Second Coming won't seem as spooky and weird as it did in those pages where the kid is grown up, his face is blacked out, and followers are fawning all over him and dressing him.

Prego the Werlf

15:05 / 17.03.04

Surely Jesus is in among the top five mythological superheroic figures. Although it did make me wonder if Christ's teenage years were covered in the bible. Bethlihem 90210 sorta thing. Really looking forward to seeing the coming of armageddon J.C. armed only with a chunky betamax.

19:04 / 16.04.04

Read Issue 2.

The story's treading cliche territory and Millar's writing is mostly straightforward (though I could've done without the Star Wars reference). This should be a longer series.

Anyone here read Saviour? How similar is Saviour to Chosen anyway?

03:06 / 17.04.04

I think I forgot to add that I was still very pleased with the issue and Peter Gross' art is very involving.

12:52 / 17.04.04

Yeah, I thought issue 2 was pretty good - it kept me hooked and interested overall. It was sort of slow and cliche in some places but interesting and fresh in others. Although how can he wrap up this story, of all stories, in one issue?!?

14:45 / 17.04.04

I really liked this issue and I'm glad we got to see Jodie as a kid again. After the end of last issue I thought this was going to be about that creepy adult. What I don't like is that if this is JC's second coming why are there so many parallels between JC's first coming? It doesn't seem like something new, like its own thing... it feels more like a revamp of the original story.

Nietzsch E. Coyote

03:38 / 18.04.04

Thats cause its Return of the Jedi to Jesus's Empire strikes back.

19:49 / 22.07.04

Apparently #3 is out either this week or next?

Haus of Mystery

20:31 / 22.07.04

Where the hell is the Unfunnies? Why are these bloody MINI-SERIES taking so cocking long to come out? Any interest I had is waning rapidly. Also - why is Chosen so short? Surely there's enough material here for more than three issues. I swear the man has ADD.

22:52 / 23.07.04

Why is Unfunnies so damn late?! Is it even getting a next issue? I'm starting to doubt...

14:30 / 29.07.04

Is issue 3 of CHOSEN out? There's a preview of it at PopCultureShock, which implies that it should be out any week now, and that preview at the site showed up 2 weeks ago. But I didn't see it at the store...

Nietzsch E. Coyote

00:25 / 12.08.04

Issue three of the Chosen has come out. I don't know whether to start discussing it or start a new thread for spoilers.

Anyways its out and I liked it.

14:38 / 12.08.04

Yes, I liked it too. Could see the ending coming from a mile off though...

And I can't help feeling he could usefully have stretched this to 12 issues, easy.

14:45 / 12.08.04

I kinda felt gipped by this. Twist ending that avoids the whole premise, I thought. I wanted to see Ultimate Jesus (as Millar phrased it in interviews, "free from 2000 years of continuity"), the real second coming and what the ramifications of that would be like, not what we in fact got.

Although it does explain why the first issue shots of the grown-up Jodie in silhouette were so creepy...

Haus of Mystery

17:18 / 12.08.04

I didn't see this this coming as I, stupidly, thought he might have some integrity. Another Millar idea spaffed out, at the expense of any kind of reader satisfaction. It's a really interesting idea, but this - why bother? What was the point? Fuck off, basically.

'Saviour' was way more interesting, and it was his first pro work.

18:36 / 12.08.04

I liked issue 3...

it made the previous 2 issues make soo much sence and justified the tale's ending in 3 parts.

wonder if there'll be a sequel.

18:53 / 12.08.04

Didn't buy it. Anyone want to tell me what happened?

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