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The best of... Mark Millar

Essential Dazzler

16:19 / 27.04.06

I gather that most of Millar's recent work is viewed as steamy poo by most people around here (With a possible reprieve for The Ultimates), but he'll always have a place in my heart for his wonderful Swamp Thing run

Grant Morrison co-wrote his first four issues which gave it a nice kick-start. It floundered slightly after that, but hit it's stride with the fantastic "River Run" storyline, reminiscent of Moore's journey through space, and Veitch's journey through time, which saw Swampy catapulted to various alternate Earths.

His run remained pretty strong until his final arc, which had swampy become a god, wrapping up the series in a beautiful way and cementing Millar as the best Swamp Thing writer since Moore.

Has he written anything else good?

16:50 / 27.04.06

I always thought Millar's "How Much Can One Man Hate" from SUPERMAN ADVENTURES was the ultimate Lex Luthor story. Otherwise, I'm a big sucker for the Ultimates. Lots of criticism, some of it justified, but no other comic keeps me coming back this way.

With The Ultimates, Millar has arrived at the ABC tactic (first pioneered by FEAR FACTOR) where you end scenes and episodes, or cut to the commercial break, just when things get excruciating. Usually TV would end for a break after building up a situation and resolving it, but FEAR FACTOR started going to commercials right in the middle of the action. And then the ABC shows - LOST and ALIAS in particular - started doing this. They'd cut to commercials right at the height of action rather than at the end of a natural rhythm in a show.

The Ultimates does this perfectly, although the tactic has died down a little bit in the third volume.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:51 / 27.04.06

Some of Millar's work on The Authority isn't bad, although there is that issue of Apollo & The Midnighter's limited personalities, and the fact that Millar gave birth to the ever-popular routine of debasing Swift in stupid S&M brain-washing situations.

A lot of the time he wobbles a lot on the line between genuinely provocative and shock value for shock value's sake.

17:28 / 27.04.06

I don't hate Millar's writing. I think he can write exciting dynamic comics when he puts his mind to it, but I think he suffers from a rather tiresome misanthropic outlook and some rather childish political views - a particular problem as he seems to be Marvel's go-to guy when it comes to politics.

At his absolute worst - Wanted - he strikes me as a total fucking idiot, at his best - early Ultimates - he's one of the best superhero writers in the business.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

18:29 / 27.04.06

I think Swamp Thing was Millar’s best. Indeed I thought pretty much his entire run was one of the most bloody brilliant comic books I’ve ever read and it makes me a little bit sad that he’s never managed to put out anything that even approaches being half as sublime since. Red Son and most of his run on the Authority were also very good, but since then it’s probably only the Ultimates which is at all worthwhile. It’s a shame, but for me it seems that the amounts of fame and acclaim he’s accrued in recent years have resulted in a far lower quality of work, whether that’s due to a lack of editorial control, or feelings of not having to try quite as hard as once he did, or some other reason I don’t know, but comic fans are certainly the worse off for it. Also whilst entirely understandable I’m inclined to think that perhaps his habit of being unable to read his own stuff once he’s written it probably handicaps him somewhat when it comes to growing as a writer. I mean we know how much better Swamp Thing was than say Wanted or Marvel Knights Spider-Man, but it’s entirely possible that due to this practice Millar genuinely does not.

18:53 / 27.04.06

I haven't read a lot of his work (save for his collaborations with Grant) but what of it I've seen (Authority, some Ultimates) his biggest problem is his endings. They often seem anti-climatic.

That being said, I'll give him mad props for his work on Superman Adventures, and whatever he did on Aztek.

19:12 / 27.04.06

Millar. Used to hate the guy's name, I remember when Ennis, Ellis, Morrison were all on top, and in their interviews they'd be talking about themselves and they'd always slip in Millar's name, and I'd be thinking, "Hey I don't wanna hear about your stupid little buddy, it's like when rappers have one of their no talent buddies do a verse on their record.".

But eventually I started reading his stuff, as his Authority was getting a lot of attention, and it was pretty good. What fanboy wouldn't wanna see Superman and Batman destroying the Avengers led by an insane Jack Kirby? Fun stuff (even though he made Cap a rapist prick).

I'm sure Millar's younger than some of those writers I mentioned before, and it seems he has more of a fanboy love for the Marvel characters, late 70's 80's characters, so I'm hoping he knocks Civil War outta the park.

Love his Ultimates, and will usually check out anything he does with superheroes. My favorite might be Red Son.

I think Millar is the closest thing to big popcorn summer movie writer that's out today. Sometimes you groan at some of the little things in his comics that are kinda stupid, but overall his comics are a joyride.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

19:53 / 27.04.06

Ultimate Fantastic Four is up there with my favorite stuff of his. A lot of times I feel like it's Hitch who really makes Ultimates exceptional and if you picture it drawn by someone else, it's much less appealing, functionally. (See: Ultimate X-Men)

Other than that, nothing really stands out as exceptional. Let's see how Civil War stands out. I'll have trouble getting Flyboy's immaculate classification of it out of my head. Those of you who were there in that thread, I'm sure, remember it fondly.

Jawsus-son Starship

20:00 / 27.04.06

The current Ultimate F4 is pretty special too!

Twig the Wonder Kid

20:44 / 27.04.06

The man's problem is stamina. He just never seems to have more than 6 issues in him. Most of his recent work has demonstrated this dramatic drop in quality after an initial flurry of genius.

This is perhaps why his run on Swamp Thing is the only thing anyone has any respect for, because he put in a decent run and, as Chao says, it started getting good after he'd got past his trademark "good for 6 issues, bored for 6 issues, then on to something new".

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

20:44 / 27.04.06

"Inhuman," the Ultimate Fantastic Four annual story with Ultimate Crystal et al. was pretty solid, actually.

Essential Dazzler

20:09 / 02.05.06

I checked out Superman Adventures and I must say I'm impressed. It's a shame DC slashed the number of people who'd bother with it by sticking that "Graphic Novels for kids" bubble on the front of the trades.