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Underground > Comic Books >

Authority #28

13:15 / 14.02.02

Another great issue but you can tell Millar is trying to wrap things up fast.

Adams art is very good of course. I'd still prefer Quitely but no complaints with Adams. Nobody draws boobs better.

The issue was very hardcore and over the top. Which is a good thing.

I hate DC for cancelling this fucker. I think they should nail Millar's feet to the ground and force him to write another 30 issues.

13:17 / 14.02.02

And next issue has gary erskine on art chores, so everyone gets to be really ugly... but ugly in a good way.

13:19 / 14.02.02

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Hmm. Little disappointed. More obvious art tampering, and a disturbingly rapid demise for most of the g7 authority. Millar's run does seem to be tempered with the strange, almost Buffyesque syndrome of having a build up of tasteless 'satire' and then just a big punch-fest at the end of the story, having little relation to what went before.
I liked Religimon, though, and it's not often you hear a superhero use the term 'flogged my log'. Juvenile, but entertaining...

13:24 / 14.02.02

Anyone wanting to see details of how Authority 28 was tampered with might want to check out All the Rage when it gets updated this weekend...

Matthew Fluxington

13:28 / 14.02.02

SPOILERS

I just thought it was okay - I thought Millar would get more of an adrenaline rush going on, but this isn't playing out much to my enjoyment. I'm not even sure what to make of the 'death' of Midnighter, since 'death' has become a devalued currency in this storyline.

Judging by that page towards the end, it looks like Jack and Swift are aware of what's going on, but it just makes Swift's rape and torture even more questionable if she's aware of what's going on and is complicit...

My favorite scene was The Colonel assualting Rush... Rush isn't so bad, really. Maybe they can take her in, or something.

13:36 / 14.02.02

Religimon was pretty funny. The Jesus joke was okay.

I'd like to hear more on DC's art tampering. I can't believe they are fucking over the best comic they have. I used to buy a lot of DC books. After they cancel this fucker, the only shit of theirs I will be buying is some of the Wildstorm stuff. Its amazing how DC and Marvel have flip flopped in such a short time. (And interesting that it totally correlates to Millar, Morrison and Ennis going to Marvel.)

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:49 / 14.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Sandfarmer:
Nobody draws boobs better.

See, this is what reading Wizard does to your brain, kids...

14:59 / 14.02.02

Yes, and listening to rap music, too.
Tsk.

15:19 / 14.02.02

I've just read the two first issues of THE AUTHORITY. I know the story is developing and perhaps I'm being too anxious, but what's the different spin to this series?

So far I've just seen the maniac trying to conquer the world routine. Please, tell me what it's about, would you? (Spoil it as much as you want, I don't care)

Matthew Fluxington

15:24 / 14.02.02

Jade, you may want to search around this forum for Flyboy's assessment of the series - he explains very well why it's different, and also why it's the same as everything else.

The comic plays at being 'leftist', though that's a bit questionable.

I would say that for me, the difference is just that The Authority is pretty reliable in that adrenaline rush action high adventure stuff, most things Mark Millar is involved in is good for that sort of thing - Ultimate X-Men and Millar's The Authority are pretty much interchangeable as far as I'm concerned.

15:25 / 14.02.02

I said I was staying away but I can't resist this once.

Regarding DC "fucking" with the Authority:

You know, it really isn't important whether you think stuff like women being degraded and having cigars stubbed out on their tongues, or characters fucking a rotting corpse in a room emblazoned with racist slogans, graphic splatterpunk gore or constant references to anal rape is "cooooooool, maaaaaaaan," just so long as you understand that it's a mainstream comic that at present does not bear a "mature readers" label (so theoretically the argument could be made that children could be reading), published by one of the world's largest commercial corporations.

Anyone who thinks that stuff WOULDN'T get shitcanned is off their skulls.

[ 14-02-2002: Message edited by: CameronStewart ]

15:34 / 14.02.02

by Flux: quote:I would say that for me, the difference is just that The Authority is pretty reliable in that adrenaline rush action high adventure stuff

Aah, ok. Thanks for the input. I'll check the other thread about it, also.

15:34 / 14.02.02

That's one of the things I've never been able to figure out about this comic, how they can show scenes of incredibly graphic violence, and deal w/ questionable material in vivid detail, but then when characters swear they use the old @#$@#$%%!!#@ trick. At first I thought they were trying to be satirical, but now I'm not so sure. It's 'comics code-approved', isn't it?

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:37 / 14.02.02

quote:Originally posted by CameronStewart:
I said I was staying away but I can't resist this once.

Regarding DC "fucking" with the Authority:

You know, it really isn't important whether you think stuff like women being degraded and having cigars stubbed out on their tongues, or characters fucking a rotting corpse in a room emblazoned with racist slogans, graphic splatterpunk gore or constant references to anal rape is "cooooooool, maaaaaaaan," just so long as you understand that it's a mainstream comic that at present does not bear a "mature readers" label (so theoretically the argument could be made that children could be reading), published by one of the world's largest commercial corporations.

Anyone who thinks that stuff WOULDN'T get shitcanned is off their skulls.

You really ought to post here more, you know.

What amuses me no end about the recent handling of The Authority by DC is how it reveals the truth about the New Fanboys (same as the Old Fanboys). Of course, people who write in and complain about how Marvel did this or that to this or that X-title are "morons" who needs to get a life - but "fuck" with The Authority and it's petition and boycott time...

Keeps me entertained more than the comic itself, I tells ya.

15:41 / 14.02.02

quote:Originally posted by CameronStewart:

You know, it really isn't important whether you think stuff like women being degraded and having cigars stubbed out on their tongues, or characters fucking a rotting corpse in a room emblazoned with racist slogans, graphic splatterpunk gore or constant references to anal rape is "cooooooool, maaaaaaaan," [ 14-02-2002: Message edited by: CameronStewart ]

For the record, this is not my position. I tend to tolerate Millar's sick excesses because I find the comic inexplicably entertaining.
The reason I mentioned the tampering is that it's blatantly obvious and seems to make the plot even more confusing, although that might well be Millar's fault too.

Matthew Fluxington

15:47 / 14.02.02

I have a question: why hasn't The Authority been a 'mature readers' comic from the get-go? I'm puzzled as to why Millar and Ellis would feel the need to 'push limits' or whatever, but have self-imposed rules and regulations at the same time. There seems to be a real conflict at the core of the concept about who this comic is meant for - if it's meant to be violence porn for the older readers who want 'extreme' superhero action, why not just admit that? Why is anyone pretending that this comic is intended for younger readers in any way?

Note to Cameron: please post more often. I can see why you may not want to be posting all of the time, or get addicted to boards again - but it couldn't hurt to at least get a handful of comments posted a week, eh?

[ 14-02-2002: Message edited by: Flux = Rad ]

15:53 / 14.02.02

How is it distributed? Does it appear on newsstands, like the mainstream Marvel and DC stuff, or just in comicbook stores? Is the comic code even used anymore? I see that x-force doesn't use it (bless their evil lttle hearts), and the new x-men is 'rated PG' (so what does that mean? rated by whom?). Does authority have a similar rating? Seems like a pretty murky area, kind of like ratings for network television.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

15:59 / 14.02.02

At the risk of repeating an old moan, it seems to me that the Authority's strength in the original conception was also its weakness as a franchise:

Warren Ellis' Authority drew on the supergroup formed around the High in Stormwatch, destroyed by the Stormwatch field team at the insitgation of Henry Bendix. Basically, Jenny Sparks screwed up and killed her ex, and then experienced a slow-burning moral epiphany and decided to save the world from itself and its old realpolitik and pseudo-liberal patterns of behaviour.

The point was that this supergroup wasn't going to work for the status quo - they were going to challenge the global geopolitical order, and they were heavyweights. Basically, the world didn't stand a chance. It was damn well going to get saved.

The thing is, that makes a very short run, and it messes up continuity for all the other books based in (nominally) the same world. So it was editorially impossible.

So Warren Ellis has done his thing and he leaves and Millar (whose writing doesn't impress me nearly as much anyway) is handed a completely stalled story arc, to be kept in indefinite stasis - just like all the other hero titles around...

So you get idiocy like this: Midnighter, previously capable of running millions of simulations of a fight in his head, getting blindsided by Seth.

These characters were the best Jenny Sparks could find. They were supremely intelligent, smart and on the ball. That being the case, they had to be dumbed down to get them to this situation - and there was nowhere else for them to go, because they couldn't win, and we're unwilling for them to be permanently defeated (even if that were plausible). And now, you're absolutely right, they are just another comic, with a few smart reveals.

Rant over.

Regrettable Juvenilia

20:27 / 14.02.02

Nick - some good points, but you're relying on the common misconception that The Authority did anything except fight three typical super-baddie threats during the course of Ellis' run. No matter what people think of how Millar has handled the concept of the team tackling 'real' global problems and setting the world to rights (and I think it's extremely flawed), the fact remains that it's in his run on the title that the idea has been introduced.

09:06 / 15.02.02

I'd argue that both fly and nick are right. Ellis did have sparks swift and hawksmoore talk about "changing the world" at the end of stormwatch and as a prelude to the authority, however throughout his runon the authority he fails to follow through on this promise instead producing a high octane-high violence comic equivelent of the hollywood block buster. The three eliis penned arcs can even be read as a triologyof films with each featuring a progressivle large (and more ridiculous) foe. From Kaizon Gommora (supervillain) to sliding albion (an invading reality) to God.As flyboy says its only with millar that the Auithority begin to nominally interface with the politics of superheroes. Unfortunately his vision is so simplistic that it could have been torn from the pages of Rob liefeld's Youngblood, As Biz mentioned to me, Millar is like the paul Verhoven (SP!) of comics - he seems to thinkhe's crafting subtle satires but really his work is as subtle as a humpback whale to the head.

The Natural Way

10:10 / 15.02.02

I don't know where you get the idea Millar thinks he's crafting "subtle satires".

Everything about the Authority is supposed to be over-the-top, including its approach to politics. It's widescreen and dumb and everything is amped up - that's the high concept.

We're The Great Old Ones Now

21:32 / 15.02.02

Actually, they do a couple of things almost as background which are rather significant, though I'd have to reread the books to remind myself. Curing one aspect of cancer, I recall. Jenny Sparks' warning to the world before she departs for Sliding Albion - behave.

It's interesting that the Authority's revolution stalls in much the same way as many real world ones...

It's possible that the strongest differences in the title are the ones I see because I read onwards from Stormwatch to Authority as if they were one book.

And I only read the ghastly Aliens crossover later. I'm still offended by that idiocy, and Seth just reminds me of it all the time.

The Damned Yankee

11:24 / 16.02.02

I'm just limiting my comments to this: I love this book, and I will miss it when it's gone.

13:38 / 16.02.02

Nick has a lovely mind, don't you think?

I think, as has been said before in this very thread, that Millar's Authority has suffered from too much editorial interference. It seems to me that, as much as Millar may hang with the "bad boys" of comics, he's a bit of a team player really. Not that that's a bad thing, but it does make for a certain lack of boundary-pushing. Now, having said that, Grant's X-Men hasn't really changed anything for the characters, nor did Ellis' Excalibur. Regardless of what any writer wanted to do with them, Wildstorm saw how huge the Authority became and said "Hey, keep it going. We don't want it to end." Sadly, as has already been pointed out, Authority is a story that, to be effective, needs to have an end. Whether that's the realization of Jenny Sparks' dream of a better world, or the team being crushed completely, it needs an end. I kinda wish that last one from Millar/Quitely had been the last one. Sure, tell everyone that there'll be more and then just kill the fuck out of the team and be done with it.

Of course, the other problem is that these were supposed to be the most powerful creatures on Earth. They were dumbed down, absolutely. Perhaps it was passed off as being them becoming complacent, but that didn't really jibe with me. Ellis' Authority, reagardless of their celebrity, would never have left themselves open like that. And, if I can aside for a moment, I thought the first issue of Millar's run was easily as good as Ellis' stuff. But that's pre-editorial as far as I can see.

Anyway, just reiterating what has come before, really, but I've not chatted about comics for a bit, so there you go.

Zoom.

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

14:47 / 16.02.02

Sorry, is the Authority getting cancelled?

Matthew Fluxington

14:56 / 16.02.02

quote:Originally posted by The Haus of Deletia:
Sorry, is the Authority getting cancelled?

I can't tell if yr being facetious or not - anyway, yeah, it's more or less being cancelled - it has one more Millar issue to go, two Garth Ennis issues, and the future of the comic will be in limbo after that. Brian Azzarello and Steve Dillon were supposed to start a brand new "Mature Readers" version of the comic after the Ennis story, but have dropped out following September 11th. Bryan Hitch had a one-shot comic that he was writing and drawing that he scrapped following the 11th as well.

15:44 / 18.02.02

I hate how they defanged The Midnighter and Apollo's relationship by having the Midnighter say he hadn't had sex in *five* years. That's fucking bullshit.

Matthew Fluxington

15:52 / 18.02.02

Um, no. Midnighter claims that he hadn't MASTURBATED in five years, which actually kinda implies that he didn't need to because he was having tons of sex, probably with Apollo.

16:01 / 18.02.02

my bad. thanks.

17:36 / 18.02.02

And the Garth ennis 2 issues has bben turned into a oneshot that is as yet unsheduled

14:21 / 19.02.02

1) In regards to Flyboy. I probably don't get to post often enough for you guys to realize that almost everything I post is tounge in cheek. Of course, I really do like boobs and that ain't sarcasam.

2) In regards to CS's always intelligent arguement. He's right from the editorial standpoint if DC is dumb enough to think that The Authority has a child target audience. The mistake was made all the way back with issue one when if they ever thought Warren Ellis was making a comic for kids. Its not for kids. Not one issue has been for kids. Its a comic for comic fans. It took Marvel a decade of poor sales to realize who their target audience is and they finally hired some good writers to write comics for people who like comics. I think DC needs to step up and evolve and The Authority is a perfect place to do so. Comics for kids are fine but until children start shelling out the bucks that actually keep these comics going, then don't make all of them for the kids. Make a few for the guys who are actually buying the things.

Haus about we all give each other a big lovely huggle?

14:29 / 19.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Sandfarmer:
1) In regards to Flyboy. I probably don't get to post often enough for you guys to realize that almost everything I post is tounge in cheek. Of course, I really do like boobs and that ain't sarcasam.

Actually, there's no "of course" about it. You could very well, for examole, be gay. Or just not like boobs very much. Like a leg man. Or a eunuch. He said with lounge in cheek...