Mark Millar

His page pretty much says it all. The man is very much love Him or Hate him. Well, Love him, Hate Him, or Okay with Him as in my case.

As the first thing I ever read by him was Superman: Red Son, I have a lot of respect for his abilities as a writer. I think a lot of the "smart comic fans" are just pissed off that he makes loads of money because he's savvy enough to know how.

But enough of that. This topic is just a little survey of what works of Mr. Millar's you have read and what you though tabout them.

For instance, I've read:

Superman: Red Son - Awesome. One of the best comics I've ever read.

Wanted - Okay....until the ending at which point I hated it with a passion.

I'm about to start reading Old Man Logan which seems to be generally popular.

edited 24th Jun '11 6:06:18 AM by Nikkolas

He was an awesome writer until he started buying all his own hype and success went up to his head.

Not being a fan of super-grimdark comics, I'm can't say I'm a huge fan. I did love Red Son, though, as well as the Cap, Thor, and Tony sections of Ultimates (No rapehulk, kthxbai.)

He's a good writer until you start giving him Protection from Editors.

I think these are all the Millar comics I've read
My favorite works of his are Old Man Logan, Wanted, and his work on The Ultimates.

• The Authority— Pros: Entertaining stories, villains who vaporize babies and rape nurses, the creation of Seth. Cons: made the team much easier to parody, made Doctor an out of control heroin addict.
• Wanted— Pros: I love Evil Versus Evil, Wish-Fulfillment stories that include murder and rape. I never could relate to the people who felt insulted by the ending. Cons: Dialogue not up to par.
• The Ultimates— I like Millar's Ultimates work much more than everything else in that universe, because his work is actually significantly different from 616. I don't care if you call the difference "realistic" or Darker and Edgier. I like Ultimates as part of the military industrial complex. I like Hank as an over-the-top abusive jerk. I like Captain America as an actual person, rather than the moral center of the universe. I like Hulk as an id monster who will murder/rape/eat people and is not some kind of "misunderstood" hero hounded by the military for causing property damage.
• Ultimate X Men— Pros: portrayal of Weapon X as over-the-top sadists, Blob threatening to eat someone, Sabertooth's Mutants Are Even Bigger Bastards speech. Cons: Shallow, bland characterizations from almost everyone who isn't Pure Evil.
• Ultimate Fantastic Four— I know I read his run on the title, but I don't remember a single thing about it. This title has always been a disappointment, though.
• Civil War— Pros: the art. Cons: the writing. Bad premise, bad execution, bad resolution, and Character Derailment.
• Old Man Logan— Another thumbs up for the cannibalism, and the art. No complaints.
• Kick Ass— I liked the Gorn, despite the kid protagonists, and despite my dislike of Romita.
• The Unfunnies— He did a very good job of being disturbing.
• Fantastic Four— I only read it because Bryan Hitch was the artist. The Marquis of Death is exactly the sort of Beyond the Impossible evil character for which I love Millar's writing, but he was wasted on this story. "Doom's Master" would have worked better as a limited series set in an alternate timeline; that way we could've seen the Marquis do some real damage.
• 1985— Never finished it. Nice art, but I have zero interest in kid protagonists.
• Nemesis— Decent, but I wish he'd spent less time showing off how Crazy-Prepared Nemesis was and more time showing off how evil he is. Nemesis could've stood to cross more lines earlier, instead of merely having that one Moral Event Horizon crossing.
• Superior— boring. Getting sick of the kid protagonists.

edited 24th Jun '11 1:06:50 PM by Tongpu

• The Ultimates: I got halfway through volume 1 and gave up in boredom. I simply couldn't bring myself to care about any of the characters, and less than half of the issues I read had anything actually happen in them.
• Kick-Ass: I've written a review for this very site, so I'll just say I liked it.
• Kick-Ass 2: More of the same, which is a good thing.
• American Jesus: An interesting idea, though took a wild swing in the last issue it featured in which I'm not sure I like. Will wait and see.
• Superior: I'm liking it. It's a rather sweet story about a poor kid who becomes Superman. The bitchy reporter could do with more clothes.
• Nemesis: I only read the last section. Nemesis' boss just seems stupidly unrealistically brilliant. I like the whole average middle-aged cop going up against evil Batman angle.
• CLiNT]: OK, technically he doesn't write this, just collects all the material; then again, half the strips were written by him. It's a good idea, and has its good points, but some of the articles are somewhat embarassing.

I really can't say much about the guy, since I haven't read much of his work. A little of Kick-Ass is pretty much it. It was good, although I enjoyed the movie more.

Superior needs a page; currently, Superior is the page for a manga.

Just finished Old Man Logan. Really liked it.

Gonna give 1985 a try then move on to Superior. I just hope he finishes it. Wasn't the last issue a few months ago?

Haven't read too much of his work, but all his main protags seem to have the same voice.

I love his first story on The Authority. I hate his Kick Ass and Nemesis, his Fantastic Four was okay, through I didn't liked Marquis od Death, 1985 was just plain boring, Old Man Logan was dragged out and seen more like eye candy than anything else. The Unfunnies was the worst piece of shit I have everread in my entire life and I hate it, hate it, hate it, hate it, HATE IT!

What bothers me is that Millar seems to have some wierd sexual ideas with slades of rape fetish:

• Authoity: Apollo gets raped, his rapist (who has earlier implied to rape two nurses for no reason) gets jackhammer in the ass, Engineer gets sexually harassed by time traveller, who mentions he has been raped in a prison, later she is brainwashed to think she is some asshole's wife so having sex with him counts as rape, Swift gets brainwashed to be somebody's sex slave, villain defeats Authority for "harem of 12-years olds", he later gets turned into a chicked and raped by bunch of rednecks.
• In Wanted main character becomes serial rapist and says how cool it is he could rape top pop star in her house and it didn't make it do the news.
• In Nemesis villain forces main character's son to rape his sister and impregnate her.
• In Kick-Ass entire school thinks that main character prostitutes himself on the street, which is apparently makes him the coolest kid ever.
• In Marvel Knights Spider-Man it's implied that Electro has been raped in prison
• In Old Man Logan Hulk and She-hulk have incestous relationship
• In Youngblood: Bloodspot Cyclops and Wolverine, dressed ass their dead girlfriends, give two characters blowjobs.
• In Wolverine: Enemy Of The State Hydra programming tries to force Logan to rape Rachel Summers.
• In Ultimate Comics Avengers Red Skull threatens a baby to force it's mother to kill her husband with pair of scissors, then toss the baby out of the widow and let his henchmen rape the poor woman.
• The Unfunnies - The crow was sucking cock for a REASON, and that isn't even scratching the surface.

edited 27th Jun '11 5:12:12 AM by PrimoVictoria

Rape fetish is more common than most would think.

It's all about power, just like plain old BDSM. Everyone likes to have a moment where they either have all the power or all the power is taken away from them.

Anyway,I just finished 1985. It's easily my second favorite story from him.

edited 27th Jun '11 3:04:47 PM by Nikkolas

I'm not buying so called "rape = power" interpretation. Rape is not about power, it's used by people who are, on subconcious level, just desperate in their lust of sex and resort in most terrible way to having it imaginable. There is nothing about power in it.

Well that's completely at odds with everything I've ever heard or read. Rape is just a system of abuse that has to do with power and little to do with sexual gratification. It's why most child molesters aren't even pedophiles.

here's a link http://books.google.com/books?id=hUCUg02fqCgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=psychology+rape+offender&hl=en&ei=uhUJTquvBoyv0AG3x6Fs&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

And I'm sure there are a lot more. I found this easily enough.

edited 27th Jun '11 4:45:40 PM by Nikkolas

Really liked Red Son. Kick-Ass was okay.

...I haven't really read much else of his.:/

edited 27th Jun '11 9:21:18 PM by kkhohoho

"Well that's completely at odds with everything I've ever heard or read. Rape is just a system of abuse that has to do with power and little to do with sexual gratification."

That is, as my lecturer called it, "feminist approach". I come from more evolutionist school of thought that makes statement that all human actions are motivated by two goals - survival and procreation. Our need of sex is motivated by subconcious, genetically programmed, desire of having children and all all we do is evolutionary strategy. When you see person that you thinks looks sexy, your mind is really thinking "that person looks like appriorate candidate to produce offsprings with". According to evolutionary theory rape is a strategy of procreation to which certain individuals resort too, when other strategies fall. Of course in present times is often used when other approach would be more sucessfull, but that's a result of evolutionary strategies being developed over the course of evolution applying to young modern society we have build in short time of last three thousand years, result of the fact that our brain still thinks in terms other than what society demands from us.

Your lecturer and you sound like supporters of the biological psychology approach to the mind. I'm no expert on this sort of thing but aren't there many different schools of thought on why we do what we do?

Anyway, rape fetishism is no different from any other fetish is it? And I don't see any "instinctive" reason for fetishes.

edited 27th Jun '11 6:45:25 PM by Nikkolas

Back when I was taking evolutionary psych, the theory was that fetishes are a mistake, an "unintended" side effect of the existence of a sexual imprinting phase in puberty. Some unconventional element is associated with sex during this period, and the association sticks, just like how if baby ducks imprint on something else during the stage when they're supposed to imprint on their mother, their brains become stuck with the perception that that thing is their mother. That was the theory for male fetishes, since only males were said to have the imprinting phase. The theory for fetishes among females was less developed, just like the theory for lesbianism.

edited 28th Jun '11 12:10:11 AM by Tongpu

There are plenty of instinctual reasons for them. Take your pick.

edited 27th Jun '11 11:56:02 PM by Nikkolas

Here's a few theories:

Cheerleaders are a status symbol. If your fetish was cheerleaders in and of themselves, I'd argue that you have a thing for seducing women who are of a certain desirability (The Libby or the popular girl). Lots of guys, particularly in high school or college, fantasize about showing off a cheerleader on their arm. As part of the social instinct, it makes you an Alpha Male, able to select the most desirable mate at your leisure.

However, since you also said you like pigtails, I'd wager that you might alternately (or additionally) like a certain vulnerability and/or innocence. Pigtails, traditionally, make women seem younger than they are, and a cheerleader/schoolgirl outfit even moreso. Adult/older men tend to like women in pigtails and cheerleader outfits because it makes them feel younger and more virile, in addition to having nostalgic value (once again, they have another chance at being the Alpha Male). It invokes a Big Brother/Daddy instinct that gives a subconscious feeling of control.

EDIT: Pee Fetish.

The first question is: to pee or be the one peed on?

If your fetish is directed toward yourself, then it's part of a desire to soil yourself or to do something so taboo and unclean that it makes you feel rebellious and/or unbound. I knew a woman once who had a fetish for being peed on because it made her feel like a slut and an object. She enjoyed the idea of being treated like trash; that way, nothing that happened to her was her own fault. If a man dominated her and made her do such "dirty" things, she could still enjoy all of the pleasure without any of the responsibility.

Now, if you're the pee'er, it's the exact opposite. You get to do whatever you want to someone and treat them like crap. You get to reduce someone to a state "below human" and basically be God for a temporary period of time. Once more, this goes toward the "Alpha Male" drive.

edited 28th Jun '11 12:00:27 AM by KingZeal

Oh, i get what you're saying now. You're talking about environmental stuff too. I thought you meant instinct as in something programmed into my biological makeup. I just didn't think something was written in my DNA that said I'd like cheerleaders with pigtails.

But yeah, you're spot on about what I like.

edited 27th Jun '11 11:59:13 PM by Nikkolas

I personally feel that nature/nurture are mutually inducing. We're born a certain way (no two people will react to a stimulus the same way) but things within our environment shape us to find a certain symbolism in things that we take for granted.

For example, we probably wouldn't get as turned on by interracial sex as we do if it weren't for the social stigmas attached to it.

As far as Mark Millar goes, I like his Ultimate Marvel stories and Kickass. I'm less keen on Civil War, though.

The less said about the half dozen or so stories he did at the beginning of STC, the better.

I've read Red Son and Wanted. Red Son is one of my favourite comics, Wanted is the worst comic I've read. I haven't read a massive amount of comics, but it's pretty bad in my opinion.