'Kick-Ass' writer Mark Millar: Shocking and charming make a good mix

While there are few things that are as quintessentially Filipino as hitting the mall on a Sunday, it’s a rare event that sees several hundred geeks converging in a shopping center at 9 a.m., comics in hand. Such was the case on May 27, when National Bookstore gave dedicated fans a chance to meet famed comic book writer Mark Millar and have their graphic novels signed.  

 

To most people, Mark Millar is known as the creator of the comics that the hit films “Wanted” and “Kick-Ass” were based on. To the geek community at large, the Scottish writer is something of a legend, with his bibliography resembling a required reading list. In addition to his success with decidedly offbeat, violent titles like “The Authority,” “Nemesis,” “Kick-Ass,” and “Wanted,” Millar is also known for his mainstream successes, having revitalized the concept of the modern superhero book with his work on Marvel’s “Civil War" and “Ultimates” (the latter served as inspiration for the summer blockbuster “The Avengers”).  

 

Dubbed, “Milla in Manila,” the book signing was the latest in National Bookstore’s initiative to support and promote the graphic novel medium, and the fans turned out in droves. Everywhere one looked, there were superhero T-shirts, graphic novels, and even a couple of cosplayers. NBS staff joined in the spirit, with staff decked out in purple wigs a la Kick-Ass’ Hitgirl. 

 

Millar was in town to promote “Super Crooks,” his latest work. Also on hand for the event were Millar’s Filipino collaborators for “Super Crooks”: artist Leinil Yu (“Secret Invasion,” “Ultimate Wolverine vs Hulk”) and inker Gerry Alanguilan (“Elmer,” “Superman: Birthright”), along with Indonesian colorist Sunny Gho (“Ultimate Avengers vs New Ultimates”). Decked out in matching “Super Crooks” shirts, the three seemed as excited to be there as the fans. Yu, Alanguilan and Gho are no strangers to international comics fans, having worked on some of Marvel and DC’s biggest titles and stories of recent memory.   

 

GMA News Online was able to interview Millar before the book signing, which, after an open forum, saw the four men laying down their autographs from 3 p.m. until nearly 9 p.m.

 

GMA: Let’s talk about some of the extreme violence we’ve seen in some of your works, including “Super Crooks.” Do you go out of your way to shock your readers?

 

MILLAR: I go out of my way to entertain, and sometimes it’s things that are shocking and sometimes it’s things that are charming. I like to mix it up, and I’ve noticed that I always do something quite shocking after doing something charming. Like when I was doing a children’s comic called “Superman Adventures,” I followed that with “The Authority,” which was really quite shocking. I think it’s when you’re doing nice stuff all the time, it’s good to cut loose and do something crazy, and then you can cleanse yourself and do a nice thing again.

 

GMA: Despite the fact that they seem un-filmable because of their content, the films based on your books have been quite successful.

 

MILLAR: Like ‘Kick-Ass.’ I never thought there’d be a movie for ‘Kick-Ass.’ With a 10-year-old girl using the worst swear words you can imagine, killing adults, how could that possibly be a movie? And yet, two years later, they had a film (Iaughs). I don’t try to stop them from becoming movies, but I’m always surprised when they are.

 

GMA: Are you happier playing in your own sandbox or when you’re writing for established characters like The Avengers?

 

MILLAR: I got into comics to do the characters I grew up with. I didn’t get into it to create my own stuff. But then I did “Wanted,” which was very exciting. I wasn’t getting into any arguments with an editor, and it was amazing! And then ‘Kick-Ass’ was a wonderful experience, so while I’m definitely going to do Marvel and DC characters in the future, for the next 10 years primarily, I’m going to try and do more of my own.

 

GMA: Speaking of your own stuff, you’ve said in previous interviews that ‘Kick-Ass’ is somewhat autobiographical, based on your own fantasies of becoming a superhero as a teenager. How much of yourself have you put into your other works, before or since?

 

MILLAR: It’s funny, really. Even the ones you don’t expect tend to have a little bit of you, and sometimes you don’t even notice until a little later, or maybe two years after, one of my friends will say, “Oh, that’s something you and I did!” When you think about it, every idea has to come from somewhere, and real life is the best place to pluck ideas from. Like Seinfeld, the American comedy, is pretty much all from Larry David’s and Jerry Seinfeld’s lives.   

 

GMA: With the success of superhero films in recent years, there’s been a greater acceptance of “geek” culture in the mainstream. But don’t you think it’s lost something, now that 10 minutes on Wikipedia and a T-shirt from Hot Topic or F&H have people presenting themselves as experts?

 

MILLAR: Oh my God, yeah! I don’t think it’s lost anything, but I am aware of the fake nerds. There are so many of them, especially in Hollywood, that there’s an expression for them, they’re called, ‘ferds’—fake nerds. That was coined by my friend, Damon Lindelof, the guy who did ‘Lost,’ and it’s awful. You’ll be in meetings with guys, directors, producers, who are just pretending to know about your stuff so they can get to direct your (comic book) film. But, I don’t think it’s entirely a bad thing because I remember what it was like when we would have killed to get our movies made, when nobody was buying our books! (laughs). The fact the world is embracing geek culture, the fact that ‘Avengers’ is now the number three or number four-biggest grossing movie of all time, I love it! 

 

–KG, GMA News