Millar Revamps DC Universe

ProjectX2

ProjectX2

Don't expect me to take you with me when I go to s
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Mark Millar said:
Just back from my hols and had some mad notions. I woke up two nights ago and thought of something as big and as simple as Civil War for the DCU and spent two hours during the night writing it all down.

I'm obviously not going into details, but this is so bloody simple, screws with nobody, could be explained to a 4 year old and would ramp up DC's sales as much my little Civil War book is working for Marvel. It would spin off into me doing Superman with Hitchy and JLA with McNiven and I worked out a cracking line-up of creator pals for all the other books this would influence. I said I was only doing a Marvel crossover if they let me rethink the whole MU and rejig a lot of books that needed a face-lift (some huge characters selling nothing for 5 years now). Similarly, I'd only do this if DC let me go the whole hog and, although I have a very good relationship with DC again, I'm under exclusive for almost 2 more years.

But these notes have been filed and this thing, if anything, will work BETTER a couple of years down the line. It's incredibly exciting. I already had about 70 issues of Superman loosely worked out and a first eighteen months on JLA, but it all came together perfectly for me over the holidays. The end of the decade just got very exciting.
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Please, DC, get Millar to do this. Morrison's already there laying the ground work, and this would make DC even more awesome.
 
I remember he had to start another thread because people were getting pissed thinking he had left Marvel for DC to do this now.
 
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Sounds great, but it should be two years down the road at the VERY least. I think the main titles are in a good place right now and need some serious room to breathe. Plus, I think the whole Monitors thread is supposed to be making itself known in roughly two years.
 
Zombipanda said:
Sounds great, but it should be two years down the road at the VERY least. I think the main titles are in a good place right now and need some serious room to breathe. Plus, I think the whole Monitors thread is supposed to be making itself known in roughly two years.
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Well, since he's Marvel exclusive till what, 2008 we should be fine for breathing room.

But oh yes. I cannot wait. Just add in the Millar/Hitch Superman run and it will be friggin awesome.
 
Baxter said:
Well, since he's Marvel exclusive till what, 2008 we should be fine for breathing room.

But oh yes. I cannot wait. Just add in the Millar/Hitch Superman run and it will be friggin awesome.
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Yeah. Sounds about right.

What's even more exciting than "Millar Remakes the DC Universe" is the possibility of Millar taking on a 70 issue run for Superman. If he could keep to a decent schedule, it could be the greatest thing ever.

Millar knows him some Supes.
 
Who ever is running DC's business deals---make this happen.......like now.......


Millar/Hitch on Superman??? :shock: I might as well throw out the porn now!!!

Millar doing JLA???? :rockon: But I'm not a huge fan of McNiven. I'd actually want something like Michael Turner or Jim Lee. But still.......Millar/McNiven would be awesome nonetheless....
 
Turner or Lee? That's gross. Go back to the 90's.

McNiven's the next best thing. And he's awesome.
 
This looks awesome. I hope he gets to do it.
ProjectX2 said:
Turner or Lee? That's gross. Go back to the 90's.

McNiven's the next best thing. And he's awesome.
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I agree. I don't like McNiven all that much, but he's better than Turner or Lee.
 
I don't know (or care) enough about the DCU for a Civil War-like event to mean anything to me, but Millar has been talking awhile now about how he has a big notebook full of stuff for when he and Hitch take over Superman. As excited as he seems to be about it, it almost can't not be good.

(and if it isn't, I'm sure that in the year 2074, when the 13th and final issue comes out, Proj will resurrect this thread and mock me)
 
E said:
I don't know (or care) enough about the DCU for a Civil War-like event to mean anything to me, but Millar has been talking awhile now about how he has a big notebook full of stuff for when he and Hitch take over Superman. As excited as he seems to be about it, it almost can't not be good.

(and if it isn't, I'm sure that in the year 2074, when the 13th and final issue comes out, Proj will resurrect this thread and mock me)
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I'm sure the majority of us will be dead by then, but we can come back as zombie ghosts and rape people.
 
On his connection to Batman: "[Superman and Batman are] both orphans. They absolutely understand each other and know that there's nobody else they can count on as much as they other. PS I know Superman isn't an orphan in this dreadful period he's been under seige (from 1986 until Hitchy and I fix him again), but the true understanding of the character is, like Bambi, he loses his Mum and Dad again. All the iconic heroes do whether it's Superman, Bambi or Batman."

On why Bryan Hitch is his ideal Superman collaborator: "Hitchy's even worse than me. Although he looks much older and has trouble sleeping through the night without a piss, Hitchy is only three weeks younger than me. Thus, we grew up on the same Cary Bates Superman comics aged 6-14. Exactly the same comics. We were also 8 years old when we saw Superman and Hitch, like me, can repeat the entire movie line for line. You should hear our daily phone chats. They're a hymn to Superman. Fixing this mess has been our destiny. It'll happen. Not for a while, but it'll happen."

On Clark Kent: "Clark is a pair of glasses. Superman doesn't need glasses. He puts on the glasses for no practical reason; just to dress up and pretend to be this mid-westwern guy he's not as a means of rubbing shoulders with the people on this planet. Superman would have thought he was human until puberty. Until maybe 12. The easiest way to understand it is to think of Jesus in the temple and the moment where his mother has to tell him the truth. He always knew he was different and alone. This is when it was all explained to him. He could still love his parents, but Clark is him trying to understand what humans are all about. As Elliot Maggin puts it, Clark Kent is a living, breathing work of art."
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On Lois Lane: "Superman doesn't love Lois. Clark loves Lois and Superman tries HARD to love Lois, but he can't because she's the wrong species. But he tries. Again, Maggin sums it up beautifully. It doesn't have to be complicated... Clark loves Lois, Lois loves Superman, Superman loves Clark [...] Perfect. This is also one of the reasons Superman shouldn't be married to Lois. It's just stupid. It makes no sense and destroys the whole dynamic. Superman is God, Jor-El is the Holy Spirit and Clark Kent is Jesus. The Kents are Mary and Joseph and Lois is Mary Magdelene. She's the NYC girl who's ****ed her way around the city and found nobody who measures up. She's just had it with men and is focusing on her career... then Superman shows up. This is why Margot Kidder was perfect for the role and why Lois should be played by someone around 30 even if Supes is being played by a 25 year old. You'll see what I mean when we fix it."
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On the current version of the character: "[Kingdom Come] is close to perfect. Waid gets it. None of the other American writers do, though Loeb comes close. His only weakness is getting caught up in the whole farmboy thing. The farm is where he grew up and knew he was NOTHING LIKE THESE PEOPLE. He affects it for the Clark persona, but that's it. He's as Kryptonian as Jesus is divine. Did Jesus shag Mary Mag? I don't think so. Superman should never shag Lois. It's insane and what happens when artists start touching tyoewriters. Jimmy is the reader-identification figure and the comedy relief. PS I'm saving everything else for the launch. No other ideas from me here, I'm afraid, in case some **** nicks em."
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On mixing metaphors: "No brimstone for Superman. He's interesting enough without it. He sees Earth the way immigrants saw America 100 years ago. He sees a chance for hope and a new life after losing his homeland as a kid. He loves people because he recognizes their great potential and, like Krypton, he wants to encourage them towards the Utopia his father sent him from. Forget Byrne. Read the Bible."
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On the previous pitch Millar had made with Grant Morrison, Mark Waid and Tom Peyer: "The pitch we did was very late 90s and all the things I WOULDN'T do if Superman was being revamped now. It was nice, but it was the whole retro 60s thing that Grant's into as opposed to what I'd want to do myself. This thing was pretty good, but would be absolutely wrong for now. It still had Superman married to Lois and all that ****. There was another draft Mark Waid added with Earth getting a mind-wipe to forget that stuff and it had some nice touches, but I'd just start from scratch."
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On how close Superman is to humanity: "Humans were apes less than 50 million years ago. Kryptonians are what we'd be like in 20 billion years. I have this all worked out as part of the proposal. In the last two years, I've filled two entire ring-binders with the plan. There's some AMAZING stuff in here. Hitch has also been doing little design doodles for the last five years. It's fate that we met."
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And when some people disagree with Millar's idea of the perfect Superman: "Anyway, you're all wrong and I'm right wink.gif It'll make much more sense once Hitch and I deprogram you from 18 years of John Byrne and Mike Carlin."
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EE: It seems that it's always about, 'How can we change or alter Superman' for mass appeal like in Smallville. Compare your Superman Adventures series with Superman Red Son. Are readers tired of the Superman archetype?

MM: Exactly. My theory is that the people who've worked on Superman for the last generation just don't like him. They were telling stories about Lucy Lane's African American boyfriend instead of Superman. They were creating all these other superheroes to protect Metropolis and, God help us, the Metropolis Special Crimes Unit. If there was ever a city that only needed one hero it's Metropolis. But I think it all comes down to Marvel fans with good intentions. The Kirby stuff was the only material they could relate to and they used this plus all their own characters to crowd Superman out. And they'd kill him, change his costume, turn him into someone else or whatever to cover up for the fact they just didn't really like him much. When I eventually get my hands on Superman (and Hitchy feels the same way) we'll be coming at it as guys who grew up wanting to do this more than any other project in the world.
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Some of it sounds alright, some of it sounds a bit eh. This is a bit old though, plans might have changed, but not opinions. I'd still like to see this happen.
 
ProjectX2 said:
Some of it sounds alright, some of it sounds a bit eh. This is a bit old though, plans might have changed, but not opinions. I'd still like to see this happen.
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Some people don't think anything of it, but when a writer is that enthused about something it makes me excited for it too. I care next to nothing for Superman, but I have a feeling that his take could become one of the best things I ever read. And Hitch drawing the whole thing? Fuggedaboutit.
 
hm.... I'm not sure how much I like Millar's take on Superman... even though Red Son was great, I still have my reservations.
 
It'll work. I'm not sure if I agree with the lois aspect as I've always known a superman who loves lois, but always prefered the "****. I love her but she doesn't love Clark, just superman. I'm boned" take. Actualy putting them together didn't seem to work for me. I guess I'm on board for how the story would play out in Millarworld, just not for the why.
 
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