Wanted (Millar/Jones) series discussion [SPOILERS]

eroz

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Just picked up this comic, Wanted #1 by Millar. So far its sounds pretty good. anybody else reading this? How are the other issues? Is it worth getting the rest?
 
Absolutely. This is one of the best minis I've ever read. It's very original, smart, and funny all at the same time. Very, VERY highly recommended.
 
The final issue is pretty much confirmed for 1/19. Looks like that's for sure; no more delays.

Are me and eroz the only people here reading this?
 
Okay guys, sorry to revive a dead horse, but the Hardcover for this was supposed to come out tomorrow and its not on the shipping lists. Anyone know what happened, if its been resolicited, or what?
 
Wanted series discussion (spoilers!)

Someone uploaded a torrent (finally!) and I got to try this out...

And it rocks. It's described as "The Watchmen for Supervillains" and I definitely think it deserves that comment.

I think E and Eroz read it, but has anyone else? I recommend it, but it's definitely for a mature audience.
 
Re: Wanted series discussion (spoilers!)

Not my favorite series - sort of everything I don't like about Millar in one place, with very few of the thing I DO like. I disliked the lead character, didn't give a damn about what happened to him and stopped reading about 2/3 of the way through. If you like your fiction pointlessly violent, "anti-heroic" and grim'n'gritty it's good - I'd rec Brubaker's SLEEPER over WANTED any day, though.
 
Re: Wanted series discussion (spoilers!)

I enjoyed this, but the end was a bit lame for me...... whats this Sleeper like?
 
Re: Wanted series discussion (spoilers!)

Rhyo said:
I disliked the lead character, didn't give a damn about what happened to him and stopped reading about 2/3 of the way through.
With all due respect, I think Wesley being despicable and pathetic was the point. The whole set-up is designed to make you want to see him get his comeuppance (which, inicdentally, never actually happens).


Rhyo said:
If you like your fiction pointlessly violent, "anti-heroic" and grim'n'gritty it's good - I'd rec Brubaker's SLEEPER over WANTED any day, though.
I dunno. I think what made it bearable was the ironic distance created by the casual tone -- how *self-consciously* pointless the violence is. That allowed me to appreciate it as good, mindless, cathartic fun. Entertainment at its sickest, presented with a knowing nudge-nudge wink-wink to the nihilism of it all. At that level, I really enjoyed it.

I mean, when I think of "pointlessly violent, 'anti-heroic' and grim'n'gritty", I think of Frank Miller's All-Star Batman & Robin, or the horrible new Moon Knight book, or Identity Crisis, where everything is self-seriously harrowing, and traumatic-for-the-sake-of-it, as if brutality automatically equals dramatic weight. And that's precisely what lets Wanted off the hook -- for all the graphic violence, it's unbeleivably light-hearted. It has no pretensions of making an emotional connection with the reader, for better or worse.

But that's also why it's also undeserving of the "Watchmen for super-villains" label. There's not a lick of well-considered social critique. Heck, it barely served as an interrogation of genre conventions.

What it *did* capture was the sheer infantile lunacy of four-color escapism, taken to its most irrational extremes. And I liked that.
 
Re: Wanted series discussion (spoilers!)

I've been meaning to try Sleeper. I guess I'll have to now.
 
Re: Wanted series discussion (spoilers!)

compound said:
What it *did* capture was the sheer infantile lunacy of four-color escapism, taken to its most irrational extremes. And I liked that.

Well said. I agree.

I really enjoyed it up until the ending, which I didn't hate, but was disappointed with it.

I loved a lot of the villains. They weren't necessarily clever, but they fit the vibe of the story perfectly and they were funny.
 
Re: Wanted series discussion (spoilers!)

Re: Sleeper

Sleeper is a two-volume set (12 issues each volume) by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips, on WildStorm. There is a 5-issue "prequel" called Point Blank that's I'd also recommend. You don't have to read the prequel to understand Sleeper, but it fills in some of the characters, gives you sort of the "origin" of Holden Carver, the protagonist for Sleeper, and shows how the characters relate to the rest of the WildStorm universe characters (peripherally, pretty much, though several of them show up at various times).

Holden Carver, an I/O intelligence agent, is put into Tao's organization as a double agent - at least, that's the plan at the beginning of Sleeper. Tao is a test-tube created man, incredibly intelligent, with a literally mind-altering power. The last thing on earth you want to see is Tao sitting down across from you, folding his hands and saying "let us reason together" because that means you are about to lose all free will. Tao is evil the way cats are evil to mice - he enjoys toying with governments and corporations and individuals. He doesn't really care about ruling the world because that is far too much work, he just wants to pull strings from a distance and watch empires fall.

One of the reasons Holden agrees to go undercover for Lynch (the head of I/O) is that Holden has picked up an "artifact" (much like Mitchell Hundred in Ex Machina) that gives him an unfortunate power - he has the ability to store and release pain. Lynch dangles the potential for a "cure" in front of him. Of course, Lynch is the only person who knows about Holden's assignment, and Lynch gets shot in the head and goes into a coma (in Point Blank), leaving Holden undercover and yet screwed, because all of I/O believes him a traitor. Plus, once he's undercover, the right and wrong of the situation start to get very blurry. He gets involved with Tao's right-hand-woman, Miss Misery, who delights in death and destruction and the inflicting of pain. Holden isn't really a hero - he does some things that make it hard to really root for him, but much of that is situational - his inability to really feel is locking him out of being human, and he starts to question I/O and Lynch's motivations as much as Tao's.

You spend a lot of time thinking "well, Holden, you're really screwed now." There are also some great scenes where characters give you their origins - many have some sort of power or ability and it's often not pretty, but it's always interesting.
 
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thee great one said:
I got my trade of this last night and it was absolutly brillant. I loved all the little refrences.

Agreed. I got my TPB at the Motor City Comic Con for half off. This is what a TPB should be - all alternate covers, some articles, and it even includes the Dossier.

As for the story - I don't know if I'd call it "brilliant" but it was very enjoyable and I liked it a lot. I didn't care for how it ended (and I mean the very ending - the stuff with his dad was great) but it's a minor quibble.
 
E said:
Agreed. I got my TPB at the Motor City Comic Con for half off. This is what a TPB should be - all alternate covers, some articles, and it even includes the Dossier.

As for the story - I don't know if I'd call it "brilliant" but it was very enjoyable and I liked it a lot. I didn't care for how it ended (and I mean the very ending - the stuff with his dad was great) but it's a minor quibble.

Whatever. ****head was the ****.

And the Batman mock.
 
Man this was awesome........and yet kinda mediocre of Millar in some aspects.

The biggest thing that irked me about this was that the main character looked like Eminem. Not that it should be this huge thing....but I just couldn't get past it. Whether or not the artist intended it to mirror Eminem is unknown to me...but I didn't like it all.

The overall premise for this was pretty good. The writing was standard Millar. Not really a shining gem in his work....but still better than 95% of the other minis out there. Kinda like Ennis' "The Boys".

I was really digging the story.....up 'til the end. The end pretty much killed it for me. I understand and actually dug the end with his dad at the cemetary. The comic should've ended with the panel of him saying "...now let's go see what $10million looks like in real life." The extra page of epilogue and wrap-up thoughts along with the page splash of his face, just wasn't needed and brought the quality of the ending down IMO.
 
Mark Millar wrote it like a movie, and pictured Eminem playing the main character.

And now it is going to be a movie, but Eminem declined the role.
 

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