Sequart have just posted the second extract from "Shameless? The Superhero Comics Of Mark Millar". It's the first of a two-part look at what Millar appears to have thought and felt about comics in the years which before the publication of The Saviour in 1989. (You can find the extract here, should you be so inclined, and the first part here. Please do let me know your concerns. It's very much a work in progress, and should be treated as such!) Though I'm keen to avoid all but the most relevant and public aspects of his personal life, there's still a great deal that can be learned about Millar's future career from the influences and ambitions which he expressed during the second half of the Eighties.
Thankfully, there's a number of sources from the period which were written with no little or no eye to anyone beyond the UK's then-population of a few hundred active comics fans. These include letters to the fan press, his brief post-Watchmen correspondence with Dave Gibbons, his 1988 interview of Grant Morrison, and his contributions to Trident Comic's earliest press. Of course, all of these can be supplemented with the interviews and writings which have appeared since, and I'm also blessed to have had the chance to speak at length with the late Martin Skidmore, who edited The Saviour and Fantasy Advertiser, about the period too. To have so much material to draw from has been a tremendous help, and I believe it's helped to establish just how consistent Millar's inspirations and ambitions have been. (Mind you, some of the information that I've collected has been held back for the discussion of The Saviour itself, which means, for example, that I'll not yet be touching too much on the issue of the influence, or not, of Grant Morrison's Zenith and Doom Patrol.)
In closing, my sincere thanks go to Marco, who Tweets as @AikidoMarcoFord, for generously answering a plea I sent out on Twitter for Mark Millar's contribution to the letters page of 1986's Fantasy Advertiser #94. I'm tremendously grateful for Marco's help, the fruits of which will appear in next week's extract. Should you be in possession of any Millar material which isn't readily available, please do consider the possibility of sharing it with the blogger. That goes as much for old Judge Dredd daily strips from the Daily Star which are lining your attic boiler as it does for articles which have appeared in the press or odd corners of the net. (There are some issues of Tripwire that he wrote for that I've yet to be able to acquire, for example.) For all that we're used to thinking of the Net as sheltering our memories, there's a great deal that's either disappeared or was never posted there in the first place.
.
Skidmore was really a force back then. I read FA religiously, along with Paul Duncan's Arken Sword ( later Ark .) Martin gave me my first paycheck too. I'm so sorry we never met in person.
ReplyDeleteHello Simon:- He was such a gent to me, he really was. We only spoke by e-mail, but his kindness and insight meant that I could make a serious start on a period that I'd have really struggled with.
DeleteI too read FA religiously, as well as Arken Sword. To have been given such an insight into how FA and Trident Comics functioned was an absolute privilege. But then, it was a privilege to have a chance to briefly speak with such a splendid bloke. It turned out I'd had a letter which I'd subsequently forgotten all about in FA which he'd debated with. These strange and welcome connections through fandom often turn out to be far more valuable and welcome than they at first might seem to be.
I'm truly looking forward to more of your thoughts and history of Mr. Millar. I remember first coming to awareness of him with Swamp Thing, and being surprised at enjoying the issues he wrote on his own more than the one's co-written with Morrison.
ReplyDeleteNot long after, I found a source for back issue 2000 AD progs, which was facilitated by the early days of internet commerce (around 1997 or so). Being in the US, I was thrilled to find a seller willing to sell individual issues, and I asked for any which had stories by Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, and Mark Millar. I remember at the time the seller being surprised at Millar being included in my wish list, as he wasn't very famous at the time. I think the subsequent years have vindicated me though.
I'll pull up a chair to read the remaining chapters. I'd offer thoughts of improvement, Colin, but honestly can think of none at this point...
Hello Brian:- Thanks for your kind words, Brian. I do appreciate it. I must admit, I saw several sentences in serious need of a re-write when I saw the post was up, and that's just the start of it. But the shudders of that aside, the opportunity to have the work posted elsewhere first is not to be sniffed at. It'll be better for the initial stumblings :)
DeleteThose 2000ADs from 1990 to around 1995 are in many ways remarkable comics, aren't there? Some of what makes them so isn't always because of their high quality, I fear. There's much of the very worst of the comic's long history on show there. Yet there's also much that's excellent, and often it's the same creators producing both AT THE SAME TIME. Certainly the work of writers such as Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Garth Ennis and John Smith during the period rewards the reading even when it's not what would usually be expected from them. In fact, that's often so because it's not always what we might expect from them. And it's a period which is generally little regarded, which means it tends to be less discussed and valued. As such, the Millar issues of 2000ad still don't tend to be sold off the back of his involvement. He himself has described his work back then in what might be described as "Anglo-Saxon" terms. But even when it's not particularly good, it's always interesting.
I wasn't reading 2000AD during the decade beyond occasional impulse buys. Discovering those years as you have, through back issues, has never been less than enjoyable, and that's true despite some terrible moments ...
And, yes, I think you really could say that you've been 'vindicated' :)
Agreed, I really believe the issues of 2000 AD I have are some highlights in my collection, even though the quality within a single issue can be uneven at best. But its the rare anthology that doesn't have a few offerings that fail to live up to the standards set elsewhere in the book. I think it's truly remarkable how, on a weekly basis, the quality of those issues was, and can still remain, so good.
DeleteI neglected to mention Mr. Ennis as another creator whose work I requested at the time from my seller. Which, given his long run on Judge Dredd, resulted in me receiving a long run of those books. Money well spent, to be sure.
Which reminds me, I hope you've seen the movie Dredd from last year (and I hope I haven't mentioned it to you previously). Much, much better than I was hoping or expecting. Exactly the right tone throughout.
Hello Brian:- I'd certainly agree with you about 2000AD always having something of quality, and usually a great deal more. I'm not sure that's always true of the 1990s, mind you. The issues around 1993 which contained strips like Babe Race 2000 and the Grudfather could contain VERY little of woerth. But then, perversely, there's something fascinating about a comic as terrible as that too :)
DeleteI thought the Dredd movie was smart and rather splendid. It's a shame that it didn't find an international audience, but hopefully it will do so while on DVD/Blueray release.
Horses for courses*, Colin: the 1990s' 700-900ish run of 2000ad was where I got on board 2000ad and I have fond memories of those issues just as much as I have of the material I came to through The Complete Judge Dredd ("the Law In Order!") and Best Of 2000ad Monthly. I am probably among the very few who liked Maniac 5, Robo Hunter, and even the robust Ant Williams artwork and action movie pace of Babe Race 2000.
DeleteRetroactively, it was an interesting period for the comic as it was wilfully regressing to attract new readers instead of continuing to age and mature alongside those who had been reading it from the start - though it kept the more graphic violence, of course - and it's not really surprising the claws are out for the period as us comics audience types sure do hate change. I recall at the time Viz spawned multiple clones of an even more juvenile and smutty humor, too - must have been something in the water back then.
* Insert your own ready meal joke here.
Hello Brigonos:- A very good point, sir. I shamefully cede the debate to you. To me, that period was a car-crash with few high-lights, though it was and remains fascinating for a variety of reasons. But you're absolutely right to make the argument you have, and I will be sure to try to see things through these lenses when I next read part of that run. It's not that I've dismissive of the whole period, or any one run from it, in what I've written. But it is harder for me to appreciate, for example, The Grudfather or the Laddish Judge Dredd strips.
DeleteMy understanding from Thrill-Powered Overload is that the "willful regression" - great phrase - failed to deliver the hoped-for new audiences, and that sales fell quite dramatically. Of course, the whole market collapsed during the period for just about every comic out there. But for me, I had and have no objection to change. I never had that kind of emotional relationship with 2000AD. Indeed, it took perhaps 5 years after I read the first issue for it to really snare me, so a changing 2000AD was always what I expected. My problem was that it seemed to loose a great deal of its sharpness. It seemed to be so often complacent. The satire was blunter, the stories far less compact and compelling, the craftmanship far less able. Now, I'm only speaking in general terms. There's great work there, although I'm struggling to think of any terrific satire from the period. (You'll know that. Let me know, if you would.) It often seemed to be aiming low and achieving its ends, whereas the first decade and more of the comic had involved a different process.
But given that I never seem to be able to hold an opinion of a comic before a better counter-argument turns me around, the above exists solely for the flattening.
I've been looking forward to Shameless, Millar having a key roll in The History Of Comics & Me*, and you're off to a good start. I'm looking forward to seeing your thoughts on how he progresses from enthusiastic teenager to the man we know and love/hate today. :)
ReplyDeleteIn the interests of hive-mind-proofreading, I'd point out this sentence:
"It was unlikely that anyone who wasn’t a fervent reader of FA would have missed Skidmore’s request"
which seems to be tripping over a double (triple?) negative, and missing the intended meaning. But that's a rather minor point in an interesting point.
*Loosely speaking: a faourite creator when my tastes moved from childish to adolescent, who fell furthest out of favor as I moved into my current stage - which I'm a little too self aware to describe as adult**.
**Actually, maybe Millar fell out of favor when I WOULD have described my tastes as Adult. It's all a bit confusing, which is why I'm looking forward to your analysis!
Hello Mark:- I feel like I'm only just starting to pick up some speed with Shameless? I'm not sure about the first three posts at all, so I appreciate you popping in and letting me know your opinion.
DeleteThat sentence is indeed a stinker and Matt Badham has also raised the issue with me. I can't be irked by either comment, since I felt the same when I re-read the piece up at Sequart. I'm grateful to you both. No matter how I check, these ridiculous mistakes always make it through to the page. Having a blog allows me to correct such problems when I notice them. Having a piece up at Sequart means I have to face the consequences of what I've written. Yet I can't help but feel it's good for me to get used to that, and I do appreciate your advice. It'll improve the work AND help me get a little less precious about the work :)
I'm not sure how I feel about tomorrow's post, but the question of what might connect the young Millar to his adult self - as a writer! - comes up alot in next week's piece. It's the post I'm most pleased with so far, but I suspect that's just because I'm interested in that issue too :)