Comics V: Fox Force Five

[red snow]

They included Millar's holocaust issue. Standards are obviously not that high. It's a total snub.

Yeah, I think Loeb's "cat/wolf evolved people" story is a classic as i'll never forget it, so it shoudl be included. Even better if they followed it up with the personal retcon that occurred 5 years later by him. You'd think Millar would be blacklisted while poor old Loeb still works for Marvel. Then again I think Loeb knows it's shit and maybe insisted they bury it. I noticed in a Nova interview with him he was pretty much admitting a lot of his recent work has been bad and is saying Nova is a "return to form". Guess that all depends on whether you ever liked him or not. I vaguely recall liking him a while back.

[Nephrite]

You'd think Millar would be blacklisted while poor old Loeb still works for Marvel.

Millar blacklisted? He made them more money than any of the hacks they are currently employing. Brubaker, Bendis and Fraction together didn't do Civil War numbers. If they don't blacklist Humphries with his weird sex fetishes about animals (and we thought that was satire), clones and god knows what else, Millar is safe. And these days he's all about intellectual property (an oxymoron if there ever was one in Millar's case) and making Hollywood money by lying his ass off.

But, if he wanted the Guardians book Marvel would kick Bendis out of a speeding car and laugh about it.

Guess that all depends on whether you ever liked him or not. I vaguely recall liking him a while back.

Well, he's Superman/Batman got me back into reading comics, so I can't really hate it, even if from my current perspective I realize it's not really great. Batman killing Doomsday with an axe? Yeah. Good times.

On the other hand it actually has better plotting and writing than most of current DC output. Fucking intellectual high-brow shit compared to the brain-damaged diarrhea DC is shilling these days. I'm not even gonna talk about art.

Actually I will. Ed McGuinness and the good version of Carlos Pacheco? Good luck finding that level of craft on a DC book not called Wonder Woman. The fact that DC colorists manage to color inside the lines is a victory these days.

Loeb's Superman For All Seasons is actually quite moving. Long Halloween is decent even though the constant repetition of narration boxes is annoying. Every issue has to have that "Carmine Falcone, Gotham City's Crime Boss" You'd probably appreciate it. :D

His more meditative stuff works better. But, he kind of modifies his stuff depending on the artist.

The problems probably began when he started using those introspective narrations with all-out action stuff. He's not the worst offender. Gail Simon transcribing Black Canary's diary during a kung-fu melee is still some of the most dumb shit I ever saw. Good luck getting me invested in the outcome of that fight.

Hush is dumb. I guess to be complementary to Jim Lee's art. Gordon is magically retarded in that book. And the part when Harvey Dent gets Joker released from Arkham cause he didn't kill that one person (like all those thousands he killed before don't matter) is the greatest example of my theory that Eddie Berganza literally does not have a brain inside his skull.

[red snow]

The reasons you gave were the reasons I thought they'd be pissed at him. It wouldn't be the first time Marvel or DC made a financially stupid move over personal pettiness. Then again I think Marvel still kind of publishes Millar books through the icon imprint, right? In which case they must still be making some money off of him. Although it must still upset them that he's making money as a consultant on their properties for Fox.

I'd be pretty happy if Loeb was back on form. I liked several of the marvel "colour" books and also initially enjoyed Batman/Superman until the mutual masturbation captions became overwhelming. Maybe the captions are part of his recent problems as you say.

[Nephrite]

Then again I think Marvel still kind of publishes Millar books through the icon imprint, right? In which case they must still be making some money off of him.

Yeah. And that stuff sells pretty good. Millar is a king of self-promotion. And his shit does get turned into movies which leads to a bump in trade sales. Trades printed by Marvel. It's a mutually beneficial existence.

Although it must still upset them that he's making money as a consultant on their properties for Fox.

They know he's a whore. And his exclusive contract was only for comics. If he got that Superman movie gig he lied about, they really wouldn't have a right ot hold a grudge.

And honestly, I have no idea why Fox hired him. How can he exactly help them? His books are awful. When made into movies they need to be revisioned. Let's see how much dog killing and rape there will be in Kick-Ass 2. And his work on Marvel properties was basically "Let's make everyone into douchebags". That won't fly on film.

It's like he Jedi mind-tricked himself into that job. Few years from now, someone will say: "Why the fuck are we paying this freckled Englishman for? He is literally doing nothing. And we can do that ourselves."

I'd be pretty happy if Loeb was back on form. I liked several of the marvel "colour" books and also initially enjoyed Batman/Superman until the mutual masturbation captions became overwhelming. Maybe the captions are part of his recent problems as you say.

I think the death of his son was the major factor. I can't even imagine what that must've felt like. I think he left for Marvel just for the change of scenery. But, I don't think he was very much into writing capeshit after that anyway. Yet, you have to put food on the table. That's why we got Rulk flying on Silver Surfer's board wielding Mjolnir while having sex with Heidi Klum.

I think he can write good stuff, if an editor tells him to tighten it and drop the whole Michael Bay thing.

Funnily enough, even if he was horrible he still sold amazingly well, considering he wasn't on any of the flagship titles. No Avengers. No X-Men besides Wolverine. No Spider-Man. Yet, people bought. Maybe they just like to complain.

[polishgenius]

It pains me that Mark Millar gets such undeserved attention in movieland when Warren Ellis, who as a writer is basically him but better in every way and also has, or at least had, ambitions in that direction can't get a look in. And Matthew K Vaughan was limited to a brief sojourn in Lost, etcs...

[Nephrite]

It pains me that Mark Millar gets such undeserved attention in movieland when Warren Ellis, who as a writer is basically him but better in every way and also has, or at least had, ambitions in that direction can't get a look in. And Matthew K Vaughan was limited to a brief sojourn in Lost, etcs...

They need to get better at ass-kissing and bragging how they are friends with James McAvoy. Jim for friends.

[polishgenius]

They need to get better at ass-kissing and bragging how they are friends with James McAvoy. Jim for friends.

Fuck that, I want Warren Ellis to walk up to Hollywood and give it a bit of this.

[red snow]

I think the death of his son was the major factor. I can't even imagine what that must've felt like. I think he left for Marvel just for the change of scenery. But, I don't think he was very much into writing capeshit after that anyway. Yet, you have to put food on the table. That's why we got Rulk flying on Silver Surfer's board wielding Mjolnir while having sex with Heidi Klum.

I think he can write good stuff, if an editor tells him to tighten it and drop the whole Michael Bay thing.

Funnily enough, even if he was horrible he still sold amazingly well, considering he wasn't on any of the flagship titles. No Avengers. No X-Men besides Wolverine. No Spider-Man. Yet, people bought. Maybe they just like to complain.

I think that may have been part of the problem. I think he started writing things that kids would enjoy. teamed with Mcguiness I can see his work appealing to younger audiences. I guess that's what they are going for with Nova. Like you said, his ultimates still sold well despite the hatred so no surprise there are hypocrite collectors out there. Or internet shouting isn't proportional to how the majority feel - this seems to be true of the reverse where all you see on the internet is how wonderful slott's she-hulk is but no-one buys it.

Warren Ellis wrote a Justice league and does the plot archs for all the marvel anime. Iron Man 3 looks to be heavily based on his extremis story so it;s not too bad for him.I guess part of the problem is that he writes comics and not storyboards for movies like Millar does. Planetary is great but it wouldn't work as a film. sadly some of his more filmable comics are unfunished projects or things that are delayed to the point people forget about them. Fell could have made a great film or tv show but he never bothered finishing it.

I'd like to see a US cable channel adapt transmet

[polishgenius]

Fell could have made a great film or tv show but he never bothered finishing it.

In fairness to him, it wasn't 'never bothered', Fell was victim to the same computer problem as Listener. It's supposedly still to be finished, though has fallen into a schedule doldrum that makes Planetary #27 look prompt (Ben Templesmith got the script for Fell #10 two years ago; a video exists of him painting a page of it from a year ago). Shame.

Desolation Jones is definitively dead though. More shame.

I think some of his one-off miniseries would work quite well as films, albeit most of them would need punching up to size a little. And certainly Global Frequency would make for a great TV show, which is why it's been attempted twice (and only failed the first time because Warner Brothers are bastards).

The frustrating thing is though with seeing Ellis' work on the big screen (I know he's done a few animated things - there was a GI Joe, wasn't there, and he does the occasional game as well - Dead Space, obviously, being the big one) is that he seems to get so close and then it just... doesn't happen. Like he was writing an Excalibur script, that seems to have vanished.

I'm not too fussed though. S'long as he's writing something for me to read. :P As you say, it's better he does proper work rather than whore himself out for attention.

That post got longer than it was meant to be when I started writing it.

[Winterfell is Burning]

And honestly, I have no idea why Fox hired him. How can he exactly help them? His books are awful. When made into movies they need to be revisioned. Let's see how much dog killing and rape there will be in Kick-Ass 2. And his work on Marvel properties was basically "Let's make everyone into douchebags". That won't fly on film.

It's like he Jedi mind-tricked himself into that job. Few years from now, someone will say: "Why the fuck are we paying this freckled Englishman for? He is literally doing nothing. And we can do that ourselves."

CTRL + Q to Enable/Disable GoPhoto.it

Seems clear to me: they saw they need a guy that understands at least the basics of this comics stuff, and they went to the most famous name available.

They could have looked for the best, or at least a writer more known as an expert in continuity and stuff, but come on, this is Fox: those are the guys that, when they found Singer had signed for Superman, literally threw him in the parking lot and told him to GTFO (that really happened), had the actor he brought to Superman be killed, and then hired the dude from Rush Hour as replacement.

[red snow]

In fairness to him, it wasn't 'never bothered', Fell was victim to the same computer problem as Listener. It's supposedly still to be finished, though has fallen into a schedule doldrum that makes Planetary #27 look prompt (Ben Templesmith got the script for Fell #10 two years ago; a video exists of him painting a page of it from a year ago). Shame.

I think some of his one-off miniseries would work quite well as films, albeit most of them would need punching up to size a little. And certainly Global Frequency would make for a great TV show, which is why it's been attempted twice (and only failed the first time because Warner Brothers are bastards).

I'm not too fussed though. S'long as he's writing something for me to read. :P As you say, it's better he does proper work rather than whore himself out for attention.

That post got longer than it was meant to be when I started writing it.

I hope he has since learned the value of backing things up. I can see how it would be hard to rewrite something you've finished though. What was the second attempt at global frequency? I've heard the pilot for the tv show was excellent.

[Nephrite]

Seems clear to me: they saw they need a guy that understands at least the basics of this comics stuff, and they went to the most famous name available.

Sure, but what does he really do? Consult? What can he do? Can he revise scripts? Is he there so they can create a cohesve universe like what Marvel Studios did with Avengers? I'm sure Fox could've done their movies without him. X-Men are doing fine. It really seems like one of those made-up jobs. If the movie sucks he can say: "Oh well, I had no creative control." If the movie is great he can say: "That was my input. Otherwise it would be like that Kojak cameo in Superman."

It's a win-win for him, and he doesn't even have to leave his house. My money is on him weaseling into the job by convincing them that they need him.

Man, I need to think happy thoughts. Like that time Millar got kicked off the set of The Dark Knight by security for trying to sit on the Bat-Pod. I guess his star ain't so bright.

[red snow]

The other thing with Millar is that the only adaptation I've really enjoyed by him (kick-ass) was one where the screenwriter and director didn't involve him and I'm pretty sure they made it a success as the comic wasn't that great.

I've no idea how much Millar is being paid by fox but hopefully not too much. I can see Fox's logic looking at how MArvel is doing and the fact they include comic creators. They could just do it themselves but it's probably easier to throw money at Millar and let him handle publcity for the comicsphere. I guess he knows enough about the X-men to suggest all the possible spin-offs they can do. I'll be surprised if Cable or Bishop doesn't turn up in the next film for a potential spin-off. There's also the Fantastic Four where he can suggest ways of crossing over with the X-men. Still not entirely clear how much of the FF world Fox owns? I guess they have Surfer and Galactus but possibly the skrulls and annihilus etc. If Guardians of the Galaxy does well, Fox has enough to exploit for their own galactic film.

Speaking of the new x-men, I hope with all the time travel they find a way to bring Cyclops back. Not too fussed if they bring the original actor back but they really need to bring Cyclops back into play in the movies,

[polishgenius]

What was the second attempt at global frequency? I've heard the pilot for the tv show was excellent.

CBS bought the option and announced they were having a go at it a couple of years ago, got so far as having a writer attached. Radio silence since then, though.

The other thing with Millar is that the only adaptation I've really enjoyed by him (kick-ass) was one where the screenwriter and director didn't involve him and I'm pretty sure they made it a success as the comic wasn't that great.

And it's not as if Wanted (which I also quite enjoyed) had much to do with the comic at all. Though in fairness I thought Wanted the comic was alright- certainly better than Kick-Ass.

Oddly, Kick-Ass 2, the comic, is miles better than the first one- there's still the OTT cruelty and crudity but it's balanced by actual human feeling and things like that which are often alien to Millar-land (which is the main thing they changed for the film). Shame Vaughn isn't directing the film but given how much better the source material is I'm hopeful the second one won't fall too far short.

[red snow]

CBS bought the option and announced they were having a go at it a couple of years ago, got so far as having a writer attached. Radio silence since then, though.

And it's not as if Wanted (which I also quite enjoyed) had much to do with the comic at all. Though in fairness I thought Wanted the comic was alright- certainly better than Kick-Ass.

Oddly, Kick-Ass 2, the comic, is miles better than the first one- there's still the OTT cruelty and crudity but it's balanced by actual human feeling and things like that which are often alien to Millar-land (which is the main thing they changed for the film). Shame Vaughn isn't directing the film but given how much better the source material is I'm hopeful the second one won't fall too far short.

Wanted the film was fine as an action film. The loom of the future was a bit weird and the whole "kill one to save a thousand" was rubbished with the train scene though.

Sounds like Vaughn and Goldman had a positive influence on Millar when it came to kick-ass 2. Main thing is needs to keep the adult certificate to keep the swearing and violence intact.

[Sci-2]

New guess for surprise ending of AoU: Kill Hank Pym in the past.

[red snow]

New guess for surprise ending of AoU: Kill Hank Pym in the past.

Is that to stop Ultron from being created? Could finally but a rest to the whole wife-beating thing too.

So Hickman is doing an infinite guantlet event. Or at least kicking it off with free comic-book day. Apparently this week's new avengers may also be setting it up.

[Sci-2]

Yeah, I kind of suspect Disney sees potential in a Giant Man-Wasp film that combines Honey I Shrunk the Kids and Mr/Mrs Smith but doesn't want a wife beater.

They'll probably draw him [into the present All New X-men style] from before he went [abusive &] crazy as a"resurrection".

Killing Pym allows them to do a partial rewrite of reality as well, changing just enough without going for a DC style hard reboot.

Good to know Hickman's doing an Infinity Gauntlet event. He's probably the one guy I'd trust to do something interesting with such a ridiculously overpowered toy.

[Nephrite]

Good to know Hickman's doing an Infinity Gauntlet event. He's probably the one guy I'd trust to do something interesting with such a ridiculously overpowered toy.

With Thanos non the less. Next year: Magneto starts his own country.

Didn't Thanos die twice in the last 4 years?

Events are of course the point when people turn on fan favorite creators. Everyone was fine with Bendis until he went event-happy with Disassembled. The same goes for Johns and Infinite Crisis. Morrison and Final Crisis. What was that thing Waid did? Underworld Unleashed?

[red snow]

With Thanos non the less. Next year: Magneto starts his own country.

Didn't Thanos die twice in the last 4 years?

Events are of course the point when people turn on fan favorite creators. Everyone was fine with Bendis until he went event-happy with Disassembled. The same goes for Johns and Infinite Crisis. Morrison and Final Crisis. What was that thing Waid did? Underworld Unleashed?

Magneto with his own country is hardly fresh either. Guy has had his own asteroid at one point :)

Dare I say that Millar wasn't hated for Civil War? It's kind of his fault the whole event thing sparked off again. Well, aside from people still buying them in their droves.

I'm waiting for an event where the event is that no-one dies and things carry on as normal. Maybe that's the unguessable end to age of ultron?