COMICS: Mark Millar Comments on BEFORE WATCHMEN

COMICS: Mark Millar Comments on BEFORE WATCHMEN

The polarizing writer shares his thoughts on Before Watchmen as well as his general feelings about writer/artist owned content. Full comments after the jump!

News
By Thorverine - Feb 06, 2012 09:02 AM EST
Filed Under: DC Comics
Source: comics.ign.com



Whether you love him or hate him, you have to admit that Mark Millar has made some good books. From Kick-Ass, Old Man Logan, Nemesis, as well as his work on the Ultimates series Millar has some big titles. The writer spoke briefly with IGN about the DC prequel to Watchmen. He is polarizing for a reason:

I guess it's what happens in comics. I'm lucky that I went off to do Millarworld so that nobody can come in and f*** up Kick-Ass. If anybody's going to f*** it up, it's me. And I like it that way. It's a shame, but in comics, there's a history of: if you create Batman or Superman or Spider-Man, somebody takes it off you for a relatively small amount of money, and makes millions off it. And that's historically what's happened in comics.

I'm so lucky that I was born in a time when me and the artist own everything. Between us we split it 50/50, down the middle. We own everything, so it will never happen to us. But poor Alan Moore was at the end of that generation of guys who got shafted, and Watchmen is owned by Time-Warner. And of course they're going to do something with Watchmen eventually.




When asked if he was interested enough in what they might do to actually read Before Watchmen Millar answered:
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The books might be good, they might not. But I sort of feel like if I want to read Watchmen, I'll read the original one. To me it feels unnecessary, and I'm saying this as a guy who wrote Superman, and Captain America, and The Ultimates. So we all do it I guess.

I'm loyal. I love Moore and I love Watchmen. My curiosity isn't so much that I'd pick it up. But I don't blame the guys for doing it. I guess we're all guilty of it in comics, but that's what's nice about creator owns. It feels a bit more honest - I make it up, I get the money, and nobody comes to take it off me.




Millar, always one to open his mouth on any number of topics, had some points. What do you think? Do you agree, or is this just Millar just being Millar? Sound off below!

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JatevinM
JatevinM - 2/6/2012, 10:02 AM
I do like his view on the whole thing.
JatevinM
JatevinM - 2/6/2012, 10:06 AM
I still stand by my view that these shouldn't even be made unless Alan Moore has something to do with it.
rbfn04
rbfn04 - 2/6/2012, 11:16 AM
Yeah, Millar, copying famous characters with little changes is the right thing to do, right?
Dedpool
Dedpool - 2/6/2012, 11:16 AM
Makes alot of sense this Millar guy does. I love Mark Millar. bring on Old Man Logan 2!!
BlindLemonShemp
BlindLemonShemp - 2/6/2012, 11:29 AM
good for him... "But I sort of feel like if I want to read Watchmen, I'll read the original one. To me it feels unnecessary" I lke that.

Sorry DC... No Alan Moore, No Sale! jerks....
hoperidesalone
hoperidesalone - 2/6/2012, 11:30 AM
Mark Millar is such a jackass. It's weird seeing him say something half-reasonable.

I don't agree with him about the whole "poor Alan Moore" bullshit, though. Alan Moore is a grumpy old bastard that needs to relax.
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 2/6/2012, 11:35 AM
I'm sort of getting sick of all these guys bashing BEFORE WATCHMEN when they cut their teeth and gained notariety on characters that were invented by others.

i get that you should use the budget to try and find the next great franchise, give new writers a chance to show their stuff. but to all of the indusdry people who are bashing this: i'm going to guess you grew up loving comics, not only the comics but the cartoons, the toys, the lunch boxes, t-shirts, i'm sure that before you even knew how to read you loved comics because of the art and that one spider-man toy your mom got you that one christmas. none of that would exist without business decisions like this.

But Watchmen characters don't belong in certain places like the other characters do? characters like the murderous Punisher? i'd even argue that Wolverine is sneaking dangerously close to knocking off spider-man as Marvel's most popular character. and he's worse than any character in watchmen.

"I'm part of an industry that was built on squeezing everything out of someone else's property! i made my name writing stories for someone else's property! wait - i invented a character? well NO ONE can write my character! only i know what's best for my character!"

I'm so glad WB is doing this. if for nothing else than to stick it all the up-tight hypocrites.
Shaman
Shaman - 2/6/2012, 11:38 AM
Well he better start reading the original Watchmen quick before someone takes it away from him. Cause we all know what happens when people write prequels and sequels, it makes the original masterpiece vanish into thin air, never to be seen or mentionned again. It's just logical i mean, come on...
Shaman
Shaman - 2/6/2012, 11:40 AM
OdinsBeard- A [frick]ing MEN.
hoperidesalone
hoperidesalone - 2/6/2012, 11:49 AM
Both of you. Amen. (Shaman, Odin)
RolandD
RolandD - 2/6/2012, 12:09 PM
There is a part of me that thinks that they should leave Watchmen alone, but that is purely for artistic reasons. It was so good that it is very risky to try and outdo or even equal it. However, it has been done before. Godfather II outdid Godfather I in the eyes of many.

That being said, DC has every right to do what they want with the properties as they own them. Just because they can, does not mean that they should, though.
StrangerX
StrangerX - 2/6/2012, 12:55 PM
Not many times but sometimes I agree with the guy.
Bandrews1
Bandrews1 - 2/6/2012, 1:03 PM
@rogmel well said.
MassExecutions
MassExecutions - 2/6/2012, 1:05 PM
Huh, weird. I basically agree with him on this. That's time number two, after his Frank Miller comments. You know, when your working for salary, its the publisher that's taking the risk. How many times have they paid writers for crappy characters they never get to use again? They kinda half to run with the good ones to make up for those. I'm not saying the big publishers are barely breaking even or anything, but that's the basic principal. You take the risk, you get the reward.

"It feels a bit more honest - I make it up, I get the money, and nobody comes to take it off me." Does that include the government, because I though Millar was a socialist?
comicb00kguy
comicb00kguy - 2/6/2012, 1:19 PM
This is one of the few times I find myself agreeing with a lot of what Millar had to say about something, especially the idea that "if I want to read the Watchmen, I'll read the original one". Those characters were created and intended for use in one twelve-part story. There is nothing THAT earth-shaking left to be revealed about any of them.

Do a lot of you know that Moore's contract called for the rights of all of the Watchmen characters to revert to him when the original trade paperback went out of print? (And yes, the big book familiar to most of us is a trade paperback, NOT a "graphic novel". It is a compendium of the twelve-issue miniseries, which is how the Watchmen was originally produced.) This came out around the time the movie was in production, don't recall just where. What Moore couldn't have foreseen was that the Watchmen would remain so enduringly popular that the TPB never has gone out of print, even after all these years.
Robicon
Robicon - 2/6/2012, 1:21 PM
@ScarletVendetta: wow, for someone who cares so little for everyone elses opinion you sure like to push yours on everyone else.
siggisuperman
siggisuperman - 2/6/2012, 1:47 PM
I don't get it... I love Mark Millars work... Am I not being a good CBM nerd ?
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 2/6/2012, 1:47 PM
Shaman! good to see you my friend. i loved the way you put it - "Cause we all know what happens when people write prequels and sequels, it makes the original masterpiece vanish into thin air" - That's my main issue with all of this. nothing more need be said.
siggisuperman
siggisuperman - 2/6/2012, 1:50 PM
Also people saying watchmen is "just a comic" It was one of the first comic books to be accepted as real artistic literature... And if you say it's not spectacular you're just not understanding the book.
siggisuperman
siggisuperman - 2/6/2012, 1:53 PM
"To date, Watchmen remains the only graphic novel to win a Hugo Award, and is also the only graphic novel to appear on Time magazine's 2005 list of "the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present"."
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 2/6/2012, 1:55 PM
siggisuperman@ me too. he's just like every other writer out there to me - some of his stuff i really like and some of his stuff i don't. simple as that. and when i met him at a signing he actually couldn't have been more nice. signed all the stuff i had and didn't make me get in the back of the line again...

so nice guy, i'm not sure if i agree or disagree with him here - he kind of takes both sides.
siggisuperman
siggisuperman - 2/6/2012, 1:59 PM
@odinsbeard yeah... loads of much worse writers out there :)
KeithM
KeithM - 2/6/2012, 3:20 PM
Lot of people missing the point here.

A lot of us aren't against this because it's "sacrilege" at all - it's because the story is done, told. Everything significant that happened to the characters we know about; it was in the book.

What's left is just not significant enough to warrant this series. Where's the conflict? We already know the outcome. We already know all the most significant moments in these characters lives, including if/when they die. Which won't be in these books, so ultimately what's the reason for doing it?

Because there are stories still to tell? Well not really, as I explained.

So it must be pure exploitation then? To get money from the suckers who will buy anything with the Watchmen name on it, regardless of its merit or relevance.

But DC needs you I suppose, so go ahead - give them your money.
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 2/6/2012, 4:15 PM
KeithM@ some good points you made. i do believe there are stories to tell but how much they pique your interest is a subjective matter that will probably vary. But why are people who will buy anything with a watchmen name on it "suckers"?

are people still "suckers" if they have a lot of batman merch? or they really like spider-man? - i wouldn't argue if you chose to answer yes to those questions but then you're pretty much calling yourself and everyone else here a sucker. and if thats the case... WELCOME TO THE PARTY! we really like Watchmen here!

:)
OdinsBeard
OdinsBeard - 2/6/2012, 4:21 PM
-"I am glad thou that so many people seem to know what another person, whom they don't know, probably will never meet, should do with his life, his craft and his wardrobe... kinda mussolinian don't you think?"


-"i don't push anything, i'm totally right but people are free to think whatever you want, sure then i have the freedom to think that the same people are some kind of jerry springer/oprah audience amoeba who don't know the meaning of the term Anarchist and don't give shit about their opinion, but that just the way life is innit?"

the same person said both of these things. in the same statement. i won't say who, i don't want to throw anybody under the bus.. but let the guessing begin in 3...2...

i'd let the hypocracy and gramatical errors soak in first....
BlindLemonShemp
BlindLemonShemp - 2/6/2012, 4:44 PM
lol scarletvendetta makes me laugh


nonsensicle ramblings of idiocracy are the new english
BlindLemonShemp
BlindLemonShemp - 2/6/2012, 4:47 PM
@scarlet and im pretty sure rogmel asked what job title and salary makes a persons opinion matter to you in regard to you calling everyone burger flippin losers...

just to clarify... cuz that was pretty low-class
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