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A place to talk about anything to do with comics that doesn’t belong in the other threads.

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Vikram wrote:

More on the Gaiman allegations.

Warning: long and disturbing. I feel quite sick now. However this plays out it’s going to be difficult to read any of his work again.

https://www.vulture.com/article/neil-gaiman-allegations-controversy-amanda-palmer-sandman-madoc.html

Yea. I’m horrified by this. Not sure I’ll be able to read anything of his again.

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Ben, Vikram, Dave, Todd

Yeah the latest stuff seems to make it clearer than ever that he is an out-and-out rapist.

I’m still surprised (but probably shouldn’t be) at how quiet this has been kept in general, you would have thought people would be publicly decrying his behaviour but I’ve seen relatively little of that. I guess a lot of people and companies still have a lot on money tied up in his books and adaptations, and it suits them to downplay all this.

But the most recent details are especially grim and I find it difficult to believe that anyone would want to be associated with him in any way after this.

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Ben, Vikram, Todd

Well, this isn’t good at all.

Diamond Comic Distributors Files Voluntary Petition for Relief Under Chapter 11 – BusinessWire

Company Received Commitments for $41 Million in DIP Financing

Universal Distribution Has Made A $39 Million Stalking Horse Bid for Alliance Game Distributors and Non-Binding Letter of Intent to Buy Diamond UK

HUNT VALLEY, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Diamond Comic Distributors (“Diamond” or “the Company”), today announced that it has filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland to facilitate the restructuring of its business. As part of the restructuring process, Diamond has received a $39 million stalking horse bid from an affiliate of Universal Distribution (“Universal”) for Alliance Game Distributors.

“Universal Distribution is looking forward to working with the Alliance and Diamond UK teams to bring a stronger balance sheet and growth opportunities to retailers and suppliers. Both companies have deep roots in the industry, and we look forward to continuing that into the future”

More in link…

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Ben, lorcan_nagle, Todd

The manager at my LCS had told me a few weeks ago this would probably happen.

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Ben, lorcan_nagle

Yeah, I’d known a lot of this from listening to the toirtoise podcast, but there are a few more cases here and some very disturbing details that are new (and some that I still hope against reason aren’t quite true to the way it happened, especially those involving his kid). It’s all quite disturbing.

Vikram wrote:

However this plays out it’s going to be difficult to read any of his work again.

Yeah. I think at this point, my brain is trying to draw a line between the Gaiman who wrote Sandman, at least, and the rapist. This all seems to have started somewhere in his forties, so maybe that’ll be my way of dealing with this.

One thing that annoys me though is that everybody seems to be jumping on Calliope and other sexual attacks in his stories. Jesus, people, when you write about something that still isn’t an indication that you’ve done it, or even that you’re fantasising about doing it yourself. Or you might as well arrest every second writer out there right now.

The theories about how his being raised as a scientologist may have played a part in warping his mind are interesting. That part is all just speculation, of course, but it does seem pretty convincing.

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Vikram

Gaiman’s response:

https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2025/01/breaking-silence.html

Saying exactly what you would expect him to say in such a situation. Everything was consensual, I did nothing wrong. Blah blah blah.

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Ben, Todd, Dave

Yeah definitely. That statement seems very carefully worded, presumably by his PR, to balance respect for the women involved with clear denial of any wrongdoing.

It’s difficult to see where things go from here. Gaiman there says nothing was non-consensual, and while nobody knows except the people involved, it’s pretty serious to label someone a rapist without knowing for sure – so the jury is out on that one I guess. But the likelihood is that this stuff will never be legally tested, so it will always be he said/she said.

However, even when the facts are disputed, the separate accounts are all similar enough to make the victims’ accounts feel fairly plausible – and either way the NDAs will be a matter of record, and just the existence of those kinds of deals feels somewhat incriminating.

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Ben, Todd, Vikram

I wonder if anyone on his PR team was saying “Shut. The. Fuck. Up” to him through ground teeth while they discussed this response.

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Ben, Dave, Todd, Sean Robinson, Vikram

Even if you give him the benefit of the doubt here (which is difficult given the circumstances, but, sure, “innocent until proven guilty”) in accepting that he genuinely believes ever encounter was consensual; the power dynamics involved in several of the accounts makes that a pretty weak excuse for the deplorable behaviour being described. He knows that too, I’m sure, which is why “his” statement is so pathetic.

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Ben, Dave, Todd, Sean Robinson

lorcan_nagle wrote:

I wonder if anyone on his PR team was saying “Shut. The. Fuck. Up” to him through ground teeth while they discussed this response.

He and PR flacks probably wrote something, and then his legal team said swooped in for the final rewrite saying, “Oh, fucking hell.”

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Ben

It all throws a whole new light on that Sandman story where the writer keeps a woman locked up in his house and uses her against her will, while outwardly proclaiming his feminist credentials. Write what you know I guess.

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Bruce, Todd, Ben

Yeah, it’s the usual PR talk.

Also, if you’re having to use NDAs that ought to be a red flag right there.

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Vikram, Dave, Todd

Yeah, even if you still wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, at the point where you have to pay multiple women’s treatment for trauma after a relationship with you, and make sure they sign NDAs, you can’t really claim you didn’t realise you were doing anything wrong. Fuck that.

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Vikram, Todd, Dave

Remind me again: what horrible, God-awful thing did Ed Piskor do, to how many susceptible young women, that led people to harass and blackball him to the point where he committed suicide?

Fuck Neil Gaiman’s version of events.

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Andrew, Martin Smith, Vikram, Todd, Dave

This Saturday (May 3rd) is Free Comic Book Day.

FCBD.com – Comics

The other day, I received one of Mark Millar’s Millarworld emails where he is hyping upcoming projects. It really got me thinking about him.

At one point, he was one of the hottest tickets in comics. He always seemed to be a few steps ahead of everybody, careerwise. But in the years since he sold Millarworld to Netflix, it seems like he has fallen off the face of the earth.

He did in the 2000s what the original Image founders did in the early 1990s. He left the Big Two and started his own line. He got the biggest artists in the industry to work on his books. He gave them an ownership stake in them. He got movie deals. He went back to Marvel and did some top-selling books. He continued to produce his own books. He laid the template that less than a handful could actually follow. Like him or not, he really was the top comic creator at the time.

But then, Mark sold Millarworld to Netflix. It seemed like it took too long for any projects to come out. And when they finally did, they weren’t very good. I think only a few things have every been produced. Looking at Previews, Mark is still producing comics, but he doesn’t seem like he’s getting the big names he used to. (It could be the names are big, but I am so disconnected from the comics scene that I don’t know them.) No one stays on top forever but with Mark, it feels like he just faded out. I think he’s got a podcast but then, so does practically everyone.

Mark was very good at seeing the patterns and figuring out what the next big step would be and doing it before everyone else. Maybe he’s still searching for the next big thing. I gave up on him several years ago. I have a few runs of his books that I haven’t even read yet. He always had a more bombastic style, and it could be that I’ve simply grown out of him.

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Al-x, Martin Smith, lorcan_nagle

Todd wrote:

it could be that I’ve simply grown out of him.

This is definitely it for me. As a teen reading Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates, I thought his work was great. As not a teen re-reading those, it’s largely pretty cringe-worthy and horrifically cynical. Even when he’s tried for sincerity (Chrononauts) it doesn’t work.

I honestly couldn’t name any comic he’s done since Magic Order, which is admittedly because I don’t read previews or solicitations any more as much as anything, but I’m in enough of comics fandom that I think I’d hear if he had a new title as big as Kick Ass was back in the day. It does feel like the zeitgeist has moved beyond him but yeah, the Netflix deal also seems to have stalled things. Presumably he can’t woo big artists as much now because he’s not able to offer an ownership stake, given it’s not creator-owned now, and obviously he can’t get the big movie deals like Kick Ass, Wanted and Kingsmen had because he’s tied into them (which given that Jupiter’s Legacy sank without trace probably isn’t a priority for Netflix). Did American Jesus/Chosen’s adaptation ever even get released?

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Todd

Martin Smith wrote:

Did American Jesus/Chosen’s adaptation ever even get released?

In 2023, under the name The Chosen One.  It seems to have gotten good reviews but I never got around to watching it

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chosen_One_(2023_TV_series)

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Todd, Martin Smith

Martin Smith wrote:

This is definitely it for me. As a teen reading Ultimate X-Men and Ultimates, I thought his work was great. As not a teen re-reading those, it’s largely pretty cringe-worthy and horrifically cynical. Even when he’s tried for sincerity (Chrononauts) it doesn’t work.

A lot of his stuff was cringey at the time and he was called out on it. There was some creepy incest-ish stuff in Nemesis that didn’t go over too well. I do find it amusing that The Unfunnies, his hands-down cringiest work in his bibliography, is the one he has practically disowned and disavowed. So much of his work went for the shock element and was superficial. He always said his wrk was akin to action movies.

When I got rid of my collection, the vast majority of the Millarworld stuff went along it. (I did keep The Unfunnies.) I do have a bunch of books from several years ago that are unread and to be honest, I just don’t have the motivation to read them. I have a shit ton of unread comics and there’s a lot more in there that I’d rather read than his stuff.

I wonder what his magnum opus is? Wanted was his breakthrough book. I think his Jupiter’s Legacy books were supposed to be that, but I feel that just really didn’t go as planned.

Oh, I do recall Mark piping up not that long ago about Marvel and DC should let the biggest names in the industry take over the lines for a year to boost awareness and sales. It was supposed to be a way to “save” the industry. I think it was met with a resounding “meh”.

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lorcan_nagle

Todd wrote:

I wonder what his magnum opus is?

I guess movie adaptations always raise the profile of the comics they’re based on, so I’d say probably Kick-Ass or Kingsman in terms of the wider pop-culture impact.

My favourite of his comics is probably still Ultimates, though.

More recently I haven’t followed much of his stuff, but I did pick up King Of Spies a few years back which I thought was very good.

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Todd, lorcan_nagle

Well, he’s still writing stuff, but it doesn’t seem like a lot is happening with the books. And he doesn’t seem to be doing any of those crazy PR pushes anymore.

I guess may the Millarworld Netflix thing means he’s getting TV money on any book he publishes so he doesn’t necessarily need for them to go big in readership?

Anyway, I am sure I am going to catch up with his work at some point. I always liked it a lot, even though none of it resonated quite as much with me as, you know, the big guys. Moore, Morrison, Gaiman, Milligan.

[paul f]

Christian wrote:

Well, he’s still writing stuff, but it doesn’t seem like a lot is happening with the books. And he doesn’t seem to be doing any of those crazy PR pushes anymore.

It’s funny you post this now, because he’s literally doing one right now (I still follow the MW Facebook page, and he just started posting to it for the first time in two years).

• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by paul f.
• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by paul f.

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Christian, Todd

How much of that is actually going to happen, do we think? The announcements, I mean. Millar was forever teasing “big news” about such and such that would then never materialise.

Martin Smith wrote:

How much of that is actually going to happen, do we think? The announcements, I mean. Millar was forever teasing “big news” about such and such that would then never materialise.

Rich Johnston has already said Marvel and DC have nothing in the works with Millar: https://bleedingcool.com/comics/nope-its-not-mark-millar-on-dc-marvel-or-marvel-dc/

Yeah, cos his anecdote doesn’t really make sense once you strip back to the usual self-aggrandising. “oh I mentioned on Twitter I had an idea for a Superman story and DC fell over themselves to ask me to do it” (I’m sure nothing to do with the fact Morrison has recently announced something with DC again) “then Marvel asked if I wanted to do something with them again but I’m not allowed to do anything outside of Millarworld because Netflix own me but I’m going to do something outside of Millarworld.”

Here’s Mark’s announcement:

Hey Folks,

A year ago Marvel asked me to come back for a big special crossover project and I was intrigued. Civil War remains Marvel’s biggest selling graphic novel of all time and my mind was whirring with ideas to top it. A little while before, the big bosses at DC dropped me a line and asked if I wanted to do a huge Superman project, a slam dunk with the Superman movie coming up. As readers know, I’m also the biggest Superman fan of all time and don’t just have Christopher Reeve’s cape hanging up in my house, I have Frisky the cat Superman rescues from a tree in the Richard Donner movie stuffed and sitting on my piano.

So both ideas intrigued me and I made a request to clear 12 weeks in my schedule last year so I could do ONE of them over October, November and December. But as I sat down to start figuring out what I wanted to write I got a call from John Romita Jr. Johnny and I did Wolverine together early in my career and loved working together so much that we created Kick-Ass to work on a few years later. Kick-Ass spawned movies, t-shirts, Halloween costumes and even Pez dispensers and we’ve always talked about working together again, but never found the right project. At the same time, Guy Ritchie’s brilliant producer Ivan Atkinson and I had been talking about doing a movie together and just looking for the right vehicle. Ivan has produced some of my favourite movies and TV shows in recent years from The Gentlemen to Wrath of Man to Paramount’s recent MobLand. So, again, I wanted to make this something great if we were finally going to be working together.

That’s when I realised I was going to use this special 12 weeks I had carved out for something entirely new. Not Marvel, not DC, not even one of my Millarworld projects at Netflix. Johnny and I would create something exclusively for the Kickstarter market (which we’d never tried before) and team up with Ivan to make the movie at the same time. The result is Psychic Sam and we’ve just gone public in The Hollywood Reporter (link below) where you can hear about the book, the Kickstarter campaign and the movie with a little teaser trailer explaining the concept.

The Hollywood Reporter – Psychic Sam

Kickstarter – Psychic Sam

The idea for this beauty is basically Death Wish meets Minority Report. SAM NICOLETTI is a truck driver who gets details of a murder whispered in his ear 24 hours before it happens and if he ignores these voices, innocent people die. What would YOU do in this situation?

It’s a really simple idea and plays into all the stuff Johnny and I love doing, especially at a time when comic publishers have been in retreat from those gritty, gun-loving vigilante comics with problematic anti-heroes upfront. The world right now feels like 1974 with crime soaring, cities going bust and a thirst for these kind of characters. It felt very on the money and exactly what we, personally, want to READ right now, which is always a good sign.

The tiers in this campaign are fantastic, the book in paperback or hardcover editions, a black and white artist’s edition with no dialogue and even a 1970s style Marvel magazine-stye edition, printed large-scale and black and white inside with a painted cover by Star Wars legend Dave Dorman. We have stickers, apparel, posters, trading cards, you name it, and also the chance for four lucky readers to be written and drawn into the comic and gunned down by Psychic Sam himself.

In movie terms, we’ll start spilling the beans on the writers, director and who we’ve got lined up for Sam over the coming weeks and months. It’s UNBELIEVABLY exciting and a chance to work with some old friends again (wait ’til you see WHO). Johnny and I are really pumped about this and can’t wait to share what we’ve been working on. The comic itself is square-bound and 64 pages long, there’ll be three volumes in total which we plan to finish over the next nine months.

Trailer – Psychic Sam

Big news, like we promised, followed next month by ANOTHER huge movie announcement for a project you’re all very familiar with and which, I think, will be the most violent movie of the decade when it’s released. Then, in July, a THIRD live-action project officially announced. We’ve been working very hard in the background here and you’re about to see all that work rolling out now.

Exciting times, amigos. Catch me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more!

Your pal,
MM

DC v Marvel news:

https://www.cbr.com/batman-deadpool-marvel-dc-crossover/

Wells/Capullo and Morrison/Mora on a pair of Batman/Deadpool crossover books.

It could be worse, but it also could be better.

When are they finally just going to do Batman/Daredevil and get it over with?

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Todd

Dave wrote:

DC v Marvel news:

https://www.cbr.com/batman-deadpool-marvel-dc-crossover/

Wells/Capullo and Morrison/Mora on a pair of Batman/Deadpool crossover books.

It could be worse, but it also could be better.

When are they finally just going to do Batman/Daredevil and get it over with?

I’m going to assume Marvel and DC released this right now just to mess with Millar, and good on them.

I have no idea what a Morrison-written Deadpool looks like.

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Martin Smith

Morrison and Mora doing Deadpool is interesting. Oh and Batman will be there. The other I could take or leave.

I really wouldn’t have guessed this was Morrison’s return to DC project.

More contradictory self-serving guff from Millar. It’s gone from “I’m not allowed to do work outside Millarworld” to “I cleared my schedule to do a project outside MW and blew off Marvel AND DC to Kickstart a comic that’s a film pitch, no, don’t ask why this wouldn’t just be made by Netflix let alone isn’t immediately owned by them.”

The Millar project does not do anything to me, and the DC/Marvel news does even less. I’m more excited about the new Chris Condon one-shot from Oni Press, The Goddamn Tragedy, which will be on comics stands tomorrow!! And you should be excited TOO!!

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Dave

njerry wrote:

The Millar project does not do anything to me, and the DC/Marvel news does even less. I’m more excited about the new Chris Condon one-shot from Oni Press, The Goddamn Tragedy, which will be on comics stands tomorrow!! And you should be excited TOO!!

I have this one on order. Looking forward to it.

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njerry

Dave wrote:

DC v Marvel news:

https://www.cbr.com/batman-deadpool-marvel-dc-crossover/

Wells/Capullo and Morrison/Mora on a pair of Batman/Deadpool crossover books.

It could be worse, but it also could be better.

I can see them being priced at $9.99 per issue.

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lorcan_nagle

paul f wrote:

I have no idea what a Morrison-written Deadpool looks like.

Happy! is probably where he got closest to that territory.

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Ben, Todd, Dave, njerry

Christian wrote:

paul f wrote:

I have no idea what a Morrison-written Deadpool looks like.

Happy! is probably where he got closest to that territory.

That’s true, I’d forgotten about that.

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Todd

paul f wrote:

I have no idea what a Morrison-written Deadpool looks like.

To buck the trend, no fourth wall breaking at all

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Todd

[Martin Smith]

Not wanting to be harping on about Millar again so soon, but this came up yesterday on Bsky.

https://bsky.app/profile/matthollingsworth.com/post/3lqv36cbif22o

Mark Millar: I’m a champion of creators. People love working with me because they get rich from our creator owned collaborations. Oh, colourists? WFH no royalties. Excuse me now, I need to go on some comicsgate group chat.

 

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Martin Smith.
• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Martin Smith.

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Ben, Todd, lorcan_nagle

[Ben]

The hell? So MillarWorld books were only ever writer+ penciler? Nothing for letterers or colourists? That’s a crappy way to go on.

And yeah, he’s gone full pro-Comicsgate, probably announce a book with Van Scriver.

Murphy paid Hollingsworth for his work to make up for the lack of royalties.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Ben.

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Martin Smith, lorcan_nagle, Todd

[Ben]

Ben wrote:

The hell? So MillarWorld books were only ever writer+ penciler? Nothing for letterers or colourists? That’s a crappy way to go on.

And yeah, he’s gone full pro-Comicsgate, probably announce a book with Van Scriver.

Murphy paid Hollingsworth for his work to make up for the lack of royalties.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Ben.

His Kickstarter with JRJR just feels sketchy as hell. He’s never had to beg for money before to do a creator-owned project. Why now? From his email:

“Johnny and I would create something exclusively for the Kickstarter market (which we’d never tried before) and team up with Ivan to make the movie at the same time.”

Maybe he knows he doesn’t have the attraction he used to have, and this is how he can make some money? And there is going to be a tie-in movie? Like I said, this whole thing sounds off to me.

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Martin Smith, lorcan_nagle, Ben

[Ben]

Ben wrote:

The hell? So MillarWorld books were only ever writer+ penciler? Nothing for letterers or colourists? That’s a crappy way to go on.

And yeah, he’s gone full pro-Comicsgate, probably announce a book with Van Scriver.

Murphy paid Hollingsworth for his work to make up for the lack of royalties.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Ben.

The thing is, I can’t imagine there’s a huge amount of money left in ComicsGate given how many of their projects have been late, underdelivered, or just plain not delivered.  You’d think Millar still had the cachet that he didn’t need to slum it like this.

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Martin Smith, Ben, Todd

[Ben]

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Ben wrote:

The hell? So MillarWorld books were only ever writer+ penciler? Nothing for letterers or colourists? That’s a crappy way to go on.

And yeah, he’s gone full pro-Comicsgate, probably announce a book with Van Scriver.

Murphy paid Hollingsworth for his work to make up for the lack of royalties.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Ben.

The thing is, I can’t imagine there’s a huge amount of money left in ComicsGate given how many of their projects have been late, underdelivered, or just plain not delivered.  You’d think Millar still had the cachet that he didn’t need to slum it like this.

Mark’s star does not appear to be shining as bright as it once was. His work has always pushed the boundaries of good taste, and he often crossed that line. Maybe he’s finally giving in to his baser impulses and hanging out with the losers where he’s the big fish in the small pond.

Millar sold MW to Netflix in 2016 for around $31 million. I would assume he gets some form of continuing payment from them for new work. So, why do Kickstarter?

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Martin Smith, lorcan_nagle

[Ben]

Todd wrote:

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Ben wrote:

The hell? So MillarWorld books were only ever writer+ penciler? Nothing for letterers or colourists? That’s a crappy way to go on.

And yeah, he’s gone full pro-Comicsgate, probably announce a book with Van Scriver.

Murphy paid Hollingsworth for his work to make up for the lack of royalties.

• This reply was modified 3 months ago by Ben.

The thing is, I can’t imagine there’s a huge amount of money left in ComicsGate given how many of their projects have been late, underdelivered, or just plain not delivered.  You’d think Millar still had the cachet that he didn’t need to slum it like this.

Mark’s star does not appear to be shining as bright as it once was. His work has always pushed the boundaries of good taste, and he often crossed that line. Maybe he’s finally giving in to his baser impulses and hanging out with the losers where he’s the big fish in the small pond.

Millar sold MW to Netflix in 2016 for around $31 million. I would assume he gets some form of continuing payment from them for new work. So, why do Kickstarter?

Anything he does through Netflix is owned by Netflix. Presumably he and JRJR own this new thing themselves, including the movie rights.

It’s also possible Netflix no longer sees the value in Mark developing ideas for them, given it’s been almost a decade and none of them have been successes.

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Christian, Martin Smith, Todd, lorcan_nagle

Yeah, but 31 million. How much did that Superman costume cost?

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Martin Smith, Todd, Ben

Speaking of Mark…

Cancel culture is over and we’re free again, says comic book writer

Mark Millar, the Scottish comic book tycoon, has claimed cancel culture is over and writers have regained the freedom to produce edgy material.

The writer, who works as an executive at Netflix, said the comic and film industry had become “safe” and “benign” in recent years because creators feared a backlash if they released controversial material.

He dismissed cancel culture as a “youth trend” which had now passed by and said he was looking forward to seeing more “crazy” stories on screen and in print.

Millar, 55, originally from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, sold his comic book empire Millarworld to Netflix for almost £25 million in 2017.

As part of the deal, he became an executive at Netflix and now creates comics, films and television shows for the company.

“The world is more relaxed again. It was a funny time and I just think it was a youth trend,” he said. “All middle-aged people get angry at whatever the youth trend is. My dad hated punks and I’m sure his dad hated whatever came before that.

“There was a nasty side to it where you would get people hunted down online, which was horrible. It’s over now, which is great, and people are just telling good stories.”

Millar added: “This period we have been in has been so safe. There’s been nothing really dangerous in terms of cinema or comic books. I’m excited as a viewer and as a comic-book reader. I can’t wait to see everything getting a little crazy again.

“I do think proper cinema is returning and things like Marvel movies will still exist but it will just be the ones we really want instead of all the tat they were shoving at us.”

Speaking on the Clownfish TV YouTube channel, Millar said he had never personally cared about upsetting people with his comic-book material.

However he has been a vocal opponent of cancel culture and spoke out against writers being attacked because of their political views.

Millar’s superhero comics Kick-Ass, Wanted and Kingsman have all been turned into Hollywood films. He has also previously written Superman, Captain America and Wolverine comic-book stories.

He has just announced plans for a new comic and film, Psychic Sam, the story of a man who knows about murders before they happen, with a voice in his head telling him the name and address of future killers.

Millar has said the Netflix deal had been like a “lottery win” and allowed him to help out family members and his hometown financially.

He and his wife, Lucy, have set up a charitable foundation to use his fortune to help the Townhead area of Coatbridge, where he grew up.

Passed by my LCS and told the owner about some statues I have that I might want to move.
And trying to do business is so much like those shows Antique dealers and especially Pawn stars

He showed me the store display of statue boxes and said he gets no takers.
He won’t take them off my hands if he can’t move them and statues sell slow.

So another time.

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Todd

Todd wrote:

Speaking of Mark…

Cancel culture is over and we’re free again, says comic book writer

Mark Millar, the Scottish comic book tycoon, has claimed cancel culture is over and writers have regained the freedom to produce edgy material.

The writer, who works as an executive at Netflix, said the comic and film industry had become “safe” and “benign” in recent years because creators feared a backlash if they released controversial material.

He dismissed cancel culture as a “youth trend” which had now passed by and said he was looking forward to seeing more “crazy” stories on screen and in print.

Millar, 55, originally from Coatbridge, Lanarkshire, sold his comic book empire Millarworld to Netflix for almost £25 million in 2017.

As part of the deal, he became an executive at Netflix and now creates comics, films and television shows for the company.

“The world is more relaxed again. It was a funny time and I just think it was a youth trend,” he said. “All middle-aged people get angry at whatever the youth trend is. My dad hated punks and I’m sure his dad hated whatever came before that.

“There was a nasty side to it where you would get people hunted down online, which was horrible. It’s over now, which is great, and people are just telling good stories.”

Millar added: “This period we have been in has been so safe. There’s been nothing really dangerous in terms of cinema or comic books. I’m excited as a viewer and as a comic-book reader. I can’t wait to see everything getting a little crazy again.

“I do think proper cinema is returning and things like Marvel movies will still exist but it will just be the ones we really want instead of all the tat they were shoving at us.”

Speaking on the Clownfish TV YouTube channel, Millar said he had never personally cared about upsetting people with his comic-book material.

However he has been a vocal opponent of cancel culture and spoke out against writers being attacked because of their political views.

Millar’s superhero comics Kick-Ass, Wanted and Kingsman have all been turned into Hollywood films. He has also previously written Superman, Captain America and Wolverine comic-book stories.

He has just announced plans for a new comic and film, Psychic Sam, the story of a man who knows about murders before they happen, with a voice in his head telling him the name and address of future killers.

Millar has said the Netflix deal had been like a “lottery win” and allowed him to help out family members and his hometown financially.

He and his wife, Lucy, have set up a charitable foundation to use his fortune to help the Townhead area of Coatbridge, where he grew up.

As he explained in his bestseller I Have Been Neutered…

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lorcan_nagle, Todd

Millar is one of those creators I just do my best to separate from the books he writes. Even when we used to be the Millarworld forum I always thought he came off as a massive smug prick whenever he’d post. So it’s not a shock that he’s gone full mask off over the years.

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Ulf, lorcan_nagle, Todd, Martin Smith, Ben

Ian Smith wrote:

Millar is one of those creators I just do my best to separate from the books he writes. Even when we used to be the Millarworld forum I always thought he came off as a massive smug prick whenever he’d post. So it’s not a shock that he’s gone full mask off over the years.

He always had that Stan Lee-esque hucksterism to him.

His work always had that element to shock the audience. Unfortunately, the shock was something you would expect a 12-year-old to find “edgy”.

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Al-x, lorcan_nagle

Hyperbole marketing can work, if what is delivered backs it up. A good amount it did, until it didn’t, then it’s coasting om controversy and nastiness. That describes Nemesis well.

It’s interesting to note that his best stuff can be when he isn’t doing all that – Superior, Starlight and Huck being three examples.

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Andrew, lorcan_nagle, Dave, Todd

Todd wrote:

He always had that Stan Lee-esque hucksterism to him.

He does.

But still, talking about how “finally we’re free again” while the national guard has invaded LA on orders by a fascist…
He used to also have a strong anti-authoritarian streak. So much for that.

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Ulf, Sean Robinson, Al-x, Andrew, lorcan_nagle, Ben, Todd

I will always appreciate Mark Millar’s involvement in creating MillarWorld.com after DC shut down the WildStorm threads on their site. I met a lot of great people on MW who became good friends on-line and IRL.

Having said that, I think I’ve outgrown Mr. Millar and his self-promoting hyperbole. I wish him well but I no longer think I am the audience he is trying to appeal to.

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Ulf, Sean Robinson, Al-x, Andrew, Ian Smith, Martin Smith, lorcan_nagle, Dave, Christian, Todd, Ben

Yeah, I don’t want to slag on the guy, The Authority spoke to me.

But then there’s the reason why we’re having this conversation.

I would like to see him write something for DC.
Just has to be good.

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Todd, Ben

One of Mark’s big problems is that he’s trying to get back to his glory days of the early 2000s and sees the reactionary movement as a way to get there, but blaming Cancel Culture for a change in attitudes and storytelling over the decades is misguided, I think.  He’s forgetting that his cruder sense of humour and reliance on sexual assault as a dramatic point were heavily criticised at the time.  Nemesis was lambasted for the whole thing where Nemesis impregnated the cop’s daughter with his son’s sperm and… booby-trapped… her womb. His OTT schtick was pretty played out over a decade ago and I can’t see it coming back into style in the way he thinks it will.  Like, even look at stuff like adult animation.  Sure, South Park and Rick and Morty are on the up and up, but Smiling Friends is new and massive and balances out weird and edgy humour with a good nature and empathy.

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Vikram, Ulf, Al-x, Dan, Ben, Todd, Ian Smith

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Ulf, Al-x, Dan, Ben, Christian, Todd, Ian Smith, lorcan_nagle

lorcan_nagle wrote:

One of Mark’s big problems is that he’s trying to get back to his glory days of the early 2000s and sees the reactionary movement as a way to get there, but blaming Cancel Culture for a change in attitudes and storytelling over the decades is misguided, I think.  He’s forgetting that his cruder sense of humour and reliance on sexual assault as a dramatic point were heavily criticised at the time.  Nemesis was lambasted for the whole thing where Nemesis impregnated the cop’s daughter with his son’s sperm and… booby-trapped… her womb. His OTT schtick was pretty played out over a decade ago and I can’t see it coming back into style in the way he thinks it will.  Like, even look at stuff like adult animation.  Sure, South Park and Rick and Morty are on the up and up, but Smiling Friends is new and massive and balances out weird and edgy humour with a good nature and empathy.

And then there was The Unfunnies. At the time, Avatar was the only publisher willing to put it out. I doubt any legitimate publisher would do it today.

It’s the one title he completely buried. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to reclaim that book. I think there is some bad blood with Anthony Williams over it though.

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Ben, lorcan_nagle

I think I’ve mentioned before that I’ve been trying to piece together a complete run of Transformers UK the past few years (well five or six by now). That’s really showed down in the last two or more though and the big job lots I’ve been buying off eBay previously are fewer and farther between, while the single issues I’ve seen (both on eBay and in person) have been really over-priced (there was toy dealer set up in an antiques market in Cheltenham last month and he had individual issues all priced at £5 each. These were mostly issues from the middle of the run, when the circulation and print run were highest. When I asked about any flexibility on price, he said “no because I’ve had to pay for all the bags and boards” ). I figured this was a post-Covid thing, another instance of the price of collectables going up, more competition for items etc.

Turns out, it’s actually just that eBay did something to my saved search and it’s been looking in a category that most people wouldn’t list Transformers UK in (“Franco-Belgian and European comics”) rather than the normal comics category and I hadn’t noticed for… however long it’s been. I reckon maybe two years at least. Maybe longer. Looking at my records, I’ve not had a bit eBay job lot since 2022. I only noticed because I put up some of my duplicates this weekend and thought it was weird it didn’t show up in my saved searches. Turns out, there’s still loads of job lots and (slightly) more reasonably priced singles on there. Just not in the category you’d buy/sell Tintin and Asterix.

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Ben, lorcan_nagle, Todd

Sean Robinson wrote:

Yeah, I don’t want to slag on the guy, The Authority spoke to me.

But then there’s the reason why we’re having this conversation.

I would like to see him write something for DC.
Just has to be good.

Authority got to me too. I was on the boards when he said he got a new gig starting the Ultimates, his own board MillarWorld and I migrated there. His somewhat shock value of the Authority with no CCA had a lot of us going “Oh shit!” like it was Quentin Tarantino. But that was then.

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Ben, Todd, Sean Robinson

Eh. I liked Mark’s authority, but I liked Ellis’ original run better.

(And I liked Ellis’ Stormwatch run better than The Authority, in turn.)

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Vikram, Ulf, Todd, lorcan_nagle

[Ulf]

I remember when Drew Edwards and I helped him out with some “cool” pseudo-occult sigil stuff and dialogue for an issue of Ultimate X-Men a long time ago, were promised credits and what not and got, of course, nothing. Whatever, water under the bridge. As a writer, I’ve always found him wanting, although I understand why he was so popular in his prime. I also think Mark always mistook commercial success for relevance. But that’s okay. Go, smash the shackles of Cancel Culture that bind you, hero.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by Ulf.

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Ben, lorcan_nagle, Christian, Todd

[Ulf]

Ulf wrote:

I remember when Drew Edwards and I helped him out with some “cool” pseudo-occult sigil stuff and dialogue for an issue of Ultimate X-Men a long time ago, were promised credits and what not and got, of course, nothing. Whatever, water under the bridge. As a writer, I’ve always found him wanting, although I understand why he was so popular in his prime. I also think Mark always mistook commercial success for relevance. But that’s okay. Go, smash the shackles of Cancel Culture that bind you, hero.

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by Ulf.

Ulf! Long time no see!

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Ben, lorcan_nagle, Ulf

Stan Sakai’s announced Usagi Yojimbo 1984 at SDCC. It’s the first Usagi story not written or drawn by him, instead by Zack Rosenberg and Jared Cullum, and is set in Osaka in 1984 (presumably still an Usagi style 1984, not real world 1984). Could be interesting!

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Ben

Passed by Forbidden Planet and saw this glass display as you walk in:

Flash is about $320, Nebula is $290. Always wondered the buyers who would take it off their hands like that.

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Todd

Forbidden Planet in Dublin has a whole row of cabinets just like that one full of high-end statues.

And of course, I’m not one to talk, I regularly drop €250-300 on new Macross toys in my LCS

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Al-x, Todd

I have no hesitation spending $$$ on an original sketch or a signed/numbered print from a favorite artist, but I haven’t been able to plunk down big bucks on a statue. It probably has something to do with never knowing the right place to display it, but now that I have a home office maybe I’ll consider a Hellboy statue or something like that. Maybe.

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Dave, Todd

I’m at a point in my life where I’ll look at a lot stuff in stores and online, but I don’t feel the urge to buy it. I know it’ll just sit on a shelf and gather dust.

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Al-x

Todd wrote:

I’m at a point in my life where I’ll look at a lot stuff in stores and online, but I don’t feel the urge to buy it. I know it’ll just sit on a shelf and gather dust.

Agreed. I was at Midtown Comics once and there was this beautiful statue of 2 foot Galactus with a smaller Silver Surfer attached and it went for over $500. It’s nice, but as Todd says, I would buy it, put it somewhere in the room, and 6 months later, when the novelty of having it wears off…

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Todd

Al-x wrote:

6 months

On so much stuff I see, the bloom would be off the rose for me within a day or two.

Valiant’s ‘Bloodshot’ Under Fire For “Transphobic” Dialogue: Alien Books, Writer Mauro Mantella “Sincerely Apologize For The Harm Caused”

Valiant just launched their new reader-friendly line of comics this week with Bloodshot, part of the Valiant Beyond initiative, taking the near-immortal, nanite-powered weapon and pitting him against vampires powered by a variant of his own blood. But the celebration of a new line has hit a serious fumble, at least online, thanks to allegations of “transphobic” content in the issue.

While comic writer Zoe Tunnell wasn’t the first to point out the dicey dialogue, a skeet on BlueSky gained a ton of traction on Friday afternoon, after she posted the following:

Said Tunnell, who has written Blade Maidens for Dark Horse and the Godzilla Valentine’s Day Special for IDW, among other books, “I pride myself on my professionalism in comics. I don’t talk s**t about books I don’t enjoy. I am happy when folks get gigs even if I wish I landed them. So when I say the transphobic bulls**t in the new BLOODSHOT #1 comic is disgusting and should have never made it to print. Shameful s**t.”

In the panels included, it details how, in the book, the Yakuza’s connection to the government promotes a “nuero-marketing lobby to normalize blood consumption. And that’s messing with the minds of the younger ones. They sell fake blood as a trendy drink.”

Fine so far, but the next panel shows Bloodshot killing someone with “B-S,” aka the Bloodshot nanite-derivative, with the following narration: “There are kids who want to be bitten to become vampires because their favorite influencer says they are one. And parents who force their children into that irreversible change… just to feel modern… and believing that they’ll be thankful for it when they grow up.”

As Tunnell did, so did multiple other posters on BlueSky interpret the narration as an explicit mapping onto anti-trans messaging, that kids want to become trans because of influencers, and parents are forcing kids to be trans — neither of which is factually accurate, in any way.

The rest of the issue, among other details, posits that vampires have moved to the “poles” to live in six months of darkness each year, and have become handy working in space since they don’t need to breathe. In addition, the book introduces “Negative Class” vampires who, “in a desperate act, drink reptile blood… and their cellular pattern is reversed due to cold blood.” Then they can only live in sunlight and never close their eyes. At least in the rest of the first issue (the series is running four issues), other than the above referenced panel, the idea that children are becoming “vampires” against their will isn’t revisited.

However, the damage is likely already done. Haunted Girl co-writer Ethan Sacks was more explicit, adding, “Horrific. There’s no way to read this as anything but bigotry, particularly with ‘irreversible change’ bolded in the caption. So many of us creators and readers of comics love the ideals, as far removed as they sometimes feel from real life, of superheroes who fight oppression. Not contribute to it.”

Bloodshot #1 is written by Argentinian writer Mauro Mantella, who previously worked with Valiant on Bloodshot Unleashed: Reloaded. While not specifically referencing the panel in question, writer Deniz Camp, who wrote Bloodshot: Unleashed and the first issue of Reloaded before Mantella took over (due to Camp having other commitments) posted on X, saying, “Bloodshot would hate transphobes and throw himself in front of a hail of bullets to protect a trans kid without hesitation. Just FYI.”

When reached for comment, Alien Books, the publisher for Valiant, provided the following to Comic Book Club:

Alien Books and writer Mauro Mantella sincerely apologize for the harm caused by the phrasing in Bloodshot #1. While the story takes place in a fictional world of vampires and cults, we understand that a specific line of dialogue has been read as alluding to real-world issues, specifically, the discrimination faced by trans people.

That was never the intention. The original line was written by an Argentinian creator and was unfortunately a case of nuance being lost in translation. We fully recognize that intent does not erase impact, especially when dealing with subject matter that affects real lives and communities.

We are taking the following steps immediately:

The dialogue in question will be updated for all digital and collected editions to better reflect the intended fictional context.

Going forward, all scripts will undergo a more intense review by our proof readers as part of our editorial process to ensure clearer, more responsible storytelling.

We appreciate the feedback from readers, creators, and industry peers who brought this to our attention. We take this seriously and are committed to learning from it.

Alien Books values inclusion, empathy, and creative responsibility. We will do better.

Here’s the panel in question:

Bloodshot: Unleashed by Camp and Davis-Hunt was good, albeit with only three of four issues.

Bloodshot: Reloaded was garbage.

I was going to say this feels like an overreaction to what was hopefully an honest mistake that could be handled with more diplomatic criticsim, but apparently Mantella has a long history of anti-trans and anti-vax messages on social media, so I’m less forgiving now.

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Ben, Todd

I don’t really buy the mistranslation line and I think with something like this you either stand by what you published or you shouldn’t have published it in the first place. Editors should have caught this stuff and if it was found to be objectionable then it should have been removed at this point.

My guess is that they thought it worked on the page but then caught more shit for it than they expected once published.

Although in fairness, who expected anyone to be reading Valiant comics in 2025?

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Ben, Todd, lorcan_nagle

The mistranslation defense doesn’t work because the writer has worked as a translator.

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Ben, lorcan_nagle

FWIW, it looks like he is going to finish up Else-when:

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Todd

Christian wrote:

Eh. I liked Mark’s authority, but I liked Ellis’ original run better.

(And I liked Ellis’ Stormwatch run better than The Authority, in turn.)

I re-read some od Ellis stuff a while ago and thought it didn’t hold up. And it’s gross bcause suddenly you see his sexual obsessions in his writing, especially Transmetropolitan. With the “filthy assistants”…ugh.

 

 

Yeah, I get that. I do think that some of his stuff holds up, but a lot of it was of its time, I’d think.

Has Ellis ever admitted being an alcoholic? His writing tells me he might be. He has this cool idea but then it often doesn’t work out very well when he develops it. That is the impression I get with a lot of his work, especially the unfinished stuff like Doktor Sleepless. It reminds me of ideas you get when under the influence which are forgotten later on when you get bored with it.

I think that’s just his brain, or the way he works.

Alcohol may be a thing with him, but I don’t really get the impression.