Have a Word with a giant of the comic book world
Reinventing superheroes and commuting to Hollywood to work with Angelina Jolie while building a comic book empire is the stuff of dreams for most men, but it’s all in a day’s work for Scots writer Mark Millar. Rags to riches tales don’t get much better than this, writes Caroline Brodie
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MARK Millar is literally a giant of the comic book world.
Adventures of X-men, Spider-Man, Superman and the Fantastic Four have all flowed from the tip of his pen and his graphic novel Wanted is about to be released as a major movie starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy.
Mark Millar admits he has his dream job. “As a little kid, this was my plan,” he said.
“When I was as young as four, I knew it was what I wanted to do but I didn’t know if the job really existed.
“I grew up in Coatbridge, and Hollywood seemed very far away. The careers officer at school had very little advice for you if you said you wanted to write comic books.”
So instead he buckled down and went to university, only to drop out in the final year to become a full-time writer.
He said: “I noticed some British writers starting to crop up and decided to give it a go.”
During the ’90s, he enjoyed stints at 2000AD and DC Comics – the creators of Superman and Batman – but his career didn’t really take off until 2000.
“I mucked around a lot in the ’90s, having a good time, doing a small amount of work and going out every night,” he said. “But when my daughter was born at the end of the decade, I decided it was time to get serious.”
As luck would have it, Mark got his big break soon after, working on The Authority for Wildstorm Productions.
It proved hugely popular, won awards and, more important, got him noticed by Marvel – the holy grail for comic-book writers and the company responsible for Spider-Man and X-men.
He said: “I was nearly about to give it up, but the book just struck at the right time.”
Mark was offered his “ultimate job”, reinventing superheroes for Marvel.
Since then, he has enjoyed a string of hits, including the creation of Ultimate X-Men and The Ultimates, followed by Marvel Knights Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Wolverine and Civil War.
For a man who spent his childhood with a Spider-Man mask more or less glued to his face, it was the big time.
Mark has also now launched his own company, Millarworld, under which he has published four graphic novels, including Wanted.
He says the company has already far exceeded any expectations he had when he embarked on the project in 2004.
“If I do a book for Marvel, they own it and although they pay you well, it is still theirs,” he said.
“If you own the project yourself, it is yours forever.”
Universal bought the movie and computer game rights to Wanted before it even hit the shelves, making an offer Mark couldn’t refuse.
He has also had input in the movie, meeting and working with its stars.
But the down-to-earth Scot says he would probably have been more star-struck meeting Susannah Constantine, from Trinny and Susannah, than Angelina and Brad.
“I’m probably the one guy on the planet who doesn’t actually fancy her (Angelina). I must have strange taste, but I prefer Susannah Constantine.
“All my wife’s pals were asking her what she thought about me working with Angelina Jolie and she said: ‘I’m not really that worried; she’s married to Brad Pitt.’”
Despite all the success stories, Mark remains in Scotland, based in Glasgow’s south side, not a million miles from his roots in Coatbridge.
His family did consider a move to the US when he got the job at Marvel, but eventually ruled it out.
“It just seemed strange, the thought of your little girl growing up with a different accent from you,” he said.
Instead, Mark commutes to either LA or New York every six weeks and spends a week working there.
Asked if there was any one character he still wanted to work on, he said it was Superman.
A huge fan of the original Christopher Reeve movie, which came out when he was just eight, Mark has already had a stab at the character during his time at DC Comics, when he wrote the acclaimed Superman: Red Son story.
He says he has a plan to return one day and shake up the character both in comics and on the big screen.
But the 38-year-old says comic writing remains his big passion, with Hollywood very much just a bit of fun.
“A lot of people get into comics to get out of it, but not me,” he said. “It is the real deal to me.”
This weekend, Mark is taking part in the Word Festival and will be screening scenes from the film and talking about his work.
He said: “I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never done a writer’s festival in Scotland before, so it will be something new. I saw the movie about six weeks ago and I’m very pleased with it.”
The event takes place tomorrow night from 7.30pm at Belmont Cinema, Belmont Street, Aberdeen.
For tickets, call the cinema on 01224 343536.
THERE will be something for everyone at this weekend’s Word Festival. Folk-rocker King Creosote, Marvel writer Mark Millar, Dons legend Willie Miller and north-east crime writer Stuart MacBride are among the host of popular and literary names appearing at the three-day festival.
Celebrity Apprentice star Hardeep Singh Kohli’s much-anticipated appearance sold out within days, and Scottish literary giants Alasdair Gray and James Kelman have also sold out.
But a feast of readings, music, art, exhibitions and film screenings is still on offer from around 50 authors, poets and artists.
Stuart MacBride, the man whose crime novels have put Aberdeen on the literary map, launches the fourth book in his Detective Sergeant Logan McRae series, entitled Flesh House, at Elphinstone Hall tomorrow at 4.15pm.
King Creosote will rock the Cowdray Hall, on Schoolhill, at 8pm on Saturday and will also appear in conversation at King’s College Centre at 5pm the same day.
And on Sunday, the 25th anniversary of the Dons’ historic Gothenburg victory over Real Madrid in the European Cup Winner’s Cup, captain of the winning squad Willie Miller will read from his memoir The Don, at Elphinstone Hall at 2pm.
Around 11,000 visitors are expected to take part in the events being held at King’s College campus and at arts venues throughout the city.
For tickets or more information log on to www.abdn.ac.uk/word
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