A year ago, Jeph Loeb was one of the most criticized men in comics. After turning out such gems like "Ultimatum" and "Red Hulk sucker punches The Watcher," more than a few people were calling for his retirement, declaring him the worst writer in the genre and dumbfounded at how he continued to sell books and work with such prized talent. But now with Kick-Ass receiving so much media praise and Loeb's decent work on New Ultimates and Ultimate X, he has been able to escape back into the reader's unconscious as the spotlight shines on Mark Millar.
It is no surprise that Millar sells comics. Free for the most part write anything he wants and partnered with any number of superstar artists, Millar continues to crank out hit after hit. And you can't blame him, he has quite a knack for turning off the wall ideas into fun and entertaining things for both pencillers to draw, and fans to look at. On a Millar book, an artist has no time schedule, able to take as much as required to complete the project, which is perfect because they are truly the engines of Millar's success, making his comics much more of a visual experience than an actual blend of image and words.
For example, let's break down today's (04/21/2010) issue of Ultimate Comics Avengers #6. In a comic with 24 story pages, 3 of them are single spread pages with no extra panels on them and 2 pages are a double page spread with a singular extra panel. Of the 24 pages, 5 of them have less than 4 bubbles of dialogue and throughout the issue and all the sound effects that have made books like Incredible Hercules shine, have been replaced by the victimized character vocalizing their pain. Combined with a majority of the pages having three panels and toss in one pop culture reference that will eventually become an anachronism, and you have a rather typical Mark Millar script.
That isn't to say the issue isn't enjoyable however. It is certainly the Avengers story that Millar promised us, though months late, and failing to live up to "Event Book of the Marvel U" tag line, Ultimate Comics Avengers delivers Captain America badassery, Nick Fury espionage and everything you'd expect from a "Nerd Hulk."
What will be interesting is where Millar goes from here. Having walked a similar path to Loeb, they have both contributed a number of fantastic standalone stories that will be remembered for both companies of the Big Two. Unlike Loeb, who seems to be more interested in adding something important to the legacy of a character or franchise as he continues to work with the Hulk alongside Greg Pak, Millar appears to be ready to strike out on his own. Rumor has it that he has almost completed his agreed upon 18 issues of "Ultimate Events" for Marvel, and with his exclusivity contract almost up, a majority of people are expecting him to go entirely independent. I anticipate however that Mark will probably remain with Marvel but only putting out books through their Icon line. Where Jeph Loeb offers artists the chance to draw whatever characters they want, with the success of Kick-Ass, Millar can now offer them something better, the chance to make a boatload of cash. I don't know how contracts with Marvel work, but I highly doubt that Millar is going to bail on the chance to mine talent like John Romita Jr., Steve McNiven and Leinil Yu for his future works.
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