Worst of the worst

[Theblazeuk]

I may not agree with your complaint sir but I'll fight to the death for your right to carry on whinging about it

[Skullmo]

I may not agree with your complaint sir but I'll fight to the death for your right to carry on whinging about it

That's just because you like a fight

[Jim_Campbell]

Via Gordon Rennie, on Facebook, Colin's Ten of the Best.

I'll stand with Gordon's FB rejection of Purgatory as being a thoroughly lazy, nasty piece of work redeemed only partially by the Ezquerra art, but Colin's right about a lot of the other stuff. In my head, Millar went on to be the kind of writer the first issue of Saviour suggested he was going to be.*

I thought it might be worth reiterating my FB thoughts here, since I've been unable to articulate one of my key objections to Millar's work until now and it seems relevant:

It boils down to his almost sociopathic lack of empathy for any of his characters. I know they're only his own fictional creations, but story after story demonstrates his willingness to visit vile and often degrading fates on just about ANY of the supporting cast members of one of his books.**

What's the point in developing any affection for any of the characters in a MM book, when he has no thought for them as characters? It's abundantly clear that he sees them only as motivators for his protagonist: to be tortured and/or raped, and usually killed, to provide an extra push for the supposed catharsis when the protagonist finally tackles the 'Big Bad' in any given series.

I'm not 'upset' about the deaths of fictional characters, although the graphic nature of their demises and the frequency with which sexual violence is visited upon the women is repellent. It's more the case of asking: where is the catharsis when the 'hero' finally visits terrible retribution on the villain, if everyone he loves is already dead or maimed beyond recognition? Where is the victory in the 'hero' beating the tar out of the villain when these acts of (often extreme) violence won't afford the 'hero' any redemption, any reward, any restoration of what has been lost?

All we end up doing is stacking act of empty violence on top of act of empty violence, in a self-perpetuating cycle of blood-letting.

Cheers

Jim

*In the course of moving the last of my stuff out of my old house recently, I came across a box with a bunch of Trident stuff including Saviour #1. On re-reading, it really does seem to be the work of a new writer absolutely bursting with promise, promise I'd argue Millar failed to fulfill.

**I'll confess, I haven't read a big chunk of Millar's US output, but I'd certainly characterise much of the more recent 'Millarworld' stuff I've read as being in line with the above. Sales figures show there's clearly a market for this stuff, but I'm not part of it, so I've stopped being beguiled by good reviews, or collaborations with artists I really like, and I've just stopped reading any book with his name on the front.

[AlexF]

You make lots of good points there Jim, and I while I have noticed Millar's reliance on ultra-violence (how could you fail to!), I hadn't noticed his utter lack of thought towards side-chacraters until you pointed it out. Should you feel the need, I'd recommend giving his Fantastic Four run a go. As the title suggests, he's absolutely forced to work with four different chacraters, and he editorially simply isn't allowed to maim/torture/kill/rape any of them! (Which he was allowed to do in the Ultimates, since he, to some extent, did create those characters purely to hurt them, 'cos that's all modern and stomm.)

I actually think it's among his best work. A number of the plots, especially the first one, are pretty ropey. But overall it made me believe he cared about the characters, and his writing of them made me care about them, too.

[Dandontdare]

You make lots of good points there Jim, and I while I have noticed Millar's reliance on ultra-violence (how could you fail to!), I hadn't noticed his utter lack of thought towards side-chacraters until you pointed it out. Should you feel the need, I'd recommend giving his Fantastic Four run a go. As the title suggests, he's absolutely forced to work with four different chacraters, and he editorially simply isn't allowed to maim/torture/kill/rape any of them! (Which he was allowed to do in the Ultimates, since he, to some extent, did create those characters purely to hurt them, 'cos that's all modern and stomm.)

I actually think it's among his best work. A number of the plots, especially the first one, are pretty ropey. But overall it made me believe he cared about the characters, and his writing of them made me care about them, too.

Ooh, I'll give that a go, thanks for the tip. I love the FF* but haven't been much impressed lately (by lately I mean in recent years as I only read the trades).

*Probably my earliest comic-related memory is pestering my big brother to show me pictures of "rock man" in his comics long before I could read or even comprehend what it was about - I just loved the look of the Thing!