Credo!

December 19, 2010 9:00 PM

A 3 hour podcast interview (part 2 here) with British comics legend Pat Mills, most famous for the anti-war WW1 strip Charley's War, the creation 2000ad and many of the most enduring characters within it, superhero hunter Marshall Law and numerous other comics. His work usually combines combines dark humour, a dash of left wing politics and ludicrous amounts of violence, now as much as ever with puritan zombie hunter Defoe. Subjects discussed in the intreview include the death of artist John Hicklenton, being Irish-English, Sláine and the comparitive lack of celtic heroes in modern popular culture, Oliver Cromwell and the Levellers. Bonus link: 20 pages of Metalzoic, Pat Mills and Kevin O'Neills "lost" story.
posted by Artw (18 comments total)

Saving the links for later, but just wanted to say that Marshal Law is every bit as awesome and seminal that the people say it is. I picked the first issue up at a Waldenbooks (of all places) when I was in 8th or 9th grade and my mindgrapes were exploded. Just absolulutely, unrelentingly brutal and in your face, it makes The Dark Knight Returns look like, well, a kid's comic book.
posted by KingEdRa at 9:14 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I wish I'd known about Slaine sooner, sheer awesomeness!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 9:32 PM on December 19, 2010

Can't wait to check this out. I think the only time I've ever seen celts in chariots on the big screen was twice, and they were both Boudicca movies. That's just so wrong.

I'd be pulling for a Slaine movie now that the FX tek is so advanced. But they'd probably fuck it up like they did to Ghost Rider, and I don't need 2 comic heroes ruined on the big screen.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:23 PM on December 19, 2010

Man, I had totally forgotten about Marshall Law. That was a fucked up book.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 10:28 PM on December 19, 2010

I'd be pulling for a Slaine movie now that the FX tek is so advanced. But they'd probably fuck it up like they did to Ghost Rider, and I don't need 2 comic heroes ruined on the big screen.

You might like this fan trailer.
posted by Artw at 10:28 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: left wing politics and ludicrous amounts of violence.
posted by Amanojaku at 10:30 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Part 2 of the interview, BTW, has a lot on creators rights, French comics and girl comics, which used to be huge, and were where both Mills and Wagner got their starts, and remain an area Mills is a huge advocate for.
posted by Artw at 11:19 PM on December 19, 2010

I read a lot of lot of charley's war strips one wet summer holiday when I was 11 or 12. It was great stuff. I remember it being quite different to the usual "die Hun! Aieeeeeee" you'd see in other war comics. Thanks for the links.
posted by Foaf at 12:57 AM on December 20, 2010

Also, Tripod sites still work!
posted by Foaf at 12:58 AM on December 20, 2010

Pertinant to the creator rights stuff, DC just changed the deal for creator-owned works at Vertigo making it much, much shittier.
posted by Artw at 10:57 AM on December 20, 2010

If there's one strip which confirms the almost extraterrestrial imagination of Kevin O'Neill, it's Metalzoic.
posted by specialbrew at 4:11 PM on December 20, 2010

That Slaine fan-trailer was nice. Big props. And while it was cool to see The Horned God brought to life, that kind of hyper-real computer animation as a technique leaves me cold. I think it hits uncanny valley for me, and reminds me of a video-game plot-drop sequence.

What I dream of is live-action, and I want Weta Workshop to do for the Warp Spasm what they did for Gollum. THAT would rock this monkey's world.
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 6:03 PM on December 20, 2010

How could you not mention Nemesis the Warlock?
posted by SyntacticSugar at 7:15 AM on December 21, 2010

DC Comics To Publish Marshal Law?
posted by Artw at 10:31 AM on December 21, 2010

How could you not mention Nemesis the Warlock?

Check the title.
posted by Artw at 10:32 AM on December 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

Man, that interviewer guy got on my nerves, but Mills is a real delight to listen to. And his voice is far more cheerful than I expected. Good stuff, thanks!

Top Shelf is still advertising their much-delayed Marshal Law Omnibus on their website. Hurm.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 6:56 AM on December 22, 2010

Check the title.
Dammit, I'm an idiot.
That Vertigo thing sounds really shitty, but are they actually publishing anything of interest these days?
posted by SyntacticSugar at 7:41 AM on December 22, 2010

Bits and peices. I'm rather enjoying Sweettooth and The Unwritten but they're pretty far from the force they were.
posted by Artw at 1:20 AM on December 23, 2010