Friday, August 8th 2009

 

Day 2.  It was really all about Mark Millar: Guest of Honor.

 

9:47pm. Casually making our way through the Hyatt hotel bar, looking to meet up with artists/ writers and the whose who of the comic book world. Mike graciously buys us a round, in which we cautiously chose drinks that would be deemed a reasonable price… 3 drinks for $18.00 is rather less than reasonable by any means.

A bit disingenuous (which was according to Mike, the word of the day) about how the rest of our night was about to play out, I remember there being mentioned an evening Q&A with Mark Millar, somewhere to take place in the Hyatt conference rooms. Noticing that it would seem 10 o’clock at night was being a bit too early for happy hour at the Hyatt, we began to do a little investigating, to find the where about of this Q&A, which we discovered was aptly named; Shooting the Sh*t w/ Mark Millar.

 When we finally reached the conference room, He had already begun his Q&A by opening the floor to fan questions. Little more than 5 minutes into the Q&A, Mark made a comment that to Me, says a lot about the industry and the direction is driving to.

 

He said;

 

“To me (Mark Millar) I think it’s fascinating on how the geeks took over, and it sort of happened overnight, subtle but in a sense, there. We took over the movie industry, and I think it’s great, You can’t even have a movie where there isn’t a cape involved ..” 

 

It just made prefect sense to me, actually a lot of things Mark talked about made sense to me, and it just wasn’t because he was being situated to come up with the right answers, it was because he knew what he did, does, and will always do. Mark never said what most people in the industry do, and that’s play to the audience’s wants. No, it only seemed that way because it’s exactly what HE wants.

 

Rewind to 4pm earlier in the day. Mark had his official Q&A @ Chicago Comic- Con. And really not one word was said about him, but rather where he showcased short clips for his upcoming film. Never the less, the talk of the clips as well as the movie itself will be the talk long after this Comic book convention ends on Sunday.

 

As down to earth as Mark Millar maybe, it is nothing short of amazing when it comes to his movie project; Kick- Ass. Based off the Comic Book of the same name, Kick Ass is about a young teenager who is a fan of comic books. He is then inspire to become a  real life superhero. He encounters a Father & Young Daughter pair of mysterious vigilantes Short 3 minute clips of the movie that sport a definite no holds barred of how far films have come. If You ever read the comic book itself, you’d be happy to know that the film stays loyal to the story, in where you may also understand will make Kill Bill look like a Disney rated G film.

 

Mark Millar is a writer who knows what’s good for the comic book world, not because he listens to the fans, but it just so happens that he is a fan himself. He speaks genuinely, and often looks for the things to come on his terms. You can see this through his writing as well as his films. Look for his film Kick Ass to be released sometime first quarter of 2010.