Posted in: Comics, Image, Marvel Comics, Spider-Man | Tagged: Mark Millar, wanted
Stan Lee Told Mark Millar To Own His Work As Marvel Wouldn’t Pay Him
Mark Millar says that Stan Lee was the one who told him to always own his work as Marvel wouldn’t pay him when they turned it into films
Article Summary
- Mark Millar says Stan Lee urged him to create and own original comics instead of only writing Marvel characters.
- Stan Lee warned Mark Millar that Marvel was turning his stories into movies and he would not be paid for them.
- That advice pushed Mark Millar toward Wanted, his first creator-owned comic, which sold for a film within weeks.
- Wanted launched Millarworld, leading to Kick-Ass, Kingsman and now, according to Mark Millar, King Of Spies.
Comic book creator Mark Millar saysStan Lee gave him two pieces of advice that pushed him off Marvel exclusivity and into owning his own books. One was to stop writing other people’s characters and leave something of his own. The other was blunter, that Marvel was about to turn his runs into films, and he would not be paid. Mark Millar made his first appearance at a British comic con in decades at High Vis Comic Con in Kings Heath last month, with former Bleeding Cool contributor Olly MacNameeinterviewing him in a church. He said that the comic book series Wanted was the first thing he created and owned, and that it sold as a film within weeks. And he showed it to Stan Lee.
“He said to me, he said, I think your stuff really feels like movies. It feels really, it feels big. And I was like, oh, thanks. And I said, it’s just this, a style I write. And I was like, what do you mean? I said, I love doing your stuff. And he said, yeah, but I didn’t do Tarzan and Superman and Flash Gordon. That’s the stuff I grew up with, that I love. He says, I went on and created Spider-Man. No. I said, you want to leave your own thing, you know? And he gave me another piece of advice as well. And he said, you know, the Marvel guys are turning all of your stuff into movies and you’re not going to get paid. And I was like, what? He said, that’s just the way it goes. And he said, if you create your own thing… So Wanted was my first thing that I ever owned and created. And then we sold it. I mean, weeks later as a film, which was crazy. And I sent Stan a text.”
Wanted, drawn by J.G. Jones, launched at Top Cow/Image Comics in 2003, the first of the Millarworld line that Mark Millar later sold to Netflix. Kick-AssandKingsman followed… and King Of Spies is next
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