Mark Millar

They always say that the book is better than the film, but once again I have to starkly disagree… I absolutely love the Kingsman movie franchise for so many reasons, but the graphic novel that they’re based on totally doesn’t live up to the hype! Where the films take the spy genre in a uniquely humorous direction and have a wonderfully emotive cast to bring the characters to life, the book seems quite traditional and flat in comparison. Gone entirely are the moments of sarcastic show more British humour, the almost too ridiculous to be true action sequences, and the perfect visual casting and what we’re left with is a slightly more street style influenced James Bond. As much as I enjoy a good spy novel and the whole saving the world motif, without the small details that make the films so brilliant there’s little to make this story stand out from the masses. Honestly, I’m not even sure how they got from this book to the film, and if I had read the books first I don’t know if I would have bothered to try out the cinematic version… Disappointing material from the graphic novel genre, once again. show less

The Crisis of Zero-Hour Secret Wars on Infinite F@$%ing Millarworlds.

It's the big crossover of all the properties Mark Millar created independent of Marvel and DC . . . and promptly sold to Netflix.

In Millarworld, a conspiracy of villains wiped out all superheroes and all memory of them in the 1980s. Now Wesley Gibson of Wanted is out to kill the new generation of superheroes that have sprung up in the sixteen years since Dave Lizewski first pulled on a mask and called himself Kick-Ass.

It's show more just like the big crossovers DC and Marvel do almost annually, except Millar gets to use curse words and massive amounts of gory violence. A time-travel element means nothing is out of bounds for Millar's trademarked shock-and-awe plotting.

It's cheesy and overstuffed with characters from a third-tier superhero universe, but for some teenager it's probably going to be the best thing ever. I know the arrested adolescent in side me had a good time despite my general disappointment in much of Millar's recent output. show less

It's a lovingly applied taser-shock to the privates of Spandex-literature.

Bold, wicked, and extremely thought-provoking (especially the ending), Wanted continues the fine tradition begun in Alan Moore's [b:Watchmen|472331|Watchmen|Alan Moore|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1175041710s/472331.jpg|4358649] and Frank Miller's Batman and Daredevil...

Now, I'll admit, I've only read a smattering of Millar's vast bibliography. But "Reborn" still strikes me as his 'typical' thing: A fantastic premise that's grippingly presented and immediately seizes my attention and carries me off while pages fly by. And then ... it just peters out. Characters start talking like cliches or with gouache, over-the-top lines that take me completely out of the story and the believability of their personalities. The plot directions go from inventive to plain, show more and from plain to predictable, and from predictable to rote. The degree of this development definitely varies, and I'm not saying everything I've read by him follows this trajectory, but it definitely seems to be a trend, leaving the end of any story with an underwhelming taste in my metaphorical mouth.

In "Reborn" in particular, this is on my mind, because it's the poster child for the tendency. The first third of the book was great. Back then, I was strongly considering putting it in my wife's reading pile after I finished it, one of the highest compliments something on my side of the bed can reach, really. But the obvious logical holes that I expected to be addressed and made pivotal parts of the plotline (for instance, why, of all the good people, is the protagonist so special? And why, of all the other good people, is the _other_ super-awesome overpowered person the woman who used to be her best friend? And why, of all the millions of aggrieved pets in the world, is _her_ old cat the one fielding armies in the afterlife?) are glossed by, completely undermining the narrative by the sheer ridiculousness of not being answered or even properly asked. And then, even worse (massive spoilers follow until the line break, but you're maybe better off knowing this up front so you're less disappointed) the story started becoming ever more trite. The bad guy, conveniently, is the same faceless bad guy (and unmotivated 'I'm just evil' bad guy at that) that ruined her life early on. And for nearly as little reason as her cat, her best friend, her dad or her own super-special awesome-person place in the afterworld. It's so dull and lifeless, so obvious and without layers, and such a waste of the story that sucked me in from the get-go. Similarly, the protagonist's touching search for her husband is almost casually dismissed -- the heartbreak at realising he's found someone else initially worked well, but mere pages later, it's shrugged off, so that Millar presumably (as the inane dialogue hints) can have his pretty blonde protagonist get into sexually adventurous guilt-free shenanigans if he ever writes a follow-up.

Now let me be clear. It's not terrible. It's just bland. Excessively bland, considering the very memorable beginning and the very exciting premise. Not to mention Capullo's beautiful artwork, which really sells even the weakest parts of the narrative with gusto.

I'd give the end of this book maybe 2 stars (mostly for the artwork), and the beginning of it 4.5. The change is very gradual, though, and I enjoyed it for much more than halfway before it started to dawn on me it just wasn't going to get good again. So I'm landing on a 3 total. The premise is that fun -- it lifts "Reborn" above average all on its own. Well, it and the artwork. show less