UK’s The List has a brief profile of writer Mark Millar, timed to the release this week of Fantastic Four #554, the first issue of his stint on the series with artist Bryan Hitch.
It’s mostly a typical article, noting that he still lives in Coatbridge, Scotland (“Despite being one of the most successful writers of comics ever”), and charting Millar’s rise to superhero-comics fame. But this quote, about Marvel’s Civil War miniseries, caught my attention:
“It was actually the most difficult assignment I’ve ever had. It’s the bestselling comic of the last 15 years, yet when I see it sitting on my shelf I actually feel a bit sick. I just think of how much time it took up and how much re-writing I had to do just to co-ordinate everything with the other writers.”
Is Millar and Steve McNiven’s Civil War “the bestselling comic of the last 15 years”?
Even presuming the statement excludes manga and European comics, the timespan takes us back to 1993 — the tail-end of the speculator boom — and covers Marvel’s Heroes Reborn, the heyday of Spawn, Malibu’s Ultraverse, Valiant’s moment in the sun, and other sales milestones of the era that I’m undoubtedly blocking from memory.
And then there are more recent markers, such as the Scholastic editions of Jeff Smith’s Bone selling nearly 2 million copies.
Yes, I realize Millar can get be a bit hyperbolic when promoting himself, but could Civil War be “the bestselling comic of the last 15 years” (caveats or no)?
Paul O’Brien, I’m looking in your direction.
Update: On his message board, Millar responds and makes a minor clarification:
Oh wait. It’s only the best selling American series of the last FOURTEEN years. Forgive me for rounding up twelve months (rolls eyes).
Yeah, 1993 was still an amazing time for sales and the crash didn’t hit until early 1994. But we sold over 2.7 million copies of our little seven issue series in the American editions alone (and that doesn’t even begin to factor in the many, many tie ins). The trade has been insane too (I just got my first royalty cheque 2 weeks ago) so Marvel made a LOT of dough. Nothing’s even come close since the mid 90s so the company were very pleased.I love all those guys calling bullshit tho (“Fuck Millar! It’s only the best-selling series of the last FOURTEEN YEARS”). Even better is the Bone comparison, adding up all the issues of the series so far and comparing it to our seven issues. That’s just hilarious.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I call bullshit on Millar’s part. Self-promotional, hyperbolic mere-puff bullshit, but bullshit all the same.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Didn’t Turok or one of those foil-enhanced Valiants sell over 1M copies? Pretty sure Civil War didn’t reach those heights.
February 14th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Given that it’s an interview with a British magazine, it seems more sensible to include the sales of European GNs. The latest Asterix has sold, what, 6 million copies?
February 14th, 2008 at 9:56 am
Oh, every UK interview he ever gives is full of hype, it’s not like the journos can be arsed to check a fact or two.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:06 am
At the start of 1993 pretty much every Image comic was outselling Civil War. Probably up until ’96 there were plenty of comics at plenty of companies that’ve outsold Civil War.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:11 am
Wait, wait — better selling even that Millar’s dreary and stupid run on The Authority?
February 14th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Depends what you mean by “best selling series of the past 15 years”, really. You’ll note he said “series”, not “comic”, so the test is sustained sales over the length of the title in serial format. A graphic novel is not a “series.” A collected edition is not a “series.” A single issue with a big event or a variant cover is not a “series.” Or at the very least, Millar’s perfectly entitled to exclude them from his definition.
If he effectively means “the best selling mini of the last 15 years, judged by cumulative and/or average sales across it’s whole run” – well, yeah, I suppose it’s possible.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Heroes Reborn launched with sales of over 500,000 IIRC in ’96-97 so he probably means in the last 11 years. Course it’s Millar so it’s easier to round 11 years up 4 years to 15 rather than down 1 to a decade.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:25 am
“You’ll note he said ‘series’, not ‘comic’ …”
No, he said “comic.”
February 14th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Civil War was coordinated with other writers? What about Sue Storm quietly leaving the FF in the middle of the night in one storyline but only after a big fight in a different book, and it was supposedly a chronicle of the SAME EVENT. Plus a centerpiece of Civil War was Spider-Man unmasking, which now “never happened” which kind of renders confusing the Civil War TPBs.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:41 am
The unmasking happened, James. Just no one can quite remember who it was, underneath.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Oh… No one can remember who it was that unmasked, and the newspapers, TV and radio broadcasts, and coverage on the internets all somehow vanished too. Well, that makes A LOT more sense than saying it “never happened.”
Even if New Avengers Spidey is a Skrull, it’s still bullsh*t. What is the timeline in that book anyhow? As much as I like it, I’m waiting for someone to ask Spidey “Um, who are you again?”
I have no thoughts on Millar’s claims. When adding up the various issues, the reprints, and the various collected versions it’s entirely possible that all those things could add up to the best selling comic(s), series or otherwise, in that time. Don’t know, don’t care.
February 14th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
They didn’t vanish. It’s just no one can read them properly, or remember what they read.
Think of it as Mephisto casting a Somebody Else’s Problem field over everything.
February 14th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Just to play my own advocate, Rich is correct. Everyone saw it; they just can’t comprehend what they saw. Exactly like the 1989 Captain America film.
And Rich? You still owe me.
Lest I forget . . . WORSHIP ME!!!!!
MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!
February 14th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
Eh…you could cut Millar a bit of slack here. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have a single issue sitting on his shelf, given how poorly they deal with gravity in such situations. He probably has a hardcover. Which would mean he was trying, albeit sloppily, to refer to the series as a whole, rather than a single comic.
The guy was speaking extemporaneously. He wasn’t THAT off in the long run. You’d think, though, for how often his hyperbole comes back to bite him on the ass, he might ratchet it down a notch or two.
February 14th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Uh… yeah, he DID say comic, didn’t he? Huh.
Mind you, I’d still say the fair interpretation is that he’s talking about the series as a whole, rather than any individual issue. So you’ve still got to compare like with like – I don’t think it’s enough to say that something hit a higher number for one month.
As for BONE, Millar’s right. That “nearly two million” figure was the cumulative total sales for every volume in every format. Two million across nine volumes is an average sale of around 222,000. The lowest-selling issue of CIVIL WAR sold 259K. Or, if you prefer, you can add up the total sales for all seven issues, in which case Millar clears the 2 million mark on North American direct market sales alone.
February 14th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I don’t give a crap about exaggeration, in the end, he does two things…he writes entertaining books for me, and that sell well for Marvel.
He writes humaney believable characters (even if they do kinda act a bit out of character…but ppl do change, so i don’t see a problem with that) within excitingly large scope (but still personal) adventures.
February 14th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Oh, and Civil War sold very very well, and he should be proud of that, and brag that when he pushes other books he making…does better for him and the company he works for.
February 14th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
He’s a Skrull so does it really matter?
February 14th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Of course, on the latest 15 years Asterix must have sold some 100 million of its current total of over 340 million books sold – and it is NOT the best-selling series of the last 15 years (certainly Naruto and DragonBall have beat it during this time period).
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
February 14th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Ah, now that’s a point. And Wikipedia claims that SHONEN JUMP has a circulation of 3 million in Japan, which is also a bit higher than CIVIL WAR.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
People are still complaining about that Mephisto thing?
February 15th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Best selling American monthly series since the crash seems about right.
February 15th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
http://www.schwapponline.com/2008/02/what-wine-goes-with-superman-cape-mr.html
February 15th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Drop the monthly from the description and you could have an argument…
Best,
Hunter (Pedro Bouça)
February 16th, 2008 at 2:09 am
I love how Millar always resorts to the logic that “it sold well, therefore it has to be worth a damn!” Shut up and suck it up, Mark.
February 17th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
I think Millar has a right to be proud of such a successful work. C’mon…if you did anything half as successful, you’d make sure everyone knew about it, too.
Sometimes he lets his ego get away from him a bit, like continuing to put out challenges about how successful it was compared to other works, rather than just point out the naysayers as nitpickers and move on.
February 18th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
Millar may have the right to brag about his sales and even LIE about his sales, but given the fact that Civil War was a huge stinking turd writing-wise and has done HUGE damage to the fabric of the Marvel Universe, he deserves to be bashed mercilessly for his hack writing until the end of time and crucified every time the piece of crap opens his mouth and lies his butt off to make himself look good.
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