I always knew Mark Millar was a CLiNT

[CYCLOPZ]

Mark Millar Promotes CLiNT Magazine, and Dumps on 2000 AD!!



clint You've probably heard about CLiNT magazine by now, the new monthly comics anthology put together by Mark Millar. Well, a teaser trailer for the magazine has hit the internet, and I've included it below. It's nothing impressive, and doesn't tell us anything we don't already know, but it's very flashy!

Moving beyond that, I wanted to address a few recent comments made by Millar.-

In SFX magazine he calls Clint magazine an "Eagle for the 21st century", going on to say that he wants the magazine to "occupy the same place in schoolboy's hearts that Eagle and 2000 AD did". I'm sorry, the place that 2000 AD *did* take? I wasn't aware that 2000 AD had gone out of publication, or that it's popularity had waned in any major way. Why does he have to slam 2000 AD, just to make his own magazine sound good?

Millar has also been quoted as saying that "There are absolutely no comic books aimed at 16-30 year old guys", when referring to the UK comic industry. Again, I'm pretty sure that such comics already exist. Not only is there 2000 AD, but there's also its sister publication Judge Dredd Megazine, and a number of great anthologies and regular titles from publishers like Accent UK, Orang Utan Comics, AAM/Markosia, and a slew of small press publishers!

Millar is convinced that this title will rejuvenate the British comic industry, and return it to the heights of popularity that it saw in the 60s and 70s, but I honestly can't see that happening. He's pulled in a cast of his TV personality and comedian buddies to launch the title, and promises that he'll bring in new talent during the second year of the magazine's publication. It's an interesting approach, but I honestly don't think it'll bring in that many new readers, in the long run. Stunts like this tend to shift a huge number of copies in the first few months, as the fans of the celebrities jump on the band wagon, but once the veneer starts to wear away, those people start to drift off, and that's when you need your real content! He should launch it with a couple of celebrity contributors, and a handful of established British comic writers, so that once the new readers in the door, they stay there!

Anyway, this is beside the point. Millar should be using this opportunity to promote the British comic industry as a whole, not condemning the industry that spawned him. 2000 AD gave Mark Miller his start in the industry, and he's never fully recognized that fact, or given the magazine it's dues. I think Alan Grant says it best  published in Judge Dredd Megazine #268:

   "Grant Morrison has never mentioned what I did for him, I imagine he's too embarrassed to say somebody else helped him when he needed it. For my sins I helped Mark Millar, but I've never seen a good word from him. I have seen insults about me in print from him. At the time it bugged me a little. We let him stay at our house. A week later he's in the paper saying him and Grant Morrison are the true master of comics, not like yesterday's men who live in big houses full of antiques. Fuck! I gave you your fucking tea! Why didn't you say that when you were here? The answer, of course, is simple – he'd have gotten a broken nose for his troubles."

Is this man's ego out of control?

I SAY YES

[Emp edit: If one is going to quote the full piece from someone's blog it is good form to offer a link to the source too:

http://www.hypergeek.ca/2010/08/mark-millar-promotes-clint-magazine-and-dumps-on-2000-ad.html

Emp out]

[John Caliber]

It's the medium of the comic strip that modern audiences don't appear to like, rather than the quality. Even a miraculous publication featuring the impossible - stories that EVERY comic book fan enjoys to the hilt - would tank in the blessed United Kingdom. Can't blame Mark for his enthusiasm, howeever - if you don't try, how do you know if you might have succeeded? 

[Emperor]

I've added the source of the piece to the OP.

www.hypergeek.ca/2010/08/mark-millar-promotes-clint-magazine-and-dumps-on-2000-ad.html

[SmallBlueThing]

Yeah, it occurs to me that we've had thirty years (more than a generation) of 'comics arent just for kids', weve had thirty years of 'graphic novels', alan moore, grant morrison, garth ennis, high profile titles in bookshops, years of major movies based on comics raking in huge swathes of filthy lucre... And yet STILL the british public wont buy them. Why? Why does a medium have such an effect over here? Never used to be like this- millions of middle aged boys and girls grew up on fantastic british weeklies. Who told them to stop reading? Why did they stop when they read childrens books, watched childrens films and presumably then went on to grown up versions of both?
Maybe stuff like Watchmen (which could be what ex-readers think they should move on to) is just too dull, worthy and middlebrow for them, and what they really want is the comic equivalent of dan brown, bravo two zero or jackie collins? Are there any 'airport comics'?
SBT

[Staz Johnson]

'Airport comics'.... stroke of genius, I'd sign up for those!

Reminds me of the old concept of the 'summer special', a tabloid version of your regular weekly comic which were generally sold in seaside locations.

[John Caliber]

I think... that comics are one of those British cultural artefacts classified in the collective consciousness as 'nostalgia', and anything seeming to contradict that state is ethically justified for attack. The British layman doesn't like his stereotypes modified. Comics, like toys, are accepted as artefacts discarded by young adults who have tossed away the 'foolishness' of immaturity embodied in comics/toys and accepted adult interests (whatever they are judged to be, usually something with low intellectual content and conservative). It will take a long time - generations of adults who now increasingly augment the toy and comic book collector community - to overturn this bias, but will comics even be around in any commercial form to enjoy a cultural reconciliation?

[Fatboydale]

Mark Millar is a cockhead for saying that shit but its a good way of drumming up free advertising , i shall buy this magazine and give it a chance ...So Millar has done his job , let hope its not rubbish 

[radiator]

I'm sorry, the place that 2000 AD *did* take? I wasn't aware that 2000 AD had gone out of publication, or that it's popularity had waned in any major way.

Um, it's popularity has waned in a major way - the days of 100,000 weekly sales are long gone and I think we can all agree that it's only still around now thanks to the goodwill of the creators and readers, a fair amount of luck, and the Rebellion buyout.

Also, it's audience has famously grown up with the comic - Millar isn't 'dumping' on 2000ad, he's merely saying that he wants Clint to be popular with a young (school age) audience in the same way that 2000ad was 20-30 years ago.

[willthemightyW]

Mixed... feelings... can't decide... what opinion is on... Millar and Clint...

[John Caliber]

Mark's a legendary self-publicist. He knows that consumers don't have to be passionate about any product to buy it in droves, just be swayed because something is 'the fad of the hour' and 'others are doing it'. As other boarders have stated, this is fine for short-lived hype if there's a pot of cash right there, bursting to be relieved, but the general public (who Mark aims for) have shallow tastes; they bottom out very quickly and move on. I can only assume Mark might know this and plans to make a killing from the first few issues, then move on to his next multimedia blitz?

[Emperor]

its a good way of drumming up free advertising , i shall buy this magazine and give it a chance ...So Millar has done his job , let hope its not rubbish

And even cheap heat is heat. It has got people talking and buying the comic so it has worked.

[Robin Low]

he's merely saying that he wants Clint to be popular with a young (school age) audience in the same way that 2000ad was 20-30 years ago.

Is that really what he's saying? I remember buying the first few issues of 2000AD when I was about 7, then started buying it regularly when I was 14. I'm pretty certain that at neither age I would have been interested in a magazine with articles about hot mums. Even as I'm approaching 40 I'm not interested. Are the actual comics in it really aimed at kids?

I've not picked up copy yet (not sure I'll bother), but all I can see is an attempt to persuade 20 to 30-something men who aren't that interested in comics to read comics. I'm not really sure that it's worth the effort. I'd rather see someone attempt something like Toxic! again.


Regards

Robin

[jamesedwards]

2000ad COULD go for that audience fairly easily if they phased out the long-form stuff and put out more episodic or accessible stuff - Zombo is absolutely the perfect strip for mass market consumption. Moreso than the American floppies most of the 2000ad strips require between five and ten years of prior reading to truly appreciate. Certainly Dante, the Pat Mills stable, Dredd and even Stront find themselves in this situation right now. Certainly that would skew the target age higher - at 27 I imagine I'm one of the younger 2000ad readers.

[CYCLOPZ]

it is good form to offer a link to the source too:

http://www.hypergeek.ca/2010/08/mark-millar-promotes-clint-magazine-and-dumps-on-2000-ad.html

My Mistake

Mark's a legendary self-publicist. He knows that consumers don't have to be passionate about any product to buy it in droves, just be swayed because something is 'the fad of the hour' and 'others are doing it'. As other boarders have stated, this is fine for short-lived hype if there's a pot of cash right there, bursting to be relieved, but the general public (who Mark aims for) have shallow tastes; they bottom out very quickly and move on. I can only assume Mark might know this and plans to make a killing from the first few issues, then move on to his next multimedia blitz?

Yes Millar has done a great job in the last few years of creating massively popular comic books that appeal to the kind of audience that 2000ad could be  going for.

I just think it would be more productive if UK comic creators in such a great position could turn a readership onto something that has been consistently of high quality like 2000ad and the Meg.

2000ad has been the backbone of UK comics for over 30 years and still can appeal to a younger audience, and to mention it in this article implies that it's yesterdays news. If CLiNT is a short term money making venture - that to me is a cynical kick in the face to a UK comic industry.  

[Richmond Clements]

I just think it would be more productive if UK comic creators in such a great position could turn a readership onto something that has been consistently of high quality like 2000ad and the Meg.

But that's the job of Rebellion- not Mark Millar or anyone else.