Is Millar bad for children?

[Floyd-the-k]

My son is borrowing books fromt he library and bringing them home to read. I'm over the moon about this, as most parents would be (like a lot of parental thrills, it's completely predictable and nothing special but great for me).
 Anyway, he bought home a cartoon network book of Superman comics by Mark Millar.  I've been reading them with him and they're quite good, but I keep remembering that Millar is loathed here for his Judge Dredd work. So I thought I'd ask you: is reading Millar's comics bad for Roy's young mind? Are Millar's other Superman comics any good?

well?

[Art]

Never read them, but I've heard they're actually quite good, and refreshingly free of Millarisms.

And I'd argue that there are at least a couple of things Millar has done that are of genius level quality and are absolutely worth reading, even if the rest of the time he has a tendency to produce dreck.

[Roger Godpleton]

Superman Red Son is essential reading.

[Bico]

Miller's run on Superman Adventures was where he was whipped like a dog by the various editors and licencing people to make sure he produced what he was being paid for - self-contained stories devoid of innuendo or excessive sexual or violent content.  No ego-trips there.
Of course, it's probably nothing to do with the fact that at that stage, SA was the only regualar paying job he could get - fuck it up, and the next stop was either the dole office or McDonalds.

It should be pointed out that most of the DC Adventures books are great all-ages books - the 'proper' Justice League comic has hit such a barrel-scraping low lately that DC have finally hired the guy who wrote the cartoon spin-off Justice League book - rather than being seen as dumbing-down, it's being hailed as a genius move by most fans.

[DavidXBrunt]

Yup, Millar with boundries on what he could do produced some of the best, most fun Superman stories around at the time and since. They're great. I have a soft spot for his last issue, that had 22 short stories.

The Animated spin offs are belting, and well worth a couple of quid.

[Trout]

Yep - just about any DC-related animation is bloody good stuff.

I picked up season one of Justice League Unlimited and loved it a lot.

Floyd, I'd hope your library is classifying things as suitable for children.
Just keep Roy away from The Unfunnies - at all costs. It looks cartoony, but it is not.

- Trout

[VampiraJen]

and avoid ultimate x-men.  shudder.....

[davidjatt]

I read Millar's 2000AD work as a 5 year old.  It was ok to my mind back then.  His stories were never really my favourite, though.  I always preferred the Garth Ennis ones back then.  Of course, I usually only read Dredd at that point.

[Floyd-the-k]

thanks for the tips.  These stories are quite good and I'll look out for Red Son.

[Satanist]

Red Son is a great read.

I also like Chosen.

Avoid Wanted as the end will make you want to kick his head in!

[Art]

I'm a sucker for Ultimates, even as it falls further and further away from actually being good.

It probably helps that, unlike the X-Men, I'venever read the Avengers.

[Art]

(Oh, and we should add the obligatory mention of that Swamp Thing story with the nazis.)

[Tiplodocus]

I've got the first two ULTIMATES books and I think they are pretty good. There's a couple of annoying things in them but overall a jolly good read with some absolutely stonking art (is it Brian Hitch?)

Ultimate X-Men did have some good story telling moments but wasn't anywhere near as good.

I can never remember - was Milalr responsible for MANIAC 5? I rather enjoyed that.

[Art]

I actually even quite liked that Silo thing in the EE.

[Tiplodocus]

I've got the first two ULTIMATES books and I think they are pretty good. There's a couple of annoying things in them but overall a jolly good read with some absolutely stonking art (is it Brian Hitch?)

Ultimate X-Men did have some good story telling moments but wasn't anywhere near as good.

I can never remember - was Milalr responsible for MANIAC 5? I rather enjoyed that.