Today, Image held a press conference call with writer Mark Millar about his upcoming science fiction series STARLIGHT. Here's some of the information we received during this call.
STARLIGHT draws heavily off classic science fiction serials, and when we asked which ones inspired him to write this new book, he explained that it was really all of them. He had an unusual childhood because he enjoyed everything that the generation prior to him enjoyed. He grew up loving them as much as the kids around him loved Superman or Batman and it took him quite a while to realize that only he liked it.
Millar was asked what makes Goran Parlov the perfect collaborator for this project and Millar stated that he only saw this book with a European style to it. He was looking for something with a Moebius style to it and thought Goran was a great fit for it. "The stars aligned" where Goran was finishing something up and was available to work on this book.
However, Millar jokingly said,
"It seems a shame to vandalize [Goran's art] with my dialogue."
When asked about the appeal of playing with character archetypes that readers already know and love, Millar stated that each generation is inspired by the previous generation and it can be traced back 5,000 years. Many things were inspired by John Carter from Mars, and we don't see that as much now, so it's an update of that tradition.
We asked Millar about the tone of this series and whether it will be similar to those classic sci-fi serials. Millar explained that it's an homage to that genre but without the cliffhangers. It touches on the older stuff. He wouldn't say this is an all ages book, but it skews to a younger audience. This will be a different tone from what people are used to in his writing.
Millar was then asked what's new about this genre and what is he hoping to add.
"This type of sci-fi hero hasn't been around since I was a toddler."
We haven't seen a post modern twist on the old style hero. He wants to make it really human and likes the idea of exploring someone's humanity. What happens after the space adventure? How does one integrate back into society after fighting in space? He says there's lots of interesting material to play with that he hasn't seen done.
When asked about how this folds into his overall plans to put STARLIGHT into a larger universe, Millar says that this book is an entry level book. It is self-contained, but as you read his other series, in this universe, you can feel them all come together. Over the the next 3 years, we will see 9 books from this universe.
There aren't many shared universes and one question asks Millar "Why try it?" And why will Millar succeed? He states that the biggest mistake is that there are too many different writers, so there are 7-8 voices for one universe. When Stan Lee did it, it was cohesive, but you could still read them individually. Millar thought doing this shared universe would be fun, but it all clicks together and isn't forced. Millar then went on to explain he loves Jaws and The Godfather, but he doesn't need to know that they both exist in the same universe. He later stated the idea of both of them being in the same universe would actually be really fun.
The first issue of STARLIGHT hits your local comic book shop's shelves on March 5th.
That's it for the interview, but make sure to check out the preview below, and thanks to Mark Millar for taking the time out to answer everyone's questions.
16 Comments