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 a recent interview with 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 in an interview 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.”

Related posts:

1. Mark Millar Auctions off the Role of the Villain in Nemesis!
2. Mark Millar to Make a Scottish Superhero Movie!
3. Mark Millar and Dynamic Forces Announce Nemesis Charity Auction
4. 20th Century Fox Acquires Screen Rights to Mark Millar’s Nemesis
5. Mark Millar Talks About the Wanted 2 Movie