After You've Seen "Kick-Ass", Read These Books!

Mark Millar is the writer of the book, Kick-Ass, for which Kick-Ass the movie is based. He is a Scottish author who has worked in the comic book industry for many years at both Marvel and DC comics. His works have dealt mainly in the superhero genre, and many of his books have topped the comic book sales charts. Here are some of the most popular and most interesting works written by Mark Millar.

Wanted - If you've seen the Wanted movie based on this book, then you've only seen general audience version of this story. There were major setting and situation changes for Wanted when it was adapted to film. Published by Top Cow, the art by J.G. Jones is phenomenal, and the graphic novel adds layers to each character that the movie did not explore. Again, the world in which the original work takes place is very different than what was presented in the film, but it is well worth checking out this source material.

The Ultimates I and II - Millar was tasked with re-inventing Marvel's The Avengers for their Ultimate line of books. Millar took the team's core members - Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Giant Man, the Wasp and Black Widow and placed them in a more realistic context. By doing this, he placed a sense of seriousness to their actions that heightened the drama. One truly did not know if any of the Ultimates would live or die through each sagas. The Ultimates were also the blueprint for many of the elements currently seen in the Marvel movies, namely Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. Ultimates I and II have both been collected in hardcover and softcover books.

Civil War - This was the highest-selling Marvel event during the last decade. Millar's story was simple on the surface yet extremely layered. Marvel's two highest-revered superheroes, Iron Man and Captain America, have differing opinions as to what kind of laws and limitations the government should place on its super-powered heroes. What follows are Marvel heroes taking sides and the Civil War between the them begins. This was a career-maker for artist Steve McNiven, whose art in this series is a thing of beauty. The entire Civil War saga has been published in hardcover and softcover formats.

The Authority - Published under DC's Wildstorm imprint, the Authority is a broken mirror image of the Justice League. Millar took the concept to its natural extremes and confronted some issues not explored heavily in modern comic books. The Authority is a very adult book, far more graphic than the most extreme Marvel and DC title, but it is milestone, shake-things-up piece of work that the mature reader may want to explore. Look for the collected trade paperbacks of this series with Millar as writer.

Nemesis - This is Millar's current project with collaborater Steve McNiven. It is exploring the concept of a seemingly powerful being with amoral sensibilities. The re-teaming of the Milllar and McNiven is worth the attention alone. Time will tell how this concept rides out, but these two creators always give the reader something spectacular on the page. Nemesis is published under Marvel's ICON imprint.