Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: anthony williams, avatar, Comics, image, Mark Millar, millarworld, unfunnies

Have The Unfunnies Been Excommunicated From Millarworld?

Published Thu, 22 Aug 2013 18:00:38 -0500

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Thu, 22 Aug 2013 18:53:19 -0500

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In November, Image is publishing The Art of Millarworld, featuring every Mark Millar creator owned title cover, regardless of publisher.

In the '40s, it was DC. In the '60s, it was Marvel. Now Millarworld has reshaped comics in the 21st century and turned into a powerhouse force to be reckoned with. Riding a wave of grand slam properties ranging from comics to box office smash hits like Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie, and Kick-Ass and Kick-Ass 2, Mark Millar has built an empire by collaborating with the industry's finest artists. In honor of its tenth anniversary, and for the first time, Millarworld collects all the cover artwork from Kick-Ass, WANTED, Superior, The Secret Service, Nemesis, Supercrooks, CHOSEN, WAR HEROES, JUPITER'S LEGACY, and its newest title, MPH. Features behind-the-scenes interviews by the main artist for each title and includes rare, stunning variants by special guest artists like BILL SIENKIEWICZ, ADAM HUGHES, MARC SILVESTRI, BRYAN HITCH, ADAM KUBERT, GEOF DARROW, PHIL NOTO, JOCK, DAVE JOHNSON, and more!

But there's one that's missed off.

Equally, Millar arranges to get posters for his Millarworld books into the new Kick Ass 2 film;

Posters in KA2 movie: Secret Service, Superior, American Jesus, Supercrooks, Nemesis, War Heroes & Wanted hidden in various scenes.

— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) August 16, 2013

Jupiter's Legacy & MPH were also posted on walls, but didn't make the final cut. Oh, plus my big series launching next Easter with… :)

— Mark Millar (@mrmarkmillar) August 16, 2013

But there's one that's still missed off.

The Unfunnies, by Mark Millar and Anthony Williams, published by Avatar, Bleeding Cool's owners. A particularly nasty comic about cartoon archetypes undergoing extreme life crises, masterminded by a real life paedophile.

I emailed publisher William Christensen, and he told me he hadn't been contacted about Art Of Millarworld and this was the first he'd heard of it. I contacted Anthony Williams and Mark Millar's representatives, who didn't respond to e-mails. Image Comics representatives said they had no knowledge why Unfunnies wasn't part of the book.

Interestingly, while there has been considerable social network fuss over Millar's back catalogue of late, The Unfunnies hasn't come up. Despite featuring pretty grotesque jokes and scenes of rape, child abuse, domestic abuse, abuse in general. It's far beyond the likes of Kick Ass and Nemesis, though juxtaposed using rather cartoony imagery.

Could that be why Mark Millar seems to be pushing it to the side? Or could it be Anthony Williams' doing?

The last issues of the book were delayed for years while Williams waited for scripts, and it's not a book he mentions on his comics company website.

The comic and the collection are no longer in print. And now, is the series is being brushed under the carpet?

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