Posted in: Comics, Recent Updates | Tagged: authority, comcis, frank quitely, image, jupiter's children, Mark Millar

Mark Millar And Frank Quitely's Jupiter's Children From Image Comics This Summer

Mark Millar has announced, through Comic Book Resources, the name, concept and cover art for his new creator owned series from Image with Frank Quitely, Jupiter's Children. A twelve ten issue comic series created by the pair that seems destined to rock the sales charts.

They last worked together on the Marvel project 411, with one of the more touching stories either has worked on, a story of Millar's family past, of peaceful protest against bigotry. But they are best known for their work on The Authority which, basically, made them both, despite having worked in comics for over a decade.

Millar described the book to CBR, saying;

"It opens in France in the 1920s, which immediately for a superhero story is a very different location. We start on a bunch of explorers kind of like that opening from 'King Kong,' which I love, and they're doing an exploration of the ancient world – these rich Americans who have put together an expedition to find something you'll hear about in the story. From those first few pages, and a doomed expedition, we cut to the present day, and they came home from that trip altered and with a plan to save the American idea. In historical context, the Russian revolution is relatively recent and Europe is in a state of turmoil and they're just on the cusp of the Wall Street Crash so they've gone on this trip to try and save America and then we cut to their utterly useless, meandering children in the present day essentially squandering their inheritance. It's not crass and celebrity focused, although it touches on that stuff. It's more Shakespearean, with the last of the old heroes, a King Lear figure, watching these teenagers and twenty-something with no altruism whatsoever. There's a massive regret in his eyes as he looks around at the world he's leaving behind, very much the world we see today with the Euro-zone collapse and industrial decline and six billion people worried about the future, he feels the children and grand-children of he and his friends just aren't up to the job. But this is just the starting point. This is like saying that Star Wars is about Darth Vader boarding a ship and kidnapping the Princess. This is the first eight or ten pages and we just run with it from here."

And once we reach the present;

"You've got the financial, and America losing power and influence to China, of course, but at the same time, there are massive internal problems in China with social engineering being just one of them. Over the last generation, there have been too many males born, so you're looking towards a massive social collapse over there. Huge unrest within the next decade. The Arab world is obviously in chaos and we have the European problems and the governments of the world asking these new, young heroes to help. But they can't. Half of them can barely read a book. Adamantium claws doesn't mean you know the specific pros and cons of quantative easing. But like I said, this is the backdrop where the adventure takes places. It's a huge, grand operatic piece that runs for ten issues and does super-heroics on a scale I've never even tried in something like 'The Ultimates.'"

And more radical for a Mark Millar book? He says he isn't trying to sell it as a movie. Not yet.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!