Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, Creators Unleashed, dynamite, entertainment, peter milligan, Terminal Hero

"This Is A Very Personal Story…" – Peter Milligan Talks Terminal Hero

Published Sun, 22 Jun 2014 16:00:55 -0500

As the second part of Dynamite's new Creator Unleashed! line, Peter Milligan is taking on some very serious subject with Terminal Hero. Milligan spoke about the new series, the symbolism involved and the humour that comes from the dark places.

BLEEDING COOL: Rory's powers seem to be all over the place. Are they manifestations from his subconscious due to the cancer treatment or would the powers be the same with each patient who underwent the treatment? Or is there another force dictating his powers?

PETER MILLIGAN : Rather than being "all over the place" what's happening with Rory is the chaotic, externalized outpourings of his dark places. Rory's "powers" (more accurately "side-effects") are the result of his cancer treatment and they are very particular to Rory, his life, his personal demons.

BC: Through the first issue Rory seems to greatly struggle with his new abilities and fight with the demons inside himself. When does the "Hero" part of Terminal Hero come?

PM: This is a very personal story and while writing it I've been around a number of people who've been suffering from different types of cancer. A kind of resilience, courage or even humour in the face of horrible circumstances can be incredibly heroic. In comics the word hero seems to have a very narrow meaning: in this story I want to broaden , or give the word back some more nuance. Rory IS a hero, or at least he tries to be, though he doesn't set about saving people or fighting evil villains, at least at the beginning.

BC: There's a lot of imagery of fire associated with Rory (his head burning.) Does this representing something? Why fire as an indication of power?

PM: I wanted the idea of things running out of control, of dangerous hot thoughts, and strange wild fire seemed to be an appropriate visual symbol of this.

BC: There's a large discussing about the fear of dying at the beginning of the book. Why did you decide to take on such a serious subject matter?

PM: Firstly, it's a serious subject, but I think there's a lot of humour in the book. Secondly, as I said, this is a personal book and I was driven to write the initial scenes where Rory discovers he has a brain tumor by the experiences of my guitar teacher, who suffered a similar fate. This book obviously takes that initial idea and then runs with it, and takes it to some pretty twisted places. Thirdly, I would suggest that there's an awful lot of death in almost every comic book. The difference about Terminal Hero, the reason why it might seem like such a serious subject matter, is that this death is the kind of death people face. It's not death by Joker or evil mutant X-Men. It's the stupid, pointless fucking death that your friend, lover, or even yourself might actually face. That distinction interested me.

BC: In the first issue we see a lot of emotion conflict, especially centered around trust. Is this theme of trust going to carry throughout the book or are other themes going to be present?

PM: Well, there are a number of themes running through the book. One of the biggest is how the experience Rory goes through, the experience of facing his mortality and the side-effects of the strange drug he takes to try to cure himself, forces him to reappraise the kind of man he thought he was. Looking at the horrible tumour growing inside him is just the beginning. He's forced to look at even more horrible and disgusting things within him.

BC: Is there anything else you'd like to tell me about Terminal Hero?

PM: Terminal Hero is a strange ride into some very dark places, perhaps as dark as I've ever written. But I think running through it all, Rory tries damned hard to keep hold of his humanity and his humour. That, if anything, makes him a hero.