Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, DC Comics, Movies, Superman, Superman, Warner Bros | Tagged: frank quitely, Mark Millar

That Mark Millar Scene From The New Superman Movie (SPOILERS)

That Mark Millar and Frank Quitely scene from The Authority seemed to pop up in the new Superman movie. (Big Spoilers)

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SUPERMAN.

Joe Kelly and Doug Mahnke co-created the country of Jarnahpur for JLA #62 from DC Comics. In the comics, Jarhanpur was a monarchy for that entire time, with Rama Khan as its hereditary leader, title of the ruler. This country is said by its inhabitants to be a "Living Land," which would reject Rama Khan, who was deemed more focused on preserving his position than the wishes of the land. They did not get a Special Thanks in the Superman series, where Jaranahpur plays a large role. It begins as a Ukrainian analogue being invaded by a Russian analogue, Borovia, a country created by Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Although Borovia is seen as a US ally, giving it more of an Israel analogue to some, the details regarding its actions, justifications, and Superman's take on the countries are closer to the Soviet situation. Vasil Ghurkos, as President of Borovia, somewhere between Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Donald Trump, played remarkably by Zlato Buric, comes to a rather sticky end.

But it's an end that seems to be taken, not from Superman, but from The Authority. The comic book series created by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, including The Engineer who also appears in the film, was published by Wildstorm in 1999, the comic book studio bought by DC Comics from its current publisher, President and COO, Jim Lee. One of the more controversial issues of this early-edgelord superhero series was #13 by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely. In which The Authority goes to see the real-life President Habibe of East Timor, Indonesia, to enact world justice for real-life atrocities, until then-DC publisher Paul Levitz stepped in, and amended the words and the art to be more generic, South East Asia, and an unnamed President it was.

And now it seems a scene which was so controversial in its day has been reprised in the new Superman movie, Hawkgirl, rather than Superman's analogue, Apollo, who takes the politician high into the sky and then drops them onto the ground of their country, killing them. In The Authority comic, it is by the hands of the East Timorese; in the Superman movie, it's just gravity. But the scene is unmistakably a reprise,

It seems Mark Millar didn't see it. Talking about the movie, he just said, "I went with my wife, my kids, my sister-in-law, my niece, her husband, and their little girl, and every single one of us loved it." A cracking start to the cinematic DC Universe and another win for James G.
" And no, he didn't get a Special Thanks credit, though Frank Quitely did for his later work on All-Star Superman with Grant Morrison. But I do wonder what he thought of that scene.

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