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nerdinthelibrary 's review for:
The Authority, Vol. 2: Under New Management
by Frank Quitely, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar, Bryan Hitch
Buzzword readathon #11
Fuck Mark Millar.
I'm tempted to just leave that as my review but I need to rant so... let's go. Starting with the positives, the first half of this (the Ellis/Hitch half) is just as wonderful as the volume that came before. With the end of the century and Jenny's impending death there are some really great character moments, and they kill god which is just pretty cool. I forgot to mention this in my review of the first volume so even though it's less relevant I'll do it here: Bryan Hitch is very good at drawing action, which not a lot of comic book artists can say.
The second half... sigh. So, the second arc of this was written by Mark Millar and drawn by Frank Quitely. Lets deal with the art first because I have less to say about it. It's bad. Everyone's face looks (in the words of a comment I saw) like a wrinkly testicle, Apollo and Jack faring the worst, and judging by the way he draws Jenny I'm going to guess that Quitely has never seen a baby in his entire life.
Moving onto the Millar of it all. It's no secret that I think Mark Millar is a bad writer who confuses edginess with depth, and this may be one of his worst offences. Putting aside the just boring plot where the villains are faux Avengers and that whole mess because we need to talk about an even bigger mess. I unfortunately forgot that part of Millar's edginess concerned his rampant sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc. Honestly, this page can probably sum up the sexism in this pretty well. It's not "women are awful" levels of misogyny, it's slightly more subtle than that and Midnighter's first line of dialogue written by Millar just made my skin crawl. And no, Quitely doesn't get a pass on this front because what the actual hell is that position Angie's in.
There's also just an underlying meanness and cynicism to Millar's writing, and not to say that the Authority wasn't cynical and mean, it was just those things in a different way. Millar's writing of the team doesn't make them seem close; at times, it makes them seem like they hate each other. Ellis' banter would be biting and playful whereas Millar's is all bite, no play.
He also has one of the two gay characters raped by faux Captain America for no reason. And we all know Millar's issue with rape in comics.
The Ellis/Hitch half is a five-star and the Millar/Quitely half is minus a million, so I figured a three was fair. I'm just really disappointed. So, I'm going to end this review the way I started it.
Fuck Mark Millar.
Fuck Mark Millar.
I'm tempted to just leave that as my review but I need to rant so... let's go. Starting with the positives, the first half of this (the Ellis/Hitch half) is just as wonderful as the volume that came before. With the end of the century and Jenny's impending death there are some really great character moments, and they kill god which is just pretty cool. I forgot to mention this in my review of the first volume so even though it's less relevant I'll do it here: Bryan Hitch is very good at drawing action, which not a lot of comic book artists can say.
The second half... sigh. So, the second arc of this was written by Mark Millar and drawn by Frank Quitely. Lets deal with the art first because I have less to say about it. It's bad. Everyone's face looks (in the words of a comment I saw) like a wrinkly testicle, Apollo and Jack faring the worst, and judging by the way he draws Jenny I'm going to guess that Quitely has never seen a baby in his entire life.
Moving onto the Millar of it all. It's no secret that I think Mark Millar is a bad writer who confuses edginess with depth, and this may be one of his worst offences. Putting aside the just boring plot where the villains are faux Avengers and that whole mess because we need to talk about an even bigger mess. I unfortunately forgot that part of Millar's edginess concerned his rampant sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc. Honestly, this page can probably sum up the sexism in this pretty well. It's not "women are awful" levels of misogyny, it's slightly more subtle than that and Midnighter's first line of dialogue written by Millar just made my skin crawl. And no, Quitely doesn't get a pass on this front because what the actual hell is that position Angie's in.
There's also just an underlying meanness and cynicism to Millar's writing, and not to say that the Authority wasn't cynical and mean, it was just those things in a different way. Millar's writing of the team doesn't make them seem close; at times, it makes them seem like they hate each other. Ellis' banter would be biting and playful whereas Millar's is all bite, no play.
He also has one of the two gay characters raped by faux Captain America for no reason. And we all know Millar's issue with rape in comics.
The Ellis/Hitch half is a five-star and the Millar/Quitely half is minus a million, so I figured a three was fair. I'm just really disappointed. So, I'm going to end this review the way I started it.
Fuck Mark Millar.