Mark Millar Has Revealed the Timeline for His Superman and Batman Projects
Everything is lined up for when the characters enter the public domain.
Mark Millar could reinvigorate the comic book industry singlehandedly right now if he wanted to. The writer has been producing blockbuster, massively succesful comic books independently of Marvel and DC Comics for a number of years now. Millar's creator-owned books were so popular that Netflix snatched up the adaptation rights and Millar himself in a deal worth millions of dollars. Still, Millar continues to write, for the love of the medium more than anything else, and one thing that fans have been clamoring for years for is his return to Superman.
An agreeent with DC for some new stories had been made years ago but never materialized into anything, and the reason is because Millar realized there was no point in giving DC his good ideas for the Man of Steel when the character would soon be entering the public domain. That's right, in 2034 both Superman and Lois Lane become free to use characters, followed swiftly thereaster by Batman in 2035, Captain America and the Joker in 2036, and Wonder Woman in 2037. Assuming all goes to plan, Millar has started lining things up so that as the characters become available, he'll be publishing comic books featuring his own takes on all of them.
Speaking with Geeky Brummie and Olly MacNamee on YouTube, Millar discussed his plans for the DC and Marvel characters. He relayed a story of swimming in Oman and coming up with his epic Superman idea, throwing the idea of him writing the character onto social media to gauge interest, and then hearing from DC almost immediately. What Millar realized, though, was that the greater reward would be to wait for the copyrights to expire and make the exact story he wanted with creators of his choice with no editorial inferference. It would truly be his Superman and no one else's.
Of course, there will be limitations, as entering the public domain doesn't make the entirety of Superman, his mythos, and even his name available for anyone to use. Millar is thinking in the long term about this, however, having already paid one of the artists he wants to work with a deposit to keep them on retainer, so to speak, while also realizing that so much time remains before he can release anything that there might even be talent he's never met waiting to burst on the scene who might take on art duties. That's.... really long term thinking, right there! But it might just pay off when Millar's versions of these iconic heroes start to hit comic book shops.
