I’m going to put something here that you need to read.  From CBR, in reference to the recent announcement that Tony Scott is directing a film adaptation of his Nemesis miniseries.

Mark Millar tells Empire Magazine that he wants the biggest names possible for the film. “The thing is, one guy has to be as good as the other. You’ve got Holmes versus Moriarty here or Batman versus The Joker, so each one has got to be a $20 million actor, really. I think you could go for the A+ list and get Johnny Depp as Nemesis and Brad Pitt as Blake Morrow.” Time will tell if Millar gets his wishes.

And just like that, I’m done with Mark Millar.  I picked up Ultimate Avengers 3 #1 this week, and actually didn’t hate it.  I want to buy the rest of the series, since I like vampires, I like Steve Dillon art, and I like Blade.  But I’m not going to.  Because I’ve had just about enough Mark Millar as I think I can take. 

Mark Millar compares the main characters of Nemesis, a comic which to this day has only seen two issues released, to some of the greatest literary rivals of all time.  Nemesis and Blake Morrow are not “A+ List.”  I mean, come on, it’s an evil Batman and Commissioner Gordon.  It’s an homage, and it’s not original.  You cannot compare them to Batman and the Joker, or Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty.  And to say that they’re deserving of $20 actors?  Wanted and Kick Ass may have been sleeper hits at the box office, but I’m pretty sure that neither one was significant enough that the writer of the comics upon which they were based has any right to say that legendary director Tony Scott needs to cast people in the league of Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt.  It’s egotistical and it’s annoying.

And to tell you the truth, I was kind of excited about the announcement of the director.  Despite Millar’s ego (which has bugged me for a long time), I feel like Nemesis was most obviously written with movie rights in mind (Millar thinks everything he writes is worth buying movie rights for), so it’s kind of written to be a movie.  And I even though that the movie could star people like Cillian Murphy as Nemesis and Ewan McGregor as Morrow, or actors like that.  But not Millar – his book is so awesome, that obviously you need to cast the highest paid actors in Hollywood.  After all, Nemesis and Morrow are the new Holmes and Moriarty!  Even though no one has ever heard of them outside of the comic world.  And even then….most of us dropped the book after issue one.

Mark Millar is a dick.

We’re talking about the guy who said that Warner Brothers would buy his Superman trilogy pitch because it was so awesome.  Keep in mind, the pitch ended with Superman being the last one alive on Earth and dying at the end.  Sad, coming from the same guy who produced some genuinely genius stuff with his Superman Adventures writing.

We’re talking about a guy who bit the hand that feeds him when he bashed Marvel for making (God forbid) another vampire story in the regular Marvel Universe when he wanted to do one in the Ultimate Universe.  Nevermind that vampires are huge right now …. it’s obvious that Marvel bit off his idea because….gasp…both stories star Blade, the Vampire Hunter!  Never mind that Blade and vampires go hand in hand at Marvel.  It’s obvious that Marvel stole his brilliant idea.  Here are some quotes Millar made before X-Men #1 even came out.  Check out the whole story at the link above, just so you can see I’m not making this stuff up.

Now someone’s sent me a link to an X-Men event out two months previous that’s exactly the same idea.

Fingers crossed this bullshit gets fixed, but am getting closer and closer to just doing my own stuff every day.

This is something I created for a company that’s being used within the same company and using the same characters, now two months earlier.

I’m going to speak to the guys and then take a night to think about this. But really, really pissed off about this as have put a lot of work into this and it’s really, really good.

I’m not changing anything. I did this first and it’s too tightly plotted with the other arcs to pull and replace with something new. I guess they could kill the series with the second arc and bring someone else to take in a new direction.

Yes, he is proposing that Marvel should kill an X-MEN series, and fire the writer.  Never mind that sales of X-Men more than likely eclipse those of Ultimate Avengers (X-Men #1 ranked as the #1 comic for July 2010 in sales).

Mark Millar, the guy who turned Captain America into a France-hating asshole.

I’m a little bit tired of Mark Millar telling us how great he is.  Prove it in the writing.  Kick-Ass wasn’t all that.  Neither was Civil War, Wanted, his run on Fantastic Four, 1985, or Old Man Logan.  And there are plenty of excellent writers who are just as happy to write great stuff without touting how great it is, or badmouthing others to make themselves look cool.

I’m sure there are people will disagree with me, and I’d love to hear from them.  I used to love some of Millar’s stuff (Enemy of the State, the aforementioned Superman Adventures)…but enough is enough.