| Pat Mills | |
|---|---|
 Pat Mills in 2003 | |
| Born | Patrick Eamon Mills (1949-03-07)March 7, 1949 (age 76) |
| Nationality | British |
| Area | Writer, Editor |
Notable works | Sláine Charley's War ABC Warriors Nemesis the Warlock Requiem Vampire Knight |
Patrick Eamon Mills[1] (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along withJohn Wagner, revitalised British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light inBritish comics ever since. He has been called "the godfather of British comics".[2]
His comics are notable for their violence and anti-authoritarianism.[3] He is best known for creating2000 AD and playing a major part in the development ofJudge Dredd.
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Mills started his career as a sub-editor forD. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, where he met Wagner. In 1971 both left to gofreelance, and were soon writing scripts forIPC's girls' and humour comics. After D.C. Thomson launchedWarlord, a successful war-themed weekly, Mills was asked in 1975 to develop a rival title for IPC. Based in the girls' comics department to avoid the attention of the staff of the boys' department, Mills, along with Wagner andGerry Finley-Day, worked in secret to createBattle Picture Weekly.Battle's stories were more violent and its characters more working class than IPC's traditional fare, and it was an immediate hit. Having made the comic ready for launch, Mills resigned as editor. He would later write the celebratedFirst World War seriesCharley's War, drawn byJoe Colquhoun, for the title.[4]
After launchingBattle, Mills began developing a new boys' title,Action, launched in 1976.Action's mix of violence and anti-authoritarianism proved controversial and the title lasted less than a year before being withdrawn in the face of media protests. It was briefly revived in neutered form before being merged intoBattle.
His next creation was the science fiction-themed weekly2000 AD, launched in 1977. As withBattle andAction he developed most of the early series before handing them over to other writers. He took over the development ofJudge Dredd when creator John Wagner temporarily walked out, and wrote many of the early stories, establishing the character and his world, before Wagner returned.
In 1978 IPC launchedStarlord, a short-lived companion title for2000 AD. Mills contributedRo-Busters, a series about a robot disaster squad, which moved to2000 AD whenStarlord was cancelled.Ro-Busters was the beginning of a mini-universe of interrelated stories Mills was to create for2000 AD, includingABC Warriors andNemesis the Warlock. ArtistKevin O'Neill was involved in the creation of all three. Another strand of his2000 AD work wasSláine, abarbarian fantasy based onCeltic mythology andneo-paganism, which he co-created with his then wifeAngela Kincaid (with whom he also created the children's series of books,The Butterfly Children).
Mills also had a hand in IPC's line ofcomics aimed at girls, such asChiller (a horror comic),Misty (supernatural stories) andJinty (science fiction).
In 1986 he edited the short-lived comicDiceman, which featured characters from2000 AD in political satire regarding U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan. Mills wrote nearly every story.
In 1988 he was involved in the launch ofCrisis, a politically aware2000 AD spin-off aimed at older readers. For it he wroteThird World War, drawn initially byCarlos Ezquerra. The title lasted until 1991 and launched the careers of talents such asGarth Ennis,John Smith andSean Phillips.
In 1991 Mills launchedToxic!, an independent colour newsstand weekly comic with a violent, anarchic tone, perhaps as a reaction against the politically worthyCrisis, and acreator-owned ideal. Many of the stories were created by Mills and co-writerTony Skinner, includingAccident Man, an assassin who makes his hits look like accidents.Toxic! lasted less than a year, but gave a start to talents such asDuke Mighten andMartin Emond.
He has had little success in American comics, with the exception ofMetalzoic andMarshal Law, published byDC andEpic comics respectively in the late 1980s, both drawn by O'Neill. Mills'Toxic stripsAccident Man andBrats Bizarre were reprinted as their own US-format titles (byDark Horse Comics and Epic, respectively) and Mills wrotePunisher 2099 for Marvel,Zombie World for Dark Horse, andDeath Race 2020 (reuniting Mills with Kevin O'Neill) forRoger Corman's Cosmic Comics.
In 1995, he broke into the French market, one of his life's goals, withSha, created with French artistOlivier Ledroit.
He continues to writeSláine,Bill Savage,Black Siddha andABC Warriors for2000 AD, and also theFranco-Belgian comicRequiem Vampire Knight,[5] with art byOlivier Ledroit, and its spin-offClaudia Chevalier Vampire, with art byFranck Tacito.
Two new series,Greysuit, a super-powered government agent drawn byJohn Higgins, andDefoe, a 17th-century zombie hunter drawn byLeigh Gallagher, began in2000 AD prog 1540.[6]
Mills has formed Repeat Offenders with artistClint Langley and Jeremy Davis "to develop graphic novel concepts with big-screen potential" and the first project is a graphic novel calledAmerican Reaper, serialised in theJudge Dredd Megazine (2011–2015). It has been optioned byTrudie Styler'sXingu Films and Mills has written the screenplay.[7]
He has also written twoDoctor Whoaudio plays, "Dead London" (2008) and "The Scapegoat" (2009) forBig Finish Productions, featuring theEighth Doctor andLucie Miller. The first audio play was released as the first part of the second season of theEighth Doctor Adventures and the second as part of the third season. In 2010 Mills adapted a story that had been started by him and Wagner for Doctor Who in the 1980s and was produced by Big Finish as "The Song of Megaptera". In 2023, a 1980Fourth Doctor comic he penned (with artist Dave Gibbons) forDoctor Who Magazine was adapted into theFourteenth Doctor special "The Star Beast."
In 2017 he wrote, with Kevin O'Neill, and published two novels,Serial Killer andGoodnight, John-Boy, part of a planned series of four books. Also in that year, he published his memoirs,Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! 2000 AD and Judge Dredd: The Secret History in print and as an e-book. Mills also narrated theaudiobook version himself. (The title is the catchphrase of the villain in his seriesNemesis the Warlock.)
In 2018 the filmAccident Man was released, based on his comic strip forToxic!
In 2019 Mills announced that he would publish a new all-ages science fiction anthology comic calledSpacewarp, to be released in 2020, and that the artists would retain the copyright on their work.[8]
In 2021 he published another volume of memoirs with a focus on Slaine,Kiss My Axe! Slaine the Warped Warrior: The Secret History.
As well as his influential role in creating and contributing to numerous of British comics, Mills has produced work in both America and Europe.
Interviews
| Preceded by – | 2000 AD editor 1977 | Succeeded by |
