Mark Millar, creator of comics-turned-movies like Kick-Ass and Wanted, may be working for 20th Century Fox’s Marvel wing these days, but at least this year, he’s enjoyed Batman more than The Avengers–both on the screen and off it.Yesterday, the creator released his year’s-best lists, naming his three favorite comics and movies…and both Batman (from Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo) and The Dark Knight Rises made the cut.The writer had this to say about DC Entertainment’s New 52 Batman, which Millar singled out as the second-best comic of the year (nestled between Saga and The Walking Dead):
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“I haven’t really read Batman since I was about 19. I enjoyed Ty [Templeton]’s Batman Adventures back in the 90s, but generally since about 1990 it’s left me pretty cold and often just a humourless rehash of what made it so brilliant in the late ’80s Miller era. But Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo are doing the best Batman since Frank. This book is a joy and both guys firing on all cylinders. I’m kinda bored of company characters and not really picking many of them up, but this is as fresh and cool as Batman has ever been. Very, very recommended to the two people who maybe haven’t picked this up yet.”
On the movie front, The Dark Knight Rises took up the bottom spot of his top three, behind The Grey and Chronicle; Millar anticipated some push-back from his audience, apparently:
“Third would have to be Dark Knight Rises. Controversial, I know, but I think this might be my favourite of all the Batman movies. It has it’s problems, especially Nolan’s reluctance to make Batman himself especially interesting, and the pay off with Bane SO anticlimactic after such a brilliant build up. But it’s got so many good moments and was so incredibly ambitious that I think it clobbers Avengers in terms of pure cinema. Avengers was a very fun popcorn movie with a lot of good jokes, but in terms of actual scale and depth I think Dark Knight rises to the top for Summer 2012 for me.”
He also praised Looper, Skyfall and Dredd but expressed some disappointment in The Amazing Spider-Man:
“Looper would be my number 4 movie, an absolute masterpiece that confirms JGL as the breakout star in a year that looked like it was going to Ryan Gosling. Skyfall was a great non-Bond Bond movie. I miss the exploding pens and thus looking forward to The Secret Service. I also liked Dredd a lot. A great action director could have really made this sing, but the script and performances so great that I didn’t really mind the slightly dull direction.””Spidey wasn’t a bad movie, but that origin again was too much of a reheat in a genre where we always – ALWAYS – must see something new. Superhero movies are about escalation and this was just going backwards. Nicely made and some great performances tho.”
