Mark Millar's New Comic Series Described as "Willy Wonka With Superpowers"
Prolific comic book creator Mark Millar has a new addition to his Millarworld universe of creator-owned comics, and it's described as "Willy Wonka with superpowers." Netflix acquired Millarworld in 2017, giving the streaming service access to a whole universe of comic book stories outside of the Big Two of Marvel and DC. This collaboration between Mark Millar and Netflix has birthed the live-action adaptation of Jupiter's Legacy and the Super Crooks anime, with many more projects in the works. One of those projects is The Ambassadors, which will be published by Image Comics and features an all-star lineup of artists.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Ambassadors follows six characters from six different countries, who live in a world where a Korean billionaire scientist has cracked the code to create superhumans. This scientist announces that she will turn six ordinary individuals into superhumans, which sparks a global competition to be one of the lucky six. The artists attached include Frank Quitely, Travis Charest, Olivier Coipel, Matteo Scalera, Matteo Buffagni, and Karl Kerschl, who will each draw one issue of the series.
"One of the great advantages streamers have over cinema is you can do something this mad and ambitious," Millar told THR. "The domestic audience is usually the main consideration for an American studio, especially opening weekend, so having an entirely non-American cast of characters and exclusively overseas locations would be a hard sell if this was a traditional theatrical release, but I'm just as excited by Korea, India, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and France as I am about the audience in California or New York. It's also exciting for Netflix as these are all growth markets."
"We've seen the three act American superhero origin story a lot over the past 22 years and people are just looking for something a little different now," he added. "That's where the rewards lie and the idea of a super-team based out of Korea just feels fresh. It also gives us an amazing chance to use local talent in these countries and build up the profile of the characters across the world, spinning them off into their own projects and making it an even bigger deal when we bring them back together again. You could only do this thing on a streamer so it totally takes advantage of the format in a way we haven't seen before."
You can get a sneak peek at Frank Quitely and Travis Charest's art for The Ambassadors below. The first issue arrives in March.
