Patrick Eamon Mills[1] (born 1949) is an English comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British 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 creating 2000 AD and playing a major part in the development of Judge Dredd.
Mills started his career as a sub-editor for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, where he met Wagner. In 1971 both left to go freelance, and were soon writing scripts for IPC's girls' and humour comics. After D.C. Thomson launched Warlord, 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 and Gerry Finley-Day, worked in secret to create Battle 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 celebrated First World War series Charley's War, drawn by Joe Colquhoun, for the title.[4]
After launching Battle, 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mix of violence and anti-authoritarianism proved controversial and the title lasted less than a year before being withdrawn in the face of media protests.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 into Battle.
His next creation was the science fiction-themed weekly 2000 AD, launched in 1977. As with Battle and Action he developed most of the early series before handing them over to other writers. He took over the development of Judge 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 launched Starlord, a short-lived companion title for 2000 AD. Mills contributed Ro-Busters, a series about a robot disaster squad, which moved to 2000 AD when Starlord was cancelled. Ro-Busters was the beginning of a mini-universe of interrelated stories Mills was to create for 2000 AD, including ABC Warriors and Nemesis the Warlock. Artist Kevin O'Neill was involved in the creation of all three. Another strand of his 2000 AD work was Sláine, a barbarian fantasy based on Celtic mythology and neo-paganism, which he co-created with his then wife Angela Kincaid (with whom he also created the children's series of books, The Butterfly Children).
Mills also had a hand in IPC's line of comics aimed at girls, such as Chiller (a horror comic), Misty (supernatural stories) and Jinty (science fiction).
In 1986 he edited the short-lived comic Diceman, which featured characters from 2000 AD in political satire regarding U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Mills wrote nearly every story.
In 1988 he was involved in the launch of Crisis, a politically aware 2000 AD spin-off aimed at older readers. For it he wrote Third World War, drawn initially by Carlos Ezquerra. The title lasted until 1991 and launched the careers of talents such as Garth Ennis, John Smith and Sean Phillips.
In 1991 Mills launched Toxic!, an independent colour newsstand weekly comic with a violent, anarchic tone, perhaps as a reaction against the politically worthy Crisis, and a creator-owned ideal. Many of the stories were created by Mills and co-writer Tony Skinner, including Accident Man, an assassin who makes his hits look like accidents. Toxic! lasted less than a year, but gave a start to talents such as Duke Mighten and Martin Emond.
He has had little success in American comics, with the exception of Metalzoic and Marshal Law, published by DC and Epic comics respectively in the late 1980s, both drawn by O'Neill. Mills' Toxic strips Accident Man and Brats Bizarre were reprinted as their own US-format titles (by Dark Horse Comics and Epic, respectively) and Mills wrote Punisher 2099 for Marvel, Zombie World for Dark Horse, and Death Race 2020 (reuniting Mills with Kevin O'Neill) for Roger Corman's Cosmic Comics.
In 1995, he broke into the French market, one of his life's goals, with Sha, created with French artist Olivier Ledroit.
Two new series, Greysuit, a super-powered government agent drawn by John Higgins, and Defoe, a 17th-century zombie hunter drawn by Leigh Gallagher, began in 2000 AD prog 1540.[6]
Mills has formed Repeat Offenders with artist Clint Langley and Jeremy Davis "to develop graphic novel concepts with big-screen potential" and the first project is a graphic novel called American Reaper, serialised in the Judge Dredd Megazine (2011–2015). It has been optioned by Trudie Styler's Xingu Films and Mills has written the screenplay.[7]
In 2017 he wrote, with Kevin O'Neill, and published two novels, Serial Killer and Goodnight, 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 the audiobook version himself. (The title is the catchphrase of the villain in his series Nemesis the Warlock.)
In 2018 the film Accident Man was released, based on his comic strip for Toxic!
In 2019 Mills announced that he would publish a new all-ages science fiction anthology comic called Spacewarp, 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.
Related Research Articles
2000 AD is a weekly British science fiction-oriented comic magazine. As a comics anthology it serialises stories in each issue and was first published by IPC Magazines in 1977, the first issue dated 26 February. Since 2000 it has been published by Rebellion Developments.
Kevin O'Neill was an English comic book illustrator who was the co-creator of Nemesis the Warlock, Marshal Law, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Tharg the Mighty or The Mighty One is the fictional editor of the British science fiction comic 2000 AD. The character was introduced on the cover of the first issue in 1977 and is one of only two characters to appear in almost every issue of the comic, the other being Judge Dredd. Tharg occasionally appears in stories and strips involving him have been written by such notable writers as Alan Grant, Alan Moore and John Wagner, albeit usually credited to "TMO" – "The Mighty One".
John Wagner is an American-born British comics writer. Alongside Pat Mills, he helped revitalise British comics in the 1970s, and continues to be active in the British comics industry, occasionally also working in American comics. He is the co-creator, with artist Carlos Ezquerra, of the character Judge Dredd.
Alan Grant was a Scottish comic book writer known for writing Judge Dredd in 2000 AD as well as various Batman titles from the late 1980s to the early 2000s. He was the co-creator of the characters Anarky, Victor Zsasz, and the Ventriloquist.
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Crisis was a British comic anthology published by Fleetway Publications from 17 September 1988 to October 1991, initially fortnightly and later monthly. Designed to appeal to older readers than other Fleetway titles in order to take advantage of a boom in interest in 'adult' comics, Crisis featured overtly political and complex stories; one issue was even produced in conjunction with Amnesty International.
Michael McMahon is a British comics artist best known for his work on 2000 AD characters such as Judge Dredd, Sláine and ABC Warriors, and the mini-series The Last American.
Ronald George Smith was an English comic artist whose career spanned almost fifty years. Primarily producing strips for the two main publishers, DC Thomson and IPC Magazines, Smith was best known for drawing Judge Dredd for 2000 AD and the Daily Star.
Starlord was a British weekly boys' science fiction comic published by IPC Magazines from 13 May to 7 October 1978, when it merged with 2000 AD after 22 issues. The comic was created by Kelvin Gosnell, and was originally intended as a fortnightly sister title for 2000 AD with higher production values and an older audience, but late changes in production saw it converted into a weekly.
"The Thirteenth Floor" is a British science fiction strip character, appearing in titles published by IPC Magazines. The strip debuted in the weekly anthology Scream! on 24 March 1984, before continuing in Eagle until 28 February 1987. The stories were written by John Wagner and Alan Grant; art was provided by José Ortiz. Since 2016 the property has been owned by Rebellion Developments, who have revived the strip in several specials. The plot was set in a tower block called Maxwell Tower, controlled by an experimental sentient computer called Max located on the 13th floor of the flats. Max himself narrated the strip, and as befitting a computerised custodian of hundreds of people, was quite chatty and light-hearted. However, he was also portrayed as having a programming flaw; programmed to love and protect his tenants, he could remorselessly kill anyone who threatened or even just annoyed them.
Tornado was a British weekly boys' adventure comic published by IPC Magazines from 24 March to 18 August 1979. The comic was partly created as a way to use up stories already commissioned for the other titles, and was marred by a difficult production. Tornado sold poorly and was merged with 2000 AD after 22 issues.
Massimo Belardinelli was an Italian comic artist best known for his work in the British science fiction comic 2000 AD.
Toxic! was a British comic that was published weekly from March 28 to October 24, 1991, by Apocalypse Ltd, with a total of 31 issues.
Arthur James Ranson is an English comic book illustrator, known for his work on Look-in, Anderson: Psi Division, Button Man and Mazeworld. His work on Cassandra Anderson has been called "photo-realistic".
Brendan McCarthy is a British artist and designer who has worked for comic books, film and television. He co-wrote the film Mad Max: Fury Road. He is the brother of Jim McCarthy.
Carl Critchlow is a British fantasy and science fiction comic illustrator. He is best known for his character Thrud the Barbarian, which originally appeared in White Dwarf magazine, and for his work for the Lobster Random comics.
Steve MacManus is a British comic writer and editor, particularly known for his work at 2000 AD.
Diceman was a short-lived British comic which ran for five issues in 1986. It was a spin-off from 2000 AD and was devised by Pat Mills, who also wrote almost all of the stories. It was edited by Simon Geller, but purported to be edited by a monster called Mervyn. The stories were designed to be played like gamebooks. Each issue contained two or three such stories and was published every two months.
Ian Kennedy was a British artist who worked initially for D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, then later for Amalgamated Press.
References
↑ Mills, Pat (2017), Be Pure! Be Vigilant! Behave! 2000 AD and Judge Dredd: The Secret History, Millsverse Books, p. 129: "Eamon is my middle name."
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