War Heroes (comics)

Last updated
War Heroes
War Heroes 1.png
Cover of War Heroes #1. July 2008 by Tony Harris and J. D. Mettler.
Publication information
Publisher Image Comics
ScheduleErratic
Format Limited series
Genre
Publication dateAugust 2008 – present
No. of issues6
Creative team
Created by Mark Millar
Tony Harris
Written by Mark Millar
Penciller(s) Tony Harris
Inker(s) Cliff Rathburn
Letterer(s) Clem Robins
Colorist(s) J. D. Mettler
Editor(s) Drew Gill

War Heroes is a six-issue limited series from Image Comics, written by Mark Millar, [1] with art by Tony Harris. [2]

Contents

Millar has said "War Heroes is everything I've been leading up to with Civil War , Ultimates , The Authority , Kick-Ass and Wanted " [3] and "This is what my Ultimates 3 would have been if Bryan and I had stuck around." [1]

Publication history

The six-issue limited series started August 2008 but as of March 2024 only three issues have been published. [4]

Plot

Set in an alternate timeline during the coalition wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the detonation of a nuclear bomb in Washington D.C. prompts the United States administration to expand the coalition War on Terror to include Iran, as well as institute martial law in the United States. As American casualties increase, morale and public support declines with the economy, reducing America's standing in the world. Lacking the necessary recruits, the US Military boosts enlistment by distributing pills to its soldiers which confer upon them various superpowers, tipping the scale in the war.

The story focus on a group of disenchanted American con artists, who enlist in the military to steal the pills and sell them to foreign investors at $10 million before planning to desert. Initially, however, the con artists had no knowledge of the identity of their clients that they were to sell to until it was revealed to be the terrorist organization, Al-Qaeda. When one of the con artists' brother (a war hero) is taken prisoner in an attack by a super-powered member of Al-Qaeda, the con artists set about rescuing him from a public execution.

Reception

David Wallace reviewed the first issue for Comics Bulletin and concluded that "this is a solid debut that sets up the book's premise quickly and efficiently, and shows a lot of potential for the future." [5] Richard Renteria at Newsarama agrees saying "Millar deftly sets into motion a series of events that are perfectly captured by Harris’ detailed and eye-catching art." [6]

The first issue had sales estimates of 30,637 putting it at 77th in the sales charts. [7]

Film

In September 2008, it was announced that War Heroes had been optioned by Columbia Pictures, with Michael De Luca as producer and Millar taking an executive producer role. [8] [9] In 2011, Jeff Kirschenbaum bought the film rights from Columbia after they had let it lapse, and he set the film up at Universal Pictures. Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer were considered to write the script. [10]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grant Morrison</span> Scottish comic book writer and playwright

Grant Morrison MBE is a Scottish comic book writer, screenwriter, and producer. Their work is known for its nonlinear narratives, humanist philosophy and countercultural leanings. Morrison has written extensively for the American comic book publisher DC Comics, penning lengthy runs on Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, Action Comics, and Green Lantern as well as the graphic novels Arkham Asylum, JLA: Earth 2, and Wonder Woman: Earth One, the meta-series Seven Soldiers and The Multiversity, the mini-series DC One Million and Final Crisis, both of which served as centrepieces for the eponymous company-wide crossover storylines, and the maxi-series All-Star Superman. Morrison's best known DC work is the seven-year Batman storyline which started in the Batman ongoing series and continued through Final Crisis, Batman and Robin, Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne and two volumes of Batman Incorporated. They also co-created the DC character Damian Wayne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultimates</span> Marvel Comics series

The Ultimates is a superhero comic book series published by Marvel Comics and created by writer Mark Millar and artist Bryan Hitch, which first started publication from The Ultimates #1, as part of the company's Ultimate Marvel imprint. The series is a modernized re-imagining of Marvel's long-running Avengers comic-book franchise, centering around a task-force of super-humans and special agents organized by the U.S. government to combat growing threats to the world. The tale chronicles their progress as they bond and slowly learn to work together, despite their differing natures and personalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brian Michael Bendis</span> American comic book writer and artist, born 1967

Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and artist.

<i>The Authority</i> (comics) DC Comics comic book series

The Authority is a superhero comic book series published by DC Comics under the Wildstorm imprint. It was created in 1999 by Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch, and follows the adventures of the Authority, a superhero team mainly composed of Ellis-created characters from Stormwatch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ultimate Marvel</span> Marvel Comic imprint

Ultimate Marvel, later known as Ultimate Comics, was an imprint of comic books published by Marvel Comics, featuring reimagined and modernized versions of the company's superhero characters from the Ultimate Marvel Universe, later known as the Ultimate Universe. Those characters include Spider-Man, the X-Men, the Ultimates, the Fantastic Four, and others. The imprint was launched in 2000 with the publication of the series Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men in 2001, followed by The Ultimates and Ultimate Fantastic Four in 2002 and 2004 respectively providing new origin stories for the characters. The reality of Ultimate Marvel is designated as Earth-1610 as part of the Marvel Comics Multiverse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Liefeld</span> American comic book creator

Robert Liefeld is an American comic book creator. A prominent writer and artist in the 1990s, he is known for co-creating the character Cable with writer Louise Simonson and the character Deadpool with writer Fabian Nicieza. In the early 1990s, Liefeld gained popularity due to his work on Marvel Comics' The New Mutants and later X-Force. In 1992, he and several other popular Marvel illustrators left the company to found Image Comics, which started a wave of comic books owned by their creators rather than by publishers. The first book published by Image Comics was Liefeld's Youngblood #1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Millar</span> Scottish comic book writer

Mark Millar is a Scottish comic book writer who first came to prominence with a run on the superhero series The Authority, published by DC Comics' Wildstorm imprint. Millar has written extensively for Marvel Comics, including runs on The Ultimates, which has been called "the comic book of the decade" by Time magazine and described as a major inspiration for the 2012 film The Avengers by its screenwriter Zak Penn, X-Men, Fantastic Four and Avengers for Marvel's Ultimate imprint, as well as Marvel Knights Spider-Man and Wolverine. In 2006, Millar wrote the Civil War mini-series that served as the centrepiece for the eponymous company-wide crossover storyline and later inspired the Marvel Studios film Captain America: Civil War. The "Old Man Logan" storyline, published as part of Millar's run on Wolverine, served as the inspiration for the 2017 film Logan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Harris (artist)</span> American comic book artist (born 1969)

Tony Harris is an American comic book artist, known for his work on series such as Starman, Iron Man, and Ex Machina. He has been nominated for nineteen Eisner Awards and has won two.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Romita Jr.</span> American comic book artist

John Salvatore Romita is an American comics artist best known for his extensive work for Marvel Comics from the 1970s to the 2010s. He is the son of artist John Romita Sr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaare Andrews</span> Canadian comic book artist and writer

Kaare Kyle Andrews is a comic book writer, artist and filmmaker from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. His work includes Spider-Man, Iron Fist, Renato Jones, and Incredible Hulk. Andrews has a diverse drawing style, which ranges from hyper realistic to more cartoonesque. He was the first recipient of the Shuster Award for Outstanding Artist for his work on Spider-Man: Doctor Octopus. His latest film, Sniper: Assassin's End reached #1 on iTunes in September 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Kubert</span> American comics artist (born 1959)

Adam Kubert is an American comics artist known for his work for publishers such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics, including work on Action Comics, Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine, The Incredible Hulk, Ultimate Fantastic Four, Ultimate X-Men, and Wolverine.

Bryan Hitch is a British comics artist and writer. Hitch began his career in the United Kingdom for Marvel UK, working on titles such as Action Force and Death's Head, before gaining prominence on American titles such as Wildstorm's Stormwatch and The Authority, DC Comics' JLA, and Marvel Comics' The Ultimates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve McNiven</span> Canadian comic book artist

Steven McNiven is a Canadian comic book artist. He first gained prominence on CrossGen's Meridian, before moving onto books such as Ultimate Secret, Marvel Knights 4, New Avengers, and Civil War, illustrating storylines such as "Old Man Logan."

<i>Marvel Zombies</i> Five-issue comic book miniseries

Marvel Zombies is a five-issue limited series published from December 2005 to April 2006 by Marvel Comics. The series was written by Robert Kirkman with art by Sean Phillips and covers by Arthur Suydam. It was the first series in the Marvel Zombies series of related stories. The story is set in an alternate universe where the world's superhero population has been infected with a virus which turned them into zombies. The series was spun out of events of the crossover story-arc of Ultimate Fantastic Four, where the zombie Reed Richards tricked his Ultimate counterpart into opening a portal to the zombie universe only for the latter to contain the former from ever coming to his universe.

Laura DePuy is a colorist who has produced work for several of the major comics companies, including DC Comics, Marvel Comics and CrossGen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Immonen</span> Canadian comics artist

Stuart Immonen is a Canadian comics artist. He is best known for his work on the Marvel Comics series Nextwave, Ultimate X-Men, The New Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Ultimate Spider-Man, the DC Comics series Action Comics and The Adventures of Superman, as well as for the original Millarworld series Empress, co-created with Mark Millar. His pencils are usually inked by Wade Von Grawbadger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sean Murphy (artist)</span> American comic book creator

Sean Gordon Murphy is an American comic book creator known for work on books such as Joe the Barbarian with Grant Morrison, Chrononauts with Mark Millar, American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest and The Wake with Scott Snyder, Tokyo Ghost with Rick Remender, and the miniseries Punk Rock Jesus.

<i>Ultimatum</i> (comics) Ultimate Marvel storyline, 2009

"Ultimatum" is a 2009 comic book storyline published by Marvel Comics under its Ultimate Marvel imprint. It consists of a core five-issue eponymous miniseries written by Jeph Loeb and illustrated by David Finch that was published from January to September 2009, and a number of tie-in books. The storyline deals with Magneto's attempts to destroy the world following the apparent deaths of his children, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in The Ultimates 3.

<i>The Ultimates 2</i>

The Ultimates 2 is a thirteen-issue comic book limited series written by Mark Millar with art by Bryan Hitch, the sequel to The Ultimates. The series features the superhero team the Ultimates and was published by the Ultimate Marvel imprint of Marvel Comics.

Keith Champagne is an American comic artist, who has also moved into writing, and is known for his work at DC Comics.

References

  1. 1 2 Talking about War Heroes with Mark Millar, Newsarama, May 1, 2008
  2. A Week of War Heroes 1: The Art Side, Newsarama, May 5, 2008
  3. War Heroes #1, Newsarama, March 20, 2008
  4. "GCD :: Series :: War Heroes".
  5. War Heroes #1 review, Comics Bulletin
  6. Best Shots Extra: War Heroes #1 by Millar & Harris, Newsarama, July 23, 2008
  7. Sales Estimates for July, 2008, Comic Book Resources, August 26, 2008
  8. Sony, DeLuca gear up for 'War', Variety , September 26, 2008
  9. DeLuca pins medal on Millar's 'War Heroes', The Hollywood Reporter , September 26, 2008
  10. Kit, Borys (October 21, 2011). "Universal in Negotiations to Pick Up 'War Heroes' Comic Book Project (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 5, 2022.