Millar Time #25 | Garth Ennis

In this episode Mark talks to Garth Ennis, the acclaimed comic book writer renowned for his gritty and controversial storytelling in works such as "Preacher" and "The Boys"
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[@markwhittington1070]

So refreshing to see two normal blokes just discussing comics like normal people in this day and age

[@new_memeplex]

Mark - you should interview Jenette Kahn!! That would be a blockbuster.

[@jaro4742]

Id love to see that - shes someone whos name I always see but know very little about.

[@ComicsExposed]

Chapters: 00:00 - Superheroes And Resistance 04:41 - Unique Fanboy Origins 09:19 - Childhood Influences 14:07 - Interest In War And Military History 18:58 - Starting A Career In Comics 23:49 - The Incredible Period Of Comics In The 1980s 28:29 - Janette Khan And Karen Berger: The Best Editors In Comics 33:04 - The Evolution Of Comic Book Dialogue 37:46 - Finding The Right Partner In Writing 42:17 - The Beginnings Of A Collaboration 46:52 - New Comics Release Announcement 51:49 - The Importance Of Planning And Fun Along The Way 56:36 - Learning On The Job With David Shapiro 01:01:28 - Catching Up With John Wagner And Others 01:06:22 - The Struggles Of The Comic Industry 01:11:12 - The Impact Of Social Media On Sales And Expectations 01:16:25 - The Perspective Of The Older Generation On Technology And Social Media 01:21:10 - The Rise Of Extremism On Both Sides 01:26:04 - Changes In New York City 01:30:53 - Fatalities And COVID-19 Measures 01:36:08 - The Cost Of Superhero Shows 01:40:54 - A Pivotal Moment In My Life 01:45:50 - Catching Up With Paul

[@bradfrederick1135]

It’s hard to watch Cartoonist Kayfabe now with the tragedy of Ed Piskor’s passing. Fortunately I think Millar Time has replaced that void in my KZbin routine. A sharp focus on comics and process is so consumable in today’s climate.

[@bradfrederick1135]

@@kamikawakak me too

[@new_memeplex]

Mark would make a great co-host for a block of Cartoonist Kayfabe videos if Jim ever decided to put new material together. That positive energy always picks me up - thank you, Mark.

[@rammisalami]

That would be so dope!

[@Adam-yf3ss]

I like how Piskor recorded a bunch. Feels like that restores the memory of who he was. Rather than any scandal.

[@LarryHazard]

It's sad that he left a stain on his work, he seemed so passionate and if only he had waited I think his life would have go on without any problems. At the end of the day most people only care about his output, I wasn't even aware of the internet drama and I assume most of the people that actually watched the videos didn't either

[@gabrieljimenez9762]

what an awesome conversation. Huge fan of Garth, nice to hear him in a nice long chat like this.

[@clsrocks007]

I do agree with Enni s take on social media. The novice expert bit was fab!

[@Gammaworlds]

Glad we got closed captions/subtitles 😂😂. Been waiting for this interview to happen! Let’s go!!!

[@jimmypalmiotti]

Great to hang out with you guys....from afar.

[@alexmercadodesign2417]

what's strange when i was young i would always mix these two up because their books had lots of edge, but it's quite nice to see these two chat, when i first saw millar's interview on cartoonist kayfabe i thought him such a interesting guy, excellent interview

[@cruddddddddddddddd]

Get Fury #1 was great - it's been too long since we got a proper Punisher comic. Yeah I'm shilling for Ennis, but the scam is worth it. Really nice to see these two. Good stuff.

[@chm9935]

His Punisher rock solid

[@dantecrottogini529]

Garth's views on social media was very interesting to hear

[@kimberlyH1984]

preacher was one of my favorite series ever. this is awesome.

[@CelticChief1979]

Matk, this was as interesting and engaging and interview as ive seen in a long ,long time. As a teenager in the 90s, I doscovered Vertigo at 18 and it was an eye opener. Garth, with Ellis was a massive oart of my 20s and this was a much needed nostalgia boost. Time to dig out my trades of Preacher.

[@StruggleoftheOutsider]

This was an especially fruitful conversation.. The whole section on social media's unintended effects in particular. The only problem.. when it comes to the political question mentioned after, and wanting to leave it all to the political class, & those who "know what they are doing".. I think unfortunately it is likely that class & system has built in flaws that led to our current struggles. Even unconsciously. Which if so, This is the one part of Mr. Ennis' spiel, that amounts to a sort of lazy thinking of convenience .. I made my money.. & went further than most itellectually & artistically.. so lets just stop there.. but as you both said earlier.. The world is now bleaker, opportunities for advncement fewer, & much feels wrong. Part of me just wants more curiosity from guys like G.E. .. but, I understand. Still good listen. Unplug. 🙏

[@EricOSullivan]

Great interview, mate!! Wonderful stuff!

[@davedsg8440]

What a deepful and brilliant chat!!

[@scratchcomics4459]

Great interview... Love the informal chatty tone... Two guys just chewing the fat about comics

[@warlockofwordschannel7901]

In Padraig O'Mealoid's collection of Alan Moore interviews, Alan remembers meeting Garth Ennis on the train to Angouleme. The big French comic-con.

[@bolunixan]

Legends, always wondered why Vertigo failed at the end. could have guessed it was the suits and their contracts

[@pay7232]

A Scot and an Irish getting along🤯😂 I fucking love seeing Ennis at Baltimore every year.

[@tommyfishhouse8050]

A devout Catholic and an outspoken atheist getting along. Strange times we live in.

[@worldcomicsreview354]

Why wouldn't Scots and Irish get along? Just whisper "The English" and they'll agree on everything!

[@rickymcn1]

Great chat. Thoroughly enjoyed it. On a side note, I really hope Magic Order gets the omnibus treatment. I missed the boat on that series and would love a collected edition.

[@JDSCT]

What a great conversation. A real pleasure to watch.

[@KrazyKat007]

Fantastic conversation!!! I hope you consider and make the effort to wrangle Chris Claremont for an interview one day Mark.

[@SharpBrothersStudio]

GEEZ, if this wasn't a complete delight to listen to. I wish it never ended. Two of the very best writers shooting the breeze talking comics.....would love another round just on stories about the UK scene in the late 80's - early 90's.

[@62LeftyBlues]

Great interview, love these guys. Nice to hear it straight from their minds

[@richiedoop2529]

Great interview. Really enjoyed it. Thanks guys.

[@4-a-e]

Ennis is the man. Slavers, widow maker, dear billy, heartland. Hard to beat when he's in his bag. Maybe Ellis post cancellation next?

[@WarTourist]

What a fun interview!

[@oceguera]

I love this interviews. Gold everytime!

[@johnboman738]

Fantastic conversation; like two pals catching up over a pint. Nice to hear Ennis so relaxed. Whenever I’ve heard him interviewed on American superhero comic book podcasts, I always feel he’s gritting his teeth through the inane questions. Good stuff.

[@bvarsho1]

Great conversation, guys. Thanks.

[@unevenstreets1182]

I’m a fan of Garth’s The Outlaw Josey Wales poster. That is probably my favorite western.

[@TheZacharhino]

Great interview!

[@johnv3623]

Amazing episode!!

[@worldcomicsreview354]

The only place in my whole region with new American comics is "a big cupboard halfway up a flight of stairs"!

[@cyberpunkholiday]

Great episode! Loved it!

[@derrahfilm]

Always good to hear from Ennis!

[@kirbyjackov5081]

great interview

[@william3onfire]

Great talk, very interesting!

[@YTLawnGnome]

I am dying for more Ambassadors!

[@McCannoid]

Rounding up a 1000 turkeys?? Rocky only had to chase 1 chicken lol. Great chat 👍

[@rammisalami]

1:37:48 WHAT DID MY MAN JUST SAY!?? That is phenomenal news.

[@jaro4742]

Love Garth Ennis, Im enjoying his current work a LOT, but man is he ever in denial about what the modern “left” has mutated into.

[@artwithmichael5547]

I’ve loved most everything I’ve read by Ennis. Punisher MAX was incredible. Dan Dare (virgin) was surprisingly good. Hitman, Preacher and even though it was horrific, crossed.

[@robertbarnett8747]

Thanks Mark!

[@harrydbastard]

I met Ennis a few years ago at a con. Genuinely one of the coolest people I met, if you want a laugh look at the people who hate him, you can just tell they've never been in a real fight in their entire lives.

[@LarryHazard]

lets goooo I was waiting for this one

[@rammisalami]

1:20:25 funny that. The way they just shift our focus every time we come even a step closer to uniting.

[@dantecrottogini529]

1:31:38 ennith's dark humour in display

[@norbnar7197]

These two. These freakin' two. One loves superheroes, one hates superheroes. Both can have bombastic shocking moments in their stories along with laugh out loud insightful n ironic humor that others wish they could imitate. I'm Marks age demo and have appreciated a lot of the same things about comics growing up, like when the Avengers would be sitting around the kitchen table just hangin. For 6 years I lived 5 doors down from Comix Experience in San Francisco. Ultimates was my most highly anticipated series especially since it had my favorite artist Bryan Hitch as well! It seemed like fate. Literally Ultimates V2 #5 was the most anticipated comic in my entire life LOL Big Thor fan. The modern take n mystery building up was masterful. Crazy thing about Ennis is I'm more of a huge fan of his lesser known work. Never forget when I saw the cover of a Thor comic being done by indie guys Ennis and Fabry. What the fuck?? I thought LOL Absolutely a top favorite now. And then Kev Hawkins showed up. My favorite all time comicbook character, as you can see. I didn't know anyone else who was even familiar with these comics but I knew they were hilarious n hell they kept making them so they must be popular enough LOL Could go on and on but thanks for the memories gentlemen. Job well done!

[@izaks-myth494]

I'm just here for the banter.

[@ademitchell2251]

Been a big fan of both of you lads since the 90's. Being only four years younger than your good selves, I also remember in the 80's only having access to 2000AD and the DC Thomson and IPC humour stuff and finding the odd Marvel and DC American comic in the newsagents was like gold to me. With regards to the aforementioned British humour comics, I'd love to see your take on something like a bizarre Millarized Whizzer and Chips/Beezer/Whoopee! style weekly anthology, maybe a four issue mini series featuring various artists and strips. I would buy the crap out of that!!!

[@_daniel_gee]

HBO series for "Preacher" would have been the BEST option... opportunity lost. "Preacher" so ahead of its time.

[@thevasic]

It was that razor blade scene in that Hellblazer Special that Ennis and Dillon did that I thought this team really has something!

[@Barbel1th]

I ran a shop in the 90s when the three most popular characters for MARVEL were Ghost Rider, Wolverine and The Punisher. The mini-series that featured all 3 is among the ugliest comics I've ever seen, but I digress. They were in fucking everything, too, to the point I couldn't stand seeing any of them after awhile. In the meantime, I'd become a huge fan of Ennis. So when he and Dillon took their turn, I begrudgingly followed, but was ultimately disappointed in their run to the point that I didn't even consider reading the MAX series. Until a friend shoved a stack of the hardcovers into my hands and said "Read this, dammit." Garth's Punisher is now the only Punisher that matters to me.

[@chm9935]

Ennis Punisher MAX rocked!!!!

[@remymouskewitz5774]

Would like to give some perspective on the Internet from someone who at a young age started using primitive social media & remembers the period before Internet forums became popular. Before then, I was watching cartoons, playing Final Fantasy & reading manga/comics in my room every night like a good kid should. Before the video games, I was watching cartoons and reading Calvin & Hobbes in my room because I didn't wanna watch my parents fight. Finding out I could read comics on the Internet & play Starcraft against real people were the major steps towards my plastic mind being introduced to social media (if by social media, you include things like youtube comments, forums or direct messengers). Eustace Mullins made an edifying remark in the 90s. 1st, it's basically been the Democrat Communist party VS the Republican Communist party since the 1940s (not a super groundbreaking take on the two-party system by then, but *he* was saying that for several decades). 2nd, because of the centralization & control of all forms of media by "the 1%" (to use a popularly-understood term) in the late 80s... if it wasn't for the Internet & the access to information it has, the "takeover" would have been completed, and almost everyone would be indoctrinated into the phantom cult of personality we are all aware of & don't want to point out. The Internet is very close to a gift from God in the sense it repulsed this.

[@StruggleoftheOutsider]

interesting take .. although I think it's a lot less conspiratorial & intentional.. & more the result of unconscious processes rolling on .. The forces of progressivism acting more like rust.. dismantling old structures.. and technology accelerating ever faster.. We just finally hit the point where the support beams at the foundations of modernity have been compromised.

[@32FONickweiser]

I back this take 100%

[@remymouskewitz5774]

@@StruggleoftheOutsider Not to cause an argument on this [KZbin comments is probably the 2nd worst place on the Internet to have this discussion behind Yahoo comments], but historically speaking.... at the time I'm referring to next, so between 1917 & 1945..... the USSR was considered "progressive" by all but the "far-right" right up until the Cold War began simmering w/ the uprisings in Czechoslovakia & Hungary. And this notion of the USSR's "progressive" stance didn't end until 1948 when the legendary "Containment" article by X appeared, and the official policy towards the Soviet Bloc in the cold war began. The notion the USSR was "progressive" was still held by many people after 1948 (ever notice how the hippy movement was built on calling people "fascists" and promoted living on "communes", and they would wave anti-Vietnam War signs like "Ho Ho Ho, Ho Chi Minh"?) Many people in the BRICS-aligned countries also consider Stalin to be "progressive" compared to a lot of backwards-thinking western leaders of today who are more concerned with satisfying the military-industrial complex than making sure their people have food & prosperity. Can't say the Chinese & Russian people are just wrong because they're Chinese or Russian either, they make interesting points w/ documented historical citations. The Spanish "Republic" in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, was also filled with Stalinists in the POUM, which towards the war's end was on the verge of taking over; along with overt Anarchists & Socialists (Orwell wrote about his experiences as a Socialist volunteer in one of his books). The Republic & the POUM were considered by the MSM at the time (so the NYT & the Guardian) to be "progressive", and not just because they were opposing Franco, but because of what they "stood for". America indirectly supported the "Republic" at the time as well. Look up the Abraham Lincoln Brigade-- nearly everyone in it was a Marxist btw. There's a documentary on it & nobody in the film wants to mention the elephant in the room, even when the Abraham Lincoln Brigade veteran pulls out a Mossin Nagant rifle with a hammer & sickle on it. Also a major issue at the time was the FDR administration contemplating lifting the US embargo on Spain so the Republic could win the war, despite the US promoting non-interventionalism as the people were still mourning the dead from WW1. FDR, the "progressive". Just stuff to think about when it comes to "progressivism". Is it really "progressive" in the sense of wise, stable progress of a civilization... Or, historically speaking, is it always "progressing" towards something else...?

[@worldcomicsreview354]

@@StruggleoftheOutsider Theory: The powerful are secretly conspiring to do terrible things... Reality: "Hey guys, try this!... ... ... ...oops."

[@StruggleoftheOutsider]

@@worldcomicsreview354 asometimes... I mean in reality, I don't doubt some kinda illuminati Legion of Doom table still exists.. I just dont think those actors are competently enacting coordinated plans that 1-1 lead to intentional results.. Not anymore. They're just coasting off the wealth & power built by previous generations, acting wildly at cross purposes, fucking shit up, & raiding whats left of the wealth as the wheels come off the train.. and the system still coasts for awhile on inertia. Obviously this is a gross generalization, and there's likely some of both going on.. Im just saying in broad terms, the scarier reality I feel is that no one is competently in charge.. even on a malicious level.

[@mladenkulic446]

For some reason I always imagined Garth as bitter and angry man who hates every superhero comics. After listening to the interview nothing could be further from the truth. While I'm not a fan of The Boys comic, however I am enjoying his current James Bond comic and liked one-shot Peacemaker comic he wrote.

[@chm9935]

@Mark: What books do you recommend for writing comics and comic scripts?? Ive been using the one by the late Dennis O'Neill

[@Pork_Hunt]

I get a feeling Garth is thinking how he can use the bitten-off nose in a future story.

[@StruggleoftheOutsider]

You guys want to beleve it all started im 2010 or 16.. but many think in reality that was just when it reached critical mass & became visable. If you dig down deep & start dispassionately questioning all assumptions.. You will hit a wall, and be forced to grapple with the question of: maybe this is just the inevitable end stage conclusion of the post enlightenment liberal frame of thinking.. I'm afraid it is very hard to argue against that conclusion honestly.. at least not that I've found. Everyone eventually hits some issue that's too uncomfortable to evaluate on 1st principles, & retreats. I sympathize. But younger generations with nothing to lose & no nostalgic frame to retreat to.. they will not hesitate.. & the gap between Boomer / Gen X perspective & the new, will only widen.

[@radpuppy71]

Garth Ennis is a legend for just Hitman and Preacher alone. All the other amazing stuff he has given us is just icing on top of the cake.

[@Barbel1th]

It's funny, I think Hitman is the best thing he's ever written, it's just so satisfying. Don't get me wrong, I like Preacher, but I feel it pulls some punches at the end. His run on Hellblazer is fantastic and I think there's an underrated gem in Goddess.

[@GenX_Catholic]

@@Barbel1thHitman is his crowning achievement

[@donaldglass2421]

someone's loosing their nose in Garth's next comic 🤣

[@davedsg8440]

"Did he find his nose" 🤣🤣🤣

[@Rick-eo8vo]

Big Ups Garth Ennis 😎👍

[@con_doorman]

This is the one...

[@billybarnett2846]

When is Mark going to finish the Jupiter series?

[@markwhittington1070]

He literally advertised it in the bumper at the beginning.

[@coffeeandacomic]

Garth Ennis, thank you so much for GET FURY! 🤍🖤☕🤘🏻

[@DIOBrando-ij2bp]

The Salton Sea has a missing nose too.

[@akirathedon]

If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is 🙏

[@punishedvenomdeat8153]

Scotsman Vs Irishman

[@TheCaptain610]

Millar, get Dave Sim on. You and Ennis both neglected to mention him when listing the artists who spearheaded the eighties comic renaissance, this must be corrected!

[@Melvinshermen]

To be fair mash is a Comedy drama

[@theragoooverlord5021]

Wonder when McFarlane toys is releasing the Bueno Excellente figure

[@phantommercenary8650]

A Scotsman and an Irishman walk into a bar...

[@oisintaylor3382]

In 2006 myself and my wife travelled from Ireland to San Diego comic Con on our honeymoon and on the way to the event i shared a taxi with a Hollywood agent who had been sent to the con to look for properties with potential for movies and tv shows. I raved about Preacher the whole way there and he promised he’d look into it. Later that night I’m thinking about it and realised I should have been showing him my OWN self published comic that I had in my bag with me 😂 Such a fanboy 🤦

[@Jalapeno_Chorizo]

Hail Comicsgate!

[@paulakroy2635]

Cringe

[@muddi900]

Your dad will never love you.

[@HeySpanky]

Garth supporting Biden 🤢🤢🤮