Milligan/McCarthy: "Freakwave" (Part 3, Conclusion)

[jlroberson]

Finishing off the first, unreprinted, rare published work in the US of Peter Milligan or Brendan McCarthy. (post 1 here, and 2 here.) From 1983, Vanguard Illustrated #3, the third part of "Freakwave." (This went on to STRANGE DAYS later, where Johnny Nemo first appeared; btw, I request someone post some JN as I've never really seen much of it)
Remember when I said you wouldn't see this end coming? Well...















(c)1983 Peter Milligan & Brendan McCarthy.

Comments

[psychopathicus_rex]

Woo, boy. And Morrisson thought HE broke the fourth wall - this ending not only breaks it, it shatters it to pieces and jumps up and down on it. His 'Animal Man' run may have ended with the hero meeting his writer, but this one ends with him KILLING his writer! Suck on it, realism! You are no match for a crossbow bolt to the head!
Also - 'HHEEEERE'S MICKEY!' Yay! He lived!

[jlroberson]

In fact, in that suspended moment, he lives forever.

This is, in fact, one reason I posted the story. I remember when reading ANIMAL MAN that this story, that I read years and years before(I think Milligan was my first Brit comics writer) came immediately to mind, to a point that I thought it perfect that Milligan followed him. (though I think his run was a bit off. Maybe it's just that Truog, who ended up working because of Morrison focusing on the comic bookness of the thing, didn't seem to go as well with him--Milligan needs somewhat flashier and crazier artists, and Truog was kind of pedestrian) I don't know if it influenced Morrison at all. But Morrison was also in his "bald thievery" phase then--by his own gleeful admission--and Milligan was a big deal in the UK by the late 80s, so I'd be surprised if it played no part.

And see that Milligan, while still touching on the deeper structural significance, still deflates it totally and turns it into a light joke. No angst. There's this strange playful but smart merriness to Milligan I've always liked. He avoids pretension even though the things he writes about would otherwise be prone to it. That Kafka story he and Ewins did in A1 is another good example. Kafka he deflates, for god's sake!