Prodigy #1

[history79]

“You’re not gonna have a standard family life for him or just a normal relationship with someone, it would be almost impossible. Because there’s nothing you’ve got to say that’s that interesting to him. Every single thing that you’re saying is only useful to whatever he’s thinking about at that point, and he’s kind of heard it all before, and he can anticipate the next 20 things you’re gonna say. So immediately, that makes him insufferable, but at the same time necessary, because he’s the one guy that can get you out of any situation. So whenever your Secret Service has failed, whenever your private investigators have failed, whenever there’s a problem nobody else can deal with, he’s the guy that gets that call.”

- Mark Millar




10 pages of 30

Comments

[lordultimus]

That cover is supposed to be an homage, right? Millar's not so lazy as to rip off The Wolf of Wall Street, right?

[mazway_75]

Is that a trick question?

[cyberghostface]

Writers generally don't have much say on covers but yeah it's definitely a homage, they wouldn't have included specific elements like the woman on the left or the two guys with the monkey if weren't trying to deliberately reference it.

[mazway_75]

We need a redo of that old Frank Miller cartoon for Millar.

"Okay, Millar, if you can write a major protagonist who's NOT some ultra-slick super-genius who acts like a total dick yet everyone loves him, we'll let you live."

[lucean]

I always hate when they try to show of how brilliant their characters are by doing one move checkmates as that is not how chess works at all.

[mazway_75]

Even on Star Trek, they have Data and Spock not able to make those moves. Plus, they actually have them losing at times to prove no matter how super-brilliant you are, even a great genius can make bad mistakes with chess.

[bradygirl_12]

I always liked that Kirk could beat Spock at chess. It seemed like he did it fairly often, though Spock probably won more often. Kirk's 'illogical' coming-out-of-left-field moves probably taught Spock a few things. :)

[beyondthefringe]

Especially when they do the thing where the guy plays mental chess with multiple opponents all at once and of course wins.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

...and of course, the villains are super evil.

Does Millar even know that it's okay to give villains depth?

[remial]

Does Millar even know that it's okay to give characters depth?

fixed your typo

[doodleboy]

The cover sure sums up Mark Millar comics. Looking at Wolf of Wall Street and unironically making Jordan Belfort the hero, and doing whatever it takes in-story to justify him being the hero.

[starwolf_oakley]

"Boiler Room" is a fictional, low-key, but possibly more accurate look at Jordan Belfort and his schemes.

"We're selling stock in companies that don't exist."

Regarding "Wolf of Wall Street," I wondered why Jordan couldn't just "go legit" at a certain point.

[thanekos]

Can't wait for the Netflix series.

[starwolf_oakley]

This could work as an homage to Ghostbusters.

"Edison, this reminds me of the time you tried to crack my chest to fix my heart."
"And that would have worked if your mother hadn't stopped me."

[silicondream]

The "animal trials" thing is kind of hilarious. The parallel earthers sent over a bunch of animals, who were all instantly roasted alive, and then they sent over humans, who were also all instantly roasted alive. Normally you'd switch over to human test subjects once you've figured out how to make the animals not die en route, you know?

Either the scientists on Earth-Not!SlidingAlbion badly misunderstand the point of animal testing, or this is actually some sort of cross-universe cannibal barbecue gift exchange program instead of a military invasion.

[wizardru]

"Interested in hearing more?"

No, actually. Thanks for asking.