AlphaFlight.net: Hello Mark, let me first tank you for taking time out of your day.
AlphaFlight.net: As I'm sure you know, before Wolverine #25 has even hit the shelves, the net is buzzing about the death of Northstar. Can you tell me what lead you to the decision of killing him off? Was this decision based more on the story in question, or the character?
Mark Millar: It was based on a number of factors. The most obvious, of course, is that Wolverine was securing a pretty enormous body-count over these first six issues and some heroes ended up in the mix. We have some villains being taken down too very shortly, but there needed to be some heroes killed and I wanted the conclusion to Enemy of the State to have some serious injuries. Marvel don't like killing characters because, even on a business level, it limits the number of movies, toys and underpants they can sell featuring that character. However, sometimes a death can have real resonance. Probably all the best Marvel stories are featured around a death of a beloved character (whether it's Gwen Stacy, Jean DeWolff or Jean Grey) and so I feel that, from time to time, it's definitely not something we should absolutely rule out. In the Internet age, it would be impossible to keep a secret like the Death of Phoenix and so I wanted to try something a little more low-key and natural. Heroes tend to die saving the universe. They're usually riddled with bullets, but still manage to pull the lever that shuts down the bad guy before they say their final goodbye. I wanted to play against that a little and have a death that's a bit more like real life where it's all very fast and unexpected. I think this will surprise people more because it's unlike your typical superhero death.
Mark Millar: They were okay about it. Obviously, the character isn't as popular as Cyclops or The Beast, but he's a big part of X-Men history and was probably the most high-profile X-Man during the nineties when he was outed in the mainstream media. This was a huge story in the mainstream press and I wasn't sure if Marvel would go for this for a number of reasons, but they tend to be very supportive and know it's all part of a grand plan I have. They're very happy with the story, readers are very happy with the story and our sales just keep going up and up. It takes years for a company to trust you and I appreciate that I'm very lucky to be in that position at the moment.
AlphaFlight.net: Wolverine has long been a "friend" of Northstar's, how will he react once he realizes what he has done?
Mark Millar: This was one of the main reasons I picked him over several of the other characters I considered. They obviously have a shared history in Alpha Flight and a shared heritage to some extent. I have a scene in issue 27 (after Wolverine has probably the best scene we've given him so far) where he just sits down and starts crying. Everything Hydra and The Hand makes him do just comes flooding back and he's disgusted with himself. Wolverine strikes me as a character with an enormous amount of self-loathing and he channels this negative energy into flipping out and taking down the bad guys. This is what the second half of Agent of SHIELD is really all about. He's killed an old friend and these guys have made him murder everything from cops to, er, sharks. He's pissed off and it gives the series an enormous energy. We're really pleased with this. It's almost like a non-stop berkserker rage going on for a few issues.
AlphaFlight.net: Any word from Nunzio DeFilippis about loosing Northstar as a teacher in NEW X-MEN: ACADEMY X?
AlphaFlight.net: Were you aware that the week before this story comes out, in the final issue of Alpha Flight, a past version of Northstar has come into the present? Some fans are curious if this may have effected Marvel's decision of letting him die.
Mark Millar: I was completely unaware of this so I really have no idea.
AlphaFlight.net: As was inevitable, the death of Northstar is raising extra noise due to his sexuality. Did the attention it would make have any bearing on you choosing Northstar as Wolverine's target?
Mark Millar: Not at all. I think it would be a little cheap to play on that, especially if it's killing off a character that has a sizable fan-base. In fact, we kept it an absolute secret who was dying so if anything we really played it down in terms of who was actually on the receiving end of those claws.
AlphaFlight.net: I'm sure you were expecting some anger due to you writing the death of one of Marvel's few openly gay characters, not to mention most popular as such. Do have any reaction you would like to share about those calling you homophobic, or bigoted for this choice?
AlphaFlight.net: Already rumors have begun surrounding Northstar's "resurrection", and there is speculation that he may be brought back as an agent of "The Hand". Any chance you would care to confirm, or deny this?
Mark Millar: I'll neither confirm nor deny. There are some resurrections, though not necessarily Northstar.
AlphaFlight.net: Is there any chance we might get to see some of Alpha Flight's reactions to Northstar's death? Maybe from Aurora?
Mark Millar: Again, sorry to be a pain, but I don't want to give too much away. There's a lot of ramifications explored in the second arc. We touch on it a little at the beginning and play it up more towards the end. But there are a few surprises.
AlphaFlight.net: Do you any plans for other Alpha Flight characters, be it in the Marvel Universe, or the Ultimate Universe?
Mark Millar: One thing I've learned is the keep the casts as small as possible. Joss learned this really quickly on Astonishing and the book is stronger for it. I love the designs in particular of Byrne's Alpha Flight and was tempted to use them in Ultimate X-Men. But you have to restrain yourself and not just use characters for the sake of it. Many 90s comics suffered from this affliction. I have some long-terms plans they'll probably feature in to some extent. I don't see them as comedic or anything so my take would very different from the way you're seeing them at the moment. They might feature in a post-Ultimates project that Bryan Hitch and I have been considering featuring a lot of Marvel characters. If we don't go and revamp Superman we might be touching on these characters in a year or two.
AlphaFlight.net: On a side note, I understand you have a second round of creator owned work coming out. How is that shaping up?
AlphaFlight.net: How are things going with the Wanted movie?
Mark Millar: I have no idea. They just gave me and JG some money and we haven't heard anything since. They got some high profile screenwriters to do the script, but I still haven't seen it.
Mark Millar: As you can imagine, I mistook him for a beautiful woman, Ben.
AlphaFlight.net: Again, thanks very much for your time Mark, I'm looking forward to seeing how this plays out.
Mark Millar: Cheers, mate. Thanks again for the interest and for taking the time. I hope you like it. My plan is just to do a nice twelve issue run on Wolverine that people feel puts the character back on top. My only aim is to make people feel the book was worth the money and have a nice, little trade up there on the shelf beside Ultimates, Red Son, Wanted, etc.
Best,
Mark