MILLIGAN, Peter

PERSONAL: Born in England.

ADDRESSES: Home—London, England. Agent—Tim Corrie, PFD, Drury House, 34-43 Russell Street, London WC2B 5HA, England.

CAREER: Comics writer and screenwriter.

WRITINGS:

Skreemer, illustrated by Brett Ewins and Steve Dillon, DC Comics (New York, NY), 1989.

Skin, illustrated by Brendan McCarthy, Tundra Publishing (Northampton, MA), 1992.

Enigma, illustrated by Duncan Fegredo, DC Comics (New York, NY), 1993.

Rogon Gosh: Star of the East, illustrated by Brendan McCarthy, DC Comics (New York, NY), 1994.

Tank Girl: Explosive Adaptation of the Hit Film!, illustrated by Andy Pritchett, DC Comics (New York, NY), 1995.

Tank Girl: The Odyssey, illustrated by Jamie Hewlett, DC Comics (New York, NY), 1995.

Human Target (originally published as Human Target, Volume 1, numbers 1-4), illustrated by Edvin Biukovic, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2000.

Pilgrim (screenplay), Barzo Productions/Kushner/Locke, 2000.

An Angel for May (TV film), Barzo Productions/Portman, 2001.

X-Force: New Beginnings, illustrated by Michael Allred, Marvel Comics (New York, NY), 2002.

Human Target: Final Cut, illustrated by Javier Pulido, DC Comics (New York, NY), 2002.

Also author of numerous comic books, including Bad Company, illustrated by Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy; Paradax, illustrated by Brendan McCarthy; Johnny Nemo, illustrated by Brett Ewins; Shade, the Changing Man, illustrated by Chris Bachalo; Enigma, illustrated by Duncan Fegredo; X-Force, illustrated by Michael Allred; The Minx, illustrated by Sean Philips; and Detective Comics.

SIDELIGHTS: British comics writer Peter Milligan's career spans more than fifteen years in British and American comic books and graphic novels. Milligan has prospered in a field where productive careers are often measured in time periods of less than a decade; where writers are often replaced on short notice and seemingly on editorial whim; and where the work of writers is sometimes considered secondary to the work of artists. He has written for the field's major publishers, including Marvel Comics, 2000AD, and DC Comics' sophisticated Vertigo imprint, and his work has earned critical praise.

Milligan's work began appearing in comics in the mid-1980s. Among his earlier projects is the series "Bad Company," illustrated by Brett Ewins and Jim McCarthy, which ran for three years in the highly popular British comic magazine 2000AD. The title characters are a group of future soldiers in combat with the alien Krool, a deceptively vicious and aggressive race. "Milligan injects the fairly routine 2000AD scenario with intelligence and humor, and this remains one of his most popular creations," wrote a reviewer on Kangaroo Curry: A Tribute to Peter Milligan Web site.

Johnny Nemo, illustrated by Ewins and Steve Dillon, follows a jaded private investigator through cases in a London of the future. Rogon Gosh, a "wild slice of god psychedelia" appeared in 1990, published by Vertigo, wrote the Kangaroo Curry critic. Skin, from 1992, is "the tale of a thalidomide victim who joins a gang of skinheads," wrote the Kangaroo Curry reviewer, who called the book "disturbing stuff."

Milligan's higher-profile work for DC Comics' Vertigo imprint includes Shade, the Changing Man, illustrated by Chris Bachalo, a loose reworking of a more superhero-oriented series from the 1970s by comics pioneer Steve Ditko (best known as co-creator and artist of The Amazing Spider-Man). In the long-running series, "Shade is an alien sent to Earth to combat forces of madness that his superiors have accidentally let loose in the USA," wrote the Kangaroo Curry critic. But Shade's ineptitude with his reality-warping madness vest leads to unexpected results and psychedelic storylines. In Enigma, a forgotten 1970s comic-book superhero begins appearing in real life, which has tremendous effects on Michael Smith, a relatively normal adult who read the series as a kid. The Kangaroo Curry critic called Enigma a "deconstruction of superhero cliche" that is also "funny, thought provoking, and strangely moving."

In the four-issue series The Extremist, illustrated by Ted McKeever, Judy seeks answers after her husband's murder. What she finds is that he led a double life as The Extremist, the leader of a secret organization fueled by extreme, radical acts of sex and violence. Judy assumes the role of The Extremist in order to discover who killed her husband. "A lot less exploitive than it sounds, Milligan creates likeable characters and dares you to continue liking them when their behavior becomes increasingly immoral," the Kangaroo Curry reviewer observed.

Milligan's work can also be found in the comics mainstream, although tempered with his own unique approach to storytelling. His X-Force: New Beginnings, illustrated by Mike Allred and published by Marvel Comics, stakes out some territory in Marvel's highly popular X-Men franchise. The book proceeds "from the assumption that given a world containing scores of superheroes, at least one bunch of them will prove to be media-manipulating cynics," wrote Ken Tucker in New York Times Book Review. The group sells TV rights to their rescue of a popular teenage boy-band; the members bicker and snipe amongst themselves in traditional superhero fashion; and the group as a whole nurtures its celebrity status more than its position as a group that does good deeds as a de facto characteristic of its superhuman abilities. X-Force: New Beginnings is "a witty blast of media criticism," Tucker wrote. A reviewer on the Entertainment Weekly Web site called the book "a cogent, savage deconstruction on celebrity culture in the guise of an X-Men spin-off."

The same Entertainment Weekly critic observed that Milligan's Human Target: Final Cut graphic novel is "a cold-blooded thriller that's like an Elmore Leonard novel with pictures." The Human Target is Christopher Chance, a master of disguise who applies his skills in service as bodyguard to the rich and famous. With make-up and acting ability, Chance becomes a literal "human target" when he assumes the roles of his endangered clients. Human Target: Final Cut is a "twisted, deceptive work," wrote a Publishers Weekly reviewer, a "humorous tale about fame, betrayal, and the Tinseltown wannabes that get left behind." In the book, Chance impersonates an aging film star who refuses to submit to extortion. When the extortionist stoops to attempted murder, Chance kills him instead. Yet the same extortionist is later thought to be behind the kidnapping of a child star. To help locate the kidnap victim, Chance assumes the identity of the killer, only to find the killer's and his own identities becoming dangerously intertwined. "Milligan writes seamlessly," the Publishers Weekly reviewer commented, and the unfolding events of the story propel Chance "deeper into a psychological and moral maze." Milligan's fascination with the character stems from "the idea of this man who is a master at impersonating other people but who is less good at being a whole, functioning individual himself," he said in an interview on the DC Comics Web site.

Milligan's knowledge of behind-the-scenes moviemaking is given added credibility by his work as a prolific screenwriter. His 2001 TV film, An Angel for May, was directed by Harley Cokeliss and produced by Michael Cowan. The film has been popular at film festivals throughout the world, including Giffoni, Dinard, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, and the "Fabu" Festival in Norway. Pilgrim, a feature film from 2000, was directed by Cokeliss and produced by David Bixler, and featured actor Ray Liotta. Numerous other films written by Milligan are in development, including The Enemy, Cassandra at the Wedding, Girlfriends, and Diamond Geezers.

For Milligan, there is no stigma in writing comics or superheroes. "In a perfect world, I think that comic superheroes could operate on a level of the classic Greek mythology," Milligan said in an interview on the League of the Green Lizard Web site. The greatest potential of comics, in his view, lies in the intimate mixing of the genre's most salient characteristics: words and pictures. "I've always thought that it doesn't have to be limited," he said. "You're talking about words and pictures, and if you forget the past of what comics are supposed to be—like kids and everything else—you're talking about words and pictures. If James Joyce and Pablo Picasso got together and did a comic, it wouldn't be juvenile. But they would still have to use words and pictures. And it seems to me—there still is that potential. So that's what excites me about it."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

New York Times Book Review, March 17, 2002, Ken Tucker, "Famous for Being Super," review of X-Force: New Beginnings, p. 25.

Publishers Weekly, September 23, 2002, review of Human Target: Final Cut, p. 52.

ONLINE

DC Comics Web site,http://www.dccomics.com/ (June 11, 2003), interview with Peter Milligan.

Entertainment Weekly,http://www.ew.com/ (June 11, 2003), profile of Peter Milligan.

Kangaroo Curry: A Tribute to Peter Milligan,http://members.tripod.com/~sheckley/Milligan/milligan1.htm/ (June 11, 2003), bibliography of Peter Milligan.

League of the Green Lizard Web site,http://www.nevada.edu/~kellerk/milligan/ (June 11, 2003), interview with Peter Milligan.*