Mark Millar Mad About Marvel Vampires

Based on the teasers we've been seeing from Marvel recently, it seems like things are about to get bloody, with not only Blade apparently on the X-Men roster but VAMPIRE JUBILEE. One more time: VAMPIRE JUBILEE. Now, call me crazy, but now that the shock has started to wear off a little, I think I might actually be in favor of an undead, bloodsucking Jubilation Lee, since lady has no powers and it would be nice to see her be something besides a human sparkler in a giant yellow trenchcoat at some point.

Anyway, introducing vampires into the X-Men might be ok in my book, but do you know who does not like this? Mark Millar. He does not like this at all, because he fears it may be too similar to his upcoming "Vampire X" storyline in "Ultimate Avengers." In fact, he doesn't like it so much that he got on the internet and started talking about how much he doesn't like it and asking his forum readers what his next step should be, which -- personally -- is not the first thing I would do if I had a professional issue with my employer, but then Mark Millar and I probably have very different approaches to the concepts of discretion (see: better part of valor).

Also, it's worth noting that it's not clear exactly how close the stories will be besides involving vampires and Blade, and regardless, this isn't the first time (or the fifteenth, for that matter) that two storylines in different comic book series have had similar themes (see: ZOMBIES), although I think it's the first time I've seen someone taking public shots at another series within the same publisher for it. Nobody owns vampires vs. superheroes any more than anyone owns zombies vs. superheroes or superhero resurrections or President Obama. In the long view, there really isn't very much new under the sun, and if you really want to get up in arms about who addressed a concept first in a comic or literature, realize that it probably wasn't you.

Check out Millar's comments after the jump.

I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS X-MEN/ BLADE THING HAVE THEY JUST SWIPED MY UPCOMING 'VAMPIRE X' ARC?

I'm just starting Ultimate Avengers 3, issue 5, and it's the arc I'm maybe most proud of. As trailered forever, this is vampires in the Ultimate Universe attacking mutants and Blade brought in to help the Avengers as heroes go down one by one.

Now someone's sent me a link to an X-Men event out two months previous that's exactly the same idea.

Seriously.

What do I do? This is what JRJR and I were going to do 5 years ago before Enemy of the State and I've been talking about it in interviews (and on here) since Ultimate Avengers launched. Blade's even on the cover to issue 1 as I've been excited about this since I had Blade painted on an ice cream truck in 1978.

I don't want to pull the issues as they're part of a complex plot that runs through my entire four arc run, but I'm almost finished now. I'm writing issue five of six and they're really, really good.

How the Hell did this happen? It wouldn't have been as big a deal if I hadn't started the series yet, but it's almost done and just going to look foolish following an X-Men event. Am honestly just so disgusted with this as I've talked about it many times. Thoughts on what I should do next?