‘Where everything cuts loose': Mark Millar On ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ #3 And More

Never let it be said that Mark Millar doesn't know how to hype his work.

In a conference call last week about the upcoming Jupiter's Legacy #3, the writer compared his superhero-family drama not only to Shakespeare's Hamlet, but also to Lord of the Rings. He also stressed JL will remain a self-contained, 10-issue series, whereas his new series MPH will be the first part of a huge, Marvel-style shared universe. Check out some of these highlights from the call and a few preview pages from Jupiter's Legacy #3, which hits comic-store shelves August 28.

On the issue itself:

"This is the issue where everything cuts loose. This is the $250 million summer blockbuster issue," Millar said. "This issue is the best one of Frank Quitely's career. It's just mind-blowing what he's done with it."

On having a big action issue after a couple issues of family drama:

"If you have action and you don't care about the people it's happening to, it's meaningless," he said, adding that the violence in issue 3 will change everything for the series. "I wanted to do a kind of superhero Hamlet."

On the symbolism of having a huge fight scene in the Oval Office:

Jupiter's Legacy is about "what's good about the democratic process," Millar said. "I kind of wanted to write a book about how awesome America is." He added: "You only get one chance to do a big, superhero magnum opus. It's a gigantic story I'm telling here."

On how MPH will be the start of a "Marvel Universe for the 21st Century":

The end of Kick-Ass 3 will be the start of the universe MPH is set in, Millar said. "I'm really just following that Marvel plan. 90 percent of it is getting the right artists."

On juggling a "magnum opus" and a new universe:

"Jupiter's Legacy is Lord of the Rings. The one thing that's bigger than that is the Marvel Universe," he said. "I don't know where you go after you've done a universe."

On doing "seedier" stories like Kick-Ass at the same time as political comics like Jupiter's Legacy:

Millar said he has "Alan Moore and Frank Miller sides of my brain," and "to stop getting bored, I tend to jump between the two. I don't see one has more merit than the other."

On keeping Jupiter's Legacy "very self-contained":

Millar said he doesn't want anyone but Frank Quitely drawing the characters, so it'll remain a 10-issue series, divided into two 5-issue parts. Still, Millar says the businessman in him can't ignore the series is successful. ""There's a part of me thinking, 'I should milk this,'" he said.