by Matthew Badham

The brief I was given was to write between 750 and 1000 words defending Pat Mills. I am going to wilfully ignore that brief because I’ve realised that the following is all I want to say:  In 1984, when I was 10, I read Nemesis Book Four, The Gothic Empire, a comic strip packed with more ideas per page than should really be expected of a boys’ adventure comic. It was action-packed, allegorical, intelligent, polemical, political pulp fiction of the highest order and introduced me to the work of one of my favourite artists ever, Bryan Talbot, as well as the work of writer Pat Mills.  Earlier this year I read it again and found that, in the intervening 23 years, it had lost none of its power.  If Pat Mills had only ever written that comic strip he would have the right to be regarded as a great writer. That he has written numerous other strips of power, verve and intelligence is just the icing on the cake.  And that is all, really.

by Martin Charlton

Over the course of this short treatise, I shall be arguing that the output of Pat Mills is unacceptable, and that this must change. However, while many of you gather here today will no doubt be expecting me to be calling for the figurative death sentence of exile from the nerve centre; I instead merely ask that, if he indeed be found guilty, Pat Mills be sentenced to community service for a time to be decided.

I place myself as part of the prosecution not through spite, but rather through frustration. Let me first take you back many years, to a time when thrill power was young, and Dredd’s helmet shone for all to see. In the early days of 2000AD Pat Mills was involved in Judge Dredd, Invasion, Flesh, Harlem Heroes, Dan Dare and many more, and in the ‘golden age’ of 2000AD he gave us the classic adventures of the ABC Warriors and Slaine. It was his ‘Return of Rico’ that became the Judge Dredd movie’s central narrative, and his work on Crisis was of the highest order.

And then… something changed. Perhaps it was late Thatcherism bleeding into ‘new’ Labour, perhaps he became grumpy in his old age, I don’t know. But of late it would appear Pat has lost his way somewhat, with an output not befitting a man of his obvious talents. Take for instance his recent runs on the ABC Warriors, specifically the saga kicked off by the Third Element in prog 1238, which kick started the war between Pat Mills & Andy Diggle. 

The clashes between Pat Mills & Andy Diggle in 2002 did little to improve Mills’ reputation among fans, with Diggle seen by many as the ‘saviour’ of sorts of 2000AD. The main issues of their arguments seem to be Diggle’s re-writing of Pat’s ABC Warriors scripts, and Diggle’s approval of Gordon Rennie’s Satanus Unchained. Let us look at each of these in turn: 

Firstly, Diggle’s decision to rewrite certain aspects of Pat’s work. Mills claims that ‘on occasion he (Diggle) harmed my characters via his artistic choice, his dialogue changes or his dictated and inappropriate serial format. That first claim, that of unsuitable artistic choice, would be fine if the artists chosen weren’t Henry Flint (who Mills went on to work with again on the ABCs), Mick Mcmahon (co creator or the strip), Boo Cook, whose sketchy style at the time added to the gritty but overblown nature of the strip, and Liam McCormack-Sharp, another legend of thrill power. Secondly, the accusation of dialogue changes, which, as Diggle counters, ‘Pat used to do’ (when editor of 2000AD), smacks of hypocrisy, and finally ‘and inappropriate serial format’? It’s 2000AD for god’s sake, what other format do you expect?  

Unfortunately, the legacy of this encounter is that Diggle resigned, leaving his successor Matt Smith with little in the way of bargaining power, lest Mills again throw a fit about the editing process. As such, Mills’ output during the reign of Matt Smith has been questionable at best, but mostly sub standard. The books of Invasions went on too long, with little happening from issue to issue, Blood of Satanus 2 was an insult to all readers of 2000AD, and I’ll get to my thoughts on Shadow Warriors shortly.  

The second of the battles between Mills & Diggle, namely that Satanus was Mills’ character and that Diggle was being disrespectful of Mills’ rights to control his own characters, seems ridiculous, even in light of Mills’ policy regarding fan fiction based on his characters.  

“Pat Mills has requested that none of the characters he created (including Slaine, Nemesis the Warlock and the A.B.C. Warriors) should be used as the subject of fan fiction. But whilst being protective of his characters because of past negative experiences, he's happy to help and encourage new writers in other ways from time to time.” (from 2000AD Online) 

I suppose he’ll make the same fuss about John Wagner using the Snap, Crackle & Pop characters from the Cursed Earth in Origins, right? It’s the same level of cross pollination, but much like the school yard bully pinking only on those smaller then himself, Mills won’t mention anything because Wagner’s a bigger part of 2000AD than Mills, and Gordon Rennie possesses no such cache of power to bring to the table. 

Coming back to the ABC Warriors, their recent battles against the Shadow Warriors were a prime example of another of Mills’ failings – the lack of drama in a strip when we realise that the good guys are invincible. Now, I realise this accounts for 95% of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 80s film output, but the pleasures gained by reading 2000AD are not the same as those gained when watching Predator. One is pure escapism, one is a rejection of the proliferation of this trend in mainstream US comics. For Mills to fall back on this is a real shame. While Slaine is also guilty of this, much of the shaming process must go to Savage here. For a strip so determined to possess a sense of realism not present in much of 2000AD’s output, to then give us the British equivalent of John Rambo seems a bit of a let down. 

Within the constraints of this format it is not possible to fully explore how and why Pat Mills must be reigned in, but I offer the following list for further thoughts: 

I’ve been asked to say a few words about the recent Defoe & Greysuit strips, and have been thinking about what to say. I’ll keep this short, but what struck me most was how Mills quite clearly took about 25-30 pages of story and doubled the size for publication. I’ll use Simon Spurrier as the example here, but take a look at Lobster Random, The Simping Detective or Harry Kipling – They’re full of as many ideas as you’d get in a 22 page Marvel or DC strip, but compressed into 5 pages.

Also, the failure of each of Mills's latest to successfully wrap up means that not only does Mills have his eye on the page count but also on keeping avenues open for future publication, and in turn the graphic novel market.

Hopefully I have made my case, using the Andy Diggle incident(s) as a microcosm or a more widespread problem. Nobody is keeping Pat Mills in check. One of the most significant writers in the history of 2000AD, a man who, as Bryan Talbot recently told me ‘used to obsess about every little detail’, Pat mills is currently on cruise control, getting by on reputation rather than quality writing. Only his slightly homophobic tendencies really concern me, the rest can be sorted with a firmer editorial hand.

I’d hate for Pat Mills to leave 2000AD with his legacy in tatters, but he needs to want to change, and I’ve seen nothing to suggest that recently. Hopefully you will all join me in prayer for Pat Mills’ career. Thank you, and good night.