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Image are calling Mark Millar's latest series, "The most ambitious comic book of all time." A bold claim, perhaps, but with a globe-trotting premise, a different big name artist for each of the six issues, and a huge crossover planned, there's little doubt that this is superhero storytelling on a grandiose scale.
The Ambassadors follows a worldwide competition to find six people worthy of receiving superpowers. Scientist Choon-He Chung has cracked the super genome and plans to form an international rescue squad to help people in danger from floods, famines and other crises. Meanwhile, less benevolent parties are watching on with keen interest.
The series makes use of a stellar array of artists including Karl Kerschl, Travis Charest, Olivier Coipel, Matteo Buffagni and Matteo Scalera. It kicks off, however, with an issue drawn by the always incredible Frank Quitely, who previously collaborated with Millar on Jupiter's Legacy and The Authority.
We've got a first look at some of his pages below, but before that, Millar and Quitely answer a few questions about the new series...
Mark, can you take us back to the origins of this book? What sparked the idea?
Millar: Coming from another country, I was always confused why superheroes were always American. I used to create Scottish ones as a kid, though I now understand that the demographics may be too small for Marvel and DC to make everyone Scottish! But my job at Netflix, after selling my company, is to create new franchises, as well as sequels to my old ones, and I'm really excited by the reach Netflix has. A story set in Brazil with no American actors might be a hard sell to a typical Hollywood studio, but Netflix has so many subscribers in Brazil who would love to see a local superhero and I love that too. It creates different types of stories when you move outside New York. It all feels really fresh.
You have six issues and six main characters. Can you tease who some of these people are and where they come from?
Millar: These six issues are all standalones that form one big story, so each character really gets a nice spotlight.
Choon-He Chung is the leader of the team. She's a Korean billionaire who created this super power bank at the South Pole for all the members to access. She's a lot of fun, a kind of female Tony Stark.
We have an Indian guy called Binnu Bhatia, whose name is a combo of two good friends of mine. He's a guy who did something really heroic in a massacre and Choon-He selected him to join as a result.
The French issue is a mother and son super-team which, I think, we've never seen before in comics. I love this issue. It's the Travis Charest one and I think, from a technical point of view, it's the most perfect book I've ever done.
Olivier Coipel's issue is set in Brazil and involves a priest who's a local hero, a huge anti-corruption figure. He's picked [to be a superhero] after all his parishioners write in on his behalf, but he's a 50 year old guy with a vocation. He has no interest in all this nonsense!
Issue 5 is the funniest issue. The Australian guy is great, a boozy 70 year old former Prime Minister with a kind of Bob Hawke vibe. Issue six… I won't do any spoilers.
Frank, does having this range of different locations make working on the art more fun? Or more challenging?
Quitely: More fun. Without a doubt. Variety is the spice of life when it comes to drawing. Different characters, different locations, and a range of quiet moments and action sequences all keep it interesting from an artistic point of view - and hopefully that works for the reader too.
The Ambassadors has been described as, “The most ambitious comic book of all time.” Bold words!
Millar: It was a lot of work! The world's best artists all together in a single comic is no mean feat, especially when some of them draw a page a week or even a page a month. Brilliant work takes time so we factored this in and gave some of the guys a four year deadline where needed. Factor in the fact that there's six different cultures in one story and there was so much checking and rewriting on my part too. I was constantly rethinking this. Civil War was the last time I wrote something that required so much googling and questioning.
What sort of threats are the characters facing?
Millar: It's not villain of the week stuff. Nobody's breaking out of jail and fighting The Ambassadors. They're an international rescue squad. I loved the idea of people wearing masks, protecting their secret identities, being a kind of fourth emergency service. They're just regular joes. But of course there's more to it than that and a lot of people want what they have.
How long has the series taken to come to fruition?
Millar: Since 2018. And I really have been working on it regularly all that time because I created it as a movie franchise with characters that have to be strong enough to support local language shows in their own territory if we do spin offs. I was constantly rethinking it. I never normally do this, but I kept coming up with new ways of doing the story and how they have their powers. It's a very unique book.
Quitely: I started work on it during lockdown, so it's been more than two years. But here's the thing - because the deadline was so relaxed, it allowed me, for the first time in my career, to only work on the pages when I was really in the mood. It's an ideal way of working.
What aspects of this project appealed to you the most?
Quitely: Working with Mark again, working on characters that are new, having a long lead-in time and relaxed deadlines, and being able to colour the interior art - which I did with my son Vincent.
The series ties into the forthcoming Big Game crossover event. What can you tease about that?
Millar: Every Millarworld franchise, from Kick-Ass and Kingsman to Starlight and The Magic Order, tie into the Big Game summer event I'm doing with Marvel superstar Pepe Larraz. Magic Order, Night Club, Nemesis Reloaded and especially The Ambassadors (all the books right now) run directly into it. I've always had the best artists on these things so it had to be someone at Pepe's level so it doesn't look like a downgrade when you see him bringing back all the characters.
Check out the first four pages of Frank Quitely's incredible art for The Ambassadors #1 below...
The Ambassadors #1 is published March 29 by Image Comics. Why not check out our list of the best non-Marvel/DC superhero universes?
