Big game

Big Game #1-5

by Mark Millar, Pepe Larraz

¡Un evento como nunca has visto! Coincidiendo con el vigésimo aniversario del nacimiento de Millarword, más de veinte franquicias se reúnen por primera vez en un explosivo cómic. Nemesis versus Kick-Ass, Kingsman, Superior, The Magic Order, Huck, The Night Club y todos tus personajes favoritos de nuestros cómics, películas y series de televisión. Escrita por el escritor superestrella Mark Millar (Civil War, El Viejo Logan) y el artista superestrella de Marvel Pepe Larraz (Dinastía de X).

Contiene BIG GAME #1-5

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Graphic Novels Comics, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fantasy, Action

152 pages, Hardcover

First published December 19, 2023

About the author

Mark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.

His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.

Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 4 out of 5]

(A-) 82% | Very Good
Notes: It's gimmick-strong, not overlong, just expert execution, though a constant flow of cameos, all pleasing contributions.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #1-2 ◦ Issues #3-4 ◦ Issue #5

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Crisis of Zero-Hour Secret Wars on Infinite F@$%ing Millarworlds.

It's the big crossover of all the properties Mark Millar created independent of Marvel and DC . . . and promptly sold to Netflix.

In Millarworld, a conspiracy of villains wiped out all superheroes and all memory of them in the 1980s. Now Wesley Gibson of Wanted is out to kill the new generation of superheroes that have sprung up in the sixteen years since Dave Lizewski first pulled on a mask and called himself Kick-Ass.

It's just like the big crossovers DC and Marvel do almost annually, except Millar gets to use curse words and massive amounts of gory violence. A time-travel element means nothing is out of bounds for Millar's trademarked shock-and-awe plotting.

It's cheesy and overstuffed with characters from a third-tier superhero universe, but for some teenager it's probably going to be the best thing ever. I know the arrested adolescent in side me had a good time despite my general disappointment in much of Millar's recent output.

[Dr. Cat in the Brain · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent art and some fun bits of fan service, but ultimately this big event comic is everything I hate about big event comics. Including huge surprise (and brutal) deaths that get reversed by a deus ex machina making the stakes of the entire event disappear into the ether. Still entertaining, but not something I'd recommend to casual readers. Mostly for fans of the series involved and folks who appreciate great comic book art. Otherwise?
5/10

[Khurram · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. This is an all out action packed book. As soon as I started reading it, I did not want to put it down. An awesome Heroes vs. Villains battle got the ages. I even like that they don't scrible out the swear words, but using the less is more rule it make the dialogue more realistic. This is a book I could read over or any time I am bored. The book finishes with the creaters' bios and then a varient cover gallery.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't think Mark Millar ever really planned to pull his various comic books together into a coherent universe. And yet, shared universes are hot, so here we are. Big Game finds most of Millar's characters living together on one version of Earth where the bad guys took out all the good guys back in the 80s and things have been peaceful and great ever since.

Until the son of the bad guy from Wanted decides too many heroes have been cropping up, so he gathers a big gang of super-smart, super-rich people to begin taking out all the (good guy) super-smart, super-rich people. Expect shocking deaths on just about every other page. It's fun at first, then tiresome, then dull when they're all brought back to life in the end.

But hey, we've got big battles galore and weird, wonky team-ups that mostly satisfy. You don't need to remember very many of Millar's creations to have a good time here. And Pepe Larraz's artwork is absolutely stunning, well worth the price of admission. Big Game might be one of the dumbest Mark Millar books, but it certainly goes for broke. I enjoyed myself, though I feel a little dirty for it.

[Dakota · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 / 5

Pepe Larraz is the perfect fit for this book, amazing splash pages and action throughout.

I don't think the story was perfect but having read all of Millar's bibliography leading up to this, I found this book to be incredibly fun and filled with fun payoffs to many of those stories I love.

[Roman Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotta hand it to Mark Millar because he actually pulled it off. This miniseries was a satisfying culmination and conclusion to the universe he’s been building for the past twenty years across all his comic book properties. This is Millar’s Avengers: Endgame, with a suitably big bombastic Endgame-style battle in the final issue for the fate of everything. I’ve previously been critical of a lot of Millar’s work, but I really enjoyed this.

There’s a ton of fan service and callbacks to previous stories. Even a huge payoff moment for a major character, the one who in a way started all this mess. Millar manages to incorporate a reference or character from every single one of his books into this 5-issue miniseries. Some parts work better than others. For example, the inclusion of the Ambassadors, Edison Crane, or the Chrononauts felt more natural whereas bringing in Sharky the Bounty Hunter or the Space Bandits felt more like forced cameos.

I read this event issue to issue as it came out, and at the time of writing this, issue 5 just dropped today. I look forward to rereading this. Highly recommend if you like the Millarworld titles.

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a non-stop cameo event featuring all of Millar’s characters and while that was all very cool, I thought the story was too predictable and that there wasn’t ever really any real sense of danger. I just felt like I had read this from Millar before. This time just had cool cameos and crossovers.

[Vist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sepanjang baca buku ini isinya emosi sama penulisan Mark Millar, tapi cukup senang dengan konklusi yang diberikan di akhir chapter. Mungkin harusnya baca semua buku Millar dulu biar dapat climaxnya waktu baca event ini.

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe a little bit too big of a cast of characters!

[Radiantbeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look I know there are like a billion valid reasons as to why Jesus Christ couldn't show up in this cross over buuut it would've been really funny to see Jesus meet Nemesis.

[Jalen the Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ain't no Big Game. Super disappointing in Jpas' opinion. If Hit Girl didn't get shot in the head at the end for the fuckery she pulled I woulda gave it ZERO stars. Also one more gripe, why in the hell does Kick-Ass turn into Superman? I did like Eggsy in this though, he's a good British lad.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/6ERRb9X2QAg

[Marcos · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish I could give it negative five stars.

Probably the most lazily plotted story Millar has ever written.

[Paul W. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good enough, but man Millar loves being a nihilistic edgelord who shows off shock value. I liked this book, but it could have been great. Instead, it just exists. At least Hit-Girl was amazing.

[Alex Sarll]

I suppose I did only read this out of morbid curiosity, but even so... Mark Millar crosses over all of his creator-owned comics*, so Wesley from Wanted hires Nemesis to take down all the new superheroes like Hit-Girl and the Ambassadors, and the Magic Order can't help because it's not an occult threat (even though changing history and wiping the world's memory was definitely presented as at least partly magical in the original story), and Eggsy from Kingsman is there, and you get the idea. Right back to his 2000AD days, Millar's default has been stories where character A is an unstoppable killing machine until they run into character B, who takes them apart, and so it proves here; if nothing else, I suppose it's a way to find out who's Daddy's favourite. Except that of course the Chrononauts mean time travel is in the mix, so - spoiler! - the answers may not be as definitive as they initially appear. And yes, on one level a lot of superhero comics come down to some fairly similar dynamics, but at their best, or even their baseline acceptable, they do a little more to obscure that. Whereas here all we get by way of flourish are increasingly tired shock tactics, the old conspiracy theories Millar seems increasingly fond of even as their real world acceptance makes them much less fun, and some unbelievably tired observations: apparently, right, America is really divided? And you know what? This guy blames Twitter! Mind-blowing or what? Even the art, normally the saving grace with modern Millar, is only OK; Pepe Larraz is good, but for me he's not a draw in the same way as Immonen, Capullo or Quitely, and the nature of the story means he doesn't have much space to work with, only five issues and so many toys to throw at each other. Once or twice, there are pages where the sheer primal joy of comics shines through, the craziness and colour of it all. They're just not enough to outweigh the presiding cynicism and laziness of a project whose main superheroic accomplishment is to achieve the seemingly impossible and make corporate comic crossovers look good in comparison.

*Well, except The Unfunnies. And American Jesus. And some of the others are very much blink and you'll miss them, so don't leap on this just because you're a big MPH fan, is what I'm saying.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well this turned out to one hell of a surprise, but that's not the only reason for the 4 star rating (there are parts of the ending I sort of guessed at and it felt a little too easy a solution).

From a financial view this event series makes complete sense. I personally never thought of the Millarworld titles mostly taking place in the same universe, even though I've read a number of them. So, a universe wide Hollywood Blockbuster event makes financial sense.

It doesn't necessarily mean that it will be good (as much as I like was Hickman has done with the X-Men that storyline is beginning to feel that it is being dragged out way too long). I can even argue that this series shows Millar's changes as a writer over the last several years. From the, to me, overwhelmingly cynical, extremely violent and indulgent Wanted and Nemesis to the more upbeat and hopeful Prodigy and The Magic Order.

That is the conflict here. The secret rulers of the world from Wanted want to erase the new, and growing generation of heroes just as they did the old. Nemesis' ticket to entry in Wanted's hierarchy is to kill all the heroes.

Nemesis, essentially being an evil Batman gets off to a great start, as a matter of fact with the body count so high it appears the heroes cannot prevail. The way Millar was writing a few years ago that is what I would have expected.

Except, there is one shred of hope (play Yoda's scene from The Empire Strikes Back).

I'm a big sucker for event series, except Marvel because nothing ever stick except for Hickman's recent work (and that's a wait and see).

Big Game is possibly my second favorite event series, and in some ways for sheer fun and enjoyment gives Crisis on Infinite Earths a run for the top spot.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half of this is the most Mark Millar thing that Mark Millar has ever Mark Millared. Nemesis joins with the other villainous organizations Millar has created and celebrated, and mostly wipes out every hero, in brutal fashion.
But then, someone told Mark that killing off all of his positive characters was probably not good for the franchise, so he uses time travel and magic to take it all back and give a "happy" ending to the story, with an absurd but pivotal role for Hit-Girl.
I thought I was familiar with most of the Millar World books, but I only knew half of the groups running around here, and several of my favorites barely make an appearance (Huck gets a total of two pages, I think, and the Magic Order is mostly absent until the final issue).
Millar works best on the convoluted small details - it's telling that the big crossover punch-out battle is a couple of spreads with practically no dialog and no overarching storylines through the fray - he gives up on explanation and just says 'everybody punches' until everything works out. But aside from that, it's an interesting challenge he has given himself, trying to merge so many wildly variant power levels and ethos into one plotline. It kind of works, but it's definitely something written for people who are fans of his - anyone without a serious backing in MillarWorld is going to be utterly lost, even casual readers of titles in the catalog.

[Chris Tower · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Just great fun!!

This book is like a fantasy that every comic book reader has had: what if the villains finally managed to figure out how to win? In Millar's universe, which draws on tropes from the big two superhero universes, the villains slaughter all the heroes and make everyone forget that there ever were heroes. When new heroes arise to challenge the secret villain cabal pulling the strings controlling the world leaders, the villains with hired hit man Nemesis slaughter them all again. But you know that's not how the story ends, right? You have to read it to find out how the heroes prevail as you know they will.

Millar does two really fun things in this short five chapter graphic novel. He unifies his entire universe, all the comics that he's been producing exist together and he manages to connect them all.

And he makes tons of current social commentary on our world, especially the truly effed American political arena and culture wars. Great stuff, Mr. Millar. Thank you!!

[Centauri · Rating 2 out of 5]

SPOILER ALERT
Okay, so Kick-Ass (especially the movie) really brought out the concept that criminals/villains win in the real world. And this story starts strong with that plot point. It keeps getting crazier and crazier, until I almost fear the absolute win for the bad guys. But at the same time, it makes sense. But then time travel ... no one learns anything; there are no consequences to allowing villainy to reign, because the "great undo button" is the save-grace.
Hard hitting commentary and morbid realization unfizzled by the Psych, just kidding. I mean, having Hit Girl just surviving the dino age would've been an insane ending in itself. It was fun to have Kick-Ass be the avatar of heroes for his dimension because he was a magical being all along, and on the same note another slap in the face that he succeeded only because he really did have superpowers all along.
I did like the homage to the first modern superhero, and wonder how they got away with it.

[Michael Kocinski · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally don’t enjoy Mark Millar’s comics. But he forced my hand when he put together a powerhouse att team for Ambassadors and then brought Pepe Larraz on deck for Big Game. And Pepe showed all the way up for this book. His and the art teams work is beautiful, dynamic, full of motion and energy, and, in general, I can recognize each character. But Millar…man. Millar’s work is derivative, sort of cynical, and feels very, very rushed. It’s not funny, he continues to write w overtones of misogyny and his characters feel one dimensional. I’m not mad about it. I had some fun in this world. But I’d say overall it falls flat—it’s boring and with one bright and gratifying pay off almost nothing ACTUALLY happens, it’s just one set piece after another. Maybe it’s your cup of tea. Maybe you’ll just go back and admire Pepe Larraz’s amazing line work.

[Russ Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if this is Millar pulling all the strands of his recent writings together, or if he's putting the capstone on the tomb of the Millarverse, but this brings together pretty much all of the one off stories and series he's written in the last few years, including those that have led to movie franchises, such as Kick Ass and Kingsman. The story involves the main character in Wanted hiring the main character in Nemesis to kill all the super heroes that have arisen in the Millarworld (presumably since the events of Wanted). It's not a bad story but it might be difficult to follow if you haven't read all the original series / books for each of the characters involved in this - so it's a bit like how the Marvel Universe has ended up (but not quite so bloated)

[Kevin Mullier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was it worth reading all of Mark Millars stuff for one big crossover event, fuck yeah. There were some great finds along the way (Wanted, Empress, Magic Order, Huck, Kickass) and then there were some meh just ok stories and I am still 3 behind (Kingsmen, Sharkey and Space Bandits). However I am glad I read them all, not just because of the stories I found along the way but it made this Big Crossover event worth it, there were so many cool little nod backs, team ups and twists and yes of course there was gona be a bit of a retcon let's bring all the dead people back but overall what an achievement to link up all these characters.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mark Millar somehow manages to bring just about every character he's ever created (were the Super Crooks or Jupiter's Legacy characters in there somewhere? I must have missed them if so) together into one giant, coherent event comic, presented as the sequel to Wanted, one of his best titles (the one where the super criminals all got together and ridded the world of superheroes, ruling from the shadows). Lots of action. Not a lot of time for anything resembling character development. The artwork is fine.

[Allen Setzer · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a crossover for Millarworld! Action packed throughout with a great story. Excellent job piecing characters from his books into this event. None of them felt forced or out of place. I know people who really liked it that had only read some of his Millarworld titles but I definitely recommend reading all the ones who wrote before reading this. You’ll appreciate the characters involved much more, especially the ones who aren’t given much time in the book. Can’t wait to see what are done with the titles going forward.

[Ross · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty much a continuation of Millar's series, 'Wanted'...

The Millarverse collapses in on itself as the villains from 'Wanted' (and all throughout the "Millarverse") decide that there's too many up-and-coming superheroes. They go after the few heroes on the planet and graphically murder then.

...thank God for time travel. The saving grace of any good 'villains win it all' story.
-------
Bonus: Kick-Ass still has it (and will have a larger role to play in the future?)
Bonus Bonus: Wesley Gibson gets...Reborn? (weird)

[Rahul Nadella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been a huge fan of the Millar World titles since Hit-Girl's solo adventures. Big Game has been easily the best event book from any company in the last decade. The way that (almost) every single one of the Millar World characters incorporation into this book has been nothing short of amazing as we see characters who you never thought would meet interacting with each other. Overall though it did work to make me read a lot more Millarverse titles and I feel interested in keeping up with it going forward.

[Juju · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't like Mark Millar, but he works with some great artists. Pepe Larraz does incredible work here making everything look great, and distracting the reader from the minimal action and predictable story filled with what's essentially just a bunch of cameos and lots of unnecessary lengthy exposition reiterating the plot points, in case anyone's somehow gotten confused. The Kick-Ass and Hit-Girl stuff is the big payoff, but Millar should give up the pretense of writing superheroes and just stick to writing knuckle-headed sadists like Wesley & Nemesis.

[Jaime Guzman · Rating 3 out of 5]

The heroes and villains of the Millar Universe clash as Wesley who is now older and more vicious concocts a plan to kill off all of the superheroes.
I only knew about four characters from the Millar Universe and now I want to go back and read the books that I have missed.
The story is fast paced & action packed and expertly drawn by Pepe Laraz.
I may have gotten more of a kick out of the book of I knew who the characters were.

[Trevor ComicFan · Rating 5 out of 5]

93

This was great. Fantastic art and a concise story with so many characters. I was familiar with about 2/3rds of the characters, but that didn’t detract from my appreciation of the story. So many nods to other comic works, Cates’ Thanos and the endgame movie especially. Way better than I thought it could be!