Netflix’s first ever acquisition is indie comic book publisher Millarworld
Netflix has acquired Millarworld, the streaming media company announced on Monday. Millarworld is the independent comic publishing company founded by Mark Millar, a storied comic book creator who is behind a host of iconic characters and series, including Kick-Ass and Kingsman, as well as the creative force behind some of Marvel’s best story arcs, including The Ultimates and Old Man Logan.
Millar and wife Lucy Millar, also a celebrated comic book artists, created Millarworld to help publish their own original creations, as well as create clothing, toys, video games and other licensed content from their series. Millar’s original creations have already shown proven box office potential in terms of film adaptations, too: Wanted, Kick-Ass and Kingsman all had high-grossing turns as blockbuster releases, and Kingsman’s sequel looks to be a likely hit with its upcoming release.
Meanwhile, Millar’s work has proven source material for some of Marvel’s most successful cinematic forays, too. Captain America: Civil War and Logan both borrow heavily from Millar made stories, and The Ultimates inspired a lot of what takes place in The Avengers film and characterization.
The fact that Netflix made this acquisition, the company’s first ever in its long history, should give a sense of what Millar and Millarworld bring to the table in terms of storytelling ability. The Millarworld stable of titles and IP, as depicted in a tweet shared by Netflix after the announcement of the news, gives a hint of some of that depth, and Netflix has already said it’ll be bringing the portfolio to the screen through films, TV series and also kids’ shows, and Millarworld will continue to create new comics under the Netflix brand.
Basically, this looks like Netflix liked what it was getting from the Marvel tie-ins it’s created, including Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Luke Cage, but decided it might be a good idea to own the whole stack, including the comics side of the equation and the in-house creative genius. Seems like a promising plan, and it’ll be very interesting to see how things evolve from here for both Netflix and Millarworld.