Trash Mutant Interviews (TMI): Peter Milligan
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TRASH MUTANT: This new comics line you’re starting sees the publication of brand-new stories featuring classic Hammer properties, as well as wholly original Hammer stories, produced by Titan. With that being said, were you given any guidelines to stay within or suggestions from Titan to have "The Mummy" fit firmly within the Hammer Horror line? PETER MILLIGAN: No, the guidelines really came from me when I looked at all the old Hammer Mummy films and started to think about how I could write a Mummy story for the modern day. For a start, I was keen that it felt like it belonged to the Hammer Horror line. I also thought that mummies, at least how they’d been portrayed, just couldn’t be scary any more. I didn’t want this Mummy story to be a spoof (like the Brendan Fraser movies) I wanted it to have horror, so this required a bit of thinking on my part.
The comic features beautiful art from Ronilson Freire, depicting the story perfectly. Did you specially choose him as the artist, or were you paired together? As the story started getting firmed up we looked at a few different artists and Ronilson was the one we went for, the who would best create the dark, slightly old fashioned claustrophobic mood that the story called for. Your personal favorite Hammer horror film? My favorite Hammer film that Hammer DIDN’T make was The Wicker Man. I always thought that was Hammer, until I spoke about it in Hammer’s office and they put me straight. So, maybe the first Quatermass film. How would you approach some of your classic material like "Shade, the Changing Man" or "Enigma" any differently today in 2016? Even more recently "X-Force"/"X-Statix"? The feel would be different to most of them but at their heart they probably wouldn’t be as changed as one might think. Shade is a weird road movie with a girl and an alien, so that could still work. Enigma tells the story of a man coming to terms with his own sexuality: I believe versions of that story are still being played out today, even though on the face of it we seem to be a more tolerant society. And X-Statix? I think we’re just as celebrity obsessed as we were when I wrote it, maybe more so. I’d probably push the Po-Mo aspect a bit more. How has your writing process changed since your earlier works? Not so much. I still carry a notebook with me most of the time. I still like to think about theme before I get snared up with plot. I still like to work early, first thing, in the hope that my conscious mind can draw some inspiration from the sleeping/dreaming world it’s just emerged from.
Will the favorite hero of William S. Burroughs, the Nowhere Man, ever be seen again? Hah! The old Cut-up Kid! I’d love to bring him back, but I suspect his lunch will remain naked. Mr. Milligan, thank you very much for taking the time to speak with me and Trash Mutant! Not to mention all the great stories! ____________________________________________
Read Jacurutu99's thoughts on Titan Comics' "The Mummy" RIGHT HERE. And make sure to pick it up! For more information on Peter Milligan and his many great works head on over to his official website.
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