Wanted (comics)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Wanted (disambiguation).

Cover of the Wanted trade paperback. Artwork by JG Jones.

Wanted is a creator-owned comic book miniseries, consisting of six issues written by Mark Millar with art by JG Jones and published by Top Cow. It features an amoral protagonist who discovers he is the heir to a career as a super-villainous assassin in a world where such villains have secretly taken control of the planet.

The series is very adult in nature, similar to more grown-up 'super-hero' titles such as The Authority. Like the Authority or The Squadron Supreme, several characters are based on DC Comics super-villains. Rumour states that the series was originally supposed to be a revamp of the Secret Society of Super-Villains. The series bears a resemblance to Fight Club as it is about a despondent man in an unfulfilling white-collar job who finds a new lease on life but becomes extremely violent and marked as outside of 'normal' society. There is also a parallel between Wanted and The Matrix, particularly in the concept of a world secretly run by powerful, superhuman villains as well as the balletic gun battles between leather-clad fighters.

The Sunday Times dubbed the title "the Watchmen for super-villains."[1]

The complete miniseries, along with the Wanted: Dossier, has been collected as a graphic novel, available as both a softcover (ISBN 1-58240-497-6) and a hardcover (ISBN 1-58240-480-1).

Timur Bekmambetov will direct a film adaptation starring James McAvoy [2].

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Wesley in action. Artwork by JG Jones.

The premise of Wanted is that all the world's super-villains decided to band together in 1986 and use their vast collective powers — including mad science, magic and mind control — to eliminate all the world's superheroes and rewrite reality in their own dark image; prior to this the world was a brighter, more hopeful place (a clear reference to the end of the Silver Age). Superheroes are remembered as fiction (as they are in the real world), and behind the scenes a cabal of the leading super-villains run the entire world.

Mama's boy Wesley Gibson discovers that his freshly-assassinated father was a super-criminal called The Killer, and that Wesley has inherited his perfect aim and uncanny skill with any weapon. Wesley enters a new life, and must deal with the most dangerous and evil people in the world — whose ranks now include Wesley himself.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Characters and their likely antecedents

The two major characters are:

The Killer, based on either Deadshot or Bullseye (never misses a shot)
The Fox, based on Catwoman (animal-based jewel thief)

There are five arch-villains in charge of the world. Two are analogues of specific DC villains, while the other three are pastiches of prototypical comic book arch-villains:

Professor Solomon Seltzer, based on Dr. Sivana and Lex Luthor (super-intelligent inventor/megalomaniac)
Mr. Rictus, based on the Joker, with a touch of the Red Skull (sadistic, joke-using murderer)
The Future, a time-traveling fascist villain in the vein of Kang, Per Degaton, or The Lord of Time (neo-Nazi madman)
The Emperor, an anachronistic autocrat reminiscent of "sophisticated" villains such as Ra's al Ghul, The Yellow Claw, or Fu Manchu
Adam-One, a primeval immortal that's a pastiche of Vandal Savage and others, such as the Ultraverse's Rex Mundi (immortal conqueror)

The Professor's gang is:

Brain Box, based on Brainiac (alien intelligence)
The Imp, based on Mr. Mxyzptlk (hyper-powerful trans-dimensional dwarf)
Fuckwit, based on Bizarro (imperfect clone of powerful super-hero)
Sucker, based on Parasite (steals powers)
Doll-Master, based on Toyman (commands lethal toys)

Mr. Rictus's gang is:

The Avian, based on The Penguin (bird-based villain)
The Frightener, based on The Scarecrow and Carnage (uses fear and viruses as weapons)
The Puzzler, based on The Riddler (puzzle-themed villain)
Shithead, based on Clayface (shape-shifting mud-monster)
Deadly Nightshade, based on Poison Ivy (plant-based villainess)
Johnny Two-Dicks, based on Two Face and Ventriloquist (a milquetoast controlled by a nefarious second personality)
The Mad March Hare, based on The Mad Hatter (Alice in Wonderland-themed madman)

The series also features former heroes, now convinced that they have been ordinary people all their lives. The Superman, Batman & Robin and counterparts are clear analogues of Christopher Reeve, Adam West & Burt Ward; The Superman-like hero is confined to a wheelchair, and the Batman & Robin-styled heroes think they were part of a cheesy television show.

[edit] Trivia

Cover of the first Bomb Queen trade paperback from Image comics, done in a 'Wanted' style.

The physical appearance of Wesley is based on rapper Eminem. The Original Killer's face is based on actor Tommy Lee Jones, and The Fox's appearance is clearly modelled after actress Halle Berry.
Several of the characters from Wanted appear in Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon #127 and #128.
The Wanted covers are particularly distinctive, featuring a single character (often in a clear space) with thick black bars above and below them and text in bold, white letters. This design element is carried across all of the Wanted comics and trade paperbacks. One of the two covers for Savage Dragon #128, was painted by J. G. Jones and designed similarly. Also, a number of comics unrelated to Wanted have featured similar covers in humorous reference.