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JUPITER’S LEGACY #1 (COVER A: QUITELY)

The comic-book event of 2013 finally arrives as superstar creators MARK MILLAR and FRANK QUITELY give us the superhero epic that all future comics will be measured by.

The world’s greatest heroes have grown old and their legacy is a poisonous one to the children who will never live up to their remarkable parents.

Unmissable.

Story by Mark Millar
Art by Frank Quitely
Cover by Frank Quitely

Price: $2.99
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 2.0%

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  1. Zeratulo says:
    April 22, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    pretty lofty description. I hope I’m worthy to read such a story.

    • Avatar photo Conor Kilpatrick">Conor Kilpatrick (@cskilpatrick) says:
      April 22, 2013 at 3:41 pm

      It’s bombast in the Stan Lee tradition. You’re not meant to take it super seriously.

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      April 22, 2013 at 6:16 pm

      If you go back and look at the first issue of Millar’s recent series going all the way back to Kick-Ass #1 all the solicits sound this ridiculous. It’s just his thing. It’s super fucking lame…but it’s his thing.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      April 23, 2013 at 4:49 pm

      If you question your worthiness, you are probably not worthy.

      But since I am one of this generation’s finest comic readers, I shall arrive to purchase this and enjoy it as only one with my intellect, talent, and general awesomeness can.

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      April 24, 2013 at 5:39 pm

      @bcdx97: Well played.

  2. Avatar photo microwave25 says:
    April 22, 2013 at 2:48 pm

    Frank Quitely is a top notch artist but sometimes he produces some of the most ordinary covers. This just seems very bland and flat.

  3. Avatar photo TheRealVenom says:
    April 22, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    Mark Millar has never let me down. I have super high (dare i say saga high) expectations of this. I hope this will be as cash as I think it’s going to be.

  4. Avatar photo Kamilo says:
    April 22, 2013 at 3:46 pm

    Just curious, does anyone know how limited this series is going to be? It has to end somewhere, but will it be 6, 12, 30, 60 or more?

  5. Avatar photo tomistommy says:
    April 22, 2013 at 3:58 pm

    I’m torn. Millar always makes me shake my head, but Quitely is a god among men. I’ll give it 1 issue to sell me.

    • Avatar photo lobsterjohnny says:
      April 22, 2013 at 4:04 pm

      I’m with you on that. If I like it, I’ll buy it in a collected version, as I enjoy Frank Quitely’s artwork as a whole, instead of in spurts.

  6. Avatar photo jasonhart says:
    April 22, 2013 at 4:10 pm

    I was absolutely not going to buy this, even with the previous preview pages they’d shown. But the preview that just went up on CBR, with what looks like the first 7 pages… Man, Quitely is absolutely amazing in those pages. Like, beyond anything I’d expect from US comics, much less superhero fare. And I’m digging Millar’s words there too (for the first time since maybe Ultimates). Definitely checking out #1 at least.

  7. Avatar photo ghostmann says:
    April 22, 2013 at 4:21 pm

    Just the read preview of this and I’m in (Like wasn’t in when I saw Miller / Quitely. Yeah right).

    This is what went thru my mind as I read it: King Kong, Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind, Watchmen, and “this is pretty fucking awesome!”

  8. Avatar photo IthoSapien says:
    April 22, 2013 at 6:35 pm

    Is this Millar’s first creator owned series for Image? I’m intrigued now, I didn’t want anymore lackluster Millarverse to read.

  9. Avatar photo Scarlet-Batman says:
    April 22, 2013 at 6:52 pm

    I’ll give this comic a shot.

  10. Avatar photo MegaPhilip says:
    April 22, 2013 at 7:05 pm

    It’s Frank freaking Quitely guys!! Can’t wait to get my hands on this.

  11. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    April 23, 2013 at 12:36 am

    I haven’t liked anything of Millar’s since Nemesis, but with Quitely anything is possible. We’ll try a short leash for starters.

  12. Avatar photo amcdole83 says:
    April 23, 2013 at 12:55 am

    Outside of Red Son (and Civil War was pretty good too), I would not consider myself a fan of Mark Millar’s work at all. But having Frank Quitely doing interiors (the first since B&R?) is worth a read for me no matter who the writer is. The premise is intriguing. Maybe Millar will dial down some of the over the top style he is known for and just tell a good story.

  13. Avatar photo phess1">phess1 says:
    April 23, 2013 at 9:42 am

    For me Millar can be really good when he does sort of alternate universe takes on traditional super hero’s ala Red Son, Old Man Logan and The Ultimates but I’ve never really dug his straight takes on hero’s or any of his creator owned work. With that said I would probably read a fucking Rob Lifield written book with Quitely’s art at this point so I’m giving it a go.

    • Avatar photo Monocyte says:
      April 23, 2013 at 10:10 am

      ^ thats funny. Also, I might have to take a break from Millarworld books for a while if this one doesn’t deliver …but i think it will.

  14. Jaedence says:
    April 23, 2013 at 11:27 am

    Anyone who doesn’t like Millar should read Old Man Logan. Awesome mini series. I just hope this goes to digital opening day. Most of Millar’s stuff is not digital yet, like Super Crooks, which I’m dying to read.

    • Avatar photo phess1">phess1 says:
      April 23, 2013 at 11:39 am

      Love Old Man Logan in addition to Red Son and the Ultimates as I stated above. What tends to leave me cold with him is his creator owned work like Kick Ass or his straight up Super Hero stuff like Spiderman Marvel Knights or Civil War. I think most of the Millar World stuff from Icon is actually on Comixology from what I just looked. Also does anybody have feedback on his run on Action Comics with Immonem? That looks like it could be pretty fantastic

  15. Avatar photo theWAC1 says:
    April 23, 2013 at 8:40 pm

    This is some of Quitely’s best looking (cleanest) work, and the story seems to have some depth. I will be giving it a shot.

  16. Avatar photo ochsavidare (@ochsavidare) says:
    April 24, 2013 at 9:54 am

    I couldn’t find Jupiter’s Legacy on the comixology android app. Does anyone know any reason for this?

  17. kortum22 says:
    April 24, 2013 at 9:54 am

    Anyone know if this will be released digitally? Not on comixology app or site.

  18. RobCarmack says:
    April 24, 2013 at 11:38 am

    Okay, apparently Mark Millar is anti day-and-date digital releases: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/04/24/internet-suddenly-realises-that-jupiters-legacy-is-not-day-and-date/

    • Avatar photo ochsavidare (@ochsavidare) says:
      April 24, 2013 at 11:40 am

      That sucks. Has he given any reason for it?

    • Avatar photo Master Destructo says:
      April 24, 2013 at 12:06 pm

      I could see an argument for a day delay, or a week at most. Just to give the LCS’s a leg up. Three months seems extreme. I would think the vast majority of shops probably won’t have additional copies after a week. So I’d like to hear Millar’s rationale for the 3-month time-frame.

      Oh…actually wasn’t there some incentive to get shops to pre-order lots of copies? Can’t remember the details of that. Maybe that has something to do with it.

    • Avatar photo wallythegreenmonster says:
      April 25, 2013 at 11:10 am

      a leg up for what? to lose sales? to tell digital customers they’re purchases are not appreciated? I don’t understand the print vs digital “fight”. Its different products for different customers. Its frustrating that there is still this ugly stepchild treatment towards customers.

      What i’m being told here is that my money and purchase is not valued, so i have to reconsider whether or not i want to support this project/creators.

    • Avatar photo Master Destructo says:
      April 25, 2013 at 1:13 pm

      @wally: LCS’s = local comic shops. I’m sure you know that, but it seems like you are taking a point I was making about “comic shops” and replacing it with the “publisher.” I was not saying it gives the publisher a leg up. I think most would agree that, at least on the surface, it does not seem like a good business decision on Millar’s part. Unless he is hoping and correctly predicting that it will drive more folks into the shops to pick up a copy. The shops were given a “fully returnable” incentive on #1, so they ordered lots. Millar/Image/Diamond probably do not want to see all those extra copies returned, so I am speculating that may be the cause of this 3-month weirdness.

      My understanding is that the publishers see the brick and mortar comic shop, at least currently, as still vital to the health of the industry. So there is some incentive to not put them out of business. Initially that meant no day-and-date digital releases, and currently it means that digital prices are the same as print upon release.

      I agree that, to some degree, print and digital customers are not the same, but I don’t see it as universally true. I think this will be an interesting experiment to see if it actually pulls digital customers into the shops, or if it fails miserably. I do think that if release-date digital prices start going significantly lower than print, it may draw lots more customers away from local shops and into the arms of Comixology. So I wouldn’t say that digital and print are strictly different customers. I’m not sure what your personal situation is (didn’t read comics or were lapsed until digital was available?), but I’m sure there are plenty of customers who stopped buying print because of the convenience of digital.
      On the other hand, there are many new readers because of digital.

      As I said in my first comment “I could see an argument” for a small digital delay. As in, if someone made that argument, I could see it as a reasonable opinion. Not saying I necessarily share that opinion, the issue is too complex and I am too ignorant to be overly dogmatic about it.

    • Avatar photo jasonhart says:
      April 25, 2013 at 2:18 pm

      @Master Destructo – I’d say, there’s our answer right there. If Millar & Image gave LCS’s a full-refund incentive, then that’s probably the entire rationale behind delaying digital so long. They don’t want print copies returned to them. And if there’s buzz on the book, 3 months is a good amount of time to sell those print copies.

      Sucks for digital customers, but I bet this is an experiment on Image’s part to try to combat that multiple-reprintings issue Stephenson was harking on recently.

    • Avatar photo wallythegreenmonster says:
      April 25, 2013 at 5:44 pm

      all the information is showing us that digital sales are not endangering comic shops in any way. Its growing the overall market. Its all tin foil hat stuff.

      I just do what works for me and follow my preferences. This whole digital vs print “fight” is a Hamburger stand getting mad because I chose to have Tacos for lunch. I think Its foolish for any business to tell customers they are buying their products “the wrong way” you’re liable to piss em off and lose them altogether.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      April 25, 2013 at 6:16 pm

      It’s just like hardback vs paperback books. Sometimes you just have to wait for them. Or when they tell you a book is only out in hardcover do you stomp off and pout?

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      April 25, 2013 at 11:48 pm

      @bcdx97: Um, that’s not the same at all. Digital vs. print are two different distribution systems, two different ways to read the comic. One you go to a store to buy, one you can buy on a table or computer at home. One is a physical copy you hold in your hands, one is read on a screen. One you own a physical copy of, the other you are just buying the reading rights to.

      The only difference between hard and soft cover books is the weight.

      What if there is no comic shop nearby? Now he can’t buy a digital copy. What if that is his only viable option?

      Your point has really no relevance to this discussion.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      April 25, 2013 at 11:59 pm

      @USPUNX Well, there are online stores you can buy comics from. That’s a pretty viable option.

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      April 26, 2013 at 8:56 am

      @bcdx97: That is a viable option. It’s still very different from digital and it still doesn’t change the fact that your original hard vs. soft cover comparison has no bearing on this discussion.

      An online store will still take several days to ship and arrive rather than being instant via digital. Also, if the reader doesn’t want or even have a physical collection, now they are stuck with one comic book. You don’t have to like digital and you can totally support the stand that Millar is taking. Both are fine. But I think you’re missing the point @wally was trying to make.

    • Avatar photo Master Destructo says:
      April 26, 2013 at 11:05 am

      @USPUNX & @BCDX97: I think I might see what BCDX97 is getting at with the HC vs TPB thing, and he or she can correct me if I’m wrong. People do seem to have a “preferred format” for collecting. Some like digital, some like floppies, others trade wait, others prefer a nice hardcover collection, some like a combination of these or all of the above. But for practical as well as profitability reasons, these are not all available at once. For instance, I buy Saga in issues, but would also like to have it on my bookshelf. Although there is a TPB available, I have to wait since I only buy hardcover collections. I’m sure the reason that there’s a TPB but not a HC yet available is based on business decisions and not some personal vendetta against me and my ilk.

      Likewise, I would speculate this 3-month thing (which @wally and others have a very legitimate reason to be frustrated over) is some business based decision, probably to do with the fully-returnable incentive for print retailers. If it is based on some ideological bias against digital customers as somehow being 2nd class consumers (as @wally has suggested) then that is purely ridiculous and black-hearted, I agree. But I haven’t really seen evidence that would lead me to believe it is anything more than a (arguably stupid) business decision. I’m certainly willing to be persuaded otherwise if such evidence exists.

      There is an active debate as to whether incentive programs like this one (as well as ones involving variant covers) are actually bad in the long-term because it encourages shops to buy more than they can actually sell. On the other hand, the first print of Saga #1 had the same fully-returnable incentive, and there are no floating copies.

      Another interesting comparison is BKV’s digital-only Private Eye, but maybe that’s a whole can of worms that I won’t delve into. It was technically free, so maybe it’s silly, but how many of us were frustrated that we could not buy this in print right away? *sheepishly raises hand*

      As an aside, aren’t TPBs printed on poorer quality paper generally? One reason I buy HCs instead of TPBs is that my older TPBs all have yellowing pages while my old HCs still look fresh. The other reason I like HCs is the aesthetic on-shelf presentation factor of a nice hardcover book.

      I find this topic fascinating, so thanks for tolerating my long-winded screeds. You are all making interesting points that I’m enjoying discussing.

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      April 26, 2013 at 11:34 am

      @masterdestructo: Very well said and I completely agree with everything you said here. I too prefer HC collections (when my wallet can tollerate them) over TPBs. As you said they are much nicer looking and of higher quality. As an example I just recently read the Humanoids HC of The Incal and The One Trick Ripoff HC from Paul Pope. Both were not only great storywise but the presentation and thought that went into the books themselves just blew me away. I feel like if there is a college class on how to publish a quality comic collection, both of those would be textbooks.

      My point in responding to @bcdx97 was his comparison of HC to SC books (I could be wrong but I don’t think he was making the same comparison you are between HC and TPB collections) was really incorrect and pointless to the larger conversation being had. @wally was talking about delivery method while @bcdx97 was talking about aesthetics. I know HC and SC are different but when the conversation is about physical vs. digital, they are pretty much the same.

    • Avatar photo Master Destructo says:
      April 26, 2013 at 11:57 am

      @USPUNX: Thanks. Yes, I do see your point now: The HC and SC books have the same delivery method, in reference to what @wally was talking about with digital vs. print.

    • Avatar photo wallythegreenmonster says:
      April 26, 2013 at 2:48 pm

      If you’ve worked in sales you know, that you have to make the sale now, cause they’re not coming back later. I think that’s what this Spartacus maneuver will accomplish (and in turn give false affirmation that digital sales suck, and he was right).

      I guess with Image the creators are in full control, so this is part of it. The good news is that there are lots of other comics to replace this with in my budget. I think guys like Jim Zub have it right….you have a very diversified marketing and sales approaches and cover all the bases for all potential customers…That’s more forward thinking that alienating roughly 20% of the market.

    • Avatar photo BCDX97 says:
      April 26, 2013 at 11:01 pm

      @Master Destructo You know, I downloaded BKV’s Private Eye, but I didn’t pay for it, because I just don’t want to read comics in PDF, I like the physical product. And I STILL haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. I love BKV, I just don’t love PDF.

      @wally I understand your frustration, but really, you could just be patient and wait. It will be out digitally – it’s not like the book is going to expire in 3 months or anything. It was good but it wasn’t life changing. There are comics that DC releases digitally that I buy later in print format – it goes both ways. And it doesn’t upset me at all having to wait, I know the books are coming.

      @USPUNX I think my HC vs SC analogy is totally on the spot and not pointless at all. Sometimes you just have to wait to get things the way you want to get them, for whatever reason.

    • Avatar photo USPUNX says:
      April 27, 2013 at 6:35 pm

      @bcdx97: That’s true. Sometimes you do have to wait to get things in a certain style. Still not what we’re talking about. You’re talking about style and presentation. This discussion is about delivery system.

  19. Avatar photo jasonhart says:
    April 24, 2013 at 3:39 pm

    I really, really loved the flashback pages. Seemed like they captured the old “spirit of America” in a great way, from the dialogue to the motivations to the artwork. (T.I. as the ship captain sold me immediately btw.) But then the present day stuff just felt too much like a narrative path we’ve traveled many, many times before. And the art wasn’t nearly as interesting for me, once people “suited up.” Quality work, but just not my cuppa.

  20. Avatar photo Scarlet-Batman says:
    April 25, 2013 at 12:25 am

    I liked the writing and the characterization. Miller is setting up some nice inter-personal conflicts, which I’m sure will push the plot forward quite a bit.

    It wasn’t a super-special-awesome comic that made me a hardened fanboy for life but it has definitely piqued my interest. I’m game for #2. 🙂

  21. Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
    April 25, 2013 at 1:04 am

    First Millar book I’ve purchased. I bought it for the art. But i won’t be buying #2 thanks to the ultra trite dialogue. He actually uses the “with great power” line with no sense of irony or self awareness. And the political speechifying was painful; striving to make the story feel relevant when it’s just a superhero comic not literary fiction.

    • Avatar photo phess1">phess1 says:
      April 25, 2013 at 9:32 am

      Millar did very similar things in the first Volume of the Ultimates and Red Son. A lot of his superhero related books are placed in a historical/political context. I actually thought that was one of the best parts. He was using the dawn of superhero’s and the great depression as a parallel with the current economic crisis and modern pop culture. I thought it was a really smart correlation (albeit one that I think about a lot regardless of comics and possibly connected it in my head in spite of Millar’s actual intent) and I think it’s worth sticking with to see where he goes with it.

    • Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
      April 25, 2013 at 10:42 am

      I’m open to the historical parallel analogies if I thought they had been handled better. The stiff clunker-filled dialogue really killed the delivery of the message for me though. He seems a lot more at home in the scenes where the spoiled brat superkids are doing drugs and abusing groupies.

    • Avatar photo phess1">phess1 says:
      April 25, 2013 at 11:17 am

      Yeah I will admit the dialogue between the two older super hero’s was a bit over the top. With that said that was probably the only issue I had with what I overall found fucking awesome. Was it just the dialogue that killed it for you or did you not think the analogies in and of themselves worked either?

    • Avatar photo tripleneck (@tripleneck) says:
      April 25, 2013 at 6:58 pm

      You’re a lot more enthusiastic about this book than I am. Let’s just say that I don’t like Millar’s ‘voice’ as I’ve read it here. I knew that Kick Ass and other of his creator owned books were not to my taste (due to subject matter and graphic violence), so I never bought or read them. If you’re a Millar fan and dig what he does, just consider that this is a case of different tastes in comics. There’s room for everyone under the big top tent of funnybooks.

    • Avatar photo phess1">phess1 says:
      April 26, 2013 at 2:27 pm

      Yeah no I totally agree with you on that point I was just curios on your analysis honestly. I wrote this before but the only time I really like Millar is when he is doing a flip on superhero’s that being The Ultimates, Red Son and Old Man Logan. That’s it. I’ve never dug any of his other creator owned work and I’ve never been engaged by any of his straight Superhero stuff either. I was just curios what you thought about this particular work.

  22. Avatar photo BradLWoods3 says:
    April 25, 2013 at 6:12 am

    I actually enjoyed the politics of this issue. Not a bad debut.

  23. 2thacd says:
    April 25, 2013 at 8:18 am

    when Mark Millar first announced that he would be doing a project with Frank Quitely i was massively impressed and coundnt wait, and after seeing the previews it was clear that that both creators where dead serious about it the best it could be and pull out all the stops to make it brilliant.

    So after picking it up yesterday along with all the variants i could get my hands on i couldn’t wait to tare it open and read and what i found was excellent with fantastic story telling from Millar along with stellar art from Quitely.

    so overall this series looks set to be an absolute thriller and dare i say up there WITH THE LIKES OF SAGA ??????

    • Avatar photo phess1">phess1 says:
      April 25, 2013 at 9:33 am

      It’s only one issue but I gave it a 5 out of 5. Art and story were brilliant and wholly unique.

    • 2thacd says:
      April 25, 2013 at 7:55 pm

      yeah mate totally agree but i think with the first issue you can really see that Millar has put his heart and sole into this project along with fantastic art from Quitely 🙂

  24. Avatar photo manwithoutbeer says:
    April 25, 2013 at 1:21 pm

    Good issue. The writing was a little plain, but I’m not worried ’cause I feel like this is going to ascend to great heights. Millar is a man I love to hate on, but I really shouldn’t. Along with his great works mentioned above, Wanted was awesome, and his run on The Authority was better than Ellis’, Brubaker’s, and Giffen/Morrison’s runs.

  25. Avatar photo frankt1978 says:
    April 25, 2013 at 10:58 pm

    Well damn, this was really good. Glad to know Millar can still write a interesting story and not just rely on shock value. So far tired with Bat Inc for my POTW.

  26. Avatar photo AmirCat says:
    April 26, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    Art was beautilful, story was a Millar deconstruction story. I was kind of reminded of “America’s Got Superpowers”, and I’m not a huge fan of that concept.

  27. Avatar photo Urthona says:
    April 26, 2013 at 2:05 pm

    I liked it. Definitely getting issue #2. I love the renderings of the kids. Only “Mom” seems to not be drawn as being the absolute beauty-goddess that the daughter (and I assume the world) perceive her as. Super-fight was very bizarre, but entertaining. And I thought some of the costumes were pretty good.

  28. Avatar photo sitara119 says:
    April 27, 2013 at 11:26 pm

    Wow. I guess it’s Millar time again.

  29. Avatar photo theWAC1 says:
    May 3, 2013 at 1:26 am

    I liked everything about this. The America commentary in relation to its superhero history is very interesting. The art is beautiful. A lot to like and I’m down for more.

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