Review by Frank Plowright
There’s always a killer concept to a Mark Millar story, and this combines two of them. Firstly, super powers are now a reality, except not generated in the USA as is usual, but developed by a Korean genius. Not only has Dr Choon-He Chung transferred her consciousness to a cloned body while she rots in a jail cell on falsified charges, but she has access to a bank of super powers, proved by her flying into a press conference. The second great idea is her being willing to bestow super powers on six people. All human concerns are irrelevant other than their having to be worthy. It’s real cat among the pigeons to those with a belief that super powers should be confined to national agendas.
Plenty of people consider themselves deserving cases, but what counts is the view from the top, and The Ambassadors shows us why a selection of people are chosen. There can be a cynicism about Miller’s writing, but it’s absent here, replaced by an appealing dictum of the brave and selfless being rewarded as Millar concentrates on the people while running the major plot in the background. There’s also fair side dish of wish fulfilment as representatives of types all right thinking people despise get what’s coming to them.
The Ambassadors is a Netflix co-production, and with that money behind him Millar’s able to hire any artist in the world, so chose to select six of them as well. Frank Quitely stories are becoming increasingly rare, so his opening the proceedings is a delight, and Matteo Scalera on the final chapter is stunning (sample art left). Without downgrading three other fine artists, though, the real surprise is luring Travis Charest back to comics for the first time in a decade (sample art right). Talent remains talent.
That applies equally to Millar, and what always makes his comics work is the people. The big idea is first and essential, but without a cast to get behind you’d just be reading standard superhero stylings. A varied cast is joyously far removed from the usual people who become superheroes and is effectively exploited here. The title is slightly contrived, representing the chosen originating in different nations and costumed in variations of their country’s flag, an idea Millar comments on in-story as not being the greatest. Other aspects recycle what Millar’s done before, but there’s enough freshness added for the full calorie delight.
A pure vision of the world as it could be is presented, but can it be followed through, or will pettiness and greed prevail? This is Volume 1, so quite how Millar avoids any continuation dropping into more basic superheroics isn’t apparent, but then that’s why he’s the creative genius.
If you’re impressed enough to want a hardcover version, Dark Horse are supplying it in time for Christmas 2024.
