Posted in: Comics | Tagged: dc, frank quitely, Mark Millar, Paul Levitz, the authority changes, wildstorm

Every Change DC Made To Mark Millar And Frank Quitely's The Authority #13 And #14 – Politics, Rape And Intellectual Property

Published Thu, 26 Oct 2017 16:00:28 -0500

Last updated Fri, 03 Aug 2018 08:19:36 -0500

So this is a story I have been following for seventeen years, since the original publication of The Authority #13 by Mark Millar and Frank Quitely in 2000.

We recently looked at the Wildstorm Oral History account of what went down in those days.

John Layman: All these issues were in the pipeline including this issue where they go in and they're going to kill some dictator in some little country no one's ever heard of. Turns out that was a real person, and that was a real country, we're just dumb Americans. We didn't know that. Somebody up the DC chain figured it out and flipped out. And now, these scripts had all been approved and art was in motion. Everything was approved, but in this game of musical chairs, I was sitting in the chair when DC suddenly noticed this book, and all the shit fell on me, and they're like, "Well, how could you let this happen?"

There were lots of other changes, it seems. And finally, thanks to the Wildstorm: Celebration Of 25 Years hardcover out yesterday we get to find them all, from The Authority #13 and #14, reprinted in black and white and presented as the way Mark Millar and Frank Quitely intended… for good, or bad.

So, from The Authority #13. President Habibe of East Timor, Indonesia. All the times that changed. The black andwhite is the original, the colour is as originally published.

Um… okay, a name change for the Engineeer from Angela Tatarkowski to Angela Spica…

But there was more to come. And East Timor mentions were the least of it. The Captain America-based character, The Commander, suddenly lost his shield and his lower torso stripes. Apparently, he was too close visually to Captain America. And the new dialogue "He's not actually doing to do them both, is he?" replaced Millar's original "He's not actually going to rape them both is he?" The meaning was still clear, but it was too much to say, apparently.

Not just Captain America's shield, Thor's fur coat was apparently too much… too much like a cape maybe?

The cover to #14 was also changed to remove Thor's fur coat and Cap's shield and stripes were gone, and the shape of his mask had changed.

But for #14, clearly Frank Quitely had got the notes, to draw Cap and Thor analogues differently. But there were still changes to be made. And the first few pages were unchanged.

Meanwhile, someone decided that Swuft and Grunge couldn't be naked in bed together.

There was only so far violence could go before it was blurred.

For some reason, the Engineer couldn't grunt.

The Engineer couldn't flip the bird, just stick up twos.

Language was an issue from the Commander, "whores" was fine but "fags" was not, replaced by "sissies".

And the subsequent rape of Apollo by the Commander has another change, his belt buckle was originally undone.

Here's the book's description. I'm sure there will be more to be said.

WILDSTORM A CELEBRATION OF 25 YEARS HC
(W) Brandon Choi, J. Scott Campbell, Warren Ellis, Christos N. Gage, Mark Millar, Geoff Johns, Ed Brubaker, Grant Morrison, Dan Abnett (A) J. Scott Campbell, Bryan Hitch, Paul Neary, Dustin Nguyen, Brett Booth, Norm Rapmund, Frank Quitely, Trevor Scott, Jason Pearson, Sean Phillips, Neil Googe (A/CA) Jim Lee, Scott Williams
In 1992 Jim Lee changed the course of comics history with the founding of WildStorm Productions, which would revolutionize the business and launch the careers of so many top creators. Now, the WS crew is back to celebrate 25 years of WildStorm with new short stories and pinups of the imprint's greatest heroes by their classic creative teams!

For an advance look at the new material in this title, click the Retailer Previews Prevue button on the Diamond product page!

The new short stories featured in this title include:

THE AUTHORITY: A ten-page story written by Warren Ellis with art by Bryan Hitch and Paul Neary

BACKLASH: An eight page story written by Brett Booth with art by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund

DEATHBLOW: A three-page story written by Brandon Choi with art by Jim Lee and Scott Williams (Please note this story was solicited to star WildC.A.T.S)

GEN13: A three-page story written and pencilled by J. Scott Campbell and inked by Scott Williams

MAJESTIC/WORLD'S END: An eight-page story written by Dan Abnett with art by Neil Googe

WILDCATS 2.0: A five-page story written by Christos Gage with art by Dustin Nguyen and Richard Friend

Also included are new pin-ups including:

BACKLASH by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund
BRASS by Carlo D'Anda
CYBERNARY by Pop Mhan
DEATHBLOW by Lee Bermejo
DEATHBLOW by Tim Sale
DV8 by Humberto Ramos
EX MACHINA by Tony Harris
EYE OF THE STORM by Ben Oliver
GEN13 BOOTLEG by Adam Warren
GEN13 by Gary Frank
JACK HAWKSMOOR by Fiona Staples
JET by Dustin Nguyen
MAJESTIC by Eric Canete
PLANETARY by John Cassaday
RED by Cully Hamner
SLEEPER by Sean Phillips
STORMWATCH by Tom Raney
TOP 10 by Gene Ha
TRANQUILITY by Neil Googe
WETWORKS by Whilce Portacio
WILDCATS by Ryan Benjamin
WILDCATS/GEN13 by Adam Hughes
WORLDSTORM by Giuseppe Camuncoli and Sandra Hope