Mark Millar Details His First Comic for Netflix, Dark Fantasy Series The Magic Order

“We wanted to make a splash with our first book for Netflix and this is it,” Millar said in a statement. “I love dark fantasy and there’s an enormous gap in the market for something like this. Netflix hiring Olivier has also made me the happiest guy alive. I’ve been after him for almost ten years so to finally have our names in the same book is an absolute honor.”

Even readers disinterested in fantasy may find something to like about The Magic Order. Speaking to EW, Millar describes The Magic Order’s concept as “more like The Sopranos than Lord of the Rings,” admitting, “Fantasy I think can be off-putting for people because it’s often missing a human angle, a realistic hook that makes it open to anyone. So my idea with The Magic Order was to take something that’s essentially about a secret order of good wizards who got rid of all the bad things hundreds of years ago, but live quietly among us now with blue-collar jobs and ordinary domestic lives. They have this secret life, but to the outside world it’s all very normal.”

In addition to putting out Millarworld comics, Netflix will work with Millar and company to develop films, TV series and kids shows based on the publisher’s ample portfolio, an arrangement that Millar says he has factored into his approach as a writer. “Millarworld was always, first and foremost, a comic book company, but since we sold to Netflix it’s obviously become something that crosses all media,” he told EW. “If something was turned into a movie, that was a lovely novelty in the past, whereas now when I’m creating stories as a member of staff, I need to keep my eye on the whole picture. We’re thinking of these as movies and TV shows, and the ones we feel would be great for comics will also appear as comic books.”

See The Magic Order’s first cover below, and our picks for the 10 best Mark Millar comics of all time here.