Superpowered Detroiters Take on Corruption in MPH

Going fast gets you where you need to go, well, faster. It also has a way of making the mundane seem exciting, as it does in Mark Millar's MPH. The first five issues have proven to be quite the hit with readers and Image Comics is taking note, offering up those issues in a trade paperback. Millar teams up with Duncan Fegredo for a book about a mysterious new drug known as MPH.

“Driving through the middle of Brightmoor was like being on the set of I Am Legend or The Walking Dead,” he wrote. “How could the richest country in the world allow so many of its people to live in such abject poverty? Where were all those superheroes now? The idea of empowering the powerless is a superhero trope, but what if we took the safety catch off and had these guys using their powers to take down the bankers and the corporations and all the crooked politicians who had sold Detroit down the river for three successive generations?”

Endowed with super-human speed, four young Detroiters zoom across the country, taking back ill-gained funds from banks — and then giving it back to the people (keeping a little for themselves, of course). But the supply of MPH is finite, and the “Runners,” as the media have dubbed them, are finding that power has its downsides. What will happen when their time runs out? Millar, who hails from Scotland and grew up inspired by American superheroes, was moved to write MPH after visiting Detroit and seeing the city’s plight first-hand. When the first issue of MPH debuted in May 2014, Millar sent a copy to President Barack Obama and every United States Senator. He wrote about this decision in The Spectator.


A superhero story with a social conscience and contemporary edge, MPH will be in comic book stores on April 22 (Diamond Comic order code FEB150530) and in bookstores on May 5 (ISBN 978-1-63215-265-7). It is available for pre-order now. Full press release below.

SUPER-POWERED DETROITERS TAKE ON CORRUPTION IN MILLAR’S MPH

Hit series gets trade paperback in April

Roscoe, Rosa, and their friends and family know what it’s like for the world to give up on you. They’re from Detroit, a city mired in debt, despair, and crime. But in MPH, the April graphic novel by comics juggernaut Mark Millar (JUPITER’S LEGACY, STARLIGHT, Kick Ass, Kingsman: The Secret Service) and acclaimed artist Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy), their fate changes, thanks to a mysterious new drug, the eponymous MPH. Endowed with super-human speed, four young Detroiters zoom across the country, taking back ill-gained funds from banks — and then giving it back to the people (keeping a little for themselves, of course). But the supply of MPH is finite, and the “Runners,” as the media have dubbed them, are finding that power has its downsides. What will happen when their time runs out? Millar, who hails from Scotland and grew up inspired by American superheroes, was moved to write MPH after visiting Detroit and seeing the city’s plight first-hand. When the first issue of MPH debuted in May 2014, Millar sent a copy to President Barack Obama and every United States Senator. He wrote about this decision in The Spectator. “Driving through the middle of Brightmoor was like being on the set of I Am Legend or The Walking Dead,” he wrote. “How could the richest country in the world allow so many of its people to live in such abject poverty? Where were all those superheroes now? “The idea of empowering the powerless is a superhero trope,” Millar continued, “but what if we took the safety catch off and had these guys using their powers to take down the bankers and the corporations and all the crooked politicians who had sold Detroit down the river for three successive generations?” A superhero story with a social conscience and contemporary edge, MPH will be in comic book stores on April 22 and in bookstores on May 5. It is available for pre-order now.

MPH by Mark Millar and Duncan Fegredo (colors by Peter Doherty and Mike Spicer) ISBN 978-1-63215-265-7 Diamond Comic order code FEB150530 136 pages, paperback, full color $14.99 Collects MPH #1-5 Rated Teen Plus (16 and up) In comic book stores April 22, bookstores May 5 Retailers, librarians, and reviewers may request a PDF galley from Jennifer de Guzman, Director of Trade Book Sales, jenniferdeguzman@imagecomics.com

Praise for MPH: “MPH, if it wasn’t already clear, is another gem from Mark Millar and it was great to see Fegredo again as well, after the stellar work he did on Hellboy.” –All-Comic “Duncan Fegredo’s artwork adds even greater energy to an already kinetic script, so much that each panel doesn’t play like frames from a movie as much as you feel you’re being whisked along with the action.” –Newsarama “...mesmerizing from start to finish.” –Unleash the Fanboy

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Image Comics is a comic book and graphic novel publisher founded in 1992 by a collective of best-selling artists. Image has since gone on to become one of the largest comics publishers in the United States. Image currently has five partners: Robert Kirkman, Erik Larsen, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri and Jim Valentino. It consists of five major houses: Todd McFarlane Productions, Top Cow Productions, Shadowline, Skybound and Image Central. Image publishes comics and graphic novels in nearly every genre, sub-genre, and style imaginable. It offers science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, crime fiction, historical fiction, humor and more by the finest artists and writers working in the medium today. For more information, visit www.imagecomics.com.