Art & Creativity Quote by Mark Millar

Millar is doing what he’s always done best: selling a move while pretending it’s just industry weather. On the surface, he’s making a benign observation about Marvel’s gravitational pull - big releases create attention that “feeds into” smaller publishers. But the second half snaps the mask off: timing is strategy, and strategy is power. “No coincidence” is the tell. It’s the winking admission that hype isn’t a byproduct of culture; it’s manufactured, calendared, weaponized.

The specific intent is twofold. First, it reassures readers and retailers that Marvel’s dominance can be framed as an ecosystem rather than a monopoly: the blockbuster lifts all boats, even the dinghies. That’s a politically useful story inside comics, where creators, shops, and indies constantly negotiate Marvel/DC’s market share. Second, he’s justifying a launch - Ultimate Fantastic Four - as part of an orchestrated moment, not a gamble. The line functions like insider commentary, the kind fans love because it makes them feel close to the levers.

Subtextually, Millar is also staking a claim about creative legitimacy. The Ultimate line was Marvel’s modernizing project: lean continuity, cinematic pacing, big concepts. By positioning the launch as synchronized rather than random, he’s implying inevitability, momentum, a “this is where the medium is going” confidence. It’s marketing talk with a creator’s swagger: acknowledging the machine while insisting he’s one of the people steering it.