Meet True Blood’s Michael McMillian (Rev. Steve Newlin) at the 2010 Long Beach Comic Con!
Michael McMillian who plays Reverend Steve Newlin on HBO‘s True Blood will be promoting ‘Lucid’, a comic book he created and wrote. The book is published by Archaia in conjunction with Zachary Quinto’s Before The Door company, and the first of four books was released in August.
The Lucid series is set in a parallel universe where the world’s most powerful countries have a combat mage working for them. The star of the series is Matthew Dee, America’s Protector of the Realm. The first volume revolves around Dee’s first month in his position.
The Long Beach Comic Con runs from October 29-31, 2010 at the Long Beach Convention Center. You can find McMillian at the Golden Apple Comics booth, #418, on October 30th from 12-1pm. For more information or to purchase tickets for the event click here.
Michael McMillian was interviewed by Comicvine.com recently at the Long Beach Comic-Con to discuss his up and coming comic book project titled Lucid. During the video interview he gives lots of insight into the world of Lucid and how it came about.
Who says people forget their friends when they become famous? Zachary Quinto surely didn’t. Michael and Quinto went to college together and Quinto remembered his good friend’s love for comics. Zachary Quinto, known for his roles in Heroes and Star Trek, started a production company called Before The Door. One of their goals was to release comics, which is how Michael got involved. Michael pitched his idea about a year ago and they’ve been working on it since then, adding bits and pieces and developing new characters.
The series takes place in a parallel universe where all major world powers are trained in sorcery and magic. They are referred to as combat mages. The United States combat mage is Matthew Dee. He’s smart, rebellious, young, and sexy. A lot of elements are pulled to create the series, such as the history of magic, Arthurian legend, renaissance England, and recent century myths and legends in the United States. Michael says he knew a little bit about these topics, but had to do, and continues to do, a lot of research. He jokes that one day he might be able to write a book about them.
The first story is four issues long. It involves a world crisis where only Matthew can save us. It’s set in the United States, but does globe trot around. The first arc visits Sweden, England, United States, and a few others.
There’ll be a few historical figures that pop up, like John Dee in volume one. He was Queen Elizabeth I’s court magician, while Matthew Dee is that of the new President, Jefferson Monday. Michael wouldn’t say which other historical figures would show up, but he said it’s mostly original characters he’ll be using in the story. He did tell us about a character just recently created that he enjoyed. She’s from Britain and is a hot girl who can create zombies. He says he’s not reinventing the wheel. Magic is just an element in the story. It’s mostly a fantasy action adventure.
Michael‘sbeen writing a lot; he says actors tend to get a lot of free time. Starting to read comics in the 3rd grade, he said he has wanted to write one ever since. Michael does state that he has other ideas that go alongside Lucid, but also ideas for separate projects as well. He hopes to work on them when Lucid is finished.
Some stuff he has been reading lately include Archaia’s new books, Jeffrey Brown and anything Mark Miller. He did mention in his interview that he met Stan Lee in San Diego and was absolutely freaking out. He said he had tears swelling up in his eyes. His favorite comic book character is Spiderman though he does love Fantastic Four especially The Thing.
He briefly talked about True Blood and how it was a dream to work on. He says Steve Newlin has a comic element to him, he’s kind of over the top. Michael begins to humor the interviewer with his Texan accent and said he had to watch a lot of George Bush videos for dilate – he was a great reference according to Michael. He studied other personalities in the evangelic world and religious right. He said it’s a role you easily fall into making fun of these people but he tries not to judge Steven Newlin too much because the pastor believes he is a hero.
While Michael is on his break from True Blood, he is going to continue working on his project Lucid that comes out Spring 2010, he says around March or April. We all wish him the best of luck with his comic book series and look forward to seeing him back on True Blood.
Michael McMillian is a man whom many True Blood fans know plays Steve Newlin in the hit HBO series. What a lot of fans might not know is that Michael also writes and has a new project in the works. He’s creating his first comic book series and it’s coming out via Zachary Quinto’s company Before The Door Pictures.
Lucid is the title of the series and Michael talked on a panel recently at the Long Beach Comic-Con about the project. It takes place in a parallel universe, much similar to our own. He said it would look the same, but there’ll be a new president named Jefferson Monday. He’s a promised figure for change. There’ll be secret agents with magical powers, called combat mages. They’ll be protecting the realm of Unites States, England, China, and other areas. The story centers around the adventures of the main character Matthew Dee.
Here is a video clip of Michael during the panel discussion.
Michael McMillian who plays Reverend Steve Newlin on HBO‘s True Blood will be promoting ‘Lucid’, a comic book he created and wrote. The book is published by Archaia in conjunction with Zachary Quinto’s Before The Door company, and the first of four books was released in August.
