Malignant Man
It’s likely the main initial selling point for Malignant Man is that, as the back cover tells us, it was “written by Saw director James Wan.” But even this needs some unpacking.
In the first place, on the title page inside James Wan is credited with “Created and story by.” The comic itself was “Written by” Michael Alan Nelson. This put me in mind of the way the BRZRKR comics were credited as co-written by Keanu Reeves. I expressed some doubt as to how much writing Reeves actually did on those comics, but since (to be fair, after getting off to a decent start) they were terrible, and his co-writer Matt Kindt was a capable hand, it’s possible he was at least somewhat involved.
The other thing to note is that Wan did go on to produce and direct a 2021 horror film with the title Malignant, but that movie has nothing at all to do with this comic (which came out in 2011). There was apparently a deal in place to make a movie out of Malignant Man, with Wan originally slated to direct, but it never got off the ground. At least I’ve never heard of it.
On to this comic. Our hero is one Alan Gates, a fellow who has been diagnosed as dying of brain cancer. But don’t worry, he’s not going to turn into the Jigsaw Killer. Instead, after being shot in the head by some punk who he tries to stop from stealing a woman’s purse, he’s taken in for surgery where the doctors find out that his brain tumour is actually an alien parasite called a malignant that gives him super powers.
Just as an aside, I think that’s supposed to be him on the cover, but that person doesn’t look anything like the guy in the comic. Which seems like the kind of thing someone should have flagged.
Unfortunately for Alan, there are other malignants out there. Actually there are two secret societies of them, one good and the other bad. The bad ones, who look like the Agent Smith clones from The Matrix, start sending hit squads after Alan. Along with a malignant buddy named Sarah Alan kills them all, utilizing his glowing malignant blade and prosthetic shotgun.
I didn’t think there was anything special or very new about this idea, and for a short run of four comics they tried to put too much mythology into the mix. For example, we never do figure out what the malignants are up to. Maybe if the series had gone on some of that would have been explained, but this seems to have been the end of the line.
Alex Good 
A glowing malignant blade that pops out of his knuckles like Wolverine?
LikeLike
Nah, that’s another way the cover is misleading. They hold on to their blades like daggers. It’s not like Wolverine’s claws. And he also attaches a shotgun to his other arm that looks like what Ash does in Evil Dead 2 (which is where I’m sure they got it from).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like it’s riding on others coattails.
LikeLike
‘Tis.
LikeLike
Sounds VERY similar in nature to the Lives of Tao book series. I don’t know when those were published though.
From what you describe, this sounds like they just threw some ideas on the wall and hoped it would work. I am not a fan of that approach.
LikeLike
I don’t know the Lives of Tao, but that approach you describe really is what it feels like. Just bits and pieces of different ideas that were cool in other franchises but that don’t add up to anything special here. If it was going to work I think they would have needed a much longer run.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It does make me wonder how the comic industry stays profitable with an approach like this. You’d think people coming up with this stuff would get the shaft, but no, they bounce from series to series.
LikeLike
I think volume plays a big part in it. A lot of comics get published, and for the main franchises in the DC and Marvel canons they have to keep up a pretty intense schedule. I’m amazed when I check out the bibliographies of the best known comic writers. It’s literally hundreds of titles. And that’s been the business for a long time, with most name writers working on several different titles at the same time. So you just have to accept that a lot of what comes out is basically chum.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is just sad to me. I feel like quality and good story telling should count more, but the reality is that it doesn’t. Probably why I’ve moved away from comics, besides the fact that a lot of it seems aimed at the teen and 20’s crowd.
LikeLike
There’s still good stuff out there, like I think there always has been. But there’s a lot of filler too. I think that’s also always been the case though. It’s just that the second and third-rate stuff from twenty years or more ago has all been forgotten.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, like Silver Sable and Her Wild Pack. My favorite comic of the 90’s. and now, it is forgotten, With good reason too, hahahaha.
I’ve got a bunch of graphic novels sitting around that I bought during that time period and I really should get rid of them. Wish I knew some kids who even read comics, much less books.
LikeLike
Yeah, I remember trying to get rid of books thirty years ago and how hard it was to find people to take them. Must be worse now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A couple of years ago Mrs B and I got rid of about 1/2 our manga collection and gave it to a family at our church. We never got a word of thanks or acknowledgement, so we had no idea if they actually liked the stuff or not. Kind of puts a damper on things.
LikeLike
Yeah. I know I stopped loaning people books when I got shocked responses when I asked for them back. They figured I was just giving them away and I was afraid that in some cases they were just reading them and then throwing them out.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Written by the director of Saw would be, for me, a reason to ignore this altogether.
Any similarity to Puppet Masters? Beyond the alien parasite itself?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, Saw was pretty good. Got me with the twist ending, and I even knew going in there was going to be a twist. The rest of the franchise was pretty up and and down.
No real connection to Puppet Masters because we never figure out what the deal is with the malignants. They don’t seem to have any agenda and are basically just being used as a power-up by the bad malignants. Maybe they would have developed this more if they’d gone on, but as it is it’s just left in the air.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I barely remember Saw except for the fact that I was not impressed and didn’t like it. It was probably ahead of the curve in making serial murder a game, but I was behind the curve even then, as that approach didn’t appeal to me. (At the other extreme was Henry, which includes a home invasion scene that I found so frighteningly/sickeningly realistic that I’ve never watched it again.)
LikeLike
Yeah, Henry was strong stuff. Saw is part of the whole later move to more stylized/theatrical presentations of violence.
LikeLiked by 1 person