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Mills began his career as a sub-editor at D. C. Thomson & Co. Ltd, where he met Wagner. In 1971, both left to become freelancers and soon started writing scripts for IPC's girls' and humor comics. When D.C. Thomson launched Warlord, a successful war-themed weekly, Mills was tasked in 1975 with creating a rival title for IPC. Working secretly with Wagner and Gerry Finley-Day in the girls' comics department to avoid the boys' department staff, Mills helped develop Battle Picture Weekly. Battle featured grittier stories and more working-class characters than IPC's usual offerings and quickly became a hit. After preparing the comic for launch, Mills resigned as editor but later wrote the acclaimed First World War series Charley's War, illustrated by Joe Colquhoun.
Following Battle, Mills worked on developing a new boys' title, Action, which debuted in 1976. Its blend of violence and anti-authoritarian themes sparked controversy, leading to its withdrawal within two years amid media backlash. The title was briefly revived in a toned-down form before merging into Battle.
Mills then created the sci-fi weekly 2000 AD in 1977. Like with Battle and Action, he developed many early series before passing them to other writers. He took over the development of Judge Dredd when creator John Wagner temporarily left, writing numerous early stories that established the character and his world until Wagner returned.
In 1978, IPC launched Starlord, a short-lived companion to 2000 AD. Mills contributed Ro-Busters, a story about a robot disaster squad, which transferred to 2000 AD after Starlord's cancellation. Ro-Busters marked the start of a mini-universe of interconnected stories Mills created for 2000 AD, including ABC Warriors and Nemesis the Warlock. Artist Kevin O'Neill collaborated on all three. Nemesis, featuring a morally complex alien hero battling a tyrannical human empire, allowed Mills to explore his views on religion and imperialism. Another notable 2000 AD creation was Sláine, a barbarian fantasy inspired by Celtic mythology and neo-paganism, co-created with his then-wife Angela Kincaid, with whom he also developed the children's book series The Butterfly Children.
Mills also contributed to IPC's horror comics aimed at girls, such as Chiller.
His ventures into American comics met with limited success, except for Marshal Law, a biting superhero satire published by Marvel's Epic imprint in the late 1980s, illustrated by O'Neill.
In 1986, Mills edited the short-lived comic Dice Man, featuring characters from 2000 AD, writing nearly all its stories.
In 1988, he helped launch Crisis, a politically conscious 2000 AD spin-off targeting older readers. He wrote Third World War, initially drawn by Carlos Ezquerra, a critical commentary on global capitalism’s exploitation of developing nations. The title ran until 1991 and helped launch the careers of talents like Garth Ennis, John Smith, and Sean Phillips.
In 1991, Mills launched Toxic!, an independent, color newsstand weekly comic with a violent, anarchic style, perhaps as a response to the politically minded Crisis and with an emphasis on creator ownership. Many stories, including Accident Man—a hitman who stages his killings as accidents—were created by Mills and co-writer Tony Skinner. Although Toxic! lasted less than a year, it introduced artists such as Duke Mighten and Martin Emond.
In 1995, Mills achieved a lifelong goal by breaking into the French market with Sha, created alongside French artist Olivier Ledroit.
He continues to write Sláine, Bill Savage, Black Siddha, and ABC Warriors for 2000 AD, as well as the Franco-Belgian comic Requiem Vampire Knight, drawn by Olivier Ledroit, and its spin-off Claudia Chevalier Vampire, illustrated by Franck Tacito.
Two new series, Greysuit, about a super-powered government agent drawn by John Higgins, and Defoe, a 17th-century zombie hunter illustrated by Leigh Gallagher, began in 2000 AD issue 1540.
Mills co-founded Repeat Offenders with artist Clint Langley and Jeremy Davis to develop graphic novel concepts with cinematic potential. Their first project, the graphic novel American Reaper, serialized in the Judge Dredd Megazine (#316 onward as of October 2011), was optioned by Trudie Styler's Xingu Films, with Mills writing the screenplay.
He has also penned two Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish Productions: "Dead London" (2008) and "The Scapegoat" (2009), featuring the Eighth Doctor and Lucie Miller. "Dead London" launched the second season of the Eighth Doctor Adventures audio series, while "The Scapegoat" was part of the third season. In 2010, Mills adapted a story originally begun with Wagner in the 1980s, produced by Big Finish as "The Song of Megaptera.
