Grant Morrison Appreciation Thread

Grant Morrison Appreciation Thread:

Favorite titles, favorite things he does (as in style and such), favorite characters, favorite anything. Gush away.

I LOVE his Batman. I liked Final Crisis. Only read 1 issue of AS Superman, but it's great. I'm waiting for the absolute edition with both volumes.

I just really like Grant's unique style.

New X-Men, Batman and Robin, WE3, All-Star Superman. Fantastic Four: 1234 was okay. Only read Sebastian O #1, but it was very nice. Need to start reading Animal Man and Doom Patrol. Read Invisibles #1, but didn't like it much; will have to give it a second chance one day. Hated Final Crisis.

Tomer Soiker wrote:New X-Men, Batman and Robin, WE3, All-Star Superman. Fantastic Four: 1234 was okay. Only read Sebastian O #1, but it was very nice. Need to start reading Animal Man and Doom Patrol. Read Invisibles #1, but didn't like it much; will have to give it a second chance one day. Hated Final Crisis.

I loved his run on New X-Men and truly think the world of his run on Animal Man. I would highly recommend it. You'll see some things there that relate to Final Crisis. I laughed when I noticed these.

prescribeddrone wrote:I LOVE his Batman. I liked Final Crisis. Only read 1 issue of AS Superman, but it's great. I'm waiting for the absolute edition with both volumes.

I just really like Grant's unique style.

AS Superman was pretty cool. I like the fact that he can take on a "cinematic style" (it feels like watching a movie sometimes), or take on a more introspective manner.

I said it before about All Star Superman: First, I must say that I didn't know Morrison's work prior to his run on NXM. His collaboration with Quitely was incredible and I was thrilled to discover they've been working together in the past, and everything they've been doing since then became a must-read for me. That was the case with WE3 and later with ASS (giggle...) However, somehow I couldn't get into ASS and at first disliked the heavy homages to Golden/Silver Age. By issue #5 I dropped it from my pull-list, but when I read it I suddenly fell in love and continued buying the book despite the fact it was no longer on my pull-list.

Years ago I've downloaded Morrison's complete run on Animal Man. It's burned on a disc, but I've yet to read it.

Well as most of you know from the 'other place' I'm a HUGE Morrison fan. I've not got time right now to say any more but I'll be back later to bore you all with my thoughts on the Scotsman. see ya.

I loved his run on JLA. I am digging his Batman and Robin title. I loved his All-Star Superman and pretty much everything he's done with Frank Quitely.

Well prior to the last 3 years or so I had something like 14 years out of the game so I actually have missed a huge amount of Grant Morrison's work. That being said I was there when he came on the scene in American comics and I fondly remember Doom Patrol and particularly Animal Man which I thought was brilliant at the time. I think what needs to be realised in retrospect about Grant Morrison was at the time those comics came out there was just nothing like it around. He was truly an original writer when there was an awful lot of unoriginal or uninspired writing going on. He was by no means alone but he definitely stood out.

And that's how I look at Grant Morrison. I don't know what Final Crisis was but as far as I'm concerned it's not indicative of how I look at Morrison's work. Now over time I intend to catch up on the work by him that I missed while I was away from comics.

The only stuff of his that I've liked so far are his first New X-Men arc (E Is For Extinction), Batman and Robin #5 (the other issues were okay), and some of his Flash stuff (I haven't read all of it, and I think having Millar on the book helped). The other New X-Men stuff of his I've read (haven't read it all) is okay.

I won't go into a tangent of stuff of his I hate, but I did HATE FC and RIP.

I would really like to read his Animal Man and Doom Patrol run (Is DP a vertigo book or did it just become one when he left?) and i am liking his Batman and Robin series though i wish he'd go to a more famous Bat-Rogue soon). I wish his FC was more editorially managed but i'm really intrigued by him, i should get Fantastic Four: 1234 also.

Spider_Fan14 wrote:I would really like to read his Animal Man and Doom Patrol run (Is DP a vertigo book or did it just become one when he left?) and i am liking his Batman and Robin series though i wish he'd go to a more famous Bat-Rogue soon). I wish his FC was more editorially managed but i'm really intrigued by him, i should get Fantastic Four: 1234 also.

When Morrison was writing DP there was no Vertigo.

I might be wrong but wasn't Morrison's take on the Doom Patrol one of the reasons DC instigated the Vertigo imprint?

Animal Man, Seven Soldier of Victory, WE3, Seaguy, All-star Superman, and Batman & Robin are all good reads. I still want to read his work on Doom Patrol, Aztek, New X-men, and JLA. I didn't always understand it, but I did enjoy Final Crisis. It had a strange, kooky vibe to it that I dug. Of course, I was also given the issues of it for free, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.

Okay as promised, or some might say threatened here's my take on Grant Morrison, Who He Is and How He Came To Be (my fave comic creator). Otherwise known as here's the stuff he's done that I like and I'm ignoring the stuff he's done which I dislike,

Unbelievably there are some.

So in no particular order -



Animal Man. Morrison finds his feet in the DCU and plants them firmly under the desk of WIN! one of his first excursions into the realm of metafiction and Post Modernism. Buddy's fictional journey takes him to meet his maker (Literally literally) while at the same time creating a supporting cast, in the Baker family, who are arguably real. Plus it rehabilitates and recreates one of my fave Rogues - The Psycho Pirate. What's it about? its about Life, The Universe and Comic Books. As is most of Grant's stuff.

which brings us to -

Flex Mentallo. Four issues of strangeness which is simultaneously somehow as comforting as a security blanket and as disturbing as a razor in your soup. These books are all about transcendance (rising above the mundane) using the surreal pantheon and mythos of the superhero. This, like Morrison's Zenith (see below), is pretty hard to find these days for which I apologise but do try and hunt it down. You won't be sorry.

Its themes would be revisited years later in a more mainstream way with -

All-Star Superman. Do I really have to describe the beauty of this book? Twelve issues of epic grandeur and a love letter to the greatest American Icon which also reinvigorates his story. Superman re-imagined as a Sun God come to Earth. THIS is what Jack Kirby and the Silver Age always aspired to be.

Zenith. Like I said earlier, difficult to find but worth the effort. Almost Morrison's Watchmen. First printed in UK anthology weekly 2000 AD alongside Judge Dredd, this is the Super Hero as mass media construct, the Cape as Pop Star. Starts off kinda like an English Booster Gold but over its multi issue run began to explore themes around the multiverse and the relationship between good and evil which, again, Morrison would return to later in his career.

Doom Patrol. I dunno why I like this. It's nuts, it makes no sense and it gets worse as the issues go on though recovers slightly toward the end of the run. This is what most people mean when they throw those 'you have to be on drugs to understand it' accusations at Morrison. In his defense - you dont. Any more than you have to be 'on drugs' to 'get' Dali or Magritte's paintings. On the other hand it is insufferably pretentious most of the time. Like I said I don't know why I like this. But I do.

Arkham Asylum Dave McKean's art is what makes this book at all interesting. as a Batman tale it's pretty weak and (like Morrison's Doom Patrol) suffers from an overload of pretension. I always enjoy it though, you may too.

The Invisibles. Ah the Invisibles! How shall I describe thee?

It's been described as, amongst other things, an imperfect masterpiece.

Reading it is like studying the I Ching and the Tarot.

While watching Pulp Fiction and the Matrix with Doctor Who.

I can't describe it other than to say please read it if you like your conspiracy theories laced with Pop Culture regferences. And in the end, as promised in issue one, Morrison does reveal the secret of the Universe. Really.



Batman. I know Batman RIP left some Bat Fans confused and unfulfilled and the art wasn;t always up to the job but it was a strange ghost train ride for me that still has ramifications going on throughout the DCU.

And it lead to the sublime -

Batman and Robin. As Morrison describes it himself it's the old TV show directed by David Lynch. Yummy!

SeaGuy This is so unlike anything you'ver ever read that it's worth checking out just to give yourself then thrill of not having a clue what's coming next. Paranoia and social commentary wlk the fine line between genius ad stupidity and Cameron Stewart draws it folks!

DC One Million. A perhaps over ambitious and sprawling Sci-Fi epic that doesn't quite sink under it's own weight but has a good try. Cheifly interesting for introducing Solaris the Tyrant Sun, the new Hourman (whatever happened to him?) and a Starman plot or two. Oh and here J'onn Jon'zz is still alive and living on Mars despite being killed by Morrison in Final Crisis so go figure.

X-Men and JLA enough has been said about these two stunning runs without me adding my two pence.



That's it



Thankyou and goodnight.



Now I promise to never mention him again

I cannot recommend zenith enough....in fact I've scanned a hell of a lot of it into my computer

shining knight wrote:I cannot recommend zenith enough....in fact I've scanned a hell of a lot of it into my computer

Grrr. I wish I had the collected trades. For some reason I never got 'em ( just the individual issues of 2000AD which I always passed on to others to enjoy. Bah! curse my altruistic nature!) and now they're almost impossible to find.

:coughs nervously: if anyone wants the full run of Zenith in CBZ let me know :cough:

I love Zenith, and re read it about annually. In fact I read most of his stuff at regular intervals.

Animal Man made me cry, and chokes me up every time I read the final arc again.

No one has mentioned Marvel Boy yet, which I thought was brilliant as a melting pot of insane Morrisonian ideas. Skrull Kill Krew also deserves mention, although less brilliant, it was amazing Marvel gave him the reign to write that.

The Invisibles is part of the reason I went to San Diego in 2000. I was dying to complete the run, and DC at the time were being extremely stupid in how they were releasing trades. My oldest internet friends are people I met on a forum that started as an Invisibles message board.

Final Crisis I enjoyed, but it had some serious issues, many of which I blame on editorial. I think it was intended to be an All Star Crisis, but it was later shoehorned into the main DCU for tie in purposes. This explains things like people not seeming to know who the New Gods are despite Orion being on the JLA (during Morrison's run no less, no way is he THAT sloppy a writer).

Seven Soldiers is fabulous, and I really liked trying to put together the meta timeline through each book.

I am not sure I have read anything of his that I hated. RIP I wasn't really into, although I liked the arcs leading up to it, and I am really liking his current run on Batman and Robin.

So yeah, I guess I am kind of a Morrison fanboy.

The title of this thread makes me laugh.

^ Why?

Jherek wrote:I might be wrong but wasn't Morrison's take on the Doom Patrol one of the reasons DC instigated the Vertigo imprint?

It was a build up, but technically him and a handful of others were the reason it became a branch. For the mature readers.

Loved The Invisibles, The Filth, and WE3. Seaguy was interesting, I need to get the second mini. Also, Zenith? Sounds intriguing. I've surprisingly never heard of it until now. Hrm.

I usually try to avoid his takes on pre-established characters, because the few I've read (Final Crisis) weren't...they just didn't work. Although, hypocritically, I just bought Batman & Son, The Black Hand, and R.I.P. and am prepping to read them. Heh.

Ooo, and I want to read Flex Mentallo badly.

elijahdprophet wrote::coughs nervously: if anyone wants the full run of Zenith in CBZ let me know :cough:

*coughs ostentatiously* If I knew what CBZ was...am I being a dumbass here? Whatever. Let me have 'em elijah! Nice to meet a fellow Invisible!

Lee wrote:The title of this thread makes me laugh.

Jherek wrote:

elijahdprophet wrote::coughs nervously: if anyone wants the full run of Zenith in CBZ let me know :cough:

*coughs ostentatiously* If I knew what CBZ was...am I being a dumbass here? Whatever. Let me have 'em elijah! Nice to meet a fellow Invisible!

CBZ is one of the film formats to read DL'ed comics. The other is CBR. In the end they are just like rar and zip folders (to the point one can unrar them and re-arrange pages if they need to).

Dr. Wade Fucking McNasty wrote:

Lee wrote:The title of this thread makes me laugh.

Jherek wrote:

elijahdprophet wrote::coughs nervously: if anyone wants the full run of Zenith in CBZ let me know :cough:

*coughs ostentatiously* If I knew what CBZ was...am I being a dumbass here? Whatever. Let me have 'em elijah! Nice to meet a fellow Invisible!

CBZ is one of the film formats to read DL'ed comics. The other is CBR. In the end they are just like rar and zip folders (to the point one can unrar them and re-arrange pages if they need to).

Okay thanks for that. So whaddoIhaftado to get the Zenith downloaded?

ps. Lovin your sig!

PM sent to Jherek, since i don't want to sully the forum with piracy and anger the mods.

Although this is really more of a service, since these things will likely never be reprinted...

Jherek wrote:

Dr. Wade Fucking McNasty wrote:

Lee wrote:The title of this thread makes me laugh.

Jherek wrote:

elijahdprophet wrote::coughs nervously: if anyone wants the full run of Zenith in CBZ let me know :cough:

*coughs ostentatiously* If I knew what CBZ was...am I being a dumbass here? Whatever. Let me have 'em elijah! Nice to meet a fellow Invisible!

CBZ is one of the film formats to read DL'ed comics. The other is CBR. In the end they are just like rar and zip folders (to the point one can unrar them and re-arrange pages if they need to).

Okay thanks for that. So whaddoIhaftado to get the Zenith downloaded?

ps. Lovin your sig!

Thanks.

elijahdprophet wrote:PM sent to Jherek, since i don't want to sully the forum with piracy and anger the mods.

Although this is really more of a service, since these things will likely never be reprinted...

Thank you as well. It had been a long time since I've DL'ed and was trying to remember which ones to use and avoid lol.