Grant Morrison on leaving DC

[Confuzzled]

Grant Morrison came out as non-binary and goes by 'they/them' pronouns now. Just FYI while referring to them.

[JBatmanFan05]

Interesting insight from Morrison. Can only hope there is a return to DC/Marvel comics in the future. There probably won't be a return, and if so, that is sad.

Grant started in comics by fiercely countering Moore and the grim n gritty era, but sometimes, nowadays, it feels like Morrison has fallen prey to some of the cynical or reductive ideas. The ending to Batman Inc was surprisingly dark and cynical for Morrison, I was floored by it basically saying that Miller/Snyder have won the war over Batman comics.

[superduperman]

I can tell you the way Morrison originally described it, the 5G concept would have bombed spectacularly. Who comes up with these ideas? Is this Didio? Did someone above him force him to do this? Because this sounds like the opposite extreme of New 52. No legacies versus nothing but legacies plus turning fans against the original characters. If I was deliberately trying to sabotage DC, this is exactly how I would do it. Replace the original characters with new ones no one cares about and turning the originals into fascists. I'm glad Morrison shut that **** down but the place is clearly being run by people who don't get these characters or seems to care. Looks like Didio was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the problem.

[etrumble]

Grant Morrison came out as non-binary and goes by 'they/them' pronouns now. Just FYI while referring to them.

Hmmm. Someone should tell that to the Grant Morrison web site then.
https://www.grantmorrison.com/our-story
Over the last 30 years, Morrison has proven to be one of the most successful and inventive writers to have worked in the comic book medium.

He has written best-selling stories for Marvel and DC Comics, creating definitive runs for iconic characters including - Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Justice League of America, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men. Seminal titles in comics include Batman: Arkham Asylum, All-Star Superman, Animal Man, The Invisibles, WE3, Joe the Barbarian, and Doom Patrol.

In Television, he created and co-wrote a number of shows under a development deal for UCP at NBCUniversal. These include the hit show HAPPY! for SYFY in 2017, based on his comic book, and an adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s novel BRAVE NEW WORLD for Peacock in 2020. A long-anticipated adaptation of his epic ‘90s series THE INVISIBLES is currently in development.

In film he recently co-wrote THE FLASH for Warner Bros with Ezra Miller.

In 2011, his experience and insight into the myths and traditions of comics resulted in the release of the New York Times bestseller book, SUPERGODS, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism.

[Mark Trail]

Interesting insight from Morrison. Can only hope there is a return to DC/Marvel comics in the future. There probably won't be a return, and if so, that is sad.

Grant started in comics by fiercely countering Moore and the grim n gritty era, but sometimes, nowadays, it feels like Morrison has fallen prey to some of the cynical or reductive ideas. The ending to Batman Inc was surprisingly dark and cynical for Morrison, I was floored by it basically saying that Miller/Snyder have won the war over Batman comics.

Morrison is 100% right. While some might argue the message is somewhat undercut by stories like "Arkham Asylum," I think it's more a case of Morrison recognizing that different takes are appropriate for different characters.

[Holt]

Didio wanting fascist Supergirl. LOL

[LordUltimus]

https://grantmorrison.substack.com/p...utm_source=url

By this time, preoccupied with the novel and TV work and with the evangelical passion of the Supergods years long dissipated, I found it impossible to take superhero comics seriously; if Wonder Woman and The Green Lantern were solemn goodbyes to a beloved playground I'd outgrown like Alice on a potion, Superman and the Authority felt like the bathetic clown fart with accompanying giggle track as the door smacked my useless arse on the way out!

Ouch.

[Frontier]

Didio wanting fascist Supergirl. LOL

It's not that surprising when you see how many times they've tried to make Supergirl evil.

https://grantmorrison.substack.com/p...utm_source=url



Ouch.

Morrison and their colorful descriptions!

[Dr. Cheesesteak]

It truly is a shame that more and more of my favorite writers are waving goodbye to the Big 2. Not that I'm particularly attached to any superhero stuff besides Wonder Woman (my "unconditional" interests in DC are their mystic/horror stories)...and X-Men when written by someone like Hickman (and look how his run ended behind the scenes). Alongside innovative and/or exotic ideas, writers like Morrison just had a way of dialog and relaying those said ideas to the readers that definitely seems to be dying off, at least in mainstream superhero DC comics. I wasn't even a fan of Superman & The Authority, but it was still something different, unique, and simply better than recent superhero stories that I've read.

Coincidentally, my taste in comic reading has evolved recently to be more and more interested in licensed titles. I'd love to see Morrison write a Blade Runner, Witcher, or Terminator mini/maxi, or maybe some video game IP likely to be printed by Dark Horse or Titan (BioShock? Borderlands? ELDEN RING???). A return to 2000AD and writing Dredd would be awesome, too. A man can dream.

[superduperman]

I think that DC burned a lot of bridges with the whole Vertigo mess. They had an open door for original creators and closed it at a time when original creators had more options than ever. I don't blame Morrison and others looking at stuff like that and saying "screw this". It's obvious, if Morrison's account is accurate, that whoever is running the ship at DC really wants these legacy characters to take off. For whatever reason. Someone doesn't advocate making Superman a fascist unless they are deliberately trying to sabotage him. I think DC is actually becoming more insular. Doing things their way and everyone else's opinion be damned. If the public doesn't like the legacy characters, then they will force us to like them. Even if it means making them the only option.

[exile001]

I think DC is actually becoming more insular. Doing things their way and everyone else's opinion be damned.

This! 100% this!

You've just put your finger on something I've been feeling about DC since the New 52 that has only gotten stronger over the last decade.

Marvel (on and off) embrace indie voices and styles whereas DC have become more and more in-house focused. And not just in style but in universe, too. They're about to have another Crisis style event (change continuity and soft reboot/relaunch this and that) to fix the issues from the previous 35+ years of increasingly frequent Crisis style events. Part of the problem is that DC sees these sell so isn't trying anything else and sales in everything else (except key Batman titles) continues to drop.

I don't want DC to ape Marvel, god knows there are a LOT of problems there, too, but it could benefit from taking a bit from there and a lot more from Image. Black Label is definitely a step in the right direction but needs to be greatly expanded as it's almost a Batman imprint at this point.

[HsssH]

I think that DC burned a lot of bridges with the whole Vertigo mess. They had an open door for original creators and closed it at a time when original creators had more options than ever. I don't blame Morrison and others looking at stuff like that and saying "screw this".

DC attempted to restart Vertigo, I think, two times before finally closing it down. They closed it not because they didn't care, but because they couldn't compete against Image and other smaller publishers doing creator owned books.

[Johnny]

It's obvious, if Morrison's account is accurate, that whoever is running the ship at DC really wants these legacy characters to take off. For whatever reason. Someone doesn't advocate making Superman a fascist unless they are deliberately trying to sabotage him. I think DC is actually becoming more insular. Doing things their way and everyone else's opinion be damned. If the public doesn't like the legacy characters, then they will force us to like them. Even if it means making them the only option.

To be fair, sabotaging or killing off the "old guard" to make way for the "new blood" and leave fans with only one option is a very DC thing.

[achilles]

I think that DC burned a lot of bridges with the whole Vertigo mess. They had an open door for original creators and closed it at a time when original creators had more options than ever. I don't blame Morrison and others looking at stuff like that and saying "screw this". It's obvious, if Morrison's account is accurate, that whoever is running the ship at DC really wants these legacy characters to take off. For whatever reason. Someone doesn't advocate making Superman a fascist unless they are deliberately trying to sabotage him. I think DC is actually becoming more insular. Doing things their way and everyone else's opinion be damned. If the public doesn't like the legacy characters, then they will force us to like them. Even if it means making them the only option.

Sadly for them, there is an option; don't buy DC comics if you don't like them. I find it very simple not to buy something I don't like, and I imagine pretty much anyone can also not buy something they don't like; perhaps someone should tell DC about this. Also, I hear there are other comic book companies to patronize out there as alternatives.

[Thezmage]

Hmmm. Someone should tell that to the Grant Morrison web site then.
https://www.grantmorrison.com/our-story

https://www.cbr.com/the-green-lanter...on-binary/amp/

You’re right, somebody should definitely tell their website