Grant Morrison

[ian_house]

+1 - New X-Men is very nearly my favourite of his work, mainly for what he did to update the concept of the X-men in the modern day, especially with what Spylocke mentioned above. It pulled me back into reading x-men after ignoring the books since around #300 of Uncanny. I only wish that Frank Quitely had drawn more issues of the run, I felt that the art was mostly not very great otherwise [ended on a high note with Sylvestri, though]. Its also a shame that they have tried really hard to largely undo everything he established since then.

I am also a big fan of the WE3 story, as well as Doom Patrol & The Filth. I only just read his Animal Man run this past summer and found it to be top-notch too.

I didn't really get on with the Filth, probably the only series I couldn't really get into, despite loving Morrison's weirdness.

I would LOVE to be able to read his New X-Men run, but it doesn't seem to be collected that obviously (or maybe I've not just looked enough) and singles are too expensive.

I got the New X-men omnibus, and I believe there are 3 "ultimate" collection TPBs and HCs that have everything as well.

The Filth...I knew I was leaving something out.

As for the Invisibles, I also bought the omnibus of that series, and even if I don't like it at least I'll get a solid upper body workout.

I imagine that is one chunky omnibus! You didn't like though?

Haven't read it yet, just saying there will be an upside even if I dont like it.
Yea, it's big - 1200 pages I think. Looks like an unabridged dictionary.

The Invisibles is one of those books that changed the way I thought about the world after I read it, but then, I was 20 years old. 7 years later, I'm a different person now and like most works that meant a lot to me at the time, I doubt it'll have the same resonance. It's a great work, but it's not for everyone.

I really hope DC decides to release a Doom Patrol omnibus at some point. For my money, that book embodies the best combination of Morrison's weird meta-fictional tendencies and his love for the superhero genre. Animal Man is great too, but I find it to be a little too rooted in the Post-Crisis DCU to be completely accessible to readers and I think that overall that connection to crisis hurts Animal Man as a standalone work, even if it is maybe one of the best commentaries on comic book continuity reboots ever written.

huh?! I don't get this at all. I can only think of the finale containing Psycho Pirate/Ultraman to be the only link to Crisis/multiverse. Even this is an aside to the horror that is really happening to Animal Man at the hands of Grant Morrison

[Xtianhardy]

Sure, you can read it that way if you like but it's a fact that Animal Man is a Post-Crisis comic that acts as a commentary for the fate of many characters following Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the whole premise of Grant messing with Buddy Baker's life is his way of commenting on the fate of characters like Buddy who go through continuity reboots following big crossovers. Yes the Psycho Pirate is the only major Post-Crisis plot thread, but I think it helps to understand the context of when that book was coming and what Grant's intentions with the story were. It just makes a story a little less new-reader friendly than other works of his that you could read without knowing any of the previous continuity.

[ian_house]

Sure, you can read it that way if you like but it's a fact that Animal Man is a Post-Crisis comic that acts as a commentary for the fate of many characters following Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the whole premise of Grant messing with Buddy Baker's life is his way of commenting on the fate of characters like Buddy who go through continuity reboots following big crossovers. Yes the Psycho Pirate is the only major Post-Crisis plot thread, but I think it helps to understand the context of when that book was coming and what Grant's intentions with the story were. It just makes a story a little less new-reader friendly than other works of his that you could read without knowing any of the previous continuity.

I think it's alot more general than that and discusses the reboot and relaunch culture of comics in general.

[Xtianhardy]

Sure, you can read it that way if you like but it's a fact that Animal Man is a Post-Crisis comic that acts as a commentary for the fate of many characters following Crisis on Infinite Earths, and the whole premise of Grant messing with Buddy Baker's life is his way of commenting on the fate of characters like Buddy who go through continuity reboots following big crossovers. Yes the Psycho Pirate is the only major Post-Crisis plot thread, but I think it helps to understand the context of when that book was coming and what Grant's intentions with the story were. It just makes a story a little less new-reader friendly than other works of his that you could read without knowing any of the previous continuity.

I think it's alot more general than that and discusses the reboot and relaunch culture of comics in general.

Fair enough. I agree with you that the theme of rebirth can be applied to the idea of continuity reboots in general, but the title would never been launched as it did without Crisis.

From Wikipedia: "Baker's post-Crisis origin was slightly altered, but retained the essence of the original. While hunting as a teenager, he encounters a crashed spaceship which apparently endows him with his abilities (the slight discrepancies between the two stories were addressed as Pre-Crisis and Post-Crisis origins, and were acknowledged in-story, with the "original" Buddy Baker appearing, and not wishing to be written out of existence)."

I guess what I am trying to say is: Morrison's Animal Man story is dependent on Crisis in the same way that Green Lantern: Rebirth needed there to be a Zero Hour. Sure, you don't have to have read Zero Hour to understand GL: Rebirth, but it provides context for what Geoff Johns was doing in his newer story.

You don't need to know the story of Crisis to "get" Animal Man, but I think the idea of the mulitverse and Crisis in particular had a profound and lasting impact on how Morrison views the DC Universe, and you can see the effects of that not only in Animal Man, but in Seven Soldiers of Victory, 52, and All-Star Superman.

[Cyberstrike]

The multiverse to me serves as a cheap "get out jail" free card for writers who don't want to know or care about what a series is about or means to readers living in the present day and only to serve a nostigila fest to older fans and a screw you to younger fans. That is why Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns sucks IMHO.

[Xtianhardy]

The multiverse to me serves as a cheap "get out jail" free card for writers who don't want to know or care about what a series is about or means to readers living in the present day and only to serve a nostigila fest to older fans and a screw you to younger fans. That is why Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns sucks IMHO.

I don't think either of them suck, even if their best days as creators might be behind them. Geoff Johns work on The Flash is deserving enough of respect and its a big part of the reason why people care so much about Wally West. Morrison is one of the greatest comics writers alive and I just can't even conceive of how somehow might say that he "sucks." You might like his work, but it's at least deserving of respect.

I miss the Multiverse. It's existence is part of what made DC special. I miss the old DCU where generations of heroes from throughout DC's history could interact with one another. Not out of some misguided sense of nostalgia, but because it gave the DC Universe some real depth and a palpable sense of history. I don't think the Multiverse was a reflection of nostalgia, but the possibility that anything could happen and be considered "in canon" within its own pocket universe. Now the DCU is shallow and gutted of nearly everything that once made it memorable and special. Not only has the New 52 ruined DC, it's completely *SQUEE* over the Wildstorm Universe too.

[leonmallett]

Regardless of 'they suck'/'they don't' debates (which can never be resolved I'd wager), I thought his run on JLA was one of the best League runs I have ever read, perhaps the very best.

[Cyberstrike]

The multiverse to me serves as a cheap "get out jail" free card for writers who don't want to know or care about what a series is about or means to readers living in the present day and only to serve a nostigila fest to older fans and a screw you to younger fans. That is why Grant Morrison and Geoff Johns sucks IMHO.

I don't think either of them suck, even if their best days as creators might be behind them. Geoff Johns work on The Flash is deserving enough of respect and its a big part of the reason why people care so much about Wally West. Morrison is one of the greatest comics writers alive and I just can't even conceive of how somehow might say that he "sucks." You might like his work, but it's at least deserving of respect.

Since I don't know him personally I'm really indifferent to him. I don't like 98% of his work and hence I don't give his work much respect. Because IMHO his work sucks.

I miss the Multiverse. It's existence is part of what made DC special. I miss the old DCU where generations of heroes from throughout DC's history could interact with one another. Not out of some misguided sense of nostalgia, but because it gave the DC Universe some real depth and a palpable sense of history. I don't think the Multiverse was a reflection of nostalgia, but the possibility that anything could happen and be considered "in canon" within its own pocket universe. Now the DCU is shallow and gutted of nearly everything that once made it memorable and special. Not only has the New 52 ruined DC, it's completely *SQUEE* over the Wildstorm Universe too.

No, the reason it's been wiped out is because it gets abused. Kill off a character that's alright lets pluck another version of said character and drop them off in the "definitive" universe (or whatever it's called this day of week). The New 52's problem is trying to keep some things in cannon and ditch others. I would have been more supportive if DCE had the balls to get rid of the whole back story including all of Morrison's stuff like Batman, Inc. and Johns' Blackest Night and literally started fresh, instead the fans were treated to "it's set 5-10 years in the past" and more screwy continuty. Oh yeah DC has a title called Earth-2 and World's Finest that features mutliverse characters. So they didn't get rid of it.

Regardless of 'they suck'/'they don't' debates (which can never be resolved I'd wager), I thought his run on JLA was one of the best League runs I have ever read, perhaps the very best.

Well it was the best run on that series. It's one of two his works that I actually liked.