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Underground > Comic Books >

Grant Morrison Claims DC Universe As His Own

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

17:05 / 20.06.05

Very Cool Stuff.

I have to say, DC's stuff has left Marvel's stuff in the dust quality-wise these days. Developments like this are just sealing the deal.

broken gentleman.

17:16 / 20.06.05

shit. i'd be worried about the man spreading himself too thin, but he's handling something the scope of seven soldiers without any crap seeping through, so there's no reason. still, i wonder how much this new position will cut into actual writing, as it doesn't seem that he'll be heading up many of these new concepts of his. still, i would be rabid for a knight and squire series. (goes digging for JLA Classified issues, for the millionth time.)

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

17:17 / 20.06.05

Basically sounds like DC 1,000,000, but EVERY WEEK.

17:39 / 20.06.05

newly-sentient DC Universe

Just a Morrisonism, or something far more interesting?

18:17 / 20.06.05

We can never know for sure what George is thinking, but it's plain to see love for the DC Universe has totally conquered him. That Dido's a lucky girl.

18:53 / 20.06.05

Two words: Awe. Some.

Keith, like a scientist

19:57 / 20.06.05

sounds wicked.

Ok, so...Infinite Crisis? We haven't got to that yet, right? Just the Countdown and it's related titles, yes?

Will Infinite Crisis be a big annoying crossover or follow the Identity Crisis single book nice-ness?

20:52 / 20.06.05

Is this 'Grant Morrison Kirbies the DC Universe' or has he just been appointed Lasersharker General? Time will tell.

22:17 / 20.06.05

You realise a good portion of the DC stuff you'll be reading next year will have a bit of Montezuma at the base? He's like the Ghengis Khan of comicks.

22:56 / 20.06.05

They should change it to GC, in George's honour.

00:07 / 21.06.05

Too bad he will mostly be limited to re imagining old properties. Still... His versions of the Green Team, The Dingbats of Danger Street and Kamandi will kick all kinds of butt.

03:48 / 21.06.05

F***ing Fantastic! Hopefully, he used this new clout to get DC top make MORE SEAGUY SERIES! Right, Grant?! You wouldn't fail to do right by Seaguy and Chubby, eh?

07:00 / 21.06.05

http://gutterninja.com/archives/2005/06/20/when-titans-write/

I think that sums up most of my feelings on the Johns/Morrison thing (I didn't write it). I guess I like the idea of making a concerted effort to infuse creativity into the moribund comic universes. But somehow this feels like a bandaid.

12:35 / 21.06.05

Doubtful. Johns is not John Byrne, whatever other faults he might have, but rather, like much of contemporary mainstream comicsdom, a massive GM fan; this is fairly self-evident given how much of the latter's JLA plots he recycled in his first arc (not recommended) on JSA.

13:19 / 21.06.05

>> They should change it to GC, in George's honour.

This made me truly laugh out loud. Hard.

15:51 / 21.06.05

my pants have just turned all hot and icky.

I don't see Johns screwing up what GM does, firstly because lets say he's on a... lower position than Moz in this operation.

this is quite similar, on a much larger scale, to what Ellis did on that bunch of X-books back in '99: write a character bible, plot the first issues and let the other writer run with those guidelines.

I'm wondering if any of the SEVEN SOLDIERS will have an ongoing book or if all of them are going to be offed in 7S #1...

and my, a crossover inside a crossover, that leads to another crossover.

18:53 / 21.06.05

Good News Cassie strikes again:

Hmmm... Crisis on Infinite Earths was a thick smash up of all the Silver Age concepts, mess, and fluff that had occurred in the previous two decades.

Grains of salt, and a readthrough of Boogaloo, Boboss, Mac, and etc =
Infinite Crisis might be a thick smash up of all the Modern Age concepts, mess and fluff that occurred in the most recent two decades?

We ARE ahead of the curve, being who we are. Maybe Infinite Crisis isn't so much a parody — but an actual account of the mainstream meaninglessness of the previous two decades. Perhaps we'll get a shiny new meaningful and integrated world when this is over with...

So, Post-Infinite Crisis, Grant Morrison will make DCU a fresh, new, strange, and exciting place? The prophecy was fortold.

19:24 / 21.06.05

From the new Lying In The Gutters:

As for the DC treatment's for "Seven Soldiers" that Dan Didio reports didn't make the cut, but led to Morrison's new role, the most prominent missing-in-action character at the time was "The Demon."

When Lying In The Gutters first reported the concept of "Seven Soldiers," this included a version of DC's supernatural rhyming anti-hero. This was well before the current Pfeifer/Byrne "Blood Of The Demon" series was greenlit, but Morrison's initial Seven Soldiers pitch featured a re-imagined version of Etrigan The Demon in a context that was severely critical and mocking of the Catholic Church.

So, uh, that sounds kinda great.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

14:46 / 22.06.05

The only bad thing I'd say about this is the major emphasis on 'revamping old characters', like, not inventing new ones. Of course, invent a new character and you get a Seaguy or an Aztek that never gets seen again, and Seven Soldiers have someone like the Guardian who is as near as damnit a new character, but I think that trying to reassure the ever shrinking audience that this is newold rather than trying for newnew and maybe new readers isn't the way to go...

Mister Six, whom all the girls

16:48 / 22.06.05

Johns and Mozz are more or less doing similar things (as far as re-introducing ugly duckling characters and making them swans).

From as far back as Stars and STRIPE, Johns has done this. His JSA series is a near constant re-visioning of characters including Mr. Terrific, Crimson Avenger, etc. etc. So, I'm not sure what the conflict is.

That said, GM's Demon sounded like a giant reset button being pressed, something Johns doesn't do. Not to take away from Grant, but Geoff Johns has a major strength in taking the work done by others and refitting it together into a cohesive continuity (like his monumental work on Hawkman, the character so confused he really could be his own uncle or from another planet or a Hawk deity... whatever that means).

I'm not exactly clear on what Grant is going to do here (more minis? an event maxi-series? annuals?? guest issues???) and I'm not convinced it's a definite go at DC. But the important thing is that it does mean more Grant comics featuring obscure characters probably drawn by amazingly talented artists.

17:01 / 22.06.05

I don't think Grant is going to be writing much of the actual comics, merely providing conceptual springboards for other writers and artists to use. He can provide an outline for the new direction, some story ideas and then leave it to the other writers to take the ball and run with it. I highly doubt we're gonna get a DC line with every title written by Grant.

Should be some very interesting ideas popping up, though.

17:22 / 22.06.05

Geoff Johns has a major strength in taking the work done by others and refitting it together into a cohesive continuity

Assuming, of course, people give a shit about continuity. I'll be in it for the mad concept cars being put on show.

Yotsuba & Benjamin!

17:38 / 22.06.05

It seems like, ironically enough, DC has reclaimed that mantle of Consistency Over Continuity these days. I've been reading a lot more DC than Marvel these days and it seems like they're more concerned with everything locking together nicely than they are with everything locking up with the 50 or so years of stories that have been released previous.

Assuming it is in DC Continuity (and I certainly hope it is) Seven Soldiers is a perfect example of this.

20:17 / 22.06.05

>> The only bad thing I'd say about this is the major emphasis on 'revamping old characters', like, not inventing new ones.

yeah, but when Morrison said he'd be doing what Julie Schwartz did, that made me smile.

And Morrison will be writing at least 1 of these concepts, the article said.

00:28 / 23.06.05

The article also says that Grant gets to bring back all of his own favorite characters too, like Knight & Squire and their ultramarine buddies. It sounds like there's going to be a very good mixing of new and old.

01:02 / 23.06.05

I'm so excited I've been reading old JLA's - again (think I reread that more than any other comic; tried some Promethea recently, very disappointing) - and I demand Zauriel and Aztek, or at least Azteka. I don't really think Mageddon = Quetzlcoatl, and it's pretty much a necessity for my life to find out what was going to happen with the Quizler and Super-Groupie.