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GRANT Morrison and Gene Ha on The Authority

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12:40 / 10.02.06

The Authority confuzles me after like the 3rd trade. I can't figure out what order they go in. I stand there in the A section with a dumb look on my face until the New Avengers covers piss me off so much I have to go look at manga.

13:12 / 10.02.06

I wouldn't wrry 'bout it, Q. Third trade's the last Millar, right? Anyway, you can skip all the Robbie M stuff and go straight into 'Revolution' thereafter.

p.s. OMFG, this is gonna be totally SWEET!!!! (fwiw, JF, the reaction is the most excitement I've seen about the book since I began using the comics internet toward the end of Coatbridge huckster Mark Millar's run.)

13:18 / 10.02.06

Maybe. But not so much here. Which was my point. I should have made that clear, I guess.

Regrettable Juvenilia

13:28 / 10.02.06

Am I right in thinking there haven't been any interviews with Morrison in which he talks about his plans for either series as yet? That might explain the lack of excitement to a degree.

13:32 / 10.02.06

The last one I've got I think is a pretty cool one where they all get replaced w/corporate versions of themselves. But of course then they all come back--I was sort of impressed that they'd just kill everyone off like that. That kind of shit always fools me, ever since I was a kid and there was an episode of GI Joe where Cobra conquered the world, and Mt Rushmore had Cobra Commander, Destro, et al. I was like, sweet! They totally changed it!

But no.

Dan Fish - @Fish1k

14:02 / 10.02.06

http://tplist.millarworld.net/authority.html should be informative.

The main site is http://tplist.millarworld.net/index.html, and is quite useful.

14:06 / 10.02.06

Yeah, I'd just go onto the Brubaker Authority: Revolution set after that, if you want. Or just wait for the new shit. I've never read the stuff between, and it's far from detrimental - I have a pal who doesn't buy that many comics but just loves the Authority and he's like 'I need them all' and I'm like 'no.'

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

14:57 / 10.02.06

Human on the Inside is a pretty good OGN as well...John Ridley & Ben Oliver? The artwork is very pretty and it does tackle some of the fallout from the replacement Authority (who were the Crime Syndicate to the Authority's Justice League) and I thought it had a few daring moments with the on-panel seduction of the Midnighter. It read pretty well considering I completely avoided Authority: Revolution and all the Robbie Morrison stuff.

I think though that after the original Ellis story arcs, my favourite stuff remains those short stories from the back of the third trade, Earth Inferno & Other Stories -- the solo looks at Jack Hawksmoor & the Engineer, and the "Devil's Night" story -- which I gather was part of a thread going through several Wildstorm bookst at the time. Even without the context it was quite good, even though I'm pretty sure that anyone reading it who hadn't read the Stormwatch A Finer World book won't have a clue that Amaze was female and a Wonder Woman analogue.

Looking forward to the Morrison/Ha version. Wonder if they'll finally tackle some of Swift's psychology and maybe look into how she changed her stance regarding violence and how she feels about her Buddhism now. Possibly without being locked up and/or debased every five minutes (which seemed to happen a lot to Swift).

17:15 / 10.02.06

"Possibly without being locked up and/or debased every five minutes (which seemed to happen a lot to Swift)."

maybe it's a second mutation kind of thing ?

Sean the frumious Bandersnatch

18:48 / 13.02.06

So wait...why is there a new doctor and how did Jenny Quantum change from a baby to a lady?

Because, you know, I'm too lazy to read the actual comics. They might be crap.

18:50 / 13.02.06

I suppose that's a request for a Wildstorm Surgery Thread.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:12 / 15.02.06

So... not being particularly familiar with the universe (though I did read some Stormwatch), but being a Morrison fan and therefore likely to buy this, which Authority books should I try to read first, just so I know who the characters are and stuff?

11:42 / 15.02.06

Probably the first Ellis trade, 'Relentless' (?)

I don't like it awful much though, and would advise you just skip to the Millar/Quitely.

11:43 / 15.02.06

Which is where I started after an article about gay superheroes in The Scotsman, with no real problems arising in my understanding of the book.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:58 / 15.02.06

Cheers!

12:53 / 15.02.06

I'm going to be the one vote in this direction, but go with the second trade, which is half Ellis and half Millar. 'Under New Management' gives you a taste of both writers, both styles, has two excellent artists (Hitch and Quitely), some super-excellent color work, and the Jenny-equipped plus post-Jenny teams.

Spoilers, yes

I don't know how much space to put in....

Oh and you can witness why killing God is more entertaining than Captain America raping Superman. Because it is.
The best bit of Millar's entire run (discounting Religimon, which wasn't his - and the let's keep killing Jesus, also not his - Damn Morrison issue!) was the opening political powerplay child-fantasy worldfix, where they drop the a dictator in the middle of his suffering masses. Nice shot of grenades falling from the Engineer, from Quitely, too.
I preferred, immensely, Ellis' genuinely flirty, explodey, mean old bastards gone bright and cheery with gleeful power. Which now has its gore scaled down to become 'NextWave', I guess.
I agree Millar took it in a fresh direction right when it needed it, but I dunno, I just liked the blockbuster bang boom zap compared to pissing on child-molesting genocidal mystics with funny genitalia. And those cute transhuman/posthuman moments like the walk/drive/take-a-shower-with-you-everywhere conversation in an early issue.

13:27 / 15.02.06

In lieu of the mythical Wildstorm Surgery thread.

So wait...why is there a new doctor and how did Jenny Quantum change from a baby to a lady?

Allow me to explain...

Needless to say, here there be

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

S

So, during the recent Revolution storyline, Henry Bendix returns with a reincarnated Rose Tatoo (who, like the Jennys, is reborn into a new body when the old one pops her shapely clogs). The new Rose is basically a walking toxin factory and ODs the Doctor (Jeroen) whilst they're making with the whoopy. Bendix uses "teh eval technology" to capture his soul.

As with these things a new shaman of the global village is chosen. A suicide bomber in Palestine who manages to effect peace in the region, and then gets his ass captured by Bendix.

Jenny Q's sudden jump to teenage rebel came about due to the core nature of her powers (essentially reorganising her personal reality). She imagined an older version of herself which took her to meet the previous Jenny incarnations (retroactively created by Jenny Q's powers), on the way back she becomes her older self.

The explanation being that she's the Spirit of the 21st Century and part of that is children growing up too fast.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:11 / 15.02.06

(We)evil Scientist: The explanation being that she's the Spirit of the 21st Century and part of that is children growing up too fast.

What, really? That's a passably interesting idea. And the new Doctor starting out as a suicide bomber always works for me, and the way the singularity seems to work (opening up global empathy and super-senses in the Doctor's mind -- seen before with the defeat of the renegade Doctor in Earth Inferno). Too bad Revolution never seemed to grab my attention and I didn't bother picking it up. Oh well.

16:26 / 15.02.06

the Spirit of the 21st Century and part of that is children growing up too fast.

That's horrible and boring. It sounds like something our parents would say.

16:29 / 15.02.06

Well, it's not actually in the comic. It's his interp, which is entirely workable, and might be phrased otherwise.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

16:47 / 15.02.06

Chad: That's horrible and boring. It sounds like something our parents would say.

Yeah, but cross-ref with Jenny Sparks dying a year early because of consensus reality and the "fish-head majority." It may be horrible but it's one of the odd undercurrents of societal thinking right now...

16:48 / 15.02.06

Grant M. did say something about The Authority in his recent convention panels, by the way, but not very substantive. He basically said he has an idea that should breathe some new life into The Authority, something about how the Authority is all about change and the world resisting that change in his upcoming stories. And that was pretty much it.

07:46 / 16.02.06

Too bad Revolution never seemed to grab my attention and I didn't bother picking it up. Oh well

To be honest I've been sticking with Authority for the last couple of years due to my love of the original Ellis/Millar runs. When they re-launched I found the storylines to be extremely basic superhero fare that didn't do much to deepen the characters.

Compared to the other Wildstorm titles that were hitting the shelves during this time (Sleeper, Team Achilles, the fantastic WildCATS 3.0) Authority was like a packet of Space Raiders compared to a thick, juicy steak.

It's had it's high points though. The Kev stories appealed to my low, base sense of humour. Coup de'Tat was an inevitable step (and reads better as a collected set).

Revolution is an entertaining read, much improved over what has gone before. But still doesn't quite reach the standard of the first four collections. However, it seemed to be laying the groundwork for higher standard writing. Pulling the book out of the horrible cliches it was mired in.

Morrison is the perfect man to push the Authority back up to top-notch. He has a real talent at cutting away all the fat on a book and reminding you why you started reading something in the first place. I can see him having a lot of fun with concepts like the Doctor and Jenny Quantum.

What I'm hoping for is an Authority who have moved beyond the cliches of super-violence. In the Coup de'Tat book there is a moment where they're talking with Spartan and he is almost imploring them to "grow up". An adult Authority is what I want to see.

I've got the Ultimates for super-brawls.

Invisible Queen

08:09 / 16.02.06

Thoght I'd add $0.02 to the subject of monthly releases.

Living in Sweden, you get over that desire for scheduled comics. I'm currently following Lucifer, Powers, Y: the last man, and Fables, and they're only released here as collection paperbacks. So depending on how many issues they collect, it can be from 4 months to over a year between new books. And they always get here a few months after America.

So you get used to not even thinking about things while you wait for them. The point being, you can get used to it.

09:29 / 16.02.06

So you get used to not even thinking about things while you wait for them. The point being, you can get used to it.

This is certainly true. I brought the Sleeper books as collecteds. Same with Walking Dead, Seven Soldiers, and Planetary (and let's face it, if you can wait for that you can wait for anything).

But I still buy a number of regular monthlies, and bi-monthlies.

It's just nice to have a big old stack of them when I go into They Walk Among Us on the Sunday after payday. Means I can sit out in a nearby Coffee Republic and get all hyper on capes and caffiene.

09:36 / 16.02.06

Weevil: the Spirit of the 21st Century and part of that is children growing up too fast.

Chad: That's horrible and boring. It sounds like something our parents would say.

Howabout: part of the (Western) 21st century is that children are maturing quicker. I'd say that could be right.

10:03 / 16.02.06

Or 'growing up faster'. Whatever.

The Natural Way

10:08 / 16.02.06

Triplets, you might want to hit the history books.

12:00 / 16.02.06

The whole idea that that is the reason she's physically older, that "children are growing up faster", is just stupid though. What's "growing up"? What's "too fast"? Like Runce suggests: What's the precendent for determinant?

Kids just have more access, and more media. That's all there is to it. If anything, the two combined are allowing for a prolonged adolescence... but that's asking for debate. I just think it's a lame reason to get rid of Baby Sparks.

12:55 / 16.02.06

I just think it's a lame reason to get rid of Baby Sparks.

Well, the uber-powerful toddler thing has been done to death by decades of Fantastic Four so I'm not exactly heart-broken. It's not as though anything massively interesting has been done with the character since she laid a verbal smackdown on Seth.

If anything, the two combined are allowing for a prolonged adolescence...

Kind of arguing against yourself aren't you Chad? If this is the case then doesn't it make sense that she's become an adolescent?

The whole idea that that is the reason she's physically older, that "children are growing up faster", is just stupid though. What's "growing up"? What's "too fast"?

Well "growing up" is the process of physical and mental development whereby a child develops into, what is considered by society, to be an adult.

"Too fast" was an error on my part. I don't believe that's the wording used. It's more an suggestion that children "want" to grow up quicker. Possibly a reference to recent trends toward children in Western societies feeling they have to portray themselves as older and more mature than, in fact they are.

If someone has the issue to hand, could they chuck it on the thread. I would but am currently only able to access the interwebnet at work.

21:29 / 16.07.06

W00t's this?!

Some other guff there, 52 and that.

13:38 / 17.07.06

"Grant Morrison, the universally acclaimed writer of All Star Superman, Seven Soldiers and Wildcats brings his talents to the new bimonthly series THE AUTHORITY"

Christ, if you were Grant would you want to be remembered for your work on Wildcats? Over, say, theFilthWe3TheInvisiblesSebastianO...

This looks great though, I must have it.

13:44 / 17.07.06

Barring his JLA/WildCATS thing which, fair enough, it's not an absolute career highlight, I'm sure this is meant to refer to the book that'll be on the alternating month from Authority - the as yet unpublished series with Jim Lee. The only way I could be more excited about that is if Travis Charest did some fill-ins.

Elijah, Freelance Rabbi

14:15 / 17.07.06

In the pic where the Engineer has a double with her they look like conjoined twins, I wonder if there was a horrible accident with her tech or that is just an odd way to draw her.

14:21 / 22.07.06

Continuing with the presentation, Morrison said that his approach for The Authority drawn by Gene Ha, is to give the team their purpose and reason back. As Morrison explained it, the team and concept had become toothless due to the notion that, as a team that was established to change the world, the Authority didn’t do a whole lot of world-chaining, and got their butts handed to them with regularity. As a result of a storyline pitting them against the Wildcats, the Authority will be thrown into the Bleed, and come out on our world, “right here, right now,” Morrison said. “It’ll be the most realistic comic that you’ve eve seen,” the writer continued.

One of the main characters will be an expert in undersea salvage who befriends the team, telling them if they wanted to fix the world, they could start by fixing his marriage. As Morrison explained, the series will be a look at whether or not superheroes really could change the world. The writer noted that the new series will be set when the characters are a little older, and further into their careers.

Morrison said that Ha is drawing the comic much like director Steven Steven Soderbergh films his movies, with strange close-ups of objects and people, and he plans to have dialogue that trails off and skews off track, much like it does in real life. “We wanted to take the challenge of making ‘realistic comics’ seriously,” Morrison said.

Sounds like a continuation of themes he started in Seven Soldiers. I'm a lot more excited for this series now than I was before.

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