Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Comic Books >

Grant Morrison - pardon my ignorance

12:27 / 17.12.01

Hiya.

I'm new to this forum, but have been reading comics for twenty five years now - so I can remember lots of old garbage from the pre-Crisis era. This isn't to show off, so please don't take it that way, it's so you know that I'm not some idiot out to start a flame war or anything.

My problem, and it probably is my problem alone, is this - I seem to be the only person in the comic reading fraternity who just does not get Grant Morrison. I've a great deal of his work in my collection, read it all - and it leaves me totally cold.

It does not move me to any sort of emotional response whatsoever - sorry if your reading this, Mr Morrison, by the way - please don't take this as a personal attack. After all, we both come from the same neck of the woods - Central Scotland.

I admire the man's energy, I admire his committment to the comics medium - but the work seems to be, I dunno, lacking something.

Is it me ? Am I the only one ?

Reassurancem, or advice, needed .

12:44 / 17.12.01

it is not just you. I'm sure there are many who just don't like what morrison does (especially fans of the pre-morrison doom patrol).

13:07 / 17.12.01

Hey, there's no arguing matters of taste.
Glad to have you aboard anyway.

The resistable rise of Reidcourchie

15:44 / 17.12.01

Although I'd probably save myself some money and stop buying his comics.

17:23 / 17.12.01

if u dont like grant morisson u r STUPID he is the best what r u some kind of retarded asswipe fuk u he fukkin RULEZ!!!!

...But fortunately, this isn't that kind of board (well, except for The Knowledge +1

).

I don't think you should be looking for reassurance, really - taste is subjective and if you don't like Morrison's work, oh well. Nothing wrong with that.

If you're new here and think that Morrison non-fans aren't welcome, don't worry about it. Everyone's welcome. Blab away.

[ 17-12-2001: Message edited by: CameronStewart ]

yawn - thing's buddy

18:10 / 17.12.01

look pal, yer sayin you're fae central scotland? whit's that, falkirk or sumthin? well get yersel tae fuck then, west is best, ya fuckin ersehole.

19:13 / 17.12.01

During the last year of the *Invisibles* run I was writing a novel (it languisheth on my hard drive, which is only one difference between me and Grant Morrison), and I remember all of a sudden reading my issue of the Invisibles and thinking "This actually isn't so great. I could do better than this." So I know what you mean about there being 'something missing', I think. I'm certainly more emotionally moved by other comics writers, though GM doesn't leave me cold...

(Frantic backpedalling: I don't think I *could* do better than the Invisibles, whatever "better" means, and soon after having the thought I was stricken with guilt about what a horrible way it was to respond to someone's work, but it made me feel better about my own writing for a few days, so there you go).

The Natural Way

06:49 / 18.12.01

I dunno, maybe you feel the same way about Morrison as I do about Ellis. Everyone seems to prattle on about how good he is, but something's just not there for me...

07:05 / 18.12.01

Thanks for reassuring me folks, I was worried that I was out of step. Thank you all for replying .

07:46 / 18.12.01

I think there are bits of Grant's work that just completely screwed with my idea of what a comic book could be, what it could do and indeed what the world was like. I can honestly say that in a world without heroes, he became my hero when I was about sixteen - circa Doom Patrol 20 - the first issue of his work that I'd ever read...

The Invisibles was a strange ride, and one that varied in quality - i can say that I was bored beyond belief to start off with, and dropped the title very early on, but came back on board at volume two and then suddenly GOT it and went back and bought everything. It remained of variable quality until the end, and I won't deny that on occasion I became frustrated with it - but at some basic level I think it was an experience rather than a read and that you had to do it as it came out and be part of that whole vibe...

I think that's what's interesting about his work - he lifts ideas from EVERYWHERE, he's prepared to play and to fail. In my experience he seldom betrays characters or readers, and he just wants to do something huge and world-transforming. That's an ethic that few enough people share in the world, and I'm prepared to suffer some of his less interesting work for some of the great head-fucks he's given me...

yawn - thing's buddy

22:07 / 10.03.03

what about Alan Moore, Dave?

Does HE leave you cold?

Does he?

hmmm?

22:18 / 10.03.03

Maybe you just want some help discovering what Morrison's trying to say. He says a lot in few frames. Why don't you ask one thing that REALLY confuses you, and watch the board work for you

Our Lady of The Two Towers

14:00 / 11.03.03

Is there any particular reasons why these old threads are getting resurrected or is Yawn just having some sort of spasm?

14:43 / 11.03.03

I thought yawn was one of the good guys here. A little unintelligible, but fun.

Maybe there's a pattern in the chaos? Maybe he needs a good slapping?

Dan Fish - @Fish1k

14:49 / 11.03.03

Yawn has become fiction. He now inhabits hyper-reality in the form of a self replicating computer virus, and views all time as one, hence the replies to old posts.

15:52 / 11.03.03

yawn's silly then... noble, but he wouldn't know an Archon from an Aeon.

Yawn! This is the King in Yellow! Get back in the GAME.

00:56 / 16.03.03

I buy about 30 comics a month, and I dig everything from the fast-food of The Ultimates to the skull-fuckery of The Filth. The one thing I can say about Grant Morrison is that he's like Public Enemy to me: I don't always know where he's coming from but I appreciate the energy and presentation.

I've found that if you don't have the time to research GM's reference material, you'll come away bitter. But unlocking his stories is like learning to solve a Rubik's Cube; suddenly you know the answer to a bright and colorful and confounding thing that most people don't have the patience to give a fuck about.

01:37 / 16.03.03

"Grant Morrison don't know what time it is, nigga!"

03:43 / 16.03.03

Where have you been, darling?

11:48 / 16.03.03

i always found that in almost all of his work, morrisons main strength was as an ideas man. you have to take what he writes and let yourimagination spiral off uncontrololably to really 'get it', if thats what you want.

he brings together a lot of good ideas, and even comes up with a few, but he doesnt always relate them in the clearest manner, perhaps getting caught up too much in what sounds cool or looks nice.

in zenith, for example, the whole world he created was amazing, but it wasnt always instanly apparent to me what was going on on the first read through of any one panel.

The Natural Way

14:35 / 16.03.03

Surely that's Yeowell's fault though. Not that I'm dissing Yeowell. Or Zenith. I love that moment when all the black and white chaos coalesces into...something else....something gooooood.

17:56 / 16.03.03

well, no, i didint mean the artwork was confusing, i meant the plot and the thread of what was going on became a bit hard to follow. bear in mind it has been a while since i read the lot, though, and i was only wee at the time.

i do think the invisibles suffered from the same thing, though. if you didnt suspend your disbelief occasionally and go with it, you would have hated it. you kinda had to believe it would coalesce into sense occasioanlly.

you know that friend who sits in movies and asks you what is going on when there is no way you could know either? the one who doesn't seem to want suspense or mystery to ruin his or her movie? they would HATE morrison.

The Natural Way

10:08 / 17.03.03

I don't have that friend. That guy's a cock.

Y'know, toks, Zenith really wasn't very hard to follow. When did it wrap up? 91ish? I would've been 15 or 16 and I got it all fine. Were you a lot younger?

05:15 / 18.03.03

yeah. i was eleven in 91, and even allowing for the fact that i read back issues, i was a wee bit smaller.