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Underground > Comic Books >

Other Grant Morrison Stuff

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18:26 / 28.03.02

Some time in the near future Marvel Knights Double Shot #2 (I think) will be released with a GM short story about Nick Fury. Didn't know if this was general knowledge, so I thought I'd tell you all.

Zoom.

18:47 / 28.03.02

Screw you guys! I'm outta here!

Believe it or not, DC Comics still has their Invisibles message board running.Here.

19:00 / 28.03.02

I'm not sure I'd call that running. More like crawling along.

But that would be really arrogant of me, so I won't say it.

Zoom.

11:34 / 04.04.02

I'm just using this thread's rotten carcass to lay this little egg (cos it´s somewhat related to, you know, Morrison's stuff): So far, Sebastian O. is the better work I've read from him, no doubt about it.

(leaves thread corpse.Bzzzzzzzz)

22:42 / 04.04.02

What is Sebastian O about, plot-wise? What did you like about it? I remember looking for some info on it once but I couldn't find anything.

10:14 / 05.04.02

Someone who's still registered over at that board, should mention that we're still going... I guess...

10:52 / 05.04.02

It's about this British guy, Sebastian O, who was once part of a private club of men who, you know, just liked to have fun: love between equals, cross dressing, bad poetry lectures and cucumber sandwiches. Then one of them finds some terrible truth about the way reality is constructed and goes to prison, soon followed by the disbanding of the group and the imprisonment of Sebastian O.

The story begins with O. attempting to escape prison. He's a weird guy, has some abilities that are never fully explained, and he's really an arrogant, funny bastard.

The story is full of poetry (in the text, in the architecture of the story itself, and there's even a villain who only speaks in form of poems). It's an alternate XIX century, with gas-powered computers and wooden helicopters. From all Morrison's stories that I have read so far, this is the more consistent and beautiful.

The Natural Way

11:00 / 05.04.02

Interesting that you think that (most people seem to regard O as little more than a nice piece of throwaway, dandyfied fun). Tho' I'm not sure you would've been able to read my faves (being in Brazil and all): Flex Mentallo and Zenith. If you can get ahold of them, do so. Now.

12:01 / 05.04.02

I have the first issues of Zenith, the story about the german übermensch which is a host to a lovecraftian entity. I think they're ok, but too much straightforward super-hero stuff. What I like about Sebastian O. is the uncertainty that underlies the whole thing AND the poetry. I really wish that sort of reality could exist, if only in virtual simulators. Looks *so* full of possibilities...

As for Flex Mentallo... that would be a little tricky to get ahold of, but I have been constantly reminded of its mightyness.

yawn - thing's buddy

13:22 / 05.04.02

yknow runce, I usually find myself agreeing with yer patter, but I've got to say I find Flex horribly overated by Morrison hi'self and the majority of posters on this board. I found it too be a tad self indulgent and really quite tedious. A struggle in other words. (I realise this is an accusation levelled at the Invisibles from time to time)

As for you Jade, regarding Zenith: Whaaaaaaaat?! How can you dare say a word against it.

Grant will never come close to the heights he reached on that title. It's kind of like this:

when you write something yourself, you think its great, then your computer crashes and you lose it. You attempt to write it all again, but it just isn't the same. This is what Mr. Morrison is going through with all his work since Zenith.

bit harsh, but I'm only kind of joking.

15:04 / 05.04.02

I find Sebastian O and Flex to be interesting in and of themselves, but also as precursors to The Invisibles. While fictional reality has been a mainstay of GM's work for years, these two really crystalize the idea in a way that his other work doesn't. It's also cool to see the various recurring motifs that show up in these show up in the Invisibles. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is the Red Light/Green Light, also seen in Flex.

Zoom.

15:39 / 05.04.02

Any word on when 'zenith' will be reprinted? There was talk of this some time ago, I seem to recall...

15:54 / 05.04.02

that bit in Zenith phase 2 (or 3?) with the shapechanging thingy... that awes me as much/more than any scene in GM's works. [sighs] I really like that scene.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

08:45 / 06.04.02

Zenith Phase 1 now supposedly is going to be published end of June, which I think means it's due date will have been put back an entire year... this one will run and run.

09:27 / 06.04.02

Actually, from what i have heard is that the first zenith trade is all ready and printed and stored in a warehouse... the only problem is that there is no bit of paper in the 2000AD/Rebellion offices signed by Grant Morrison saying that they own it and can reprint it. Thus I believe that the release date of the stuff is subject to negotiations of a settlement amecable to both sides.

09:56 / 06.04.02

Raid on the warehouse!

20:37 / 07.04.02

Even at its most straightforward, Zenith never felt like your run-of-the-mill superhero material; the weirdness always seemed right around the next corner. I loved it, and fully endorse a raid of the warehouse (save a copy for me).

I enjoyed Sebastian O, and REALLY enjoyed Flex. For me, they were more successful on their own terms than The Invisibles. In fact, I still don't think I really "get" The Invisibles entirely (he admits, red-faced). Bits of it really work for me, but, as a whole, it falls flat. On the other hand, though, that my life has changed for the better since I read it. Go figger.

23:33 / 07.04.02

how many issues long is sebastian O? I've never heard of it

05:17 / 08.04.02

Sebastian O was a three issue mini series, originally commissioned for Disney by Art Young but when Disney nixed their comics line Art Young approached DC and Vertigo was born.

Steve Yeowell was the artist.

Like Kid Eternity it is similar in theme to The Invisibles. I found it a bit light and breezy in places. It was Oscar Wilde meets cyberpunk, Victorian sensibilities and all that. The setting just didn't work for me.

Cover scans and cheap issues here.

16:51 / 08.04.02

I saw Sebastian O as being pretty much entirely a 'homage' to Michael Moorcock... interesting to learn Morrison didn't actually make it up..

16:56 / 08.04.02

Commisioned for Disney? Please tell me that's a joke. And Grant didn't come up with it? This sounds like typical Morrisonian disinformation.

(Really? Wow.)

Zoom.

17:28 / 08.04.02

Yes it was commisioned for Disney. Not heard it from Morrison, but Yeowell mentioned it when I met him at a signing years ago. I used to work in a comic shop so you'd get all the trade news there too. If you have the Doom Patrol issues around the time Art Young leaves you'll notice it mentions him moving on to Disney in veiled terms in the letter columns. Most of what became the mini series that launched Vertigo were commisioned for Disney's adult imprint, for which they headhunted Art Young. It was to be based in the UK, and it was around the time Tundra launched, I think. Art Young was head hunted, I seem to recall, too. Shadows Fall, Enigma, The Last One and Sebastian O were all commisioned for Disney, but it all got dropped once someone saw the stuff. So Art Young went back to DC and Vertigo was born out of all that, and that's why Vertigo had a UK branch, because Art Young was already here.

John Ney Reiber references it in his Comics Journal interview in the latest issue, although he doesn't name Sebastian O he does mention his involvement and Enigma. I think DC spun the creation of Vertigo so as to keep this part of the gestation in the background. Vertigo was basically them picking up the ball Disney dropped.

17:30 / 08.04.02

Sorry, I see my bad grammer in a previous post makes it look like Art Young came up with the idea. That's not true. Or at least, not to my knowledge. I meant Art Young commisioned Morrison to write for him at Disney and Sebastian O was the result.

01:30 / 09.04.02

if sebastien is pretty clearly an Oscar Wilde avatar, who are the other folks from the club?

my piss-poor guesses:

george= george Elliot (wrote 'middlemarch', perhaps the novel with the mathematical social interaction?)
fat guy= st. augustine?
sell-out guy= ?

16:45 / 10.04.02

Wasn't sure if this had come up in the film section, but at the end of Dogma, Kevin Smith thanks Grant Morrison for his inspiration.

Zoom.

13:32 / 18.04.02

My brother is currently making his way through Animal Man. Last night, while waiting my turn in our jam comic, I picked up the Dolphin issue. It finally occured to me just how many of the Forgotten Heroes were squeezed into the series. The Sea Devils, Dolphin, Rip Hunter, Immortal Man. Too bad he couldn't manage to sneak in Cave Carson, Congo Bill or Rick Flag.

05:20 / 19.04.02

You know, I never noticed that, although the first time around I wasn't aware of who the Forgotten Heroes were. Animal Man was one of my first forays into DC, along with Power Of The Atom, LSH and pre Morrison Doom Patrol.

As for Sebastian O, I haven't read the series for so long I can't remember if the other characters did represent anyone else.

21:35 / 07.05.02

For anyone who's interested, the Marvel Knights Double Shot #2 comes out tomorrow, with a GM-penned Nick Fury story.

Zoom.

The Natural Way

07:42 / 08.05.02

Yeah, that airport business in Dogma was lifted fron Flex.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:39 / 08.05.02

What, the bit where Loki persuades a Nun to give up Christianity was inspired by the way Flex heroically leaps to stop a fake bomb from exploding?

Murray Hamhandler

01:38 / 09.05.02

So the Nick Fury story was nothing earth-shattering, but a pretty decent little humorous tale. Grant can do some decent comedy when the mood strikes him. Diarrhea indeed!
Arthur Sudnam, II

02:18 / 09.05.02

Zoom saith: Wasn't sure if this had come up in the film section, but at the end of Dogma, Kevin Smith thanks Grant Morrison for his inspiration.

Listen closely: as the feces-demon appears, it says "Not born--shit into existence" in a distorted voice. Which is lifted verbatim from one of the text pieces at the back of Arkham Asylum--the Clayface one, to be precise.

The Natural Way

07:47 / 09.05.02

Well, interesting...

No, Lada-and-all-that-flowers-business, the whole "I love going to airports, watching humanity go by.... You never get bored....blah..."

A little thing. Maybe wasn't lifted, but could've been.

Our Lady of The Two Towers

17:02 / 09.05.02

But the Clayface thing, I'm sure that is in itself a quote from somewhere else.

Though Google would disagree. Damn.

21:39 / 09.05.02

as fate would have it, I'll be seeing Grant at a convention this weekend (Well, fate or pushy friends who make me agree to stuff when I'm drunk). Anyone have any questions they'd like me to ask him?

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