What is your honest opinion on Grant Morrison?

What is your honest opinion on Grant Morrison?

Decent writer, made the wrong choice in alienating people in the late 80's/early 90's in an attempt to be punk (a wrong choice I see that a bunch of comics bloggers/reviewers/etc unintentionally follow even when they criticize Morrison), does better at DC and his creator-owned stuff than at Marvel.

A bit preachy sometimes, but I really enjoyed his Animal Man run and Klaus was decent.

Has gotten a bit tired and his output has gotten more repetitive. But he stills knocks some quality stuff out like Nameless.

He's a poor mans Robert Anton Wilson, which is still really good for comic book writer to me.

>late 80's/early 90's in an attempt to be punk

Elaborate.

he says comics books are too serious and should be fun yet he doesn't write fun comics
he's like Moore without good stuff

He's a very good writer when he wants to be but whenever he gets stuck he just relies on metatextual plots to get him out of doing character development

He needs to show up in more music videos doing crazy shit

yeah I agree with this. he's been repeating themes pretty hard

He's shit.

His columns. And in some ways maybe some of his interviews at the time. I think Moore overreacted to Morrison (and besides Moore admits to overreacting to some things, so it wouldn't surprise me) but at the same time after reading some of it I could see why Moore (and Chaykin and others) could get upset at him back then. At the same time I see what he did then isn't that much different from a lot of highly regarded comic reviewers do, except maybe the modern reviewers having somewhat of a larger breadth of comic knowledge.

I still hold Morrison in as much high regard as Moore and Chaykin (whether that's a compliment or insult is up to you), though.

>he doesn't write fun comics

I see that as being kind of inevitable with a lot of comic writers. Millar, Ellis, Ennis repeat themes pretty hard as well. And even there are writers that aren't as good as them also do the same.

He's the best case scenario of hit-or-miss where his highs are high and his lows are middling. I think he is in dire need of a good editor, but I can't think of a person alive who could perform the right incantations to get him working on consistently good shit like Nameless. He is absolutely full of himself and he's a shameless self-promoter, but that's what you need to make it in comics. His more minor works don't get tossed around as much as the huge, bombastic stuff he does, but it all helped set a tone (along with Moore) in the cape genre which hasn't really faded. I think his legacy in comics will be similar to the great inventors of the last 100 years: Mainly forgotten except for small circles, but their influences will be felt for generations to come.

>And even there are writers that aren't as good as them also do the same.

There's loads of classical writers in literature that repeat the same themes over and over. No one gives Dostoevsky shit for writing several books about existential themes.

Could you be even more vague, please?

He wrote stuff that offended some people in an attempt to provoke.

read more comics

GOAT

I like him but he should be incharge, do elseworlds

Excellent. So good that many here are forced to hate him because he's too popular.

overrated hack

looks like mob but old and bald

He made a purdy lady.

The guy's a genius.
That doesn't necessarily mean that he always produces good comics, but he is a literal genius.
Most of his failures are in losing perspective and forgetting the inherent limitations of his readership or even the original task set before him.
For good Old-God's sake, comics are meant as leisure reading for a youth demographic.

Then there's my pet peeve of how he oversteps his boundaries and takes liberties with canon he himself hasn't established.
(there's an etiquette in the industry, Grant)

All in all, his works are an experience more than an entertainment. High thought-form art rather than pop-culture.
Transcendent obnoxiousness.

One of the best superhero comic book writers of his time.

He's not the best we have in the medium of comics as a whole, but when it comes to Big 2 writing, he's one of the greatest.

>For good Old-God's sake, comics are meant as leisure reading for a youth demographic.
"No."

if you asked me what happened in most of his works, i couldn't tell you, but I'm still emotionally affected

New X-Men is more damaging to the franchise than Austen's run was
fuck him

>Muhgneto

I can admire how clever he is but I don't particularly enjoy reading his comics as I'm more into funner, easier to read more comedy based stuff like Young Justice. His Batman stuff is GOAT though.

I really like him even though he groped me once.

Name me 10 indie comics better than Flex Mentallo.

user, I'm not saying it's not capable of entertaining an adult audience, but the medium is standardized as intentionally accessible for younger readers than who Morrison typically attempts to connect to.

Love and Rockets
Annihilator
L'Incal
The Metabarons
Sin City
Hellboy
Prophet
Astro City
Locke and Key
Jackie Chan

*maybe* four of those count.
(but to be fair, 10 was a hard ask)

all of them are creator-owned and published by non-Big 2 companies, though

except Prophet, I guess

It terms of comics: This.

I'd like to get into Grant Morrison. Anyone here have suggestions on which of his comics I should read?

Start at Animal Man then go wherever the wind might take you

it's all pretty good outside of maybe Kill Your Boyfriend

the invisibles and seaguy are godlike

but they get straight into the crazy, Animal Man sort of eases you in

The Coyote Gospel is issue five.

but aside from Coyote Gospel it's pretty standard cape fare for the first half-ish of the run

that's easing in

He's wrote some good stuff, he's wrote some bad stuff, he's alright. But his fans who act like his shit don't stink are cancer

Grant Morrison is my Frank Quietly delivery device, I don't have much interest in his work outside of that. He's too in love with superheroes and that's not really my thing.

Burnham is great too

Flex is my least favorite of their collaborations, maybe tied with JLA Earth 2.

Whatever character you're least invested in

And Astro City.

The crazy is doable in seaguy

Invisibles is a rough first time read because of hopping into the past, and the amount of reference material. Its still a gift that keeps giving.

Seven Soliders of Victory is a good starting read, but its super hero heavy.

Personally I like his work with heroes, it keeps him grounded to something

Grant is a cool guy, the last thing he did that I really liked was Klaus, the whole comic is really perfect.

Stray Bullets, Hate, Acme Novelty Library, Jim, Blammo, Eye of the Majestic Creature, Love & Rockets, Percy Gloom, Sam Zabel and the Magic Pen, Swallow Me Whole, Wally Gropius, Phonogram, X'ed Out trilogy, Starlight/ Superior/ Jupiter's Legacy+ Circle, Ed the Happy Clown, Tom Strong, Top 10, The Maxx, American Flagg!, Nexus

>What is your honest opinion on Grant Morrison?
I like him a lot, but familiarity breeds contempt and you can't have him on an ongoing without it getting tedious. He's also going to want huge changes that are going to be undone eventually (jean grey, dead bats).

I'd love it if DC just offered him a 'take a B, C, or D lister and have fun with him' deal. I think he could run a cool Dr Fate, especially if they went to Jared for it.

Some of his more normie work (klaus) is disappointing.

Mark Millar has been a better writer for the past two decades

i only see himmmmmmmmmmmmmm in nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn MCRM THE FB AV of KJ

muhhhltiversity is gay

I think one of my biggest peeves with Morrison is that he expects to make these large-scale changes unilaterally while working in a shared universe then gets pissy when it doesn't take. If he wanted to shake things up so badly he should have gone editorial or corporate.

>t. Mark Millar

Astro City is creator-owned and started at Image

Flex isn't that good of a book at all
also Morrison wasted based Murphy's art on Joe the Barbarian

>literally just naming comics that come into your minds
Astro City and Jupiter's Legacy (to give an example from each post) have absolutely nothing on Flex.

>I think one of my biggest peeves with Morrison is that he expects to make these large-scale changes unilaterally while working in a shared universe then gets pissy when it doesn't take
Does he, though? I mean, the Bat-thing was hard, Batman's a fucking tentpole and while people DID love Dickbats, they need Bat for money.

But his changes to X-men were solid.

And I don't know if he really got pissy so much. I mean, they kept blocking him in Marvel so he left, but they let him do pretty much what he wanted in DC and just changed a couple endings.

The dude had a CGI/Prose issue. If they were going to stop anything, they would have stopped that. Cause it was shit.

>Flex isn't that good of a book at all
Source?

>Starlight/ Superior/ Jupiter's Legacy+ Circle

No

Take your shit taste on go on Astro City's part

That is some very bad stuff to do, but every time at least half of his ideas are worthy of being taken up by other writers.
For every dead Jean Grey there's an Emmaclops ship.
For every Final Crisis there's a Serious House on a Serious Earth.
If he had gotten the green-light from some suit the chances are just as bad that the worst of the ideas will be the only ones allowed.
Just remember all those incredibly tragic editorial mandate decisions that have been done to us over the years with nothing worthwhile to show for it.

Final Crisis>Serious House

most people who read it

My all time favorite writer. His Doom Patrol filled me with such joy in highschool. To see a new issue with a Simon Bisley cover on the rack sent my heart racing.
My wish is to see his work break into movies/television, like some of his contemporaries.

Starlight and Superior executes everything Flex does but in a not faggy or pretentious way

his fans are the second biggest fags besides Johnsfags

I love him so damn much. Animal Man, JLA, The Filth, and the Invisibles all really affected me in a way no other writer ever has.

Them's fightin' mathematical symbols!

Flex is a deeply personal work that tries to be universal.

Kelly's JLA is better

We rather like to think of ourselves as a cult awaiting the coming of the Great Multiversity.

kinda related but my biggest pet peeve is when people give X-Men reading lists and the go from Claremont straight to Morrison
I can't even comprehend that

4u

They're making a Happy! movie

MASSIVELY overrated.

Fleeting glimpses of smart writing and a WHOLE LOTTA 4th grade stupid is mistaken for not-yet-understood genius.

He makes connections in his stories the same way velcro sticks to stuff.
Find a story with fuzzy logic (which happens to be 98% of comic book writing anyway) and *shwack*, INSTANT GENIUS!

>WHAT IF COMIC BOOKS WERE REAL, AND THEY INFLUENCED THE REAL WORLD?
is a concept I literally came up with when I was literally twelve.
It was stupid then, and it's stupid now.

ehhhhhhhhh.....I read it at the time and I liked it, but damn is it uneven. Obsidian age is a 2/3rds really bad story ( the good third is replacement league and thats great) focused on apache chief of all people, Faith is a character who makes no sense and was never explained. Nazi private school arc was similarly flawed ( good: each league member feels guilt in a unique way. Bad: everything else). the only really good arc is martian manhunter/burning martian.

it's too broken and incomplete to compete with
Morrison JLA

>comic books aren't real
well damn I guess I must be imagining all this shit on my bookshelf, who knew

yikes

Nameless wasn't very good. Burying your story/dialogue in obscure references to ancient pagan religions just makes it a chore to read, even with the back matter of the trade explaining it all.

Chris Burnham was firing on all cylinders though

He can't think, he can't write

I agree, Nameless is definitely one of his weaker works

Ironically this post really made a nigga think hard bout stuff.

probably the least talented of all the UK Invasion writers but best marketer and craziest fans

no, that's Ellis or Millar if we include the second wave

I find his fans don't really like a lot of other comic books
it's weird

>I find his fans don't really like a lot of other comic books
Proofs?

what's wrong with you

every Morrison thread ever

>seriously trying to argue that Millar is better than Morrison
Ellis is more arguable, but for one thing he rarely finishes anything and he really likes telling shitty edgy superheroes-gone-wrong stories over and over

also Transmetropolitan isn't that good

I read ALL KINDS of other books, you shit

>no proofs
as expected

what about Ben'isfags?

do those exist?

Is there such a thing?

he doesn't write a single character people care about

That's right, humour the "insightful" anons among us...
( Just don't tell them about the purely conceptual value of currency, they might really freak out. )