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Saturday, April 02, 2005
Grant Morrison's Night pt. 2
Part 1
Comic Book Resources' report (told you he was a snappy dresser).
Continuing with the Q&A from the audience and the discussion of magick, the universe and everything someone asked what books about magick inspired him. Morrison talked about how it was his uncle’s enthusiasm for the subject that sparked his interest. The talk of Christ chopping his own arm off (what to have it grow back, sir) was an inspiration. This uncle also gave Morrison his very first tarot card deck. There were magazines like “Lamp of Thought” and “Cybernomicon” that also got him into magick. They were like an escape from doing any hard research like a scholar. It was like “punk magick” because it was free of any dogma. The writer Ramsey Dukes was also someone that really clicked for Morrison. Crowley’s name was brought up, but Morrison didn’t really have much use for him. He felt the work that Crowley’s work is too historical and its best to steer clear of. He did like the mountain climber’s style of prose, though.
The next question asked about the Seven Soldiers “anti-series,” as Morrison called, that he’s working on now. It’s based around stuff he picks up on from old DC comics, like the universe Qwerq. He wondered what that universe would be like if it grew up and because something of a teenager. Morrison also went on to say he enjoys reading his old work because it’s like someone else wrote it, “especially the 90’s.”
A person asked if Morrison has created any new gods, and I think Morrison is the only comic book writer who would ask “you mean the characters or actual new gods?” Morrison explained how you can make energy that can conjure up any god you can want to. You can get really fucking angry to get the god of war, and then just get rid of him with a laugh. Your god might be a little FedEx truck (complete with little man driving it) but Morrison chose the New God Metron for his. Marvel Boy was meant to be his Horus character; he just gave it the form of a teenage boy from another universe “because that’s how I get paid.”
The best question of the night, in my mind, was when someone said that they appreciate the moral focus in his stories and the optimisms that can be found. Crazy Jane’s recovery in Doom Patrol and the plain optimism found in JLA were given examples. It was asked if he figures the moral and ethics in his stories before he writes them. Morrison said he’s not aware of any moral sense when he’s writing. He is an optimistic person and that simply comes out in his stories. He declared that comics have a duty to give the reader hope. The moral sense comes from the universe in which he writes for. Superman has the strong sense of moral code and a moral super-strength. He solves all the world’s problems without taking a life. If one feeds off that energy of a universe where the good guys always wins, maybe the good guys will get some wins here.
Next up was a person asking about his writing style and if he plans his overarching storylines, many of which wrap up in awesome endings, at the very beginning of writing them. Morrison admits that a great amount of work goes into his writing. The end is always in his mind, it’s just a matter of filling in the blanks. He sees it as a bit like architecture. A lot of the times it something that he is compelled to communicate. “The Invisibles were a weight in my head.”
Morrison’s musical plans were asked about. He said he plans to release a record through his website. Steven Severin of Siouxsie & the Banshees is a friend of his and Morrison said he wants to work with him. Morrison, by the way, does an awesome Morrissey impression. His taste in guitars is also pretty nice, what with the news of his purchase of a white Rickenbacker 12-string. I bet he’ll be banging out some George Harrison-esque riffs out of that one.
Someone went back into the past asking if his All-Star Superman has any elements of the Superman pitch he was a part of years ago. Morrison said he’s glad DC said no to the first pitch because he has much better ideas now. One thing that remains is his conversation with a fan at Comic-Con dressed as Superman who had the conversation as Superman. He was “ridiculously shamanic” and so very relaxed. After all, that’s how would be with the lack of any of the vulnerabilities we lowly mortals have. “He sits on a cloud looking down and saying ‘aren’t they great?’ Oh look, one’s about to hurt himself ZOOOOOM!” It was the inspiration for the cover of the first issue of All-Star Superman (I’d abbreviate that but it would come out as “Grant Morrison’s ASS” which I’m sure will now bump up my hit count). Joe Casey then asked about the Superman the next day spotted in Ralph’s. “It was the Dan Clowes’ Superman” with his grey hair and fucked-up look. He was just as good, “just the George Bush Superman.” That led to an account of how excited Chris Weston was to meet Bizarro walking through the convention halls. It was when Bizarro would simply not leave did the once excited Weston start to get terrified. The story ends with Bizarro leaving up a flight of stairs with everybody saying “Hello Bizarro!” which he delivered a hearty “Hello!” back. “Then he was probably arrested by the police and raped in a jail cell.”
One theme in Morrison’s work is his love of animals, which was asked about. “I really like them, used to have six cats. They defy everything and are really smart, too.” He’s fascinated by their different ways of communicating, either with each other or with humans. They “connect you to how we used to be.” He mentioned the emotion they’ve found chimps go through when things like kittens they are given die. “And they say they’re not human.” Morrison mentioned that in the past Blacks and Jews have been viewed as “not human” as well. The classification of who is human or not just changes with whomever the focus group is at the time.
The last question of the night asked who would win in the inevitable chaos magician war between him and Alan Moore. Morrison said “it’s not like that” but did then say “I’ve been doing it since 1978, he’s been doing it since 1994…what do you think?” He also told us that “the last issue of Promethea had some glaring errors.” At that point Jay Babcock mentioned that Morrison is the only person who saw Donnie Darko and said he knew it was inaccurate from personal experience. Then us audience members were invited to line-up and get books signed or even “follow him into the book so he can show you his 5th Dimension.”
I got in line to get my books, Doom Patrol #34 and Near Myths #5, signed by the man and have a little bit of a chat with him as well. Standing in line I heard a young woman talk into her cell phone and say “he look exactly the same in person and yes he is” with quite a bit of giddiness. Upon meeting the man (probably the most excited I’ve ever been as a comic fan) he told me that the Doom Patrol issue was one of his favorites and was surprised that I got a copy of Near Myths. I told him of the time I read every issue of Invisibles in one day and he seemed interested in how I felt afterwards. I said I could relate to his story about seeing time happening all at once, because I got something of that feeling as well. He was glad to hear it, saying the books are designed to impart that feeling onto the reader. We were two people in Los Angeles having a serious conversation about seeing through time. I loved it. I then asked if he checks out the comics blogosphere. He said he really didn’t. I explained that a lot of us are fans of Morrison’s work and wondered if he had a message for us (I actual thought of having him do an audio post from my cell phone but figured it would have held up the line). He said “thanks for reading and I love them all.” That’s Grant Morrison’s message to you bloggers. Savor it!
Permanent Link: 7:16 PM |
1 comments
Comments:
I don't know if you'll read this, but do you happen to have a link to the photo with Grant Morrison, Chris Weston and Bizarro giving the thumbs down?
# posted by Henrique : 1:29 PM
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