Grant Morrison: the Early Years

[Michel Weisnor]

http://comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11069

This one's for you Julian! 

Sorry, I couldn't help myself...

[Super Monkey]

quote:

What do you think about “Crisis on Infinite Earths'” influence on Morrison? I sometimes wonder if that influence is more profound than he lets on. “Crisis” is hugely important to the plot of “Animal Man,” and Morrison has returned to it again recently in the form of “52,” and in a kind of rebellious way in “All Star Superman.” It's kind of a “Screw you, ‘Crisis!'” book.

Yeah, it's like, “Okay, everything after ‘Crisis' didn't happen. This is the pre-‘Crisis' Superman and he's always been around and screw you, John Byrne.” I get that sense. And also, “Zenith” phase 3 is the British version of “Crisis.” It totally is. In my interview with him, he says “Crisis” was coming out in a time in his life when he was not that interested in superhero comics. He enjoyed it as a superhero spectacle, but he was more interested in the underground, alternative stuff that was going on. He was more of a punk rock kid. He could appreciate “Crisis” as being cool superheroes stuff, but he wasn't really that into it.

However, I think it fits right into a lot of his themes. He certainly has a lot of apocalyptic overtones in a lot of his writing, and “Crisis” fits right into that scheme. The thing that “Crisis” did well just naturally jibed with what he was interested in anyway. And then there's the whole idea of continuity. I think the thing about “Crisis” is “Crisis” is definitely a rejection of the Silver Age, and grant Morrison continually wants to bring back the Silver Age and reinvent the Silver Age. In that sense, “Crisis” is a major influence on him just because of the way it treated all those Silver Age characters and wrote them out of existence. So, I think in that way it is certainly important to his work.

[Super Monkey]

and part TWO:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11077

[Super Monkey]

and finally Part three, which focuses on his legendary run on Doom Patrol:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11089

a little quote:

It's interesting that while we're talking about readers like that, we've found ourselves talking about “Doom Patrol.” A lot of people who don't like Morrison's work have had a big problem with his “Doom Patrol,” vis-à-vis the subtext and this idea of “creator intent.” It's interesting because “Doom Patrol” creator Arnold Drake endorsed Morrison's work, while some Doom Patrol fans have decried it.

The “anti” kinds of sentiments were very loud on the internet recently, when John Byrne worked on a new version of the “classic” Doom Patrol…

Yeah….

… which was a tremendous failure.

Shockingly.