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Post by sabongero on Mar 2, 2016 18:11:43 GMT -5
Just like people say that Orwellian is of or something to do with being a futuristic totalitarian state which in wikipedia had something like a societal condition of being destructive to a free society. And just like Machiavellan is the employment of deceit and cunning in general conduct. Both derived the interpretation from the works of Orwell and Machiavelli.
What in Grant Morrison's work can you call "Morrisonian", and how is it so?
Since I loved the whole Batman run, let me start with that. Morrisonian is someone who references Golden Age/Silver Age things in his work (i.e. the Bat-Radia and Batman of Zur-En-Arrh). He loves multiple dimensions and universes. Hence his comic book, Multiversity.
I think one of the keys to "Morrisonian" is that his works are like giant puzzles where he gives the reader most of the pieces early on. But then he makes the readers wait to see how they fit together. His writing is kind of like how the painter, Henri Matisse painted. There are all these little dots that you might miss if you do not look closely. But then again if you look too closely at it, or if you look far too long, then you might miss what he is actually trying to show you in his painting.
In The Invisibles he placed the characters through traumatic, terrible, dreamlike events which was a way of facing down our individual demons and moving past. It's sort of like how King Mob slowly came to question the purpose of his casual violence, after his torture at the hands of Sir Miles. He described it as ab initiation crisis or the rites of what an initiate into magic would endure, which are symbolic representations of the growing pains we undergo. Grant Morrison represented it in All Star Superman as a dying Superman facing Lex Luthor.
Please feel free to add to the discussion. I don't know if Grant Morrison is a polarizing figure in comic books like Brian Michael Bendis is, but I hope we can all have a pleasant conversation about this here. I'm looking forward to reading everyone's thoughts and opinions on this one. Thanks.
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Post by Arthur Gordon Scratch on Mar 2, 2016 20:14:25 GMT -5
Oh he most definitovely is polarizing over hee, much more so then Bendis. At least with Bendis, most agree on what few good stuff he's responsible of and what is not important enough to even care. Morrison is a much different affair.
I trust I've read at least 95% of all his output, starting from late 70ies british fanzines.
I remember the first work of his that fascinated me was Zenith. But I was a young teen. I've read it again a few years ago and found it to be quite atrocious as well as heavily in debt of Alan Moore. That is the main problem with Morrison, his fascination with Moore and his reluctance to admit it. So I guess the works of his I seek the most are those that stay away from that.
The most recent comic I read from hiim was Klaus, and it is the most stupid comic I bought of recent, I deeply regret that purchase, as I explained in my review of this.
The works of his I look forward of eventually revisiting are those :
Sebastian O, The Filth, The Mystery Play, Animal Man and his X-Men work, even if I remember the ending being highly disapointing. I have yet to sit and read his Batman epic in one take as I'm far behind with it, but I have all the issues. I'm not overtly confident though.
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Post by dupersuper on Mar 2, 2016 20:49:07 GMT -5
trippy
high-minded epic sounding super hero pseudo-science
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Post by tingramretro on Mar 4, 2016 3:17:18 GMT -5
To be honest, Morrison has always struck me as a bit of an Alan Moore wannabe, and I find a lot of his stuff unreadable. Zenith is particularly overrated. About the only thing he's done that I remain genuinely impressed by is Animal Man.
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Post by dupersuper on Mar 4, 2016 23:42:24 GMT -5
To be honest, Morrison has always struck me as a bit of an Alan Moore wannabe, and I find a lot of his stuff unreadable. Zenith is particularly overrated. About the only thing he's done that I remain genuinely impressed by is Animal Man. I love Animal Man. Also, JLA. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 5, 2016 0:00:02 GMT -5
I like a lot of Morrison's work. I love some (like certain issues of Animal Man). I think a lot is overrated. I think that a fair part of it is not very good. And some is utter shite (Supergods). There is a LOT of naval-gazing, which I usually don't like.
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Post by tingramretro on Mar 5, 2016 2:52:55 GMT -5
To be honest, Morrison has always struck me as a bit of an Alan Moore wannabe, and I find a lot of his stuff unreadable. Zenith is particularly overrated. About the only thing he's done that I remain genuinely impressed by is Animal Man. I love Animal Man. Also, JLA. I think I may be the only person on the planet who didn't like Morrison's JLA. I've no real interest in any lineup of a team that focuses primariily on characters who have their own titles, as it means nothing of significance can happen in the team book. I also have little interest in continuous cosmic level threats, which is about all you can reasonably do with a lineup that powerful. And, fundamentally, I just don't much like Morrison's writing style on the book. I genuinely preferred the previous version of the League(s), even Extreme Justice.
However, Morrison's White Martians storyline did provide me wth my favourite scene ever focused on Batman-and it's a scene that Batman isn't even in... |
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Post by dupersuper on Mar 5, 2016 5:31:28 GMT -5
I love Animal Man. Also, JLA. I think I may be the only person on the planet who didn't like Morrison's JLA. I've no real interest in any lineup of a team that focuses primariily on characters who have their own titles, as it means nothing of significance can happen in the team book. Fun. Fun can happen. Very much fun. |
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Post by dupersuper on Mar 5, 2016 5:32:20 GMT -5
I love Animal Man. Also, JLA. I also have little interest in continuous cosmic level threats, which is about all you can reasonably do with a lineup that powerful. And, fundamentally, I just don't much like Morrison's writing style on the book. I genuinely preferred the previous version of the League(s), even Extreme Justice.
I get the feeling we'd like very different books... |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 5, 2016 11:48:33 GMT -5
I love Animal Man. Also, JLA. I think I may be the only person on the planet who didn't like Morrison's JLA. I've no real interest in any lineup of a team that focuses primariily on characters who have their own titles, as it means nothing of significance can happen in the team book. I also have little interest in continuous cosmic level threats, which is about all you can reasonably do with a lineup that powerful. And, fundamentally, I just don't much like Morrison's writing style on the book. I genuinely preferred the previous version of the League(s), even Extreme Justice.
However, Morrison's White Martians storyline did provide me wth my favourite scene ever focused on Batman-and it's a scene that Batman isn't even in... I wouldn't say I dislike Morrison's JLA. But I don't know what all the fuss was about. It was a good run of JLA. But it wasn't the greatest thing ever. I think a lot of the hype at the time was that the Justice League had been so dire for so long that anything decent would exceptionally good. And Porter's art was horrible. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2016 7:19:36 GMT -5
To be honest, Morrison has always struck me as a bit of an Alan Moore wannabe, and I find a lot of his stuff unreadable. Zenith is particularly overrated. Same here - to me, "Morrisonian" is a vast overly-complex pseudo-profound epic structure which on closer examination doesn't actually make sense. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 7, 2016 8:29:32 GMT -5
The Yin : Pseudo-deep concepts, name dropping, haphazard continuity.
The Yang : Some unexpected plot twists, disregard for sacred cows, interesting dialog.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2016 23:37:21 GMT -5
 His greatest work in DC Comics was the Justice League of America and I really feel that he really done a marvelous job of doing so and I wished he still at this book. The main reason for that book was to make Plastic-Man a member of that group and when he did that it was a masterstroke of pure genius on his part. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Mar 7, 2016 23:38:27 GMT -5
The Yin : Pseudo-deep concepts, name dropping, haphazard continuity. The Yang : Some unexpected plot twists, disregard for sacred cows, interesting dialog. You forgot navel-gazing. |
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Post by batlaw on Mar 8, 2016 1:25:21 GMT -5
When I hear his name, I envision Arkham Asylum GN and his JLA run. Both some of my all time favorite comic works. At that time (late 80s early 90s?) I considered Morrison one of if not my favorite comic writer. Funny and sad that now I can't remember the last thing he's done I genuinely enjoyed and Ive come to avoid his stuff. Now when I think of Morrison I think overwritten pretentious nonsense.
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