I'm the managing editor of Orang Utan Comics, group editor of AAM/Markosia, writer of Alpha Gods, Hypergirl and Hero: 9-5, and also do freelance inking and lettering work for the likes of AAM/Markosia, Slave Labour, Top Shelf, Image, Marvel/Panini and I letter the official Doctor Who graphic novels for BBC Books.
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I find it tragic but quite pertinent to this piece that the loudest voice in our business – the one that carries the furthest and is taken most seriously by the mainstream media – is the one that offers nothing but contempt and denunciation, with barely a single good word to say about any of the many accomplished and individual writers currently working in mainstream comics, let alone the wealth of brilliant indie creators. Does he ever, for instance, use his high media profile to do anything other than steer potential readers away from modern comic books and their creators – while over-playing his own achievements and placing himself centre stage at every turn? How hard would it be to say something encouraging, positive, or hopeful about the generally improved standard of writing in all comic books these days? Or at least say nothing at all.
And if I may untangle the logic behind so much of his hectoring: Moore constantly reiterates the idea that all modern comics are copied from stuff he did in the ’80s – and they’re all rubbish!
Is he genuinely saying that his influence has been entirely malignant? If he actually believed that, I’d almost feel sorry for him. I see my own influence all over the place and I’m quite chuffed.
Grant Morrison, on Alan Moore’s accusations that Morrison has been stealing from him for years.
[via ComicsAlliance]
(via comicsalliance)
(via comicsalliance)
programme for the glasgow comic con this weekend. really looking forward to seeing jim starlin and grant morrison.
I’m not mildly terrified by seeing the words “An Audience With Alan Grant hosted by Ian Sharman” there at all…oh no…
Thus we must all go to An Audience with Alan Grant hosted by Ian Sharman :P
I’m slightly less nervous about The Doctor Who Panel hosted by Ian Sharman…
programme for the glasgow comic con this weekend. really looking forward to seeing jim starlin and grant morrison.
I’m not mildly terrified by seeing the words “An Audience With Alan Grant hosted by Ian Sharman” there at all…oh no…
Via Bleeding Cool:
As of today’s release of Action Comics #1 by Grant Morrison, The Comic Conspiracy, will until further notice, be boycotting all future Grant Morrison books. If you want Action Comics, you will have to buy it elsewhere.
Christian comic book readers and shop owners. Join us in the Grant Morrison Boycott. Action Comics #1 is a slap in the face to Superman, Christians and Superman creators Siegel and Shuster!!
I could see Guy Gardner and maybe even Hal Jordan (Green Lanterns) saying it. I could see Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) saying it. I could easily see Damian Wayne (Robin) or MAYBE even Bruce Wayne saying it. But Superman was created to be the “perfect” super-hero. Unblemished. Superman is an American icon.
It grieves me to see a liberal Scottish schmuck like Grant Morrison take these liberties. I’m sorry, Superman would NEVER take God’s name in vain. In the words of the late Jim Croce, “You don’t tug on Superman’s cape.
The story “attitude” didn’t bother me. I’ve had to accept a LOT of changes over my nearly 35 years in the business. However, Superman saying “GD” isn’t going to fly with me.
This wasn’t creative flow. It wasn’t necessary in the story. It isn’t Superman at all. And it goes against a basic Christian principle. It was a blatant stab.
I deal with books like “Crossed” and “The Boys”. I accepted gay characters being introduced into a children specific book like Archie Comics. I however am getting very tired of having comic writer’s liberal agendas force fed to me. Mr. Morrison has stepped over my line. If I have to stand alone on this… I will.
The boycott stands. All orders for Action Comics #2, as well as any other books written by Grant Morrison will be cancelled as soon as Diamond Comics opens it’s offices today. I ask my customers to understand as best they can. I understand that it’s only a comic and it’s not the real world, but I feel that as a Christian I have to draw the line somewhere.
Outside of the religious community, GD can stand for “graphic design” and plenty of other things. It’s only used to mean “god damn” in Christian circles.
The “Gd” above, on the other hand, looks like a grunt to me, similar to the “Hh” Morrison uses for Batman’s laughs/exhalations.This comic shop owner is completely hilarious. I sort of hope it’s a joke, but at the same time I sort of hope it’s not a joke. I want to hold faith that stupid people can be this funny.
This has to be a joke… Really… Please tell me it’s a joke…
(via constellation-funk)
(Trigger warning discussion of rape)
Rolling Stone has an eye-opening interview with Grant Morrison posted and the writer has some very interesting things to say about the treatment of women comics.
On Sue Dibney’s rape in Brad Metzler’s Identity Crisis:
The first time I read it I was kind of outraged. I thought this was just… why? What the fuck is this, really? It wasn’t even normal. It was outrageous. It was preposterous because of the Elongated Man with his arms wrapped several times around the corpse of his wife. I thought something is broken here. Something has gone so wrong in this image.
That plotline faced a lot of criticism, in part because people saw it as misogynistic.
It’s hard to tell because most men try to avoid misogyny, really they do, in this world we live in today. It’s hard for me to believe that a shy bespectacled college graduate like Brad Meltzer who’s a novelist and a father is a really setting out to be weirdly misogynistic. But unfortunately when you’re looking at this beloved character who’s obviously been ass-raped on the Justice League satellite, even saying it kind of takes you to that dot dot dot where you don’t know what else to say.
Maybe it’s for the best that DC Comics is starting over now.
But I don’t know. There’s been lots of things, the sexism in DC because it’s mostly men who work in these places. Nobody should be trying to say we’re taking up a specifically anti-woman stance. I think it would be ignorance or stupidity or some God knows what. I was reading some Alan Moore Marvelman for some reason today. I found one in the back there and I couldn’t believe. I pick it up and there are fucking two rapes in it and I suddenly think how many times has somebody been raped in an Alan Moore story? And I couldn’t find a single one where someone wasn’t raped except for Tom Strong, which I believe was a pastiche. We know Alan Moore isn’t a misogynist but fuck, he’s obsessed with rape. I managed to do thirty years in comics without any rape!I’m be interested to hear if Morrison includes The Killing Joke as one of Moore’s books that include rape. I’ve always been of the mind that there wasn’t but I’d love to hear his thoughts.
But it is quite amazing to hear Morrison talking about the misogyny in Identity Crisis. Maybe this will finally shut up the apologists I’ve come across throughout the net.
Na na na - My Chemical Romance
“Louder than God’s revolver, and twice as shiny.”
Love the song, love the video…and, yes, for those of you who don’t know, that’s Grant Morrison…
