grantmorrison808
Or talks to God or whatever. IGN-UK has a big interview with him which has tons of pull quotes on everything and anything. We’ll quote the bit everyone else has, but you have to read the other parts, too:

I’ve been listening to people talk about ‘saving’ the ‘industry’ for over 20 years while comics have continued to be published and have, in fact, become better, to the point where the only conclusion I’ve come to is that comics are best ‘saved’ by sealing them in Mylar bags! Everything else is just messianic inflation. Just do good books and stop trying to be the savior of a whole medium that’s been doing okay without you and will continue long after you’re gone.

Yes, I think Kirkman’s right, in that I’d like to see more of our creative community unleashing their wild imaginations onto the page and less of the obvious ‘movie pitch on paper stuff’ that’s come about recently as a result of comic creators chasing the Hollywood dollar but I don’t have a problem with writers and artists working on Marvel and DC properties if they enjoy it. I’d rather read a good Green Lantern story by someone who cares than work my way through a ‘creator-owned’ project that’s been created solely to appeal to lowest-common-denominator movie executives.

Otherwise, he’s possibly being slightly disingenuous by issuing this ‘call to arms’ at a time when, to be honest, I can’t think of any significant comic book writer for Marvel or DC who doesn’t have creator work on the go. Apart from Geoff Johns, who’s told me he much prefers writing DC superhero books, everyone else – me, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar, JMS, Garth Ennis, Matt Fraction, Brian Bendis, Kurt Busiek, etc etc – seems to be hard at work creating new properties, so I’m not entirely sure where the problem lies.

21 COMMENTS

  2. I have to say, I share his eye rolling response to calls to save the industry. At 45 I am a member of the generation of buyers that took comics into the current Direct Market system and ever since I heard Jeremiads about how it’ll destroy everything and hand wringing about where the next generation of readers will come from, but whenever I go to the shop I see people half my age and younger in there buying comics. Girls too, and more of them than ever.

    Strange, but true: these kids also wail about where the new readers are coming from! You are the new readers!

  3. “everyone else – me, Warren Ellis, Mark Millar, JMS, Garth Ennis, Matt Fraction, Brian Bendis, Kurt Busiek, etc etc – seems to be hard at work creating new properties, so I’m not entirely sure where the problem lies.”

    That IS the problem, you trailer hitch dingus! You guys are all cheesy writers, stealing all your moves from Frank Miller and Alan Moore and regurgitating ad-nauseum what better writers pioneered in the 60s through 80s.

    Creatively, this decade is worst than ever for the Big Two. A true failure of imagination. Thank goodness for alternatives to the Big Two in alternative comics.

  4. “…I had this idea of doing something like The Wiz, you know, an all-black version of The New Gods! All Kirby’s gods were going to be seen as black characters, and everyone would have been designed in a kind of Sun Ra, George Clinton, Funkadelic sci-fi style. Which didn’t really work out as the artists didn’t exactly get the references I was going for.”

    I am suddenly quite sad. Not surprised at all, but sad.

  5. Terry’s response is funny….

    but what Grant said is exactly what I was thinking while watching Kirkman’s video

    creators working on mainstream books is basically advertising their names, so hopefully fans will follow them to their creator owned book

  6. It’s funny, but I’ve been thinking that creatively, Marvel has been making great strides, not only in story telling, but art, and coloring, too. I’m not saying, make mine Marvel or anything like that. I’m just calling what I’m seeing. Marvels got the talents. Even when they do put out a bad book (as all the writers, including Grant, do sometimes) it’s still at the very least interesting. When they do a great book, it surpasses even Alan Moore. People just don’t notice, because we’ve put the vibe out that Moore’s writing can’t be touched. We’ll never get anywhere with that attitude. I’m excited for the future of comics.

  8. Some of Alan Moore’s stuff is horrible. It’s not a far fetched notion that something Marvel has put out is better than something Alan Moore has written.

    I like Morrison’s response. I don’t think Kirkman’s message was really necessary, but when I think about the fact that a great talent like Mike Wieringo never felt like he could branch out to creator-owned work for financial reasons, it makes me really sad. We should all support creator-owned work more and make it a viable option for great talents in this industry.

  10. If this decade is marked by a failure to imagine (And I’m reminded of when Condi Rice said that 9/11 was the result of a failure in imagination. Yeah, right.), then hopefully the next decade will see us usher in a renaissance in comics–for which this decade is the gearing up for.

  11. everyone should buy what they like.

    i support all the creators that branch out. I buy their books, good or bad…and give them a shot.

    have been doing it [ creator owned] myself for years from event comics on and making a name for myself in mainstream comics helped me continue doing so.

    and yes, marvel colorists are doing fantastic work…because , i think, the editors understand color better having an artist as e.i.c, and while joe and i were there with marvel knights, we were supporting and pushing coloring in the books like no ones business.

    marvel also gives colorists a piece of the royalties…which is an incentive and about time.

    i can go on and on, but the comics journal can call me and interview me …lol.

    i got work to do.

    jimmy

  14. Personally think comics are as good as they’ve ever been in my 30 years ofcollecting. In particular Matt Fraction’s work. Sad part is that I haven’t seen anything really brilliant from Morrison since his Doom Patrol and WE. Ellis is simply amazing, his Avatar work is the best in the busineess. Ennis sontinues to produce amazing stuff though still has yet to equal Preacher. What’s missing, however, are really great long term team runs. Too much moving around and inpatience for long term character development. The loss of Exterminators is the latest example of a comic that truly deserved more time. The fault lies, of course, with fical fans with zero patience for what’s not new, Only recent really consistently brilliant long term runs are Walking Dead, Preacher, Walt Simonsons’s Thor (barely makes it due to too muchy Sal Buscema), Transmetropolitan, maybe Powers, and of cousre 100 Bullets. Oops, shouldn’t have only blamed fan. Also creators who no longer understand the value of a serious high quality run.

  16. “Only recent really consistently brilliant long term runs are Walking Dead, Preacher, Walt Simonsons’s Thor (barely makes it due to too muchy Sal Buscema), Transmetropolitan, maybe Powers, and of cousre 100 Bullets. ”

    Y, the Last Man.

  18. Yep. The comic book renaissance (and in the rest of the arts for that matter) has already started! And as for the need for more long, quality runs–I agree. What is needed more now is dedication and the commitment to be in it (a project) for the long haul.

  19. “I’d rather read a good Green Lantern story by someone who cares than work my way through a ‘creator-owned’ project that’s been created solely to appeal to lowest-common-denominator movie executives.”

    Well, golly, when you put it that way…

  20. Caring isn’t quite enough. I’m sure there have been any number of respectful creators, mainstream and indy, who “cared” about their projects.

    What’s needed is insight into the expectations of readers, and the skill to satisfy or frustrate those expectations as needed.

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