Grant Morrison talks feuding with Alan Moore & why he still doesn't like Watchmen

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

https://io9.gizmodo.com/exclusive-gr...HwMLkpRlLNhzbQ

[Ωmega Man Guardian of the Universe Find all posts View Profile Close Ωmega Man]

I didn't know this was a thing! LOL

I love how Morrison doesn't give a damn about having a different opinion about Moore's work. And then saying stuff JUST to piss off Moore later on... it should be made into a movie.

[Parrylakks Neko Samurai Find all posts View Profile Close Parrylakks]

He makes a good point about some of the stuff in Watchmen being too convenient for the story (the psychiatrist's reaction to Rorschach, and Ozy's plan being undone by happenstance of Rorschach's journal amongst them), but I think its core concepts are what always made it memorable, not the details the author used to make them seen. Watchmen is a story you enter because it's dark superheroes being gritty, but walk away from with a conversation to be had about politics, the ethics of war, and what it actually means to do the right thing. The dressing merely facilitates the lettuce. And sure, that may be sloppy writing from a certain point of view, but 34 years on people are still talking about it, so you can't say it wasn't an effective approach.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

I still find Watchmen about 50 times more readable than Final Crisis.

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

I still find Watchmen about 50 times more readable than Final Crisis.

Morrison wasn't "left alone" on Final Crisis, though. Lots of sticky notes and complete forced reversals from Didio and company, all the way through.

[Agent Purple The Illustrated Man Find all posts View Profile Close Agent Purple]

I'm probably the only person on this board who likes the Watchmensch parody comic more than I like Alan Moore as a person (spoiler alert: I don't like him as a person, he is a massive dickhead).

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

I wouldn't even want to meet Mr Moore as he seems very unlikable as a person. But for me Watchmen is the all time high water mark for the comics medium. It's the greatest comic ever made IMO, and I still put it on the highest of high pedestals. I might agree with some.of the things Morrison has to say, but I don't think he has ever written anything that comes close to Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Swamp thing or even Gaiman's Sandman.

Sadly, nobody in comics does, and they've had 30 years to try to raise the bar. As the medium whimpers and crawls to its inevitable end, I find it sad that the very best the medium ever had to offer was all so long ago.

[Space Cop The Dandy Find all posts View Profile Close Space Cop]

I wouldn't even want to meet Mr Moore as he seems very unlikable as a person. But for me Watchmen is the all time high water mark for the comics medium. It's the greatest comic ever made IMO, and I still put it on the highest of high pedestals. I might agree with some.of the things Morrison has to say, but I don't think he has ever written anything that comes close to Watchmen, V For Vendetta, Swamp thing or even Gaiman's Sandman...

This. I also can't imagine being chummy with Moore, but I still think he set the gold standard in comics. From what I've heard, William Faulkner and John Lennon could both be serious jerks, but I still think they were artistic geniuses. And, really, ditto Morrison. I like most of his work I've read, but in interviews he comes off as arrogant and pedantic--he's like a professor writing very good comics who wants to remind you he's a professor writing very good comics. He might not be as bats**t crazy as Moore, but I doubt I'd get along with him much better unless I kept the conversation very narrow.

The main point doesn't work for me anyway. There have been many movements in art and literature that call attention to their artifice. It doesn't make them any less legit or creative. Mind you, Morrison acknowledges in this that he spoke a little too soon, so I give him that.

[HalFingJordan Alpha-Lantern Find all posts View Profile Close HalFingJordan]

This. I also can't imagine being chummy with Moore, but I still think he set the gold standard in comics. From what I've heard, William Faulkner and John Lennon could both be serious jerks, but I still think they were artistic geniuses. And, really, ditto Morrison. I like most of his work I've read, but in interviews he comes off as arrogant and pedantic--he's like a professor writing very good comics who wants to remind you he's a professor writing very good comics. He might not be as bats**t crazy as Moore, but I doubt I'd get along with him much better unless I kept the conversation very narrow.

Morrison is certainly no Geoff Johns, I know that much. He knows it, too, deep down. Geoff has created so many more quality characters and storylines than Grant could dream of. Grant is content just regurgitating obscure shite from the 60s while giving himself pats on the back for how clever he is at doing so.

[Michael Heide Heide Finition Find all posts View Profile Close Michael Heide]

Thanks. I haven't laughed this hard all week.

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

Morrison is certainly no Geoff Johns, I know that much. He knows it, too, deep down. Geoff has created so many more quality characters and storylines than Grant could dream of. Grant is content just regurgitating obscure shite from the 60s while giving himself pats on the back for how clever he is at doing so.

What has Johns even created? There's Baz and Jessica, who most everyone loathe. Stargirl, I guess, who he has to make sure and remind everyone in every interview ever that was named after his dead sister? What/who else? All he's ever done is appropriate characters he likes then go down a bullet point list of things he doesn't like and begins the Geoffconning.

[Mister Ed Horse of a Different Color Find all posts View Profile Close Mister Ed]

He also created the whole Spectrum of Corps, with their associated members. Whether that's a good thing is a matter of taste. (I found it interesting initially, but it wore out its welcome through overuse.)

[Andrew NDB Shot Caller Find all posts View Profile Close Andrew NDB]

He also created the whole Spectrum of Corps, with their associated members. Whether that's a good thing is a matter of taste. (I found it interesting initially, but it wore out its welcome through overuse.)

Conceptually it was a great idea. I was excited as hell for a minute. It was like, "Oooh, a big War of Light is coming, plus Alan Moore's old 'Tygers' story is coming true! I wonder what will happen when Ranx shows up (the answer: nothing)!" etc.. Abysmal execution, sadly.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Conceptually it was a great idea. I was excited as hell for a minute. It was like, "Oooh, a big War of Light is coming, plus Alan Moore's old 'Tygers' story is coming true! I wonder what will happen when Ranx shows up (the answer: nothing)!" etc.. Abysmal execution, sadly.

I was pumped as hell. I liked the idea of the Five Conversions being a serious threat.

Then what we GOT was, 7 or so groups that ALL had their own power rings that looked like the GLC's. They all had lanterns, most were pretty much like the GLCs. They all had some form of central power battery on some kind of homeworld. They mostly all had uniforms very similar to the GLCs.

Hell, all of them even had an oath just like the GLC! Where was the creativity? It was the laziest thing I have seen phoned in and presented as a creative idea in GL history.

Lazy, trite and embarrassing. It got old before it really got underway. I have been trimming down my collections and the first thing to go was any non green Lantern merch. I am at the point where I don't want to see any of that stuff in my comic room. Hell I have given some of that merch away to my son and his friends so it doesn't sully my collection anymore.

[Big Daddy Dave Skywalker Moisture Farmer Find all posts View Profile Close Big Daddy Dave Skywalker]

Also, how do you keep Atrocitus around as an anti hero with his own title when in Johns' remake of the GL origin has HIM being the guy who murdered Abin Sur? That's like giving Joe Chill his own spin off Bat title. Or the guy who killed uncle Ben a spin off Spidey title.