Waiting For Tommy XXIII
Interview with Grant Morrison |
Grant Morrison
is a phase you go through. Repeatedly. I mean, you're young
and angry and Zenith is the superhero that the main companies
wouldn't publish. Then you get all environmentally concerned
while simultaneously asking philosophical questions about reality,
and there's Animal Man. Your last adolescent hormone burst and
pangs of alienation coincide with Doom Patrol. Finally you start
to grow up (but you're still reading comics) and Mystery Play
is waiting for you. As cynicism strips away what optimism you
had left, Kill Your Boyfriend fans the flames, while Invisibles
exploits it, but then reconstructs it again. So you're a happy
carefree chap with feelings of nostalgia for what never was
and New X-Men is everything you thought Claremont/Byrne was
when you were twelve, but never could be until now.
I hope he keeps doing this for a long time. I mean, I'll
have my mid-life crisis in ten years, I'll need someone to
address it.
Although if it's The Filth, I might as well commit suicide
now.
Ladies and gentlemen, Grant Morrison.
RICHARD JOHNSTON:
You're an accomplished, award-winning writer. Your comic books
have played with the most extreme flights of fancy, your plays
with the nature of reality and your influence on pop culture
has far outstripped your sales. You're an influential creator.
Is writing JLA or The X-Men more than slumming it? Is it the
equivalent of Dennis Potter, or indeed Pete Milligan, writing
the British TV soap Crossroads, but an even smaller and ever
decreasing audience?
GRANT MORRISON:
Smaller than Crossroads ? Aye, right!
RICHARD:
New X-Men sales - 130,000. Last recorded Crossroads figures
before it was put out of its misery, 500,000.
GRANT:
I was only joking. But if Dennis Potter had written Crossroads
I'm sure it would have been the best episode ever and I'd
have it on video. Like when Peter McDougall did 'Softly Softly'.
If the writer's good, the material will shine.
If the suggestion
is that I've somehow squandered my vast talent by working
exclusively on superhero franchises in pursuit of easy cash,
then I think you should consult my eclectic and frightening
CV. In light of the fact that I've done comics of all kinds
and I already produce work in numerous other areas - music,
film, journalism, consultancy and speaking engagements, etc.
(hence my 'influence on pop culture...'), there are probably
other comics creators who could answer your question more
effectively.
I'm not
ashamed or embarrassed by writing comic books, if that's what
you're getting at, and I certainly don't think producing one
play a year on an Arts Council Grant is a better way to stretch
my writing abilities than writing 40 comic books a year. Comics
are only a part of my life and business but they've certainly
opened the doors for me to speak at global summits or correspond
with some of the world's smartest human beings about technology,
culture and magic.
Continued
here...
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