linkmachinego.com

22 April 2008
[comics] Transcript of Grant Morrison’s Panel at NYCC ’08‘The lights went down for the presentation, and a screen came up saying “Fuck,’ which then changed to “time,” and the introduction for Morrison, with a slideshow of his work, and a reading of a statement from Morrison about the nature of life and fiction. Morrison came onstage to raucous applause and screamed “Lend me some sugar! I am your neighbor!” And then right away through open the floor to questions…’
21 April 2008
[comics] Grant Morrison Interview … this time from the Daily Cross Hatch‘This was just the meat and drink of my life—superheroes, fashion, British television, because there was some really great British cult TV from the 60s and 70s, so all of that was influential to me, and I would have put that material out, wherever I found it. So if it’s Superman, I’m trying to think of the character as if he were a British television drama, what he would be like.’ [via ¡Journalista!]
19 April 2008
[comics] More on Grant Morrison: Metafilter discuss Final Crisis and Zoids‘Holy shit, that Zoids comic is a hilariously Morrisonesque hijacking. Thanks! I had no idea such a thing existed. My favorite part is when Zoidzilla steps through that silvery liquid into the Hyperverse of the Mind…’
18 April 2008
[comics] Comic Book resources interviews Grant Morrison on Final Crisis, Batman and All Star Superman‘I had sent in a big pitch for something called ‘Hypercrisis’ and it would have included some of the ideas I have about Hypertime and DC’s higher dimensions and such. It was a huge storyline, 12 issues, all number ones to launch new series and all connecting to make one big epic. The first page opened with them all standing at Captain Marvel’s grave and Superman saying, ‘Marvel is dead.’ And that’s how it was going to open…’
14 April 2008
[gm] The Fauves: Tortured Soul … long clip of the Grant Morrison on lead vocals with his band the Fauves back in 1988 … (more…)
10 May 2007
[comics] Grant Morrison’s 52 Exit Interview‘If it compared to other media at all, 52 was more like a couple of long seasons of a TV show featuring stars you’ve barely heard of. We didn’t have the marquee names or the $100,000,000 budget, so as with, say, Lost or Heroes, we had to engage the audience straight away with characters and story. I think 52 was very human and accessible in that way. In the end it wasn’t about making pseudo-political points or staging yet another huge brawl between superheroes, it was about loss, and love and death and transcendence and the sprawling lives and emotions of people who just happened to have superpowers.’
16 April 2007
[comics] A Script Review of Grant Morrison’s We3 — a look at Morrison’s script for New Line Cinema’s adaptation of We3‘Much of the film is a long chase, a blend between one of Disney’s Fantastic Journey films and, perhaps, The Iron Giant by way of Robocop or another hard, gristle-strewn actionaer. It is also a brilliant and incisive exploration of freedom, instinct, will the universe’s natural orders… and the desire to identify yourself as an individual.’
9 March 2007
[comics] Interview with Grant Morrison — this one from 1999 … ‘As writers, we have to know what’s going on, because our lives depend on it. Y’know, I get paid by the script. If I don’t do any scripts, my whole life falls apart, we have to keep writing. And we have to keep being aware of what the pop culture is saying. It’s not even a conscious thing, but you’re in there, you know what’s going on, you know what’s going to sell, you know what kids are interested in. And editors don’t, because they’re getting a salary, they don’t have to care. They’re set up, they’ve got their pension funds, so we actually know how the stuff is done. We know what people want.’
7 February 2007
[comics] Interview with Grant Morrison from 2004‘This last year after my dad died and my cats died, I felt so bad and so hopeless but I had to acknowledge that I still felt. These feelings are not actually the negative kinds of states that they try to convince you they are. They’re feelings, and they’re all quite sharp and they’re all quite bright and alive. The meaning is that life HURTS in many instances, generally because it implicates us in something desperately precious and fragile and temporary.’ [via Pete’s Linklog]
15 November 2006
[comics] Seven Soldiers Wrap-Up Interview with Grant Morrison‘Remember the first time you picked up an X-Men or Avengers book and it was stuffed to the staples with parallel universes, clones, alternate future versions of characters, and a continuity so dense you could stand a spoon in it? The chaos, confusion and excitement of being thrown without a guidebook into a new world was intoxicating to me and it seems that superhero comics only start to get boring when that sense of anything-can-or-can’t-happen is replaced by familiarity.’ [via Journalista]
11 November 2006
[comics] The Morrison Method (for optimal Seven Soldiers Appreciation) — sensible readers may wish to read the trades! [Seven Soldiers Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3]
24 August 2006
[comics] Morrison In The Cave — Newsarama interview with Grant Morrison on Batman …

‘I want to see a Batman that combines the cynic, the scholar, the daredevil, the businessman, the superhero, the wit, the lateral thinker , the aristocrat. He terrifies the guilty but he has great compassion for the weak and the downtrodden and will lay his life on the line for anybody who’s in trouble. He’s a master of yoga and meditation who has as much control over his body and his feelings as any human. He has a wider range of experiences than most people will dream of in ten lifetimes. This is not a one-note character! So, while I won’t pretend we all live on Sunnybrook Farm, I don’t think its appropriate – particularly in trying times – to present our fictional heroes as unsmiling vengeance machines. I’d rather Batman embodied the best that secular humanism has to offer – a sour-faced, sexually-repressed, humorless, uptight, angry, and all-round grim ‘n’ gritty Batman would be more likely to join the Taliban surely?’

13 August 2006
[comics] The New Adventures of Hitler — scans from Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell’s controversial comic about Hitler visiting Liverpool in 1912 … ‘I was born to suffer. There is no end to it. I was born to suffer and I shall surely die here, on this miserable English toilet. I tell you, I have never known a greater enemy than my own rebellious bowels. Traitors! Treacherous bastards! They will be the death of me.’
27 July 2006
[comics] Ghosts Of Stone — comics scans of Grant Morrison and Curt Swan’s origin of the Base of the J.L.A.
23 July 2006
[morrison] Video of Grant Morrison at Disinfo.Con 2000‘WOOOOOOOOOW! Here we are! Right! Fuck man, I tell you when I was a kid I read Robert Anton Wilson and all this shit and here we are, we’re standing here, talking about this shit and it’s real! OK, I’m pissed and in half an hour I’m gonna come up on drugs, so watch for it!’
20 April 2006
[comics] Grant Morrison Quotes — posted at Wikiquote … On Comics: ‘Truthfully, the job security in this business is uncertain, the hours are long, long and lonely, the audience is increasingly small, fickle and dissatisfied, like 3 of the 7 Dwarves. Respect is nonexistent, success fleeting; you’d be better off in a boy band, where at least you’d get laid before they made you obsolete.’
5 April 2006
[comics] He’s Quick on the Draw — That’s Grant! — old Grant Morrison interview from the Govan Press in 1976 … ‘Recently, Grant wrote to Marvel publications, the firm which produces most of these “power-packed” American comics — and asked for a job. Of his work, the comic’s editor, Neil Tennant told him: “We’re all very impressed with it — I’ve kept a piece of your art and your name and address should any vacancies arise at Marvel in the future.”‘
17 February 2006
[comics] Grant Morrison’s International Guide To Living Fabulously — report on meeting Grant Morrison at Isotope Comics in San Francisco … ‘He was immediately thronged by young worshippers and fanboys. Some wished only to press the flesh of the man who wrote The Invisibles, while others had 10 or 12 comics stacked up waiting for autographs. We lurked and waited for the throngs to die down. The most impressive thing to me was just how much patience and genuine interest Grant had with each of his fans. He was always smiling and eager to talk, even egging people on with questions of his own when they were too star-struck to speak.’
15 February 2006
[comics] Grant Morrison on Batman: ‘Morrison said Batman coming out of 52 OYL will be a more of a “fun guy, more healthy”, more like the “Neal Adams, hairy-chested, love-god” version of Batman.’
12 February 2006
[comics] Wondercon ’06: Grant Morrison Spotlight — GM update from Newsarama. ‘…about issue #4 [of All-Star Superman], Morrison said readers will see a transvestite Jimmy Olsen on page one.’
26 January 2006
[comics] BeaucoupKevin: Always Remember – Grant Morrison just had sex with your wife
6 December 2005
[comics] Interview with Brendan McCarthy‘I was sitting in a taxi with Grant [Morrison] – we’d got pissed at a comic convention and he was saying he couldn’t think of a headquarters for the Doom Patrol. So I said – what about the Beatles in a Hard Day’s Night? They used to live in that house where they were all connected together. I don’t know if you remember the sequence, but the Fab 4 lived in 4 terraced houses that were basically hollow inside so it was one giant house. So I said – why don’t you make it so that they live on a street and the street moves around and hides among other streets? It fit into the surreal Doom Patrol style? We started talking about streets and I said – you know what’s bugged me all my life? It’s that that the singer Danny Le Rue – he’s basically called Danny the Street – isn’t that just a fucking weird name? Why don’t you call it Danny the Street and make it a transvestite cross-dressing street?’
25 November 2005
[comics] Amazing Heroes #176 Cover — in an interview Grant Morrison points out the Greatest Ever Line in Comics: ‘It was really a traumatic period, crammed with adolescent horrors. But all the stuff in St Swithins Day has come out of that time. The whole strip is lifted from my teenage diaries. I actually found the greatest ever line in comics in one of those diaries. It’s the first time that a character has ever just sat down and said, “Why am I such a wanker?” That came from the 1979 diary, some tortured moment on the M6.’ (from Feb 1990)
17 November 2005
[comics] Grant Morrison’s Six Rules for Writing “All-Star Superman”‘PLAY CLARK AS A ROLE WITH A GOAL – We’re playing Clark as a big, clever country guy who’s used to wide-open horizons and who can’t seem to move in a confined space without knocking something over. The real wizardry is in Frank Quitely’s art, which captures a lot of physical nuances and subtle body language that previous Superman artists have often overlooked in their portrayal of Clark. He’s not just Superman with glasses on. He’s a performer. He allows Superman to experience humility, among other things.’ [Related: Official Preview from DC]
10 October 2005
[comics] Official Preview of All-Star Superman #1


Morrison: ‘I just read – yesterday in fact – the story ‘Superman’s New Power’ which appeared in Superman #125 from November 1958. And guess what Superman’s new power was in the ‘conservative’ ’50s. That’s right – it’s a teeny-tiny little Superman who shoots out from the palm of the big Superman’s hand and does everything better than Superman himself, leaving the full-size Superman feeling redundant and worthless. Holy analysis, Batman! It’s mindbending, brilliant and eerie work. This is what it would be like if Charlie Kaufmann wrote and directed the Superman movie and it’s far from goofy or childish, it’s genuinely affecting and slightly disturbing to read Superman saying stuff like ‘Everyone’s impressed except ME! Don’t they understand how I feel — playing second fiddle to a miniature duplicate of myself…a sort of SUPER-IMP?’ And people think I’M weird? I %$%$^ wish I was weird like this! I wish pop comics today had the balls to be as poetic and poignant and truly ‘all-ages’ again, and a little less self-conscious. I feel a little ashamed for not even daring to think of a magnificent tiny Superman who makes the real Superman feel inadequate every time he springs from his hand.’

8 September 2005
[comics] We3 — a collection of Morrison and Quitely’s latest comic is now available at Amazon.co.uk.

» We3 Preview‘They’re the ultimate cyborg assassins; armed with missiles, poison gas, state-of-the-art computer technology and unbreakable exo-skeletons. The government has spent millions to fuse the firepower of a battalion with the nervous systems of a dog named Bandit, a cat named Tinker, and a rabbit named Pirate. As part of a program to replace human soldiers with expendable animals, the U.S. government has transformed three ordinary pets into the ultimate killing machines. But now, those three animals have seized the chance to make a last, desperate run for ‘Home’. A run that will turn into a breathless hunt to the death against the might of the entire military/industrial complex.’

[comics] Uniquely Original — another Grant Morrison interview … On All-Star Superman: ‘I’m trying to think of it as the re-emergence of the original, pre-Crisis Superman but with 20 years of history we haven’t seen.’
6 September 2005
[comics] A Chat About Craft With Grant Morrison — yet another interview with GM … ‘If I’m feeling miserable, burned out and hermit-like, for instance, the bad feeling can turn up, as it did in JLA: WORLD WAR III, as something like the monstrous ‘Primordial Annihilator’, Mageddon. At which point I give myself a slap, send the Justice League in to solve the problem, and before you know it, they’ve won and I’m able to leave the house again with a smile on my face!’
5 September 2005
[comics] Grant Morrison on All-Star Superman‘To me, he’s a big folk hero. He’s been around forever. He’s like Paul Bunyan or Johnny Appleseed and here I’m allowed to tell new stories of these amazing folk heroes. You’ve got to make Superman about a few things. It’s got to be about big emotions and big human feelings like death and loss and bereavement and grief and joy. Then you weave those weird sci-fi stories around those themes. I think those are the best Superman stories — the ones about human feelings but on a huge, cosmic, ridiculous, superhero canvas.’ [via plasticbag.org]
4 September 2005
[comics] All-Star Superman Scans — looks amazing and scores bonus-points for Grant Morrison guest-starring as Lex Luthor. [via Sore Eyes]
17 June 2005
[morrison] The Annotated Flex Mentallo — notes analysing Grant Morrison’s comics about the Man of Muscle Mystery‘Only a bitter little adolescent boy could confuse realism with pessimism.’ [via Neilalien]
6 March 2005
[comics] Interview with Grant Morrison on SuicideGirls (interview is SFW – website isn’t) … ‘The comic universes are living breathing alternate worlds we can visit. And, if we’re lucky enough to be comic book writers we get to play directly with the inhabitants and environments of the 2nd dimension. I wanted to travel in those worlds.’
2 March 2005
[comics] Frank Quitely Cover to All-Star Superman #1 [from BeaucoupKevin]
1 March 2005
[comics] Well, what do you know? — interesting, spoiler-filled, review of Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers #0. ‘…in the final scene, the Seven Unknown Men are seen, all of them aging bald fellows in fine suits, fleeing their base of operations, a gigantic sewing machine that apparently creates the timestream of the universe. But they don’t abandon ship before selecting seven more conscripts, for seven more miniseries.’
15 February 2005
[comics] New take on life in Bradford — the Guardian looks at Grant Morrison’s new comic Vimanarama. ‘…the story is primarily a ripping yarn, with Ali and Sofia discovering a subterranean world beneath Bradford when a crate of turkish delight cracks open a hidden entrance in one of the family’s shops. Promotional material from DC Comics sums up the plot as “a modern-day Arabian Nights in the form of a Bollywood romantic comedy set on a celestial stage”.’
23 December 2004
[comics] GM: Talking All-Star Superman — Grant Morrison on his new Superman comics …

‘I just read – yesterday in fact – the story ‘Superman’s New Power’ which appeared in Superman #125 from November 1958. And guess what Superman’s new power was in the ‘conservative’ ’50s. That’s right – it’s a teeny-tiny little Superman who shoots out from the palm of the big Superman’s hand and does everything better than Superman himself, leaving the full-size Superman feeling redundant and worthless. Holy analysis, Batman! It’s mindbending, brilliant and eerie work. This is what it would be like if Charlie Kaufmann wrote and directed the Superman movie and it’s far from goofy or childish, it’s genuinely affecting and slightly disturbing to read Superman saying stuff like ‘Everyone’s impressed except ME! Don’t they understand how I feel — playing second fiddle to a miniature duplicate of myself…a sort of SUPER-IMP?’ And people think I’M weird? I %$%$^ wish I was weird like this! I wish pop comics today had the balls to be as poetic and poignant and truly ‘all-ages’ again, and a little less self-conscious. I feel a little ashamed for not even daring to think of a magnificent tiny Superman who makes the real Superman feel inadequate every time he springs from his hand.’

16 September 2004
[comics] Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison and Alan Moore… as Lego. [via Neil Gaiman’s Journal]
8 September 2004
[comics] Disney With Fangs — Newsarama interviews Grant Morrison on We3 … The Influences on We3: ‘Anything to do with innocent, misunderstood animals on the run from vicious human bastards. Animals getting their own back. The events played out in We3 are very different and far more shockingly violent than the adventures of Thomas O’Malley and the Duchess in The Aristocats, for example, but the basic idea of the animal odyssey across country in search of some seemingly hopeless safe haven is a very resonant and appealing theme which no-one has really played much with recently… certainly not in comics. I’ve always wanted to do one of those classic animal stories that make people cry, so this is like that… Disney with fangs. We3 is probably one of the first of these kind of stories to treat the animal heroes as animals and not as anthropomorphized representations with human emotions and speech patterns. So basically, we gave the popular old ‘animal quest’ idea a sci-fi coat of paint, spliced it with Miike Takashi uber-violence, and created a vehicle to demonstrate the ‘Western Manga’ storytelling style Frank and I are trying to develop.’
16 August 2004
[comics] We3 #1 Preview — the first four Pages from Morrison and Quitely’s new comic which is out next week … ‘They’re the ultimate cyborg assassins; armed with missiles, poison gas, state-of-the-art computer technology and unbreakable exo-skeletons. The government has spent millions to fuse the firepower of a battalion with the nervous systems of a dog named Bandit, a cat named Tinker, and a rabbit named Pirate. As part of a program to replace human soldiers with expendable animals, the U.S. government has transformed three ordinary pets into the ultimate killing machines. But now, those three animals have seized the chance to make a last, desperate run for ‘Home’. A run that will turn into a breathless hunt to the death against the might of the entire military/industrial complex.’
12 August 2004
[comics] The Grant Morrison Experience — nice PR site from Vertigo – includes a video interview and a sneak peak of Morrison’s latest comic We3 … [via Barbelith]
29 July 2004
[comics] Morrison’s Big-Time Return To The DCU — Newsarama interview with Morrison regarding two new DC Projects. Morrison On JLA: Classified: ‘Aquaman has no beard and John Stewart is Green Lantern so it’s pretty much set in some kind of current continuity but I’m afraid it’s not the gloomy ‘adult’ world of Sue Dibny’s shredded lycra pants so keep well away if it’s attempted rape you crave. Cannibalism, yes, rape, no. My DCU is a day-glo, non-stop funhouse, where the world is threatened every five minutes and godlike beings clash in the skies like fireworks.’
9 July 2004
[comics] Interview with Craig McGill – Grant Morrison’s Biographer … ‘As I mentioned, the book is now about everything in his life – school years, when he dressed as a woman, the drugs, the friends, the fallouts, magic. Everything. Doing it chronologically will make it easier for the incoming reader who is not au fait with Grant’s work and the book will probably run in a very linear sense. I think if I had to sum up one core part of it, it would be honesty. It covers all of his life, but he’s being very blunt with himself and about others. There’s an emotional core to the book, I don’t know if there’s a focus on one part of him, more than any other though.’
8 July 2004
[comics] Grant Morrison: Master & Commander — a huge Popimage interview with Grant Morrison‘What people often forget, of course, is that Magneto, unlike the lovely Sir Ian McKellen, is a mad old terrorist twat. No matter how he justifies his stupid, brutal behaviour, or how anyone else tries to justify it, in the end he’s just an old bastard with daft, old ideas based on violence and coercion. I really wanted to make that clear at this time.’
21 May 2004
[comics] New Age of Morrison — another interview with Grant Morrison… ‘The real problem is this: in spite of all our attempts to insist that one exists, there is actually NO mass market for traditional superhero comic books – why would there be? It’s such an esoteric and old-fashioned branch of popular culture and seems to have more in common with collecting stamps or 60s retro kitsch. You can imagine Bryan Hitch drawing Steve Buscemi playing the sort of guy most people think is into these kinds of comics. After all the recent superhero movies and cartoons, at a time when Robin and Beast Boy and Spider-Man have their faces all over buses, comics sales have not improved significantly at all – it’s never going to happen unless we change the pricing, the format, the content and many other things about traditional U.S. superhero books. Kids like manga because manga comes across as modern and cool and exotic; I fear that trying to make Golden and Silver Age superhero characters appeal to a young audience is like trying to sell wax cylinder recordings of Al Jolson to consumers who listen to Outkast MP3s. As I say, comics could use some new ideas, new characters and competitive formats but change comes slowly.’
11 May 2004
[comics] Four Page Preview of Seaguy — from Grant Morrison and Cameron Stewart‘Set in a world where all the major battles have been won, Seaguy is a wistful, would-be hero who, with his pal Chubby Da Choona, embarks on a fantastical, picaresque voyage through a post-Utopian world filled with bizarre adventure and terrible sacrifice.’ [via Barbelith]
10 May 2004
[comics] Grant Morrison Talks Seaguy — Newsarama interview with GM regarding Seaguy … ‘My work’s always been sweet and gentle – it’s about animals and losers and hapless dreamers. I dedicated twenty years of my life to the welfare of six abandoned cats and I give my money to numerous charities and causes. I’m from Glasgow; land of the sentimental hardman. I can nurture to Olympic standard.’
6 May 2004
[comics] Wonder Con’s Vertigo Panel — including some details about Morrison & Quitely’s We3. ‘…it’s a view of The Incredible Journey as only Grant Morrison could imagine it – three ultimate cyborg assassins: a dog named Bandit, a cat named Tinker, and a rabbit named Pirate, armed with missiles, poison gas, state-of-the-art computer technology, rapid fire chain guns and unbreakable exo-skeletons.’
27 April 2004
[comics] Wedding Bells for Morrison? — according to Barbelith Grant Morrison and Kristan are getting married. Congratulations! ‘They’re the John and Yoko of comics!!’
14 March 2004
[comics] John Byrne on Grant Morrison and Alan Moore: ‘I get no sense from [Grant] Morrison’s work that he has any “love for the genre”. I get the same vibe I get from [Alan] Moore — a cold and calculated mixing of ingredients the writer knows the fans like, but to which the writer himself has no eviceral connection. Nostalgia without being nostalgic, as I have dubbed it.’ [via ADD]
6 January 2004
[comics] Alan Moore vs. Grant T. Morrison‘An Epic Bare-Knuckle Brawl Between Two Mega-Legends’ [via plasticbag.org]