Grant Morrison Really Does Suck

1:25 pm EST February 2nd, 2009 | Comic Books | 17 Comments

Teaser poster for Final Crisis
Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been reading and collecting comic books for maybe 25 years now. I’m almost exclusively a DC reader and especially since I’m a Superman fanatic, I have been a devotee of their big Crisis-style crossovers. Final Crisis is the first one of them I’ve ever quit reading before it ends because I frankly had no idea what was going on. I thought I was alone on this, but I’m not. It’s not like this is a complex thing, but writer Grant Morrison has thrown out the basics of literature in this offering. It doesn’t make sense. There are shifts in time, characters pop in and out, and it just turned into a bowl of mush. I like when comics take chances, when they break the mold of the safe superhero genre… but they’ve got to make sense!

I really don’t understand what DC was thinking. The “Crisis” events generally form the spine of the DC Universe and set things up for the future. But if the spine comes out like its been through the meat grinder, that just devalues everything else.

It was a huge mistake for DC to put Final Crisis into Grant Morrison’s hands. And he’s completely screwed it up.

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17 Responses to “Grant Morrison Really Does Suck”

  1. sam says:
    February 2, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    Morrison was a risk. He’s always willing to swing for the fences to try something different. Sometimes it works, but this time it really didn’t.

  2. Luv says:
    February 2, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    Again I must point out how ridiculous it is to NOT read a great comic book because you’re loyal to one company. You’re not really a comic collector, you’re a DC collector.

    Some of the best books on the market aren’t DC (or Marvel either) and you’re missing out due to some childish loyalty to DC.

    I challenge you to pick up The Sword from Image, The Lone Ranger or The Boys from Dynamite or the Wolverine: Old Man Logan books form Marvel.

    Better than pretty much anything DC’s doing now since they ruined Batman, JSA and JLA. My favorite DC book now is Wonder Woman.

  3. Frowny McBeard says:
    February 2, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    I agree with the above. I love superheroes but Love and Rockets is still my first love when it comes to comic books. The best superhero story I read last year was Jaime’s half of the “Love and Rockets: New Stories” collection.

    That said, you stuck around through the beheading of Pantha and POUNDING ON THE WALLS OF REALITY, and Morrison managed to piss you off that much, huh? I’ll admit I’ve stayed away because I’m pretty wary of stories that involve the Fourth World characters. Jim Starlin’s Death of the New Gods was just painful, and not so much because he killed several of my favorite characters in stupid, stupid ways. But I don’t see how it could be more painful than what I read of Infinite Crisis.

  4. Joe says:
    February 2, 2009 at 5:27 pm

    Luv,
    Agreed. Old Man Logan is one of the most mind-blowing series I’ve ever read, and I’m not a fan of the Wolverine character. The McNiven artwork is superb.
    Regarding lesser known houses, I recommend the Queen & Country series, written by Greg Rucka, of Batman: No Man’s Land and Checkmate fame.

  5. wÓÒ† says:
    February 2, 2009 at 6:26 pm

    Newt Gingrich is a HUGE Liefeld fan.

  6. LoserBroadside says:
    February 2, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    Don’t be too hard on Grant Morrison; he’s actually one of the finest writers in comics out there, but no one bats 1000. Except maybe Alan Moore.

    Have you read Morrison’s “All Star Superman”? It’s very well regarded.

    Also “Mystery Play,” “We 3,” and “Batman: Arkham Asylem” are great. “The Invisibles” is very hit or miss, but the hits are worth it for the misses.

    -LB

  7. Thad says:
    February 2, 2009 at 8:17 pm

    Disagree entirely. As a Morrison fan, I would have frankly been disappointed by a straightforward narrative that didn’t leave me going “What the fuck just happened?” at the end. And for my money, the original Crisis on Infinite Earths was a monumental clusterfuck that, in an attempt to streamline a convoluted DC continuity, did the opposite and made it even more incomprehensible. And there’s a reason Infinite Crisis is best remembered for a retcon-by-wall-punching that didn’t even occur in the series proper.

    I thought FC was a fine story, well-told, clearly rooted in the work of Jack Kirby without simply being an embarrassing attempt at a carbon copy of his work (like Death of the New Gods).

    Then again, I’ve spent a whole lot of money buying Fourth World hardbacks and have complete runs of Seven Soldiers, 52, and Morrison’s run on Batman. I acknowledge the story’s probably pretty unapproachable to people who don’t match that description. But “unfriendly to new readers” is a description that could be leveled at quite a lot of comics, and is hardly limited to Morrison. (And tying it into Batman RIP was an editorial decision — which I’ll call a wash, as it was a terrible idea from a marketing and narrative standpoint, but Batman’s “death” in FC was far more satisfying than in RIP.)

  8. Oliver says:
    February 2, 2009 at 8:56 pm

    And again I say: I READ MARVEL (I don’t get the equation where I say I prefer DC’s characters so that means I don’t read anything else). I love Ultimate Spider-Man, it’s just 99% of the rest of Marvel that holds no interest to me. I like The Boys and I enjoy The Walking Dead almost as much as I do Superman. Almost.

    Death Of The New Gods was stupid.

    I really enjoyed All-Star Superman. It’s just FC that I haaaated. Punching through reality I can tolerate. Disjointed unclear story, not so much.

  9. Oliver says:
    February 2, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    Also in defense of myself, when comics are at $3.99 a pop, something’s got to be pretty appealing to dislodge my dollar. I simply prefer superheroes, and DC ones. Is that so wrong?

  10. Sean D. Martin says:
    February 2, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    Joe: Regarding lesser known houses, I recommend the Queen & Country series, written by Greg Rucka, of Batman: No Man’s Land and Checkmate fame.

    Recently discovered that and very much enjoyed it. Also, highly recommended:
    - Fables (Vertigo, so I guess that is DC)
    - Bone
    - Zot!
    - Concrete
    all available in trades and collected editions.

  11. SAP says:
    February 2, 2009 at 11:05 pm

    Oliver,

    It’s not completely the writers’ fault.

  12. Steve Rogers says:
    February 3, 2009 at 10:50 am

    I totally agree. I can see how there’s a place for Morrison’s weird disjointed style in other books, but Batman and FC? Those are core characters and titles, and it’s practically taken over the DC universe. It’s just too much.

    As you are to Superman, Oliver, I am to Batman, and I was so underwhelmed and annoyed with all of Morrison’s RIP stuff that I just started dropping most of the bat titles. I find myself asking “Why am I spending time and money on this when I don’t enjoy it?” I doubt that was DC’s intent, and yet here we are.

  13. Sean D. Martin says:
    February 3, 2009 at 12:29 pm

    Steve Rogers: As you are to Superman, Oliver, I am to Batman,

    Captain America is a fan of Batman? Woot!

  14. Optimous Douche - Ain't It Cool News says:
    February 3, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    Hi Oliver,
    I’m one of the reviewers on Ain’t It Cool News. We’re taking a all-in-one swing at Final Crisis with tomorrow’s column.

    We have one or two staunch defenders, but for the most part we are on board with your feelings.

    We’re prepping ourselves now for the backlash.

    My entire issue with the series is that it should have NEVER been called Crisis. I’m all for the march of time, but the term Crisis holds certain connotations for longtime fans. DC shamelessly leveraged our sense of nostalgia for Crisis on Infinite Earths to sell more books and then didn’t deliver on that expectation. Were this called Darkseid’s Revenge or anything other than Crisis I think the expectations would have been lowered and the backlash much less harsh.

    My entire issue with the series is that it should have NEVER been called Crisis. DC

  15. Oliver Willis says:
    February 3, 2009 at 9:08 pm

    That makes sense. Crisis is key in the DCU, and Morrison effed with that.

  16. Jesse Ewiak says:
    February 4, 2009 at 7:59 am

    I had no problems following the story. Guess I’m just special.

  17. Oliver Willis says:
    February 4, 2009 at 10:22 am

    Or fakin’ it.