Monday, December 22, 2008

Animal Man was in Justice league Europe

It's not all Grant Morrison's fault. I was thinking about Morrison' descent into self-parody while reading Grant Morrison' Doctor Who. These are reprints from Doctor Who Monthly, and they are really good. Morrison captures the spirit of Doctor Who perfectly, and Frobisher the penguin is still one of my favorite companions. Morrison used to be able to take characters and write effortlessly good comics which could be enjoyed on there own merits as comic book stories. Then something happened at DC. I mean, he did write other things with the tinge of weirdness, but when he got Animal Man and Doom Patrol, they seemed to be attempts just to be weird. And now when he writes something, it just seems to be off, somehow. I'm convinced, now, that when they hire Grant Morrison to write a comic book, they want the touch of weirdnes. But when I read the the Docotr Who strips, I am reminded of the old Grant Morrison who wrote a character that could participate in Justice League without anyone blinking.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd argue that Morrison's Animal Man was more than just an attempt to be weird. He had some intriguing things to say about the nature of fiction (and serial fiction).

Mike Chary said...

Yes and no. He did try to say thoe thing, but his way of saying it was by being outside the box. So at that point, no he was not just being weird. He was being weird in a provocation and intereting way. But being weird in the ame way now is not provocative or interesting. Now it's just tedious.