Tag Archives: Grant Morrison

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Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods – Review

5/5 – Fascinating.

I had wanted to watch Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods for some time now. Unfortunately, Netflix didn’t have it on disc or streaming, and my halfhearted attempts at tracking down a copy never produced any results. One of my friends brought the movie up in conversation recently, asking if I ever saw it. When I mentioned I hadn’t, he lent it to me. Success!

The movie spans the entirety of Grant Morrison’s career up to when the documentary was made in 2010. Grant talks about his childhood, growing up the son of an anti-nuclear activist. Hearing about some of the places his dad would bring him as a child makes be better understand what makes Grant such a unique guy.

Grant’s charm definitely comes through in the film. He’s not full of himself, and doesn’t treat his own writing like it’s the work of God. I had the chance to meet Grant last year at NYCC. I was intimidated, but he turned out to be one of the nicest and enthusiastic comic book creators I’ve ever met.

Hearing Grant’s theories about chaos magic are absolutely fascinating. He clearly believes it works, and he and others point out instances where Grant’s chaos magic does seem to have indeed worked. Who knows, maybe chaos magic is real. If it is, I feel that Grant may be tuned into its workings far beyond the scope of most people.

Interspersed throughout the movie are The Office-style talking head interviews with comics creators talking about Grant. It’s interesting to hear what his colleagues and collaborators have to say about him, especially Phil Jimenez relating his experience of working on The Invisibles with Grant.

Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods is intimidating. No, not because of Grant Morrison’s mind full of crazy ideas. Well, yes, there is that. But I mean because it’s two full discs long. The special features disc takes up as much time as the movie itself. But you cannot skip the second disc! Trust me on this one. In some ways, the second disc, despite being full of bits that didn’t make the movie, is better than the movie itself. There’s an interview of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely together that is a must see for anyone who’s a fan of their work together. Hearing them talk about their collaborative process is a real treat. If you read Grant’s run on X-Men, you really have to watch this second disc. He goes into detail about his entire run, including how Marvel treated his work towards the end.

This conversation is the best part of the 2-disc DVD set.

Grant Morrison: Talking With Gods is a must-see if you enjoy Grant Morrison’s writing. This very personal documentary gives us access to this creator that I don’t think we’ve had anywhere else, outside of maybe parts of Grant’s book, Supergods. Hopefully one of your friends has the DVD sitting in his house too.

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Justice League: Doom – Review

5/5 Great adaptation of a great story

Like Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1, Green Lantern: First Flight and Batman: Under the Red Hood, Justice League: Doom is part of DC Comics/Warner Bros direct-to-DVD line of releases. It is based on a story from the JLA comic book called Tower of Babel.

Why the name chance? In the original JLA story, Ra’s Al Ghul builds a tower that will render all forms of communication on Earth useless. This titular plot point is dropped from the animated movie (as is Ra’s Al Ghul as the story’s villain), necessitating a title change. Not to mention that Doom sounds much more menacing.

In the animated movie, the immortal villain Vandal Savage gathers an Injustice League made up of villains of each member of the Justice League. It’s a 1-for-1 match. If Vandal Savage wanted a higher chance of success, I’m surprised he didn’t stack the odds in his favor by hiring three villains for each hero, seeing as he seems to have an abundance of resources. Hubris is clearly Savage’s kryptonite.

Clothing is Star Sapphire’s kryptonite.

If you were a fan of the Justice League cartoon from a few years ago, you will like the voice cast on this movie. Kevin Conroy is Batman. Tim Daly is Superman. Carl Lumbly is the Martian Manhunter (and also pulls double duty as the villainous martian Malefic). Michael Rosenbaum is the Flash, though here he’s playing Barry Allen instead of Wally West. Susan Eisenberg plays Wonder Woman. A big addition to the cast is Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern. Fillion played Green Lantern in Green Lantern: First Flight, so it was nice to see him reprise the role here.

If I were to nitpick any part of the film, it would be Mirror Master’s heist of the Batcave. The motion sensors didn’t detect him because he was in hologram mode, but that device he attached to the Bat-Computer wasn’t intangible. It should have set off alarms. Someone as paranoid as Batman would have his motion detectors set to detect something smaller than a human, right? Or maybe Batman has his motion detectors tuned to weed out small objects. Otherwise, the bats would be setting off the alarms constantly. In that case, ignore my nitpick.

Actually, none of the Injustice League is a fan of much clothing.

Overall, I liked this animated feature a lot. It kept the biggest aspect of the JLA: Tower of Babel story, namely that the Justice League is betrayed by one of their own. I wonder if Bruce Timm and Andrea Romano had to change the villain from Ra’s to Vandal Savage because Christopher Nolan was planning on using Ra’s in The Dark Knight Rises. At New York Comic Con this year, Bruce Timm mentioned that Nolan’s plans to incorporate parts of The Dark Knight Returns into his movies put on hold that particular animated film.

If Bruce and Andrea decide to go back to the JLA series for another animated film, I hope they base one on Grant Morrison and Howard Porter’s Rock of Ages storyline. I’m still not sure if I understood that story completely, but it was awesome! Green Arrow firing the Atom into Darkseid’s brain may be one of favorite comic book moments ever!

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Friday at NYCC 2012 Planning Guide

Friday is the first full day of NYCC. If you can get out of your day job, I highly recommend going on Friday. You won’t face anything near the large crowds of Saturday and you’ll have much more programming options than Thursday. Friday is the sweet spot on the NYCC baseball bat.

10:00 AM – 7:00 PM Celebrity Autographing
If you’re interested in meeting Adam West, Burt Ward, Tom Felton, Sean Astin, Peter Davison, Lou Ferrigno or Christopher Lloyd, they’ll all be signing autographs today. Costs vary by person. For example, Batman’s signature is $10 more than Robin’s.

11:00 AM  – 12:00 PM CBLDF: The History of Comics Censorship
Attention all Media Studies majors!

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM Wondrous Worlds, Fractured Futures: Speculative Fiction and Image Comics
A few years ago, I saw Brian K. Vaughn speak with JMS, Colleen Doran and Jeff Smith at a panel called World Building. Brian K. Vaughn quipped that the comics he was writing both took place in New York City, so he wasn’t sure why he was invited to the panel. His new comic with Fiona Staples, Saga, takes place far, far away from New York City. This is a can’t miss panel for fans of what Image Comics is doing right now.

11:15 AM – 12:15 PM Marvel: House of Ideas
The focus of this panel is on Marvel’s digital comics offerings: Infinite Comics, Marvel.com and the Marvel mobile app. Oddly, Mark Waid will also be on this panel. Not sure what that’s about. Maybe a digital Daredevil exclusive?

11:15 AM – 12:30 PM Comics, Hollywood – What Creators Need to Know
Thinking about turning that spec script you wrote into a graphic novel? Thinking about trying to sell your graphic novel as a feature? This may be the panel for you.

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM Marvel Now! All-New X-Men
Rick Remender is going to be here talking Uncanny Avengers. That’s really all you need to know, right?

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM How to Get a Job in the Video Game Industry with Capcom
Go to this and get your girlfriend/mom/loan officer off your back about not paying your bills and spending all your money on video games.

12:15 PM – 1:15 PM Adam West and Burt Ward Spotlight
I picture this being very similar to the famous William Shatner Star Trek convention skit from SNL.

12:15 PM – 2:45 PM The 501st Legion’s “Shoot a Trooper”
If you’ve been to NYCC before, you’ve no doubt spotted at least a few members of the 501st Legion. They’re the guys in the very well done Stormtrooper costumes. These guys are super fans. They’ve even been incorporated into the Star Wars expanded universe and had an action figure made after them. They’re showing their softer side at NYCC this year: for a small donation to charity, you can take shots at Troopers with a Nerf gun.

12:30 PM – 1:20 PM – Tom Felton Photo Op
4:35 PM – 5:35 PM – Tom Felton Photo Op
To Do List: 1. Buy a Slytherin robe. 2. Pick up a twig. 3. Head to Tom Felton Photo Op.

1:20 PM – 1:45 PM – Sean Astin Photo-Op
Wear your Hobbit feet and your Notre Dame jersey.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Oni Press – RevolutiONIzing Comics
1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Marvel NOW! Join the ReEvolution
What’s the theme of NYCC 2012? Fun with the word revolution! Oni wins this round for working their company name into it.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Inside “The Batmobile”
On the down side, they didn’t work the word revolution in this title. On the upside, you get to see the entire one hour documentary on The Batmobile before anyone else. I will probably be here. If I am, I will definitely have a review of it up soon after NYCC. Going to this kind of derails my “Draco and Me” photo idea though.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Digital Price Showdown
Maybe you want to debate how much digital comics should cost. Or maybe you want
to see a bunch of people yell at the co-founder of comiXology that digital comics cost too much.

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM Vertigo: A View From the Cutting Edge of Comics
American Vampire and Fables are two of the best comics being published every month. Both American Vampire writer Scott Snyder and Fables writer Bill Willingham will be on hand for this panel.

1:45 PM – 2:45 PM Grant Morrison Spotlight
News on Multiversity, please?

1:45 PM – 2:40 PM Stan Lee Photo Op
One of my regrets from this year’s Pittsburgh Comic Con was not springing for the Stan Lee Photo Op. Sure, the background screen that Froggy uses couldn’t be tackier, but a picture with Stan Lee would be a very cool souvenir from this year’s NYCC.


2:15 PM – 3:30 PM Writing to be Drawn (Comic Book Writing and Art Tutorial)
If you didn’t get enough Bill Willingham at the Vertigo panel, he’ll be here with Jerry Ordway, Cully Hammer and Michael Oeming to talk about the specific methods of storytelling in comics. Learn how to effectively break down a script and the ins and outs of story flow.

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM DC Comics: Green Lantern – The Third Army Arrives
With Green Lantern, Geoff Johns is writing one of the most consistently best comics on the market. On the one hand, I’m excited to see some preview artwork and hear Geoff talk about the title. On the other hand, I feel like this panel is going to mostly be cryptic announcements from Johns and non-answers to questions from the audience. I’m not complaining about that. I’d hate for this story line to get spoiled at a con panel. I’m setting the over/under of number of people dressed as Guardians of the Universe at 1.5.

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM VALIANT: The Future of VALIANT
I was a huge Valiant fanboy the first go-around. In fact, I stuck on the Valiant train way too long. On the upside, it meant I was one of the lucky few reading Quantum and Woody. On the downside, I also read The Visitor. There were rumors for years of a Valiant comeback. Now that it’s finally here, it’s almost hard to believe it’s actually happening. According to the listing, everyone in attendance gets a special door prize. Gold books, anyone?

2:45 PM – 3:45 PM Skybound On The Rise
Skybound is the current jewel in the Image crown. If you have a bad case of Kirkmania, get yourself here, stat!

4:00 PM – 5:30 PM Robert Kirkman Autographing at the Image Booth
Don’t show up to this line at 4 PM. With the popularity of all things The Walking Dead, the line will be capped by that point. I’d say to get there by 3:15 at the latest…which means leaving the Skybound panel early. Hello, Catch-22.

4:30 PM – 6:30 PM Carrie Fisher Autographing
I met Carrie Fisher a few years ago at a Big Apple Con. Childhood dream fulfilled. Now’s your chance!

5:15 PM – 6:15 PM Terry Pratchett Meet and Greet
According the NYCC website, Terry Pratchett won’t be signing anything, but will be handing out pre-signed book plates. BUT MY COPY OF GOOD OMENS IS ALREADY SIGNED BY NEIL GAIMAN AND IT NEEDS TERRY PRATCHETT’S AUTOGRAPH!

6:00 PM – 6:30 PM Carrie Fisher Photo Op
Keep it clean, gentlemen.

6:30 PM – 7:30 PM Be a Comic Book Retailer!
Don’t go to this panel if you’ve ever been talked into buying a time share. With a shrinking market and an ever increasingly move to digital, this seems like an equally bad idea.

6:30 – 7:30 PM Robot Chicken
Last year’s Robot Chicken panel was my favorite panel of NYCC 2011. Don’t miss this panel. Unless you have no need for joy in your life, then by all means, miss this panel. I am half hoping, half dreading that the pothead who sat near me last year who cackled at everything that was said sits near me again.

8:00 PM – 9:00 PM CollegeHumor Live at New York Comic Con
I love comics, sketch comedy and stand-up. I can’t think of one reason why I would miss this.

9:00 PM – 10:00 PM Steampunk 101
If you buy a top hat, goggles and a velvet topcoat, you can proceed directly to Steampunk 102.

Written by Sarv, who likes us on Facebook. You should like us on Facebook too.

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On The Couch 2011 #30: The Adjustment Bureau

I really liked The Adjustment Bureau. The film has a cool, metatextual theme of what happens when characters start rebelling against their writers. The men, or snazzy dressed angels depending on your belief set, of The Adjustment Bureau guide humans throughout their lives. The adjusters walk around with their notebooks that show how peoples’ lives will turn out depending on what actions they take. The adjusters use their powers over reality to shape the lives of people in order to make those lives fall in line with “the plan.” The plan could also be seen as a story outline for someone’s life.

The movie immediately brought to mind Grant Morrison’s Supergods, where the writer talked about inserting himself as a character in his comic books. This was most notably done in Mr. Morrison’s run on Animal Man, where the title character realizes he isn’t completely in control of his own life and meets his writer.

Is this the closest a comic book character comes to meeting God?

When Matt Damon’s character finds out that the sharply dressed men of The Adjustment Bureau are messing with his life, and preventing him from being with the woman of his dreams, here played by Emily Blunt, he rebels. He does everything in his power to exert his will over the will of his writer. It would be as if Dorothy decided she didn’t want to take on the Wicked Witch of the West and would rather run off with the Scarecrow to raise an adoptive horde of Lollipop Leaguers while flipping the bird to Frank L. Baum.

Emily Blunt’s dress gives the Red Dress of Awesomeness a run for its money.

John Slattery seemed like a very easy casting choice, as he didn’t even have to change out of his Mad Men wardrobe to be in The Adjustment Bureau.

The Adjustment Bureau or Mad Men?

The stand-out performance goes to Anthony Mackie, playing an adjuster with a crisis of conscience. Apparently you can fuck with one guy’s life only so much before you start thinking twice about it.

I want to shop at their store.

One thing that struck me about The Adjustment Bureau was that there were no women in the Bureau. Guys, come on, it’s 2011. Women can wear fedoras too.

I loved that this movie used real New York City locations as much as it did. From the new Brooklyn Bridge Park to the contemporary ballet company Cedar Lake, real New York City locations are all over this movie. A cool special feature on the Blu-Ray allows you to transverse the secret doors around New York City overlaid on a map of Manhattan.

Like other movies based on Phillip K. Dick stories, The Adjustment Bureau follows the theme that “you’re not paranoid if they really are out to get you.” And it does it really well. If you haven’t seen The Adjustment Bureau yet, I highly recommend it. One warning though, it may make you want to buy a fedora afterwards.

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At The Theater 2011 #4: X-Men: First Class

After the disappointments that were X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, I am very happy to report that X-Men: First Class is a great movie. X2 is still my favorite of the franchise, but this gives the first X-Men serious competition for the number two ranking. The movie is like an awesome mash-up of the X-Men and classic Bond movies.

X-Men: First Class takes liberties with the formation of the X-Men. The only X-Man from the original comic book line-up is The Beast. There is an Angel, but it’s the Angel with insect wings from Grant Morrison’s run on the book, not Warren Worthington III. The other first recruits are Magneto, Havok, Darwin, Mystique and Banshee.
I’ve had fans of the X-Men comic tell me they don’t want to see the movie because of the inclusion of Azazel, the main villain from one of the most reviled stories in X-Men history; a story so bad it ruined Nightcrawler and Mystique for many people. All I can say is that the Azazel here is not the Azazel from the comics. In the movie, he’s basically just a red, mute, evil Nightcrawler. Since much of Azazel’s lameness in the comics came each of his dialogue, it should be considered a good thing that he doesn’t open his mouth in X-Men: First Class.

It’s interesting to see how this movie ties into the earlier X-men movies, which all take place after X-Men: First Class. Havok’s energy blasts are colored red here, and he’s a teen in the 1960s. I’m guessing we’re to assume that in the movies’ universe, Havok isn’t Cyclops’s brother, but is either his father or uncle. Azazel looks like the parts of Nightcrawler that don’t look like Mystique, making Azazel the leading candidate to be Nightcrawler’s father. At least the movie didn’t carry over the ancient races of demon-lookalike and angel-lookalike mutants from the comic book. Since Emma Frost was a child in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and is an adult in X-men: First Class, I think it’s safe to say that we’re all to ignore that X-men Origins: Wolverine ever happened. Fine by me.

I’m guessing the producers of X-Men: First Class cast January Jones as Emma Frost immediately after seeing this scene in Mad Men.

A couple of weeks ago, January Jones, who plays Emma Frost in X-men: First Class, made headlines because she felt she couldn’t live up to the image of Emma Frost, saying “In the amount of time I had to train, it just wasn’t possible to achieve that amount of muscle without losing all the good bits.” I think we can all agree that January Jones is 100% good bits. Who is complaining about how January Jones looks as Emma Frost? Seriously, I want names! This is ridiculous. Anyone who thought January Jones looked anything less than hot in this movie is on timeout. No more internet for them until they come to their senses.

If you’re complaining about January Jones not looking good enough to play Emma Frost, I don’t want to know you.

It’s interesting how much the cast of Mad Men is getting involved in comic book related projects. January Jones here, Elizabeth Moss plays a Green Lantern in the just released Green Lantern: Emerald Knights DVD and Christina Hendricks voiced Lois Lane in All-Star Superman. If only they cast Jon Hamm as Superman in the upcoming Superman movie.

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s SuperHamm!

There are two cameos in the movie that I won’t go into detail on, because they took me completely by surprise and they were awesome. It’d be like ruining the cameo in Zombieland. Watch out for both of them. That’s all I’m going to say. There is also a slightly less awesome, but still cool cameo is by a young Storm, who appears during Xavier’s first use of Cerebro.

The Regal at Battery Park has become my go to theater for summer blockbusters. Five of us showed up a half hour early to see X-Men First Class and there were maybe 20 people there ahead of us. I could really get used to not having to plan on getting to the theater an hour or more early in order to get seats not in the front row. Plus, there is now a Shake Shack around the corner from the theater. Pro tip: Shake Shack is far more crowded than the Regal at Battery Park. Plan your movie watching/burger eating accordingly.

Lots of comic book movies this summer. So far I’m putting X-Men: First Class over Thor. Where will Green Lantern and Captain America show up on this list?