Morrison: Pissing On Countdown Before The 'Rama Interview

Over on ComicFoundry.com, they had an interview published with Grant Morrison on April 29th where the following exchange took place:

"You’ve done several big event books for DC. What’s the hardest part about writing them?

Trying not to disturb continuity too much, particularly in cases where said continuity is best described as a car wreck. Back in 2006, I requested a moratorium on the New Gods so that I could build up some foreboding and create anticipation for their return in a new form … instead, the characters were passed around like hepatitis B to practically every writer at DC to toy with as they pleased, which, to be honest, makes it very difficult for me to reintroduce them with any sense of novelty, mystery or grandeur. So in cases like this, where fellow creators have overlooked my carefully established additions to DC continuity or ignored my pleas to hold certain characters in reserve, my intention is to follow the through-line I’ve established in my own work so that there’s at least some long-term consistency."

Wow...this says two things to me:

1. Comic Foundry really needs to make its online presence a little more well-known. The blogosphere erupted much more about Grant dismissing Countdown in his Newsarama interview, despite the fact that he had pretty much already told the world that he didn't care to match up to what DC did against his wishes over in CF's interview.
2. DC editorial really managed to find the worst of both worlds. They have apparently frustrated some creators by wanting to stick to the Morrison road map but disregarded what appears to be a pretty important setup point because the man at the top felt the New Gods needed a proper tribute. From where I sit, that send off could have been an out-of-continuity Death of the New Gods...or even just the in-continuity Death of the New Gods without making Countdown hinge on New God participation.

All the info I have read on the subject seemed to indicate that the decision to give the Kirby versions some sort of send off originated from Dan Didio. He's the only DC guy I've seen making statements about why they focused on them in Countdown and in their own mini. No other editors or creators have stepped up and said it was something they championed.

So, if a personal desire from Didio is at the root of Countdown, Death of the New Gods, and the resultant disconnect with Final Crisis, I can see why things could be a bit tense for Didio. He's in a position where you normally defer to the creators under contract, rather than spend time putting your own ideas out there. His being co-architect of Countdown with Dini is a double hit on Dan doing his job: one hit for approving the idea and another for expanding his role into being more hands on with the writing than he maybe should have been.

Makes me wonder...is he AJ Lieberman after all?

(CF article brought to my attention via a link from 4thLetter.net, which I got to via DigitalFemme.com)

Random Comic Thoughts

• Does Tom Peyer have children? Because his short run on The Flash has led to the West children's inclusion in the book feeling a lot more natural than it did under Waid. Now there are grumblings that he's being replaced on the book permanently. Does DC no longer allow creative teams to find their audience?
• Latest issue of JLA had numerous bits that flew in the face of logic. One of the most glaring (and I know this will sound nitpicky, but hear me out): the new Red Tornado redesign. OK, John wants to marry his lady and continue being a father to that little girl. Is this best done by drastically changing his outward appearance for no apparent reason? There doesn't seem to be an in-story excuse for why the new Tornado body would have a wildly different color scheme, other than letting readers differentiate from the good and bad Tornado. But with everyone trying to help John get back to having a normal life, it makes sense that no one would worry about the effects of a new look on his existing relationships? If I were that girl's age, I'd be pretty damn spooked about a jet-black (not a racial thing, folks, go look at the design) dad that would come in to check on me at night with glowing accents.
• One of the side effects of not having much crossover material for an event like Final Crisis is the possibility of interest waning. I'm much more of a fan of DC franchises than Marvel ones, but Secret Invasion is more ever-present in my mind than Final Crisis. If there was even a little seeding of the Final Crisis story into the other monthlies coming out, it would help.
  
• Nee resigns from DC Comics and 90% of the talk about it is centered around how this plays in the Didio drama or how this measures up as being the big news that Warren Ellis said might be coming that day. That's a shame.
  

Could Carlin Be The Culprit?

Warren Ellis sent out a Bad Signal e-mail about the current state of DC and Didio. One of the parts that caught my eye:

People like talking shit about Dan Didio online. The truth is that he's actually a smart guy who, on entering the company, had to make some tough decisions fairly quickly. It's also true that some lifers at DC editorial are very resistant to any kind of change. Are some of them just plain nasty and dumb enough to say, "screw Morrison, we'll do our own story, and if it blows his big reveals, well, fuck ím''? I would hope not, but it does seem to have happened anyway.

I was initially set to point out that DC lifers didn't have much to do with those lead-in projects. Marts was on Countdown at the start and Death of the New Gods. Much of it was Didio's darling to begin with.

But how could I forget Mike Carlin? You know, the guy who seemed to go through many a weekly 'Rama interview (and issues of the event he was editing) with a "I just don't give a f***" attitude. Used to be one of the more important people 'round those parts, seems to be much less so now. He was on Countdown for a longer (and, ultimately, more important) time than Marts, when it comes to matching things up. He wound up on Countdown because an editor that management likes better begged off it (that's the perception).

Could his "f*** it" attitude be part of why Countdown didn't match up to Final Crisis? Could his "f*** it" attitude really have been more of a "f*** Didio and this project he stuck me on/I'll show him" sort of thing?

Mind you, Ellis didn't say anything to imply that he was talking about Carlin. This is just my own spitballing and shouldn't suggest that anyone else was going in that direction.

And Comics Journalism Needs A Russert

• Rumors persist that Marvel_b0y was a viral campaign run by employees of Marvel, despite at least some sort of denial from Joe Quesada.
• Countdown counted down to nothing, since it certainly didn't countdown to Final Crisis.
• Grant Morrison says that he gave DC his first issue script and the outline for the entire mini-series long ago, yet rumors persist that Didio traveled out to Scotland because Morrison was delivering something different than he had previously laid out.
  
• Dixon leaves DC; he didn't quit, yet he says he didn't have quite the passionate "YOU'RE FIRED!" moment. There are strong indications that Didio is the reason he's gone, but he won't spell it out further, as of yet. Keep in mind he said no comment next week and now he's been posting up a storm of comments alluding to what the heart of the matter is.
  
• And now, despite protests to the contrary only a matter of weeks ago, JG Jones has obviously NOT been on schedule with his artwork for Final Crisis, as revealed now by Carlos Pacheco being added to the series as of Final Crisis #4.
  
• Kinda indicates that Grant Morrison was full of it when he protested that things were way too far gone for them to have adjusted anything to meet up with where Countdown to Final Crisis left things. It wasn't a combination of things, it was simply the lack of desire to change things. Again, nothing wrong with that on his part. Should have left it at "I didn't want to" rather than trying to say circumstances made it too difficult.
  

Man, I wish there was someone that comic notables felt that they HAD to submit to being interviewed by and could press for firm answers (without being spat upon by half of the fans out there).

You know what is a shame? I find the mysteries of Marvel_b0y (still) and exactly what the fuck is happening at DC more compelling than the comic book event series at either company.

Chuck Dixon Was Fired

Reading the blog over at Comics Should Be Good, it appears that Dixon was fired and that he has some serious issues with Dan Didio.

Countdown was Didio's baby. Giving Morrison the keys to the entire universe was his call. Letting him be uncommunicative about whatever changes he was making to the FC story in such a way that it screwed up the flow between Countdown & FC likely had the fault shared between Didio and Berganza.

I've appreciated many of the strides that DC made under Didio, but Countdown was his clusterf*ck and he follows that up by failing to make his people ensure that they bounced back. If you believe Valerie D'Orazio's picture of what happens when a series bombs (like she described with Titans), it appears that the editorial staff may have been too busy whispering jokes back and forth about how bad Countdown was doing and how bad Carlin looked in many of his Newsarama interviews, so more stupid mistakes were missed along the way.

This Or That: Final Crisis Explanations

While being slightly busy getting defecated on by testy ex-Wizard employees, I wandered back over to Heidi's reporting on Dixon's departure from Batman & The Outsiders.

The comment that stood out was from Dweeze:

I think what Lukecash is referring to are earlier reports that when Morrison turned in the final script for Final Crisis 1, it was vastly different from what he had told editorial it would be and from what editorial had originally approved. As a result, a contingent from DC editorial went to Scotland to discuss what could be done, and the result was what eventually became DC Universe 0.

I had forgotten all about the rumors that the purpose of Didio's Scotland trip was because Grant had made changes to Final Crisis from what he had previously provided to DC editorial. In light of Grant throwing Countdown under the bus in his interview, I thought it might be worth trying to get an idea what people think is most likely the true story.

THIS: Grant Morrison changed Final Crisis significantly, which resulted in Countdown not matching up with Final Crisis.

or

THAT: DC editorial did a sloppy job of coordinating Countdown with Grant's expressed vision for what Final Crisis would be.

What do you think?

Final Crisis: Grant Morrison's Interview At Newsarama

Over at Newsarama, Grant gives an interview about Final Crisis in general, but I want to pick apart where he talked about how Countdown and Death of the New Gods fail to mesh with Final Crisis.

Final Crisis was partly-written and broken down into rough issue-by-issue plots before Countdown was even conceived, let alone written. And J.G. was already working on designs and early layouts by the time Countdown started. There wasn’t really much opportunity, or desire, to modify our content at that stage.

OK, I'm just going to leave that there for now. Well, alright...I can't resist pointing out that layouts are nothing set in stone. It's really not a defense of why things couldn't match up so well (not that Grant needs a defense here).

Obviously, I would have preferred it if the New Gods hadn’t been spotlighted at all, let alone quite so intensively before I got a chance to bring them back but I don’t run DC and don’t make the decisions as to how and where the characters are deployed.

You know, when I first read this, it read more like, "I asked them to leave the New Gods alone until my Final Crisis work," but it now seems more like he just expected that DC would see the pieces he was using in Final Crisis and try to leave them exactly where they were rather than risk messing things up. I'd still put the onus on editorial to possibly double check that their work on the lead up to Final Crisis is actually leading up to it, rather than shooting it in the foot.

GM: Again, bear in mind that Countdown only finished last month so Final Crisis was already well underway long before Countdown and although I’ve tried to avoid contradicting much of the twists and turns of that book as I can with the current Final Crisis scripts, the truth is, we were too far down the road of our own book to reflect everything that went on in Countdown, hence the disconnects that online commentators, sadly, seem to find more fascinating than the stories themselves.

All well and good. One bit of advice to Grant Morrison regarding his last sentence: get over it. Look, you're a great writer and I'm sure you're about to tell a great story. But you're pretty damn well aware that the DC Universe line of books have quite a bit of continuity. I'm sure you're fairly aware that DC sold Countdown as setting the table for Final Crisis. If DC sold us a product at least partially by convincing us it tied into another, more attractive product, the we're going to be a bit distracted by that, regardless of how well you executed your ideas.

And here is where I call a bit of shenanigans:

GM: What mattered to me was what had already been written, drawn or plotted in Final Crisis. The Guardians didn’t call 1011 when Lightray and the other gods died in Countdown because, again, Final Crisis was already underway before Countdown came out.

C'mon now, Grant. You have a good enough case for all of this not being your fault without making shit up. Lightray died in Countdown #48. Are you telling me that you and JG Jones were in a "there's no going back now" position back then? Bullshit. Pure, unadulterated bullshit. It was approximately the same time that Barda and that other character got killed in Birds of Prey. You weren't put in a position where you couldn't do anything to reflect that.

There wasn’t really much opportunity, or desire, to modify our content at that stage.

You had PLENTY of opportunity here, just no desire. And that's fine. But don't plead that it was impossible when it was clearly just uncomfortable or unattractive. I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy this version of the mini more than I'd enjoy whatever you would have had to morph it into in order to accommodate all the stuff that Countdown and Death of the New Gods did.

I mean, doesn't the following settle the issue just fine without exaggerating the circumstances:

The way I see it readers can choose to spend the rest of the year fixating on the plot quirks of a series which has ended, or they can breathe a sight of relief, settle back and enjoy the shiny new DC universe status quo we’re setting up in the pages of Final Crisis and its satellite books. I’m sure both of these paths to enlightenment will find adherents of different temperaments.

Of course, there's a little exaggeration there, too. It's been a few weeks since the first issue came out. Is there really anything that ridiculous about initially venting some frustration over how this company that's been selling the idea that they've got such a cohesive universe with an amazing plan in place goes and violates all of that cohesion after sucking out 52 issues worth of their money for the DC Universe spine? It is a little early to suggest that a group of a size worth noting is going to still be bitching and moaning in a few months.

Quote of the interview, though:

Once you’ve had the image of Dr. Light hammering away at Sue Dibny’s ruptured rear end burned into your neurons, it’s hard to write him as one more cackling gimmick villain.

Alrighty, then. ;)

SCHWAPP!!!: J'Onn J'Onzz: Failure Of Conventional Wisdom

Part One: Reflecting on the squandering of the sales potential for Martian Manhunter solo projects during the JL/JLI/JLE era of the character:



Part Two: Reflecting on the squandering of the sales potential for Martian Manhunter during the Grant Morrison JLA era of the character (with a bonus from Mr. Morrison at the end):

SCHWAPP!!! Final Crisis As Major Event

And here's the second take: looking at Final Crisis as the first issue in a major event meant to shake up and redefine the DC Universe. The event we've been counting down to for a year. The Crisis to end all Crisis...umm...Crisises...Crises! Yeah...that's it...the Crisis to end all Crises.

SCHWAPP!!! Final Crisis As Art

I'm reviewing Final Crisis from two different angles. The first, seen here, is taking it on its own as a work of art. I'm stripping it of the expectations put upon it by the DC Comics hype machine, the fact that it is an event or the idea that we had an event (and off-shoots) counting down to it for a year.

J.G. Jones On Final Crisis: The pace picks up immediately with issue #3

Over on Newsarama's WWPhilly coverage:

A fan expressed some disappointment with the first issue of Final Crisis. In response both Jones and Sattler said “Don’t worry.” J.G. added that “The pace picks up immediately with issue #3. Grant structures his stories in such a specific way, and you will see why the first issue has so much set up. It all pays off!”

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a 7 issue mini-series, right? And there's a month break after issue #3, right?

Major company events are supposed to have a bit of summer popcorn movie to them. There should be some manner of POP early on to grab the reader. Something. But there really isn't a POP in the first issue. It's quite possible that there isn't one in the second issue, if we're getting a "just you wait until #3!"

I'm sure there's some payoff in this mini, though (even if Grant hasn't had a spotless record on endings). I get that Grant is an artist, but company events tend to be weighted more toward the commerical aspect than the artistic angle. So you normally would want to get some SIZZLE into that first issue.

By the way: "don't worry"? Your customer expresses disappointment in the book and they're told "don't worry"? I'm hoping there was something not captured in the fan's question by the reporter. If not...that's a bit off as an answer.

Encore: NYC SCHWAPP!!!: Passing A Message To Grant

Given that Final Crisis just dropped today, I thought I'd post this again while everyone's talking about Grant Morrison



Before hitting the road to NYCC, my friend Aaron asked me to pass personal messages from him to Grant Morrison and Jenna Jameson. While I wasn't able to get the message to Jenna, I did deliver his message to Grant. It was a little more impersonal than he may have desired...

Has Anyone Else Brought This Up?

DC really only seems to make a habit of releasing TPBs or Showcases of their less-than-blockbuster properties when there is some sort of new release related to them that might help them sell some copies. The Batman & The Outsiders Showcases were coordinated with the relaunch of Batman & The Outsiders. They put out the DC Special issues to showcase stories that will be important coming up.

So...Grant Morrison (and Mark Millar) creation, Aztek, just had a TPB released. Grant Morrison is writing Final Crisis. Aztek was a legacy character (the memories of all who had worn the helmet were stored in the helmet itself). Aztek had been sent out to deal with a great evil.

Could a new Aztek be sent out to deal with an evil so great that we're apparently going to see the day it won?

The Wikipedia entry reminds us:

A younger black female Aztek was seen in Grant Morrison's run on JLA during "The Rock of Ages" storyline in which the JLA traveled to an alternate future overrun by Darkseid.

Hmmm...

SPOILERS: Flash Of Three Worlds?

OK, so Wally West came back directly in the JLA/JSA/LoSH crossover done by Meltzer & Johns.

Now Barry Allen is back in a big way, for who knows how long.

Has anyone thought about that Legion of Super Heroes lightning rod? Has a Flash trapped in it, right?

Process of elimination, people.

Geoff Johns + George Perez + 3(LoSH) = FULL OF WIN

For more of the details, run over to Newsarama to read Vaneta Rogers' excellent interview with Geoff Johns.

Oh Bendis, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me?

Anyone who has read a bit of my work here knows I tend to slag on Marvel. My dislike has little to do with their product and everything to do with the manner they hawk it (going beyond hucksterism and into direct lies, recently).

But through the work of the wonderful John Siuntres Word Balloon work with Brian Bendis, I started to soften my stance on Marvel. The reverence he has for Quesada helps reinforce that, whatever outlandish lengths they go to in their efforts to sell books, their heart is always in the right place.

Then there was the thread on the Bendis Boards (covered by Rich Johnston at the link) where he seemed to overreact to hype from Grant Morrison that attempted to dissuade readers from checking out Secret Invasion, as it was all "been there, done that" type material. The thread was started by a pro-Marvel/anti-DC troll (pictured at right with Bendis) and humored by the comic book creator with a response.

guys calm down. he shit talked. so what? i thought it was a little beneath him too, but, hey, its comics. he's having a row, as they say.

same shit gail does all the time. they must teach a class in it over there.

and although i pulled a hammy holding in the jokes goofing on that picture, i say let it ride.

knowing what everyone in the industry knows about what's going on with 'his' book behind the scenes, even jokingly, he really should keep his yap el shutto.

Adding later:

in 2012 when final crisis is done, we'll see what's what.

Gail Simone called him on it, somewhat cordially. She couldn't understand why he was being so sensitive and attempted to defuse it all by assuring Bendis how everyone in the industry knows he didn't become a top talent in the industry by being a hack. Simone repeated this sentiment often, expressing how the fans were going to be the winners this summer because there are two great events to be interested in.

There was a large lull in responses from anyone of note, just a lot of useless back and forth by message board posters. The originator of the thread found himself in the barrel, having jokes made at his expense regarding how he has often carried himself on those boards. I went away for the afternoon to hit the gym and, when I came back, the thread was gone. Thankfully, Rich Johnston (and his sources) were not away at the gym for the end.

Below is an account of some of the stuff he typed, according to Rich's column. I don't know if it was all in one post or spread out over many responses, so I'm reprinting it as it was found:

"holy fuck!! this is the dumbest thread full of stupid on the entire internet!!! and that is saying something.

"you see the fucking smiley faces on my original posts?? it means i'm goofing around!!! like grant seemingly was!!

"see how i have no smiley faces here?? means i'm not!!

"who gives a fucking shit about any of this!! what does it have to do with comics or storytelling or art or fun!!

"gail, go outside, you're losing your mind!! you're on here 24/7 taking shots. i mention you once and we get a lecture. you ARE dave sim. so get some air!!!

"comics are fun!! they are art!! none of this thread is.

"go read the killer. its fucking fantastic.

"and if you were el douchy enough to cut and paste my other posts, minus smileys, on other boards, to see if you can start shit or something.... time to do some soul searching, i would think."

Now, there's really no "joking" way to say "knowing what everyone in the industry knows about what's going on with 'his' book behind the scenes". Smiley face or not, it isn't a good-spirited statement of any kind. Which is what throws everything he originally said into a different light and, while I like to believe he knows what he meant better than anyone, makes it doubtful that he is being truthful about how he meant his initial statements.

Gail comes back and has a brief statement that, while not filled with bile and venom, isn't meant to be building any bridges to peace, either.

"Yikes. The Bendis over-reaction train keeps a'rollin' on!

""Taking shots 24/7?"

"Have you gone nuts?

"Yikes."

Then the thread goes bye-bye. Bendis made some sort of post where he thanked people for reporting posts in the thread and that it had become all "lord of the flies in there", which would seem to be his reason for nuking (rather than just locking?) the thread.

There's a temptation during our less than stellar moments to find some way to erase them if there is any way possible. The internet/information age makes that even harder to do than it might have previously been. You're better off just trying to forget it happened than trying to make it disappear. It only gets worse.