Newsarama - Grant Morri-X-on Speaks!

Originally published on www.newsarama.com, 16th October 2000

GRANT MORRI-X-ON SPEAKS!

The Writer Talks About Why He Took the X-Men Job and What He Plans to Do With It

By Michael Doran

In late 1999 comics fans were left wondering how much more comic book work they’d ever get to see from writer Grant Morrison. In a published interview in which Morrison cited frustration with DC over his and colleagues Mark Waid, Tom Peyer and Mark Millar’s treatment after the four writers proposed to take over the four monthly Superman titles; as well as DC failing to offer Morrison work following his acclaimed JLA run, it was implied the writer was "quitting comics"...

What a difference a year makes. Now it looks as if 2001 is shaping up to be maybe one of the more prolific years of Morrison’s career - as recently confirmed by Joe Quesada, the man who holds a great deal of responsibility for the revival of DC’s JLA is set to take over the reins of one of Marvel’s - and arguably the industry’s - flagship title, the X-Men.

In a Newsarama interview with Morrison Monday morning, the writer discussed why he’s taken the job, responds to questions and criticisms from some circles regarding his accepting the assignment, and gives X-readers and current non-fans an early glimpse at his ideas for the franchise...

IN A WORD - WHY?

"I’ve spent a year traveling and writing lots of prose stuff as I intended. Comics are my first love but I just needed a break to clear my head after the fairly unpleasant ending of my time in the DCU," Morrison said, when asked why he chose to take the assignment. "While I’ve been wrapping up other projects, my mind has naturally filled up with tons of ideas for comic books. Fortunately, I’m so far ahead of deadline on everything that work seems like fun again, so as long as I can keep that feeling alive I’ll be doing X-Men and a bunch of other new stuff that’s coming along next year."

Asked what appeal the franchise has for him creatively, the writer make comparisons to his part work, explaining if JLA and The Invisibles were “thesis and antithesis", X-Men is the "synthesis".

"It’s a book about the future, about evolution, about replacing the outmoded with the fresh," Morrison said. "The X-Men are every rebel kid who wants to make the world new and better. Humanity is every conservative force ranged against this change and evolution. Doesn’t that seem like the perfect book for me?

"The whole high concept is brilliant," he continued. "More so now than ever, I feel. We live in a world where genetic engineering and human mutation are no longer science fiction but today’s headlines. Now wrap those headlines up in sexy bodies, flashy powers and cool costumes and you’ll see the appeal of the X-Men. I’m getting to write hyperkinetic 21st century myths from the frontline line of the war between change and stagnation. It’s a brilliant, powerful, relevant dynamic to play with."

On the flipside of the equation, Morrison also gave us some thoughts on what isn’t working so well in the books right now and problems he feels need to be addressed.

"The cast is a little too big," he responded. "Too many characters whose names don’t match how they look so there’s no idea what they do. The best superhero characters are all instantly recognizable from their names - Wolverine looks like a Wolverine, Cyclops has one `eye`, the Angel has wings, the Silver Surfer, the Green Goblin… etc, etc. They’re instantly memorable characters. Names like Cecilia Reyes or even things like Cable or Gambit just don’t work for me and it’s hard to tell many of these guys apart in a line-up except that some have scars or stubble or breasts.

"Continuity needs to be stripped right back so that new readers can join in without feeling like they’re drowning in 40 years worth of plot twists.

"The costumes are stupid. Superheroes only look the way they do because of Superman and Superman only looks the way he does because his original outfit design was based on circus strongman outfits of the 1930s and because the early printing processes could only handle primary colors. We can dump all that, move beyond, and look elsewhere for inspiration. I don’t want to see Wolverine wearing a hat in the shape of his hair anymore. I don’t want to see blue and yellow jumpsuits. I want these guys to look like they could walk fifty yards without being laughed at in the street."

As one of the industry’s few outspoken optimists, Morrison also sees this as an opportunity to get into the line of fire and do something positive with what most people agree is comics’ top franchise.

"Superheroes are all set to take over the media," Morrison opinioned. "The X-Men movie and sequels, the Matrix and sequels, Buffy, Spider-Man, Unbreakable...the trickle of comic book or comic book inspired crossovers is growing into a flood. It’s time we got off our arses and started selling comic books to this huge new audience - which is suddenly familiar with the concept of super powers and hero teams and wants more of it.

"Our field created and continues to create the images you’re seeing more and more often on your TV or VDU screens, it seems ridiculous that we shouldn’t profit from this new surge of interest in all things superhuman and weird. It may not last but it’s here for a while and we might be able to pull comics back from the brink if we don’t throw away this opportunity to rejoin the mainstream of pop culture.

"We creators need to do everything we can to draw attention back to the comic book medium and the special delights it offers. The mainstream is practically banging our doors down then retreating in confusion as they find too many convoluted books that seem aimed squarely at an imagined `geek` audience. Getting my hands on the world’s biggest comic book franchise gives me the chance to really put my money where my mouth is and take on the mass media.

"This book sold nine million copies in 1990. The movie was very successful. I don’t see why we should be settling for a few hundred thousand sales.

"I’d like to restore the `must-have` feeling that made X-Men the coolest book on the planet between `77 and `80. I think we have millions of potential new readers who liked the movie and want more. We also have millions of women out there who drooled over Hugh Jackman and who’d love to read a monthly comic where Wolverine was as sexy, mysterious and supercool as he appeared onscreen.

"My intention is to create something that first time readers will have no trouble grasping and becoming involved in, just like any good TV soap opera. In much the same way as the movie did, I hope to bring a new audience in while providing lots of little background stuff for the long-term fans to pick up and get off on."

RESPONDING TO HIS CRITICS

Asked how he’d respond to critics who view Morrison’s taking this job as a step-backward for the medium as a whole and him creatively, suggesting he ought to instead concentrate on flexing his creative muscles on titles like his Doom Patrol and The Invisibles, the writer was pretty forthright in his reply...

"I’d ask them to STOP FUCKING WHINING for just a bit," he said. "Just enough to listen to me when I say that I have several new and extreme creator-owned comics projects underway, that my mind muscles are being well flexed and that X-Men will be a beneficiary of my new approach and my new techniques, just as my new `weird` stuff will benefit from the X-Men’s best-selling status.

"Don’t worry so much about everything and trust me. I have a plan.

"We need our big, mainstream comics just as much as we need our little avant garde personal efforts. And we need talents of my `caliber`, willing to stop being so divisive and willing to get to work to raise the profile of the entire medium using the best tools available. I could easily retreat up my own arse by writing Grant Morrison’s Impenetrable Comics & Stories for an audience of 10,000 zealots if I wanted to. If instead, as writer of the X-Men I can convince some part of my new vast audience to seek out my creator-owned work or to buy Acme Novelty Library, then perhaps we can begin to make people comfortable with the idea of comics as a fully-functioning medium comprising all kinds of diverse work. Instead of breaking into little argumentative camps, I urge anyone who cares to start blowing the trumpet for all good comics - from the small-scale home-produced works of genius to the slick, big budget monthlies and everything in between. The success of blockbuster movies makes independent film more viable. The same trickle down will work here, just as it did in the 80s when people bought Love & Rockets and Escape because they’d read about them in magazine articles about The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen.

"Acknowledging only one type of comic and trying to pretend the others don’t or shouldn’t exist is insane in these difficult times. How will people ever know how literate and adult our medium can be if we only promote corporate super-titles? How will people ever know how mindlessly enjoyable and poppy our medium can be if we keep saying the mainstream is nothing but crap?

"So once more, with probably as little success as in the past, I ask comic fans to STOP COMPLAINING ABOUT EVERYTHING for just a little while. Right now, we need your enthusiasm, your support and your ideas about how to rebuild the comics medium and have it recognized as the major source of pop cultural input that it is.

"I’ve said it before, if you want to see comics dead, then continue to tear everything apart before it even gets started, continue to shout and rant based on wrong-headed assumptions, ignorant misunderstanding and misplaced frustration. I won’t be listening and I won’t be on your side in this miserable endeavor. Sorry.

"Everyone else is invited to come up with some plans.

When we get our sales back, when comics, creators and fans are seen as the coolest things since polar bear turds then you can come and give me a hard time for stepping backwards…"

MORRISON’S X-MEN

And while Morrison’s run probably won’t begin until late next spring, we couldn’t let him go without getting him to give fans some early idea of what he has planned…

"Unlike JLA, my X-Men will be very soap opera-ish and character-driven," he said. "Otherwise it’s action in hyperdrive, angst turned up to twelve and at least five crazy ideas in every panel.

"This will be pure, uncut X-Men."

Influenced by a particular comics era? The movie?

"Influenced mostly by watching Sally and Ricki last time I was in L.A. And by a great line in some science book I read recently: The missing link between apes and men … is us`

Big team or small?

"Small core. Big supporting."

Characters you like, don’t like?

"You’ll see when I start killing them off."

Will you create any new team members, characters?

"Yes. I have two major new X-Men appearing within the first six months. We’ll also be introducing a shocking new mystery villain and there will be lots of twists, revelations and secrets flying around."

Any immediate changes you can tell readers about now?

"Not really. Some of this stuff is so startling that it would be a shame even to hint at what’s coming up."

Will both core books be closely tied? Or more stand alone with different casts and focuses?

"Hopefully, they’ll be a little more stand-alone. I’d like to be left alone for a year just to rebuild the book my way."

On that note, Morrison said while it’s not yet set in stone, he does believe he’ll be writing the “Adjectiveless" title and working with artist Leinil Francis Yu. And on the question of who might write the other title, who he’d like and if he’ll have any input, Morrison said, "Obviously I wish it was Mark Millar - we’re close friends and have similar ideas about how to vamp up the industry - but Mark’s too busy on Ultimate X-Men and some new stuff so we get to be rivals this time instead of collaborators.

"Otherwise, I have no idea who might be picked. As long as it’s someone who doesn’t want to do `classic` X-Men retro, I’ll be fine.

Finally, we asked if he had any final comments for readers sitting on the fence as to whether to check out the Grant Morrison X-Men next spring...

Said the writer… "Of course you’re going to check it out. This is the fastest, hardest, wildest, most essential fashion item for summer 2001.

"If you don’t buy this book, everyone will laugh at you…"