Morrison on the Big Two

[superboyprime]

During his spotlight panel at SDCC, Grant Morrison gave some details about his eventual return to Batman, Inc. and his upcoming Action Comics...

This is all from Newsarama's live coverage, so I doubt the "quotes" are always exactly word for word.

On the second part of the Batman, Inc. saga:

"Will Batman Inc fit in with the New 52 universe?"

He said yes, "Batman: Leviathan" is a 12-part story starting in January, and "I guarantee you will cry. Many times, you will cry."

--

Fan: You like writing Batman or Superman more?

Morrison: "Now that I'm nearing the end of Batman, I feel like I have less to say, and I'm starting to get more buzz from Superman a bit. But no one loves Batman like me."

--

"Will we see any more Scarlet?" "Not in anything I'm going to do."

Fan "How do you feel about Dick Grayson dropping down to Nightwing and not being partnered with Damien?"

Morrison "It's happening and we're making it work. I always thought they should let that go for 5 or 6 years, cause there's something about the pairing that just works so well."

"Batman: Leviathan is about Bruce and Damian though, and you will cry and cry and cry."

--

Asked about process, "Batman's kinda a puzzle book for me. I set out to tell puzzle stories with secrets and solutions. Action [Comics] is more about forward momentum."

"It always starts with something, like the Ouroboros in Batman Inc, and it spins out into different things."

--

Batman Inc question: it seems this is an analog to Blackwater, could Batman fall into a moral grey area with this?

"Only if you want him to. For me, Batman is a good guy, and you know he's a good guy. I sort of take for granted that whatever Batman and Bruce are doing is for the good of everyone. I'd rather look at the positive side of it."

On Action Comics:

Grant said "it's the quintessential, basic, primal Superman."

"I could kind of see it as the young version of All-Star. It's big, probably bigger in its implications for Superman."

--

Re: Action Comics "You're harkening back to him being the Socialist Champion; does that conflict with him being more Kal-El from Krypton than Clark from Earth?"

Morrison "They're playing up more of the Kryptonian stuff at the other title, but mine is about the farmboy in the city, and Clark Kent is doing as much work on fighting social injustice as Superman is."

"Superman isn't Batman. He can never be brooding and sitting on gargoyles."

"Batman, only two people died in his life and he's been sad ever since. Superman lost billions and still has a smile on his face."

"So my Superman will be a pro-active, young, powerful guy. It's Action Comics, so Superman has to be doing stuff!"

"He's only darker in the sense that he gets stuff done. He's no longer a friend of the law, he stands for Justice, and that may conflict with the law sometimes."

--

Action takes place 5 years ago in DCnU continuity, then catches up in issue #7, going back and forth a bit from there.

--

Morrison doesn't like doing "issue of the month" kinds of things where you're beat over the head with a specific social issue, but he wants Superman to go after many of them.

--

Action Comics is more about the tone of Golden Age era heroes without any specific storylines from then.

--

Morrison said Lex Luthor in Action Comics is kind of a good guy, a scientist working for the government who is an "up and coming" rich guy that's sold a few patents.

--

Possibility of a Steel ongoing? "He has a really big role in these first six issues of Action Comics," Morrison said, adding that the hope that the character will be "so well defined" that he can sustain an ongoing.

--

Role of Jimmy Olsen? Morrison said it's a Clark and Jimmy friendship, calling them "two geeks."

And in non-comics news:

Grant is doing another My Chemical Romance music video, continuing his work with them.


The only thing that has me wary is the part about Clark Kent and Superman both tackling injustice in their own ways. Clark shouldn't just be Superman without powers. What's the point of a secret identity if the two sides both act the same way? Doesn't that defeat the very point of a secret identity, narratively speaking? That was the biggest flaw with the post-Crisis version of the character -- the two acted exactly the same -- and I hope Morrison doesn't repeat it. Other than that, so so so stoked for these two books.



Do you know what I love about this page? Superman's smiling.

Comments

[biod]

Sorry, I have to get this out of my system: JUSTICE!
*ahem*
I'm really looking foward to this.

[eyz]

Morrison "It's happening and we're making it work. I always thought they should let that go for 5 or 6 years, cause there's something about the pairing that just works so well."
So true...

It seems we're gonna cry a lot from what the man sez...

"Batman, only two people died in his life and he's been sad ever since. Superman lost billions and still has a smile on his face."
^Love the above quote!

[kenn_el]

Except Batman experienced his loss. Superman only intellectually knows of his (unless they're going to go with the Super Memory or time travel concepts that Silver Age Supes used to connect to the destruction of Krypton.).

[big_daddy_d]

Superman's smiling.

I look at that page and think of this context:

Superman: "Can't catch me coppers!"

[darkknightjrk]

I was thinking of him going "Fuck da' police!" myself.

[q99]

-
Morrison "It's happening and we're making it work. I always thought they should let that go for 5 or 6 years, cause there's something about the pairing that just works so well."
-

So yes!

If you've got a neat shake-up-the-status-quo situation, you let it run for awhile, both to get the good stories out of it while it's fresh, and to make the eventual return a bigger event.

-
Morrison "They're playing up more of the Kryptonian stuff at the other title, but mine is about the farmboy in the city, and Clark Kent is doing as much work on fighting social injustice as Superman is."
-

Hah, yea. Ok, so Morrison's got Superman down, sounding good.

-
Possibility of a Steel ongoing? "He has a really big role in these first six issues of Action Comics," Morrison said, adding that the hope that the character will be "so well defined" that he can sustain an ongoing. -

That sounds cool too.

So, this is the bit of recent comic news that's left me the most hopeful.

[icon_uk]

Actaully, I really like the idea of Clark Kent doing his own brand of good. Superman can solve problems, and the like, but Clark Kent can expose corruption and use the media to do it, providing more in depth analysis that Superman can.

[wizardru]

Yeah, that's how I interpreted it, as well. This isn't necessarily new ground, as other writers have tackled this before (and tackled it well), but I'm sure Morrison is aware of that and will tackle it in a forthright manner.

[an_idol_mind]

Grant Morrison gets it. Action Comics is looking like it will be a heck of a title.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

...why are cops firing an automatic weapon at a moving target?

[shadowpsykie]

shhhhh ..... comics... :D

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Sorry, I just think it strains credability in too many ways.

The cop's an idiot for firing for no reason (this i Clark, comeon).

Clark's an idiot for not disappearing the instant the cops started using an automatic weapon.

And the artist or writer is an idiot for not realizing that cops don't carry automatics like that, and certainly woldn't fire them in a crowd.

[sadoeuphemist]

The cops are corrupt (because they're shooting at Superman)

Clark's running the hell away from them

The cops are corrupt (because they're shooting at Superman)

[sherkahn]

Those last two panels just do not sit well with me.


It's reckless police action, shooting during a high speed chase. One stray bullet and background people could die.

Thanks for the reminder why I am dropping this.

[abbadie]

Huh, policemen do that at times, not that they should. Mi mother got shot in the knee that way once (the lousy cop even said, "one bullet? there should been two in there!"

[shadowpsykie]

oh did your mother slap him because seriously... some one needs to slap him.....

[abbadie]

Unfortunately the paramedics were already carrying her away when she heard that. She actually walked two blocks and told me everything from a street phone before they caught up with her! :-P

[rdfox]

Ironically, he's right--they're trained to fire double-taps, so if he were at all competent with his firearm, there WOULD have been two rounds in there.

And actually, most big-city police forces *do* have units with full-auto weapons like that (remember, technically, your standard semiautomatic handgun is an "automatic," since it chambers the next round automatically), but...

A) They're not beat cops (even in LA, where, after the Bank of America shootout, each patrol car is now equipped with an AR-15 rifle, the rifle's still a semiauto-only weapon), and
B) The SWAT team (or whatever euphemism the local PD uses for it) is trained to *never* fire from a moving vehicle, and, indeed, not to fire full-auto except short bursts (three rounds) in room-clearing. Not to mention that they'd not respond spontaneously to the situation; they plan *everything* and follow the plan, containing the suspect with a perimeter first and then closing the noose. AND...
C) Police are required to account for every round fired (somehow, I suspect your cop got in deep shit with Internal Affairs over that), so they fire aimed shots, because any round that misses and hits an IB is potential for a massive lawsuit against both themselves personally and the department as a whole, AAAAAAND...
D) They're also trained that you do not fire unless the suspect poses an imminent threat to yourself or the public. You could have Hannibal Lecter walk into a police station, and while the officers present would be required to arrest him, they would NOT be allowed to simply shoot him unless he had a weapon, attacked someone, or made a credible threat of imminent harm (hand in pocket and shoved it forward with finger out so it looked like a gun, lunged at someone, that sort of thing).

On the positive side, even if he doesn't comprehend that American cops aren't looneys who start spray-and-praying at every opportunity to fire their weapons, at least he said that the whole "start of Superman's career" thing in Action is a one-arc flashback.

Beyond that, though... (wait for it, wait for it...)

[biod]

Eh, we don't even have context and it's one incredibly small part of an entire series. I am no dissuaded at all, really.

[abbadie]

Fascinating explanation, thank you for this.

This guy was actually shooting from the patrol car at robbers who were running away in a car just as they turned around the corner were my mother was walking by, in a fast car chase downtown, on very populated side streets where houses don't even have gardens or front yards, only one block from the market (they went past the market since they headed that way). So many kinds of wrong.

[abbadie]

Oh, and I so love that macro. Want a t-shirt or even stamps to paste on comics! <3

[rdfox]

Actually, I believe Cornette is selling t-shirts of it through his official website, though it's a drawing of it and doesn't have the caption...

[sadoeuphemist]

Hahaha, why do you read any superhero comics at all. They are gloriously heedless to the possibility of collateral damage.

[sadoeuphemist]

The new DC universe: FUCK DA POLICE

[shadowpsykie]

i had my reservations about this... but damn... it looks good.... still hates the costume preciousssss

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Looking at this scene again, I can't help but wonder if DC is trying to lift Marvel's undertone of 'hated and feared' for the entire DCU.

I mean really, cops firing an automatic at Superman for being fast? WTF?

[sadoeuphemist]

Pretty sure he did something else before this, and now they're chasing him and he's running away fast.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Like what, though? He barely has a costume, I doubt he did anything too destructive.

Regardless, they're firing a semi-automatic after a fast moving target in the middle of a busy street.

Yeah, no.

[sadoeuphemist]

W-what? What does his costume or lack of have to do with anything?

The cops are the bad guys in this scenario, I hope that helps you process it.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Lack of costume means I dubt h was involved in a supervillain battle, as does the general lack of damage that we see.

I know the cops are the bad guys. But this isn't Gotham and there are limits. Hell, cops don't even carry weapons lik that!

[sadoeuphemist]

Are -are you serious with this? You're telling me that you see a scene where a guy is running away and a bunch of armed dudes are chasing after him, and your immediate, insistent thought is, "Why are they firing at him for being fast???" Am I understanding you correctly? Is this what you actually believe?

Because if so, oh my god, you are being unbelievably dense here, I'm sorry. To address your concerns:

-Superman can fight a supervillain battle wearing anything he wants, it doesn't matter
-He is wearing his costume, that shirt and jeans combo is his costume for the first part of Morrison's run
-He has run away from the "scene of the crime," so of course you're not going to see any evidence of it.
-It doesn't need to be a recent incident, the cops could just be gunning for him for something he did yesterday
-It doesn't even have to be a particularly violent incident, maybe he just exposed the corruption of the police department or something like that

Also this is a world which has Superman et al running around in it the cops can carry any goddamn weapons they want.

[nezchan]

Not to mention, if they don't really know who he is yet (I gather this is before he's generally known as Superman), then if he was involved in a supervillain battle, there's no reason to assume he isn't one as well.

[sadoeuphemist]

I mean seriously you're responding to a post that has the quote: "He's no longer a friend of the law, he stands for Justice, and that may conflict with the law sometimes" and yet you think the reason the police are after him because he's running fast!

[darkknightjrk]

"Like what, though? He barely has a costume, I doubt he did anything too destructive."

Remember, this is taking from the Golden Age version of Superman, where in his first story he broke into the Governor's house and dragged him out kicking and screaming so that he can call off the execution of a man proven innocent. He's probably dealing with corrupt cops and they don't like this super-strong teen in tight jeans trying to mess up their operation.

[detective_deathman08]

Remeber superheroes were new at this point. Superman might be an outlaw at this point.

[nezchan]

Sorry, but after all the BS we've been handed already, this isn't enough to sway me back.

Try harder, Morrison.

[mrstatham]

I think Morrison maybe understands the core themes of his characters better than anyone in the industry, and while he's clearly enjoying writing Superman again, I can't help but get the feeling that he feels the same sense of derailment that many fans have had when it comes to the relaunch. His answer about Dick and Damien has a 'just gotta deal with it' feel, really. DC, as much as they claim the Batman Inc setup is still in place, seems to be throwing a fair bit out the window, like Steph being Batgirl, which doesn't gel with the new status quo.

And the claims that Steph and Cass will still be about - are they gonna be, like, ten or something, given Barbara looks to be losing about ten years?

[nezchan]

So Tiny Titans in the mainstream DCnU?

[detective_deathman08]

I will glady pick this up, but I do not know about superman's other book.

[darkknightjrk]

I am buying the hell out of these two books. I think Morrison's possibly the best creator working at the Big Two right now. :D

[terabient]

Clark Kent is doing as much work on fighting social injustice as Superman is."

"Superman isn't Batman. He can never be brooding and sitting on gargoyles."

"Batman, only two people died in his life and he's been sad ever since. Superman lost billions and still has a smile on his face."

"So my Superman will be a pro-active, young, powerful guy. It's Action Comics, so Superman has to be doing stuff!"

"He's only darker in the sense that he gets stuff done. He's no longer a friend of the law, he stands for Justice, and that may conflict with the law sometimes."

I like all of these things, especially a socially conscious Clark. Reporter Clark doing good is one of my favorite comic things. I hope the other Superman book takes some direction from Action Comics.

Aaaaand Clark's smile in the second panel is turning me into a puddle of fangirl goo.

[jlbarnett]

interesting that they could do such conflicting takes on the character. Especially when Morrison's is going to catch up to the present pretty quickly

interesting that he calls Clark and Jimmy two geeks considering some past comments on geeks and nerds with power