Comments

1. WadeWilson says:

   October 3, 2008 at 11:31 am

   Your suspicion of what’s presented would be an insult to 99% of writers, but to Morrison, I think he likes to not only keep people guessing, but also to leave most readers shaking thier heads. I personally don’t think this is a good thing, but a lot of people must like it, because he’s a popular writer.

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2. Titanesque says:

   October 3, 2008 at 12:39 pm

   Bless you Wade. We’re on the same wavelength.

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3. ActualButt says:

   October 3, 2008 at 10:36 pm

   @Templar, see my review to see why I don’t think that this characterization of the Joker is off at all, and why I think "whirlwind of chaos" is not an accurate description of the his psyche.

   and @Titanesque, Wade is not on the same wavelength with you, unless you forgot half of your vocabulary while writing your review (no offense) and he just said what you meant to, but didn’t. WadeWilson acknowledges that Morrison knows what a narrative is here, while you resorted to juvenile insults of his ability to put together a cohesive thought. Frankly, as a fan of Grant Morrison, I feel insulted myself. He may not be writing comics by the standards of the industry (or any other medium for that matter) but that doesn’t mean he’s the David Lynch of comics. (And by that I mean a writer who just writes weird shit that doesn’t mean anything or lead to anything, and who people fall all over so that they seem intellectual)

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4. Titanesque says:

   October 6, 2008 at 11:15 am

   I beg to differ, Butt. First, I disagree my comments were juvenile – it was my hope to be brief, and second, they weren’t part of my comments on this review. I didn’t know I was working on a focused effort to insult you from string to string as a Grant Morrison fan. I simply believe we differ on the question of whether Morrison can write a comic. (Well, that’s not entirely true, I think he can write a one-shot, just keep him away from an arc.) You’re not the only one who disagrees with me; I expected some backlash, obviously. Conor disagrees with me and has said so on the podcast. You’ll be happy to know I’m living well despite the difference of opinion.

   Further, I don’t think I wrote that Morrison cannot come up with a "cohesive thought". To the contrary, I’ve been a fan of a number of the issues of All-Star Superman. The difference, I think, is predicated on the size of the run. Superman  has 1-3 issue stories – the first few were particularly dynamic. He’s being forced to unload quickly and not dawdle. Here and in Final Crisis, Morrison has way too much room to breathe, and he utilizes it to a fault.  

    I merely prefer the Geoff Johns method of storytelling where there isn’t so much responsibility placed on the reader to (1) read every issue in a run, and (2) research what you happen to be reading. I don’t "study" comic books, I read them ten minutes before I fall asleep. My problem isn’t isolated to this book. I have the same problems with Final Crisis…including Superman Beyond – find me a person who can follow that book. The man just isn’t my flavor, and I believe he’s really making a mess of the DCU by trying to make a splash of significance as opposed to an arc that has well-timed plot points and a story structure with timely reveals – i.e. not putting all the logic of the story into the final ten pages of a 130-page arc. Hey, if you love paying for – "Okay, all of this is really abstract, but it should make sense once I get to the final issue," then by all means, love the man, but don’t put words in my mouth. I agreed with Wade – I do not think that Morrison’s method of setting readers off on a head-shaking path is effective, and I don’t think it sells comic books. I think the DCU as a whole is suffering because of it because DiDio is putting too many of his eggs in the Morrison basket. That’s the last I’ll stay on the subject. Time will tell when we get to the last issue.    

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