Comments on: “It’s Kind of Like A Creator-Owned Book But It Isn’t”

By: moose n squirrel

moose n squirrel — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:34:39 +0000

Morrison, for all his faults, is a highly creative individual – albeit one that has spent his creative career in the stifling confines of a mercenary corporate environment. Locked within that system, some are forced to rebel against it, and some are forced to accommodate themselves to it by making excuses for it. For years, Morrison has done the latter – reframing the way that corporations like DC and Marvel pillage artists’ creations as some wonderful organic artistic experiment, as if the corporate system that resurrects the shambling, undead corpse of Steve Gerber’s Howard the Duck for a “Fear Itself” tie-in were some kind of hippie art commune. Is it any wonder, now that something as personal as “Flex Mentallo” is seeing the light of day again, that he’s getting creeped out by the notion that something he poured his heart into is owned lock, stock, and barrel by the people who distributed Battlefield Earth?

By: Slappy McKraken

Slappy McKraken — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:15:46 +0000

I think Morrison’s thoughts stem from how personal Flex is for him. Anyone who has read Supergods or seen his biopic can see just how much Morrison put himself and his ideals into the story.

By: davesnothereman

davesnothereman — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 13:55:26 +0000

I don’t know all the backstory on this, but i do remember during the publicity for 7 soldiers him making statements about hoping that others would use the characters he created for that series.

By: Joe S. Walker

Joe S. Walker — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:22:39 +0000

Another one who can dish it out but can’t take it.

By: Rolando Garcia

Rolando Garcia — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 06:07:52 +0000

This comment definitely surprises me – Morrison usually seems to want people to play with the new characters he creates – but it doesn’t change my views much, either way.

By: Tenebrous

Tenebrous — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 02:27:50 +0000

Isn’t this a typical Morrisonism, though? He has no problem taking liberties with anyone else’s toys but he doesn’t like his being messed with. X-Men being a prime example. He had no problem killing off main characters or destroying major elements of the mythology durinf his run but the second he left for DC he began whining about all of his work being “undone” Yes, the mythology of superheroes is perennial and cyclical- except when Morrison makes changes- those are supposed to be permanent!!

By: Dan Coyle

Dan Coyle — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 00:53:20 +0000

“Geoff [Johns] could put him in the Justice League.”

Well, it’s not like you could talk to him about it or anything. It’s not like you two are both exclusive to DC or anything.

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:03:19 +0000

@Bosch: The man doesn’t owe us shit. He’s right to believe whatever he wants.

By: ajpursell

ajpursell — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 17:40:09 +0000

I wonder how long before it’s announced that DC is doing a “Before Flex Mentallo” series, with JT Krul writing and Liefeld drawing.

By: Hieronymus Bosch

Hieronymus Bosch — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:56:52 +0000

Sigh… he finally gets it… and I finally feel a bit stupid for getting defensive when people bash him (although I at least kept it to myself for the most part). It’s tempting to say he owes us a retraction for his Siegel/Shuster comments, isn’t it? Maybe his problem is just that he was too incapable of saying “no comment” to avoid being put on record as defending DC’s treatment of them.

By: Kyle Garret

Kyle Garret — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 16:15:34 +0000

I think it’s a reflection of where Morrison is at right now. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he said this not long after his first Image book was announced.

At Image Expo, the founders talked about regretting giving new characters to the Big Two. I think we’ll see more and more of that if creator owned books continue to sell.