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FBBP - #55 - NYCC Pt. 2
After Saturday’s adventures we got a fair number of people together. The resulting podcast was a bit of a mess, but enjoyable (to record at least). Some of the people involved were giddy like little school girls because of this man:
The Guru of Living Fabulously.
Much was learned, and we leave the NYCC.
BIG SHOUTOUT: The Whole 4L Crew, The people we met from Pop Culture Shock, the gracious folks from NYC who had people stay on their couches, and our contributors who traveled in from other states and countries.
Next Week: We’ve got a loooot of stuff on our hands to cover, we discovered some amazing comics that we hadn’t heard of before, and we need a bit of time to recover to get our head straight.
This has nothing to do with the podcast, just a thought I’ve had. I honestly don’t get all the Morrison love. He’s a guy who has great, huge ideas, but his execution is usually amateurish at best and pathetic at worst. A profession is as much a craft as it is a chance to be creative, and it’s always irked me that Morrison has never taken the time to hone his craft at all.
The best comparison I can make is Morrison’s JLA vs Millar’s Authority. Both took archetypal god figures and put them in widescreen, super compressed storytelling. One was superhero porn comprehensible only to diehard DC fanboys, the other was a bunch of shocks hinged together by a shoestring plot, yet hinged together so well and told with such a craftman’s flair, the book became relevant.
Like, to me, Millar is the anti-Morrison. He has almost no worthwhile ideas, but his execution is *amazing*. Morrison has the big ideas but can’t execute even the most basic writing fundamentals. I wish they’d work together again….
Three places Morrison has proven his brilliance (for me).
1) The Apocalipstick trade of the Invisible.
2) Seaguy. If you’re complaining about ‘execution’ read this for a perfectly exectute post-modern tale.
3) The Dada Doom Patrol stuff.
He does things with comics that no one else does. I agree that Morrison’s execution falls short in some places, but for me that’s just because he attempts things that are quite audacious, and you can’t nail it out of the park all the time.
Take another look at Arkham Asylum for something else no one else could have ever written that’s absolutely brilliant.
And I have the exact opposite opinion of Millar. He has ideas that in the hands of someone else, could turn out decently (Ultimates, His run on Authority, Red Son) but the execution falls short.
[…] went to Joe’s apartment and recorded a podcast on our con experiences thus far. It’s already up. There were a ton of people there, so it was chaotic and I barely get a word in edgewise. Not that […]
Joe,
Looking at your list, I feel like I may be very, very mistaken in my assessment of Morrison’s writing skills because I’ve only read one of the three series you list, Seaguy. Maybe I should read the other 2 and rethink my position?
Anyway, Arkham Asylum is, for me, one of those books where the execution was so flawed as to make the story meaningless. I think if you didn’t already know who the characters were going into the story, then the story is not going to make much sense.
I think the Millar discussion is bigger than a tangent to a discussion on Morrison, so I apologize for bringing it up. It’s interesting to me that you’d see Millar’s work the exact opposite as what I do. I’ll have to re-read some of it and look for what you’re seeing.
OK, now a podcast comment! lol
This podcast was *really* good! I didn’t enjoy the drunk one you guys did so much, but this was definitely back to your old selves.
I enjoyed the giddy vibe this podcast had. It was obvious you were all having a great time at the Con and I enjoyed hearing about it.
I’m tentatively looking forward to Seaguy 2 and I’ll probably get the other Morrison books, too. I like his stuff *much* better when no superheroes are involved, but I think I’m alone on that island! lol