always with the Dick jokes (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
irrelevant) wrote2010-09-13 09:01 pm
irrelevant) wrote2010-09-13 09:01 pm
Entry tags:
Morrison writes fanfic
As does every comics writer, to some extent. Every new writer who takes on the established characters of an established title inevitably puts their own spin on things.
But there are limits. There is only so much creative leeway an established character decades in the making will allow. And Grant Morrison has gone beyond what's acceptable.
The funny thing is, if he was writing an official Elseworld -- and DC does publish such stories, especially for Batman and Superman -- I'd read his interpretation of the Bats with, if not pleasure, then interest. He's a good writer with good ideas. He just doesn't understand that one fanwriter's vision does not good canon make. His work in the Batverse is no more Batman than the next slasher's wishful-thinking porn offering, and is, in some cases, not written half as well.
Fanwriters write for themselves and those of their friends who share their vision. Fanfic is actually a good way to find fandom friends; people who share a writer's tastes will comment on a story, or occasionally drop a PM. Little pools of enjoyment and influence form as like-minded fans acquire other such fans to fan with.
But the thing is -- the really important thing, for me, anyway -- is that canon is still extant. No matter how much some fanwriter plays with canon in their spare time, nothing they do will change the original. And even with all the different writers a given comics title goes through, there are some facets of canon that are bedrock.
Bedrock is history, backstory, what makes a character who they are. Bedrock is why we are IN fandom. Something fundamental about a character and their story speaks to us, and then we go exploring, looking for those changeable bits and pieces of canon that resonate strongly with whatever it was that first captured our attention and devotion. In comics, some writers work better for some readers than others. That's just the way it goes. But it doesn't really matter because when any fan gets what they consider to be a bad writer on their title of choice, that fan can always fall back on the bedrock of backstory and say to themselves, "I'll just wait until the next writer. Things'll get better."
Well, boys and girls, Grant Morrison has, for the Bat books, changed the game. He's committed the ultimate canon crime: he's breaking up the foundations of the world. He's taken a sledgehammer to the bedrock. He's trying to change an absolute. He wants to make an egg out of a chicken.
Bruce Wayne is self will incarnate. I believe this would have been true whether his parents had died or not. If they hadn't, his intense focus would have found other outlets. But they did die, and Bruce became Batman.
He made the Bat, he created Batman, and then he became him. Batman did not make Bruce Wayne. The so-called mythos of the Bat Morrison is attempting to create is just so much bullshit.
This whole time-travel, Darkseid mindfuck has been Morrison's personal fannish trip: this is the kind of shit fans come up with at cons when they're drunk and throwing theories at each other.
So like, what if Batman went back in time and showed up at his parents' death and that's why Bruce Wayne became Batman? That'd be so cool!
Yeah, man, awesome. Oi, pass the vodka.
There've been plenty of mindtrips like that printed by DC. As Elseworlds. As parallel universes. And that's okay because in continuity, Bruce Wayne is still Bruce Wayne, right? Right?
Not anymore.
And now there's going to be Batman Inc. I just. I want to go all Red Queen on DC's ass.
OFF WITH HIS HEAD.
You want to know what's weird? I just found out that Tomasi is taking over Batman & Robin in November, which makes me happy. So I'm staring at the DCU blog, experiencing my moment of happiness, when it occurs to me that if this is my first moment of canon-related Batman happiness in months, there is something very, very rotten in Denmark.
Smells like Grant Morrison. Who will be writing two Bat titles starting in November.
No wait, sorry. Tony Daniel is taking over the original title again. I knew the smell was too godawful for just Morrison.
Fuck.
But there are limits. There is only so much creative leeway an established character decades in the making will allow. And Grant Morrison has gone beyond what's acceptable.
The funny thing is, if he was writing an official Elseworld -- and DC does publish such stories, especially for Batman and Superman -- I'd read his interpretation of the Bats with, if not pleasure, then interest. He's a good writer with good ideas. He just doesn't understand that one fanwriter's vision does not good canon make. His work in the Batverse is no more Batman than the next slasher's wishful-thinking porn offering, and is, in some cases, not written half as well.
Fanwriters write for themselves and those of their friends who share their vision. Fanfic is actually a good way to find fandom friends; people who share a writer's tastes will comment on a story, or occasionally drop a PM. Little pools of enjoyment and influence form as like-minded fans acquire other such fans to fan with.
But the thing is -- the really important thing, for me, anyway -- is that canon is still extant. No matter how much some fanwriter plays with canon in their spare time, nothing they do will change the original. And even with all the different writers a given comics title goes through, there are some facets of canon that are bedrock.
Bedrock is history, backstory, what makes a character who they are. Bedrock is why we are IN fandom. Something fundamental about a character and their story speaks to us, and then we go exploring, looking for those changeable bits and pieces of canon that resonate strongly with whatever it was that first captured our attention and devotion. In comics, some writers work better for some readers than others. That's just the way it goes. But it doesn't really matter because when any fan gets what they consider to be a bad writer on their title of choice, that fan can always fall back on the bedrock of backstory and say to themselves, "I'll just wait until the next writer. Things'll get better."
Well, boys and girls, Grant Morrison has, for the Bat books, changed the game. He's committed the ultimate canon crime: he's breaking up the foundations of the world. He's taken a sledgehammer to the bedrock. He's trying to change an absolute. He wants to make an egg out of a chicken.
Bruce Wayne is self will incarnate. I believe this would have been true whether his parents had died or not. If they hadn't, his intense focus would have found other outlets. But they did die, and Bruce became Batman.
He made the Bat, he created Batman, and then he became him. Batman did not make Bruce Wayne. The so-called mythos of the Bat Morrison is attempting to create is just so much bullshit.
This whole time-travel, Darkseid mindfuck has been Morrison's personal fannish trip: this is the kind of shit fans come up with at cons when they're drunk and throwing theories at each other.
So like, what if Batman went back in time and showed up at his parents' death and that's why Bruce Wayne became Batman? That'd be so cool!
Yeah, man, awesome. Oi, pass the vodka.
There've been plenty of mindtrips like that printed by DC. As Elseworlds. As parallel universes. And that's okay because in continuity, Bruce Wayne is still Bruce Wayne, right? Right?
Not anymore.
And now there's going to be Batman Inc. I just. I want to go all Red Queen on DC's ass.
OFF WITH HIS HEAD.
You want to know what's weird? I just found out that Tomasi is taking over Batman & Robin in November, which makes me happy. So I'm staring at the DCU blog, experiencing my moment of happiness, when it occurs to me that if this is my first moment of canon-related Batman happiness in months, there is something very, very rotten in Denmark.
Smells like Grant Morrison. Who will be writing two Bat titles starting in November.
No wait, sorry. Tony Daniel is taking over the original title again. I knew the smell was too godawful for just Morrison.
Fuck.
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