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Grant Morrison’s Philosophy Of Comics

From io9 – an interview with Grant Morrison:

io9 caught up with Batman and Robin scribe Grant Morrison and asked him about his upcoming miniseries The Return of Bruce Wayne. Grant also filled us in on the We3 movie, Joe The Barbarian, and his take on comic continuity.

In Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne, we’re going to see Batman travel to different historical epochs. For example, we’ll see Pirate Batman and Caveman Batman, who appeared in old-school Bat-yarns. What was your motivation for this and what was DC’s reaction when you pitched it?

Grant Morrison: First off, Batman also wore a kilt at one point! As for DC, they said, “OK, if anyone can do, it’s you.” I guess my inspiration is this – I like to pretend that every story that ever happened to Batman was real and is part of this one guy’s life. Even the Adam West Batman – let’s just say there’s this one year where Batman and Robin were out living this crazy and kooky life, and while the criminals were out killing people, they were just acting like lunatics.

The next year might be the Neal Adams Batman – suddenly Robin’s gone and we have a more brooding Batman.We’ve seen his origin scene a thousand times, we’ve seen his parents getting killed – I thought to myself, “What part of Batman’s life haven’t we talked about for a long time?” And it was those weird 1950s adventures or the Adam West Batman that everyone thought was really uncool when Chris Nolan’s movies came along. Batman comics used to be brightly colored! Batman would fight aliens! I wanted to do that stuff again, but in a more realistic, contemporary light.

Read the rest of the interview at io9:

via Grant Morrison’s Philosophy Of Comics – grant morrison – io9.

Motivation Moments with Johnny Brento

I find that the life of a productive artist is one that requires constant motivation. The creative process for film is so multi-faceted and long that it’s easy to get side tracked. Take my role in MVP for instance. As editor and visual effects artist, much of the hoopla and excitement has died down by the time my work begins in earnest. The actors have moved on to other projects and except for the occasional “When will it be done” message I’m left to my work. In the case of Streebo as a director, we’ll he is a bit of a control freak and thusly is here for %100 of the assembly edits. So there is that to help keep me motivated and it helps quite a lot, but the visual effects work is a whole different matter. I always try to push the envelope with each project and assimilate new techniques. I spend a ton time alone watching tutorials, finding new After Effects plug-ins and generally researching how things are done by the pros.

Music is another great motivational tool. It constantly shapes my artistic mood. I’m fond of all kinds of music and can be found listening to Pandora.com radio almost all of my time I’m in the editing suite.

When it comes to branching out to assimilate other skills such as improving my writing or building myself as a director, I find that nothing motivates me more than someone saying or implying that I can’t do it. For instance, “I don’t think you have what it takes to be a director.” or “You don’t know how to build a story.” Ha! I’ll be damned before anyone else defines me as an artist or as a person. OK, so here comes my arcane movie quote. Harry Stamper (Bruce Willis’s character from Armageddon) “I have never missed a depth that I have aimed for.”

I truly believe that we make our own reality. Very few people start out as great artists or directors or guitar player/songwriters. These are skills one acquires and hard work beats talent that doesn’t work hard. Mutantville is all about defying the odds and breaking boundaries with very little resources. All of us are capable of so much more than those around us would ever believe through dedication and focused effort.

Remember this above all else Mutantville Players, Johnny Brento loves ya!