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General Chat => Film & TV => Topic started by: Frank on 08 November, 2018, 07:12:49 PM

Title: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Frank on 08 November, 2018, 07:12:49 PM


Claims Morrison first came to the attention of comic readers on Animal Man, which is outrageous. How can you ignore Captain Clyde (https://sites.google.com/site/deepspacetransmissions/_/rsrc/1365946753280/news-1/hesquickonthedraw-thatsgrant-thegovanpressnovember12th1976/197611%20-%20Hes%20Quick%20on%20the%20Draw%20-%20The%20Govan%20Press.jpg)?



Grant Morrison Inks Deal To Bring 'The Invisibles' To UCP
Rob Salkowitz

Superstar comics writer Grant Morrison may be best known for his work on iconic DC superheroes like  Superman, Batman, Justice League and Green Lantern, but he first made his mark on the industry in the late 80s and 90s with surreal and subversive titles like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, and his magnum opus of revolutionary weirdness, The Invisibles.

Yesterday, it was announced that Morrison will be developing The Invisibles for television as part of an overall content deal with Universal Cable Productions. UCP is currently producing Happy!, an adaptation of the graphic novel by Morrison and artist Darick Robertson, which is going into its second season on SyFy.

Variety reports the Glasgow-born Morrison will "work with the studio to develop and producer original content for network and streamers." This follows similar deals struck with high-profile comics creators like Mark Millar (Netflix), Robert Kirkman (Amazon) and Neil Gaiman (Amazon).

The Invisibles, which debuted in comics form on DC's mature-themed Vertigo imprint in 1994, features a multicultural and gender-fluid crew of adventurers who use magic(k), altered consciousness, time travel and other metaphysical machinations to battle secret threats to humanity and unravel conspiracies against freedom.

It was simultaneously ahead of its time in its use of a traditional superhero-style of comics to tell a complex and sophisticated story, and very much a product of the technopagan Mondo2000/Burning Man counterculture of the mid-1990s.

The series was a modest success and cemented Morrison's status as comics' philosopher-king: a writer capable of smuggling the truly radical visions of people like William S. Burroughs, Philip K. Dick, Robert Anton Wilson and Terence McKenna into the pages of DC comics.

But as he was spinning these stories of subversion and reality hacking, he also moved decisively toward the superhero mainstream in his other work, with best-sellers like JLA, X-Men, All-Star Superman, Final Crisis, and a 10-year stint at the helm of Batman.

He also found time to write plays, author a book on the iconography of superheroes, edit the long-running science fiction magazine Heavy Metal, and pocket an MBE honor from the Queen for his contributions to British art and letters.

For long-time fans of Morrison, the possibility of seeing The Invisibles adapted into episodic TV is a cause of excitement, particularly in the current cultural environment. The idea of a revolutionary cell devoted to the liberation of consciousness and a never-ending battle against the dark psychic powers of fascism and oppression seemed trippy and cool in the 90s. By 2020, when the UCP series is set and is likely to debut, it may well feel like current events.

The comics, which featured the artwork of Steve Yeowell, Jill Thompson, Chris Weston, Phil Jiminez and others, deftly combined action, suspense and character interplay with high-concept plots and thematic overtones. Reading it often felt like watching a TV show. Now Morrison will have the chance to bring his masterpiece to that medium, hopefully with the vision and impact undiminished.

I am an author, consultant and educator with a professional interest in the business implications of new media and a personal passion for comics and visual communication. My 2012 book Comic-Con and the Business of Pop Culture (McGraw-Hill) looks at trends in entertainment. I'm faculty at University of Washington CommLead, and consult on future trends in technology and entertainment.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robsalkowitz/2018/11/08/grant-morrison-inks-deal-to-bring-the-invisbles-to-ucp/#178d0193699f



Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Dandontdare on 08 November, 2018, 07:34:37 PM
The Invisibles was one of those weird entities that should have ticked all my boxes, but left me cold.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 08 November, 2018, 08:33:06 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 08 November, 2018, 07:34:37 PM
The Invisibles was one of those weird entities that should have ticked all my boxes, but left me cold.

I remember being incredibly excited for this before it came out, but I think I stuck with it for less than a year. It felt... calculated. It felt like Morrison trying to do Morrison instead of just being Morrison, if that makes any kind of sense...?
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: IndigoPrime on 08 November, 2018, 09:04:00 PM
What was especially great about The Invisibles was the way the art towards the end was so incoherent that the story Morrison had apparently set up for years was incomprehensible. It was so bad they had to redraw some of the pages for the trades – which then helpfully also missed out a few pages. Even then, it needed a companion volume for me to properly make sense of everything.

I actually really liked the underlying mythos of the strip, but it felt like it was trying too hard to be clever. (Compare with, say, Image's Prophet, which is just fucking weird and alien because it is.)
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Fungus on 08 November, 2018, 09:34:58 PM
Left equally cold. It was just there, you were always going to pick it up, but I don't remember enjoying it. One of those cases of thinking 'it must just be me...'. Given up on that nonsense long ago :-)
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: TordelBack on 08 November, 2018, 09:47:14 PM
From a pretty unimpressed-with-this-pretentious-shite start I warmed to The Invisibles a lot as it went on,  to the point of it being some of my favourite Morrison, although I still haven't read the last two collections because they keep being nicked from the library. Or so they say.

I enjoyed the anachronistic Stranger Things crossover too.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Dandontdare on 08 November, 2018, 10:12:43 PM
yeah, I read most of the trades from the library - did my best to read in order, but not always possible. That was when they spent a lot of money building up a large GN collection - I asked recently why the shelf space had shrunk so much, and why they didn't seem to be adding much new stuff anymore, and was told that they just get stolen at a phenomenal rate, which is depresing. I used to be able to get six books I'd never read, week in and week out, but I don't visit much anymore as I can rarely find anything.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Professor Bear on 08 November, 2018, 10:19:38 PM
Invisibles is stupid and I hope this fails.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Frank on 08 November, 2018, 10:34:53 PM

How many hours of masturbation (https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=X1QGu16o0OoC&pg=PA269&lpg=PA269&dq=morrison+invisibles+masturbate&source=bl&ots=FRx5Yy3X9j&sig=59TtgXiLxcLEe_-HlMbj-WOkqYQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiB6uOG6sXeAhWQy4UKHfhgBvMQ6AEwBnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=morrison%20invisibles%20masturbate&f=false) do you think it took just to get this show into development?

Worth bearing in mind if there isn't any news about the Dredd TV show, soon*


* I vote we all use this image (https://i.imgur.com/63sUrMm.png?2) of Greg Staples as our sigil
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Tiplodocus on 08 November, 2018, 11:15:47 PM
Cosh will be along to defend it soon. Nd I have his set of Invisibles comics under my bed. Started three times... can't get past had a dozen issues. Will try again though...
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: JamesC on 09 November, 2018, 06:16:54 AM
The Invisibles is a prime example of Morrison having lots of good ideas and having an excellent sense of what looks cool but failing to put those elements into a coherent story with engaging characters. It's just bollocks.
For me, the most successful of his mind-bending meta-textual projects is The Filth. It gets pretty weird towards the end but I can still get a satisfying interpretation together. Plus it all looks amazing thanks to Chris Weston.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 09 November, 2018, 11:10:55 AM
Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 08 November, 2018, 08:33:06 PM
Quote from: Dandontdare on 08 November, 2018, 07:34:37 PM
The Invisibles was one of those weird entities that should have ticked all my boxes, but left me cold.

I remember being incredibly excited for this before it came out, but I think I stuck with it for less than a year. It felt... calculated. It felt like Morrison trying to do Morrison instead of just being Morrison, if that makes any kind of sense...?

Absolutely. I didn't read it till years after it came out. I was waiting for my mind to be blown, for the magic Grant allegedly infused it with to alter my consciousness and open my third eye, but it all just seemed a bit laboured and messy.  I've always meant to reread it on shrooms to see if it made more sense then (not that that's by any means a regular habit for me, you understand).

I still think the whole Zenith series is his best work.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Matty_e on 09 November, 2018, 03:48:50 PM
Wow. You guys are a tough crowd.

Invisibles Vol1.12 Last Man Standing is one of the best single comics ever.

Volume 2 by Phil Jimenez and then Chris Weston is incredible. Like John Byrne's X-men run in a 90s style.
And Weston came of age with a whole tpb full of greatness.

Brian Bolland put in his best ever cover work and imagination

But yes apart from the glory of Frank Quietly's last issue, the final ark of Vol 3 was a bit of a mess. Never sure if it was intentionally sabotaged as they had missed the Millennium deadline and I think Grant had nothing left to give.

He's my hero anyway.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Greg M. on 09 November, 2018, 06:04:25 PM
I think The Invisibles is generally great, but it takes a while to get going. I feel like it finds its feet in the issues collected in the second TPB, Apocalipstick, not least because of the increased focus on Lord Fanny, probably the most likeable character in it. (Notably, Morrison writes Fanny almost identically to how he writes Emma Frost in his X-Men run.)

The Filth is more focused and consistent, mind you, but The Invisibles is a big, mad, crazy quilt of a saga.

As for Morrison's best work... We3? All-Star Superman #10?
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Colin YNWA on 09 November, 2018, 08:57:18 PM
Morrison's best work is defo Animal Man still... or Zenith... or maybe the Batman run... or JLA (re-reading that soon)... or 7 Soldiers... no no its Animal Man...
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: CalHab on 09 November, 2018, 11:33:53 PM
Probably Animal Man, but some of his Doom Patrol issues are outstanding.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Greg M. on 09 November, 2018, 11:46:12 PM
Animal Man wouldn't even crack my Morrison top ten - but I think Colin and I have had an 'Animal Man vs Doom Patrol' conversation before. I do enjoy the former though - it's certainly better than Morrison's Batman run, which would, subjectively, be way down there. Apart, of course, from the Dick Grayson bits. (Can we still call him Dick, now he's... ugh... Ric?)
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Jim_Campbell on 09 November, 2018, 11:47:44 PM
Quote from: Greg M. on 09 November, 2018, 06:04:25 PM
As for Morrison's best work... We3? All-Star Superman #10?

Doom Patrol. It's quite hard to separate it from from its historical context, in as much as everything was going all angsty grimdark at the time and DP's wilful, gleeful embrace of absurdity and surrealism was exhilarating. But, on a recent re-reading, I still think it stands up well.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: TordelBack on 10 November, 2018, 12:01:08 AM
It has to be All-Star Superman, surely?
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Fungus on 10 November, 2018, 12:52:00 AM
Ha! I meant to say Doom Patrol earlier... my favourite. For me I got a kick out of this and Arkham Asylum. All-Star Superman was interesting, too.

I'm not a Morrison completist, and struggled to enjoy Multiversity. Likewise Invisibles, of course. Can't remember much about Zenith beyond enjoying it a lot at the time (and the FP signing with Morrison/Yeowell, I've just recalled).
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: broodblik on 10 November, 2018, 05:03:00 AM
Morrison greatest work for me is Zenith and All-Star Superman but I find most of writing to be tedious.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: IndigoPrime on 10 November, 2018, 10:29:48 AM
I read All-Star Superman recently. Left me cold. I wonder how familiar you need to be with various Superman tropes to appreciate it? (I know of Superman, and have seen a couple of movies, but read only a handful of Superman comics before. This felt like it made a lot of assumptions of the reader about characters and such-like, and I just found it a bit dull; nice art, mind.)
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Greg M. on 10 November, 2018, 11:08:20 AM
Quote from: IndigoPrime on 10 November, 2018, 10:29:48 AM
I read All-Star Superman recently. Left me cold. I wonder how familiar you need to be with various Superman tropes to appreciate it?

I'm not a particular fan of Superman: I love the superhero genre but I've always been more Marvel than DC, and I can't say I've read that much in the way of Superman's solo exploits. However, I think All Star Superman is one of the greatest comics ever - issue #10 alone must be contender for one of the best single issues of anything. (Not just because of the famous 'You're much stronger than you think you are' page - every page of #10 is filled to the brim with sheer glorious wonder, imagination, and comicsy genius.)
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 10 November, 2018, 01:32:32 PM
That's the thing about All-Star Superman - it is of course very well written and good fun, but I don't really give much of a feck about Superman anyway. (Needless to say, though, it's a million trillion times better than All-Star Batman and Robin, featuring Crazy Steve.)

Animal Man was excellent, and I'd forgotten how good Doom Patrol was, though it does suffer from dodgy art in places.  But any story that brings in Richard E. Grant's Withnail as an alcoholic magician is ok by me.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Greg M. on 10 November, 2018, 02:57:33 PM
Quote from: JayzusB.Christ on 10 November, 2018, 01:32:32 PM
But any story that brings in Richard E. Grant's Withnail as an alcoholic magician is ok by me.

That's funny - I always think Willoughby Kipling's the worst thing in Doom Patrol, 'cos he' s such an obvious lift.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: IAMTHESYSTEM on 11 November, 2018, 11:02:44 AM
Another 2000AD alumnus is doing well, so I'm pleased he's got a TV deal. Used to buy his JLA stuff so here's to more toothy influenced by proxy television.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: IndigoPrime on 11 November, 2018, 11:26:52 AM
Well, it's not his first TV deal – Happy! is based on one of his books. That said, Happy! seemed to work a lot better when Morrison was less heavily involved. (The initial couple of episodes aren't that great, but it becomes something really special and totally after that point.)
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: JamesC on 11 November, 2018, 11:58:08 AM
I couldn't even make it through the first episode of Happy!, I thought it was awful.
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: dweezil2 on 11 November, 2018, 12:37:59 PM
Wake me up when the Zenith show is announced!  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: IndigoPrime on 11 November, 2018, 01:03:57 PM
Quote from: JamesC on 11 November, 2018, 11:58:08 AMI couldn't even make it through the first episode of Happy!, I thought it was awful.
All subjective, I suppose. I thought the first two episodes were OK, but it really ramped things up as it progressed. The first episode isn't really indicative of where it goes, which ends up being [spoiler]a seriously fucked-up combination of Crank, a police procedural, and Toy Story[/spoiler].
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: Apestrife on 11 November, 2018, 01:33:34 PM
Interesting news. I really wonder how it'll translate into TV. Could be really cool I think.

Hope it does well enough to warrant other stuff as well. I really want to see a 100Bullets show or movie. Also Unfollow.

Regarding Invisibles. I think I really like it that it exists, that someone got away with writing it, more than I like the book itself. For every story arc in it which I like there's one or two which I don't care much for. But it's a book I think people should give a go. If not it, Flex Mentallo or Filth.

Otherwise I tend to really like Morrison. Especially Doom Patrol, Flex Mentallo, Superman, Batman, Final Crisis and Multiversity. What I like most about them is that they manage to take something which on first glance looks ridiculus (for example flying people in tight pyamases) and manages to it to feel powerful and inspirational. His Superman being at such peace with things but still can tell someone on the brink of hurting themselves that they're stronger than they know. Such a lovely thing :)
Title: Re: Grant Morrison developing The Invisibles for TV
Post by: JayzusB.Christ on 11 November, 2018, 07:10:09 PM
I quite enjoyed Inferno when it came out, but it didn't really go anywhere.  He had Dredd's dialogue nailed (which was a welcome relief after years of Garth Ennis's inarticulate thug of a judge), but the story had no depth whatsoever.  Perhaps he needed to meet Dredd sitting on a train track after he'd finished interviewing Superman.