Grant Morrison, and J.G. Jones explain how Slayer, Kirby Dots and the DCU's destruction are going to shake up comics in 2008
By Todd Casey
Posted 02/29/08
J.G. Jones, the visual architect behind DC’s biggest event series of the summer—Final Crisis with superstar writer Grant Morrison (All Star Superman—will be on hand at Wizard World Philadelphia from May 30 to June 1 at the Philadelphia Convention Center! Come meet the superstar artist behind what is sure to be one of THE most talked about titles of the summer. And read on to find out what he and Morrison have to say about this DC Universe-shattering series.
For a Scotsman known for his writing as much as his hyperbole, Grant Morrison swears Final Crisis will live up to its title.
This despite the fact that rarely does anything stay “final” in comics: Superman dies! Spider-Man unmasks! Alan Moore retires! So when DC announced Final Crisis with teaser posters proclaiming “Heroes Die” with images of its biggest icons, fans remained cynical.
“There’s no bullsh-- to this at all,” says Morrison of the eight-issue miniseries launching in May, “It’s quite straight up: This is the end of the world.”
Along with artist J.G. Jones, who worked with Morrison previously on 2000’s Marvel Boy and last year’s weekly 52 series, Morrison shoots for a decidedly darker tone than in his recent All-Star Superman. He’s providing the DCU’s version of the “Twilight of the Gods”—its Revelations, Ragnarok and any other “r” word that means total destruction.
Considering that 2005-06’s Infinite Crisis neatly explained DC’s convergent timelines and the Stephen Hawking of it all, many wondered what more could be added to this continuing “crisis.” But rather than a continuation of its eponymous predecessors, Final Crisis is less of a continuity clean sweep and more of an epic thrashing of the DCU. If Infinite Crisis writer Geoff Johns put all the toys in their proper places, Morrison knocks them over, fracturing every one with single-minded precision.
In an exclusive joint phone interview with Wizard, the two architects of this “final” installment of the Crisis brand brace us for what is in store for fans and DC’s finest.
WIZARD: Is this a fanboy dream project—to play with all the DC characters—or a frightening all-or-nothing, pressure-filled endeavor? GRANT MORRISON: It’s not a fanboy dream. It’s kind of like writing the Bible for DC. I wanted to do a huge epic and when we sat and talked about it, we wanted to create something that hadn’t been seen before on this scale. So I’m not nervous, but it’s a big, big undertaking and I’m dealing with some big, heavy stuff in there. This is the apocalypse for the DC Universe. J.G. JONES: It’s a little bit of both. The scope is so huge on this and it’s so epic and there is so much that I have to do, I’m always on edge that I’m going to let something slip through my fingers and miss an opportunity. So most of the pressure is just what I put on myself. MORRISON: All the pressure is on Jeff. [Laughs] JONES: It’s easy to write “The whole universe explodes”—but I have to draw that! MORRISON: The first issue opens 40,000 years ago with Garn the Cave Boy; the second issue has Harajuku kids [in Japan] standing outside a nightclub—so we’re kind of forcing him to go from one extreme to the other.
How did this epic steamroller get started? MORRISON: Initially [DC VP-Editorial] Dan DiDio came to me in 2006 and said, “We want you to do the Final Crisis story and we’d like to base it around the New Gods.” It was definitely Dan’s idea, but I had this big story in mind and I wanted to bring the New Gods back and make them really scary. You know, like what would happen if gods came to your planet? It’s the apocalypse, it’s Ragnarok, it’s doomsday, it’s really serious—it rains blood. JONES: The only reason I signed on to do this was because Grant was writing it. Marvel Boy was so much fun for me and doing the covers for 52, I got a little bit better handle on where Grant was coming from. Dan came to me with two things, one in each hand. He said New Gods and Grant Morrison. And sucker I was, I swallowed the bait. [Laughs] MORRISON: With guys like Jeff who can draw anything you start trying to come up with sh-- that no one’s ever done before. [Laughs] JONES: Sure, break the donkey’s back just because he can haul it up the hill. MORRISON: Why have a back if you can’t break it? [Laughs] Getting back to the New Gods, most fans aren’t too familiar with the New Gods—are they going to be thrown off? MORRISON: The New Gods aren’t so big in it that you have to know anything about them. They represent more like things everyone understands. Darkseid is basically the ultimate embodiment of evil; he’s a Satan figure. I think everyone can understand that. We’re trying to keep them in a position where it makes sense it’s all basically what they represent without having to know anything about the history of them.
The teaser posters show Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman and it also seems like there is a big role going to the gods—who are the real stars of this series? MORRISON: The stars are actually the new kids. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman play roles in it—they’re almost mythical characters. It’s about how superheroes of New Earth deal with actual evil on the planet, so it’s quite big.
Rumors are flying that Batman is going to die and you’ve got this poster hinting that heroes are dying—do you worry about spoilers? How do you respond to these rumors?
