I can't decide who's work I love more: Grant Morrison and Alan Moore?

[Karl O'Neill]

I love these two writers works for different reasons.

1) Alan Moore make it look so easy because his work is so dense and richly packed that it seems easy, but clearly not. He doesn't beat around the bush, he just writes, writes, and writes. His attention to detail and use of the english language is vast.


2) Grant Morrison's ideas make you want to write comics themselves, After I finished All Star superman and His JLA and x-men runs I just wanted to pick up a pen and start writing comics, I think Grant's ideas are not always excecuted the way he intends or the way fans want them to.

I love both of their works just as much, who is better? That's really going to come down to apples and oranges. both have strenghts and ideas that are complex, well thought out and simply brilliant.

I think Moore can convey something more in a more linear style than Grant can, I think Grant likes to give his artists some room to tell the story based on his words, without having to spell it out to them 100%.

I know when you read morrison's interviews, His work becomes more easier to understand for some people, but you can't deny the answers aren't there in the first place.

So many great works, Animal man, Batman, final crisis, swamp thing, watchmen, v for vendetta, we3, xmen, The invisables,tom strong, superman.
the list is endless.

[The Ray]

I sometimes think that Alan Moore is Grant Morrison's dynamic opposite. Alan is the master of the meticulous and orderly. Grant Morrison is the magician of chaos.

If they do battle…pray for us.

[shrike]

Grant's not good enough to smell Alan's dirty english manties... imo, of course.

[Infra-Man]

Grant Morrison and Alan Moore: A great thunderdome battle or the greatest thunderdome battle?

[Karl O'Neill]

The amount of articles and column's about All star superman when it was completed was ridiculous, I am talking watchmen level of attention and acclaim.

The beauty of his all star work is, He took a 70 year old plus character and still managed to write something wildy entertaining, refreshing and revolutionary.

[shrike]

The amount of articles and column's about All star superman when it was completed was ridiculous, I am talking watchmen level of attention and acclaim.

The beauty of his all star work is, He took a 70 year old plus character and still managed to write something wildy entertaining, refreshing and revolutionary.

With no disrespect,I HIGHLY doubt people will be discussing ASS (oh lordy) in 20 years with anywhere near the reverence of Watchmen... and just remember it was Alan Moore who wrote quite possibly one of the best Superman stories ever, 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?'.

I will say, however, I adored the first two volumes of Grant's INVISIBLES, but that is the extent of my liking his work.

[Tages]

I sometimes think that Alan Moore is Grant Morrison's dynamic opposite. Alan is the master of the meticulous and orderly. Grant Morrison is the magician of chaos.

If they do battle…pray for us.

I've been to the astral plane. They have been doing battle there daily since 1983.

Though admittedly to me it looked like a game of horseshoes.

[Paul McEnery]

I've been to the astral plane. They have been doing battle there daily since 1983.

Though admittedly to me it looked like a game of horseshoes.

Sure, but on the cholesterol plane, they were cooking up a Denver omelette.

[The Ray]

I've been to the astral plane. They have been doing battle there daily since 1983.

Though admittedly to me it looked like a game of horseshoes.

Warren Ellis got next.

[Paul McEnery]

Warren Ellis got next.

Whose pole do you think they were throwing horseshoes at?

[Michael P]

Grant Morrison and Alan Moore: A great thunderdome battle or the greatest thunderdome battle?

I dunno about greatest, but it would probably be the last.

[Wind-Breaker]

Morrison is a damn good writer, but sometimes the risks he takes technique wise (which I can appreciate the effort the push the medium forward) leaves some fans in the dust enjoyment wise. The comics he's written that I typically enjoy the most are ones that are more character driven and that have bits of humor in it. As good as Grant is though, Moore has too impressive of a resume for me to consider Morrison at the same level.

[KevinTBrown]

You may want to read this Morrison interview before you decide: http://comicfoundry.com/?p=1693

[Infra-Man]

I dunno about greatest, but it would probably be the last.

I imagine it would end with Grant Morrison sprinting and screaming at Alan Moore. As Morrison leaps into the air to deliver a fatal flying headbutt, an arsenal of tentacles would shoot out from Moore's beard, wrap around Morrison's face and body, and then reel him ravenously back into the voluminous next of hair from whence they came. Moore would stand there calmly, his hands behind his back, and then a hearty burp would issue from his beard--enough to kick up dust around him and disturb the folds in his clothes--and bleached, dried bones would spill from his beard to the thunderdome floor.

Moore would then turn to the Bartertown citizenry and ask "Who runs Bartertown now?"

[Paul McEnery]

I imagine it would end with Grant Morrison sprinting and screaming at Alan Moore. As Morrison leaps into the air to deliver a fatal flying headbutt, an arsenal of tentacles would shoot out from Moore's beard, wrap around Morrison's face and body, and then reel him ravenously back into the voluminous next of hair from whence they came. Moore would stand there calmly, his hands behind his back, and then a hearty burp would issue from his beard--enough to kick up dust around him and disturb the folds in his clothes--and bleached, dried bones would spill from his beard to the thunderdome floor.

Moore would then turn to the Bartertown citizenry and ask "Who runs Bartertown now?"

And then a horrible look comes across his face as he realizes what he's done, and a crack comes down the center of his face, and the outer carcass of him falls away to reveal...

An egg.

Which sits there, gently pulsating with menace for the future.

[Infra-Man]

We need to find a crackpot investor for this thing ASAP. I smell a hit, baby.

[Gothos]

With no disrespect,I HIGHLY doubt people will be discussing ASS (oh lordy) in 20 years with anywhere near the reverence of Watchmen... and just remember it was Alan Moore who wrote quite possibly one of the best Superman stories ever, 'Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?'.

I will say, however, I adored the first two volumes of Grant's INVISIBLES, but that is the extent of my liking his work.

I think it's possible, given that 20 years later fans still have considerable reverence for THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, which is, like ASS, a radical re-imagining of a kid's hero.

TDKR is also memorable for having had some impact on the movie versions, so who knows? Maybe some cinematic genius will re-imagine the Big S with impact from ASS.

I think Moore's produced some great works and some that are more "good" than "great," but I think Morrison's themes are more germane to the superhero mythos. Moore's works tend to be more about other themes dressed up in superhero garb-- sort of like Chris Nolan's take on Batman.

[RachelEvil]

I adore both, but I always feel more of an immediate connection with Morrison's work.

[Indigo Al]

Moore edges Grant out just a leeetle bit more in my fannish heart.

And, you forgot the other great Superman story that Alan Moore wrote. See my avatar for details.

[shrike]

Moore edges Grant out just a leeetle bit more in my fannish heart.

And, you forgot the other great Superman story that Alan Moore wrote. See my avatar for details.

Oh god I totally forgot the SUPREME stories. Yum.

[Bruce Wayne Jr.]

I've decided: you love Alan Moore... more.

[oddballuk]

I can't decide who I prefer more either. Sometimes it depends on the day or my mood at any particular time.

Morrison, Moore and Gaiman too are my top three favourite writers. I know those three get named a lot in a lot of people favourite writers list but it truly is because I think their work is fantastic.

I sometimes think that Alan Moore is Grant Morrison's dynamic opposite. Alan is the master of the meticulous and orderly. Grant Morrison is the magician of chaos.

If they do battle…pray for us.

Not to mention that Morrison is bald while Moore is the anti-bald! :tongue:

While Morrison and Moore have wildly different philosphies and approaches to the medium, they do share some common ground in that they both like to deconstruct, examine and experiment with the medium of comic books.

You may want to read this Morrison interview before you decide: http://comicfoundry.com/?p=1693

I actually quite like that interview though if his "jaded minority" comment from another interview got fandom in an uproar I dread to think what his "complusive bird-beak behaviour" comment here could do! :tongue:

[Frank]

I think Alan has become such a master in his field that he understand how everything works, he has complete mastery of the comic language. Well I think Morrison is just a great idea man.

[jesse_custer]

I definitely prefer Moore. Not that Morrison isn't great.

[Spackling Compound]

I think Alan has become such a master in his field that he understand how everything works, he has complete mastery of the comic language. Well I think Morrison is just a great idea man.

I agree with the short statement there.

I suppose in the Grim n' Gritty© 90's, Moore took the children who grew up with comics and made adults of them. His Toonopia which was the outline for "Watchmen" carefully and surgically took the notes and tones of the superhero funny book and matured them. His later work with Swamp Thing connected the character with the then Crisis on Infinite Earth DCU was, yes, masterful. He even started the trend of pulling obscure characters and making them significant. I even think he's the one who pulled in "The Geek" from obscurity.

Gaiman comes in close behind with his ability to rewrite the DCU through the dark gaze of the Sandman.

Although Morrison breached the fourth-wall and advocated for environmental concerns with Animal Man, he seemed to want to wholly recreate and make the DCU different.

Gaiman and Moore, but the latter even moreso, developed the characters while Morrison made the characters something all new and all different.

I never put Morrison in the same category with Moore and Gaiman for that reason.

[K-DoG7p7]

I will tell you all a secret known only to Tibetan monks and a six year old girl named Melissa

Alan Moore and Grant Morrison are.......








THE SAME PERSON!
*DADADUUUUUM!*

and they are both a guy named Travis..

[J.R. LeMar]

Alan Moore is my favorite comic-book writer of All Time. Grant Morrison is my favorite currently regularly active writer. I like them both, for different reasons.

Moore is better @ the grand story, with a beginning, middle, & end (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, From Hell), or reinventing a character (Swamp Thing, Miracleman, Captain Britain). Morrison can do all of that, too, but I think he's better @ writing "classic" ongoing superhero stories. I don't think that if you gave Moore the regular JLA or X-Men titles that he would've been as good as Morrison was. And, as good as the few Superman stories he wrote were, I don't think that if you gave Moore the same deal where he could write an out-of-continuity maxi-series, that he would top Morrison's All-Star Superman. I mean, that's basically what he did with Rob Liefeld's Supreme, and I loved it, but ASS was far superior, IMO.

So if I were EIC of either of the Big Two, and could hire either one, I'd go to them for different types of books. I wouldn't ask Moore to take over Fantastic Four after Millar/Hitch leaves, or to take over Wonder Woman after Gail Simone leaves, though Morrison might be good on either book. I'd go to Moore if I wanted to try revamping the New Universe line (since Ellis seems to have given up), or have him restart Supreme Power (as a Max book again), ignoring the current series & Ultimate Power, and just picking up where JMS left off.

[RachelEvil]

Not to mention that Morrison is bald while Moore is the anti-bald! :tongue:

No-Beard and All-Beard.

[PatrickG]

Morrison is a damn good writer, but sometimes the risks he takes technique wise (which I can appreciate the effort the push the medium forward) leaves some fans in the dust enjoyment wise. The comics he's written that I typically enjoy the most are ones that are more character driven and that have bits of humor in it. As good as Grant is though, Moore has too impressive of a resume for me to consider Morrison at the same level.

For my money:

Morrison takes more risk in terms of technique but less in terms of theme/content. There are tropes he makes sure to hit when he's doing a genre story and even his more experimental stuff can generally be summed up thematically in a neat bundle.

Moore takes more risk in terms of content/theme but less in terms of technique. He's the master formalist of 20th century comics. He's borrowed/adapted some ideas from elsewhere but on the whole his comics are structurally rock solid. Even when he tries stuff like the secret Promethea poster, his sense of pacing and design are an architect's.

I suppose the way I'd boil it down is that Morrison's technique and pacing is sometimes abstract and revolutionary, risking being haphazard, but his actual ideas are very classicist.

Moore's ideas are abstract and often revolutionary, bordering on being haphazard, but his technical form and pacing are methodical and scientific.

There's a middle ground where they meet a lot of the time, however, and both have written comics that could easily be misattributed to the other.

Honestly, I think the better contrast is Moore and Miller. Moore is an architect in terms of design but his ideas sometimes go beyond the point of relevance as he tries to evolve everything he touches. Whereas Miller seems to have fun playing fast and loose with a lot of things and seems more concerned with trying to boil everything down to its basest elements, bordering on parody.

Honestly, as writers, I'd label Morrison and Millar as this generation's Moore and Miller. They'd be just as big as Moore and Miller IMHO if the industry collapse had happened ten years later. They're both quite a bit less extreme, in general, and framing the dichotomy this way would position Millar as Miller with a dash of Moore and Morrison as Moore with a dash of Miller.

Meh. It's really about whether you prefer your pop artists with lots of hair or no hair though.

[Mr.EZ]

Which one wrote Miracleman? There's your answer.

[Dazzler]

I'd take the Grant Morrison of the early 90's over Alan Moore.

Grant's okay, when he's playing in his own sandbox. These days, I think he's just trying a little too hard.

--Dazz

[PatrickG]

I think Alan has become such a master in his field that he understand how everything works, he has complete mastery of the comic language. Well I think Morrison is just a great idea man.

The difference here is what you think comics are supposed to do.

I'd never bag and board my comics. I wrinkle them and toss them in bags and throw them out when I spill stuff on the pages. It's a magazine. I'd much rather get fifty things to think about and comics being a structural masterpiece is no more important to me, ordinarily, than it is that the daily newspaper be a structural masterpiece.

I like trades for specific stories but honestly I find hard copies to be inconvenient and would prefer to purchase new comics in an entirely digital format if I could get the headliner books that way.

[Mr.EZ]

The difference here is what you think comics are supposed to do.

I'd never bag and board my comics. I wrinkle them and toss them in bags and throw them out when I spill stuff on the pages. It's a magazine. I'd much rather get fifty things to think about and comics being a structural masterpiece is no more important to me, ordinarily, than it is that the daily newspaper be a structural masterpiece.


Same here. Comics are for reading, not for stockpiling in a warehouse like the end of Raiders.

Obviously I keep my trades in better shape. :wink:

[Samy]

Easy for me. I've enjoyed almost everything I've read of Alan Moore's, whereas I've disliked almost everything I've read of Grant Morrison's.

Moore's work has that quality of making your brain work because it's so rich in detail, so dense and packed with layers and layers -- but it's never written in a confusing manner. You always know which layer you're at and where to go next if you want to dig even deeper.

With Morrison there are no signposts and I prefer to have them. It's the difference between being left in the middle of an ocean with a map, and being left in the middle of an ocean without a map. With both, you have a lot of work ahead of you. But with the former, you at least know which direction to start working in. With the latter, you're better off just dropping some acid and looking at the pretty colors in the sky and dying there.