Comics / Spotlight

What Really Happened At Morrisoncon

By Alexander Jones
October 4, 2012 - 16:37

Grant Morrison kicked off his exclusive Las Vegas show in style Friday night. Morrisoncon, his new convention that is seemingly breaking all the rules, kicked off last night in true Grant Morrison finesse. A nightclub called Body English in The Hard Rock Hotel played host to his order of mind bending madness. Grant did a spoken word performance, and as the lights went out the Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance took the stage. He played an ominous synthesizer while Grant told a gruesome story about a man named Walter Lee. The environment at the nightclub was truly surreal with creators like Jason Aaron, J.H. Williams III, Max Landis, and Jonathan Hickman freely wandering around the club. The party lasted long into the night.

Morrison was greeted with a standing ovation when he took the stage the next morning. He was dressed in a sharp looking blazer and suitably tight pants. Shortly thereafter, Chris Burnham, artist of the current Batman Inc. comic book, took the stage with Grant. What proceeded was a casual conversation including talk of the Olympic size swimming pool at the Hard Rock Hotel. Chris Burnham proceeded to talk in detail about a page from the upcoming Batman Inc. issue 4. Chris examined the movement of the page and how he makes action flow in the language of comics. A running gag throughout the panel was how issue 4 of Batman Inc. was delayed and how five comes after four. Grant is revisiting the character of Damien Wayne in the mantel of Batman in issue 5 of Batman Inc. Grant jokingly talked about how when he writes sequels to previous stories, he is truly out of ideas. Morrison laughed when he said Batman Inc. issue 5 was a sequel to Batman #666. Darrick Robertson, artist of the series Happy, also written by Grant, proceeded to take the stage. Darrick slept in too late and asked Grant if the convention was run by sadists due to early the show started and how late the party went last night.

The panel of Morrison, Burnham, artist Frank quietly, and Robertson continued to deconstruct pages from Happy that Robertson drew. Grant then unveiled his much rumored Multiversity comic. He showed artwork and unveiled that the series would be six issues long. He showed the first sequence of Multiversity, which featured the president of the United States being assassinated backwards in time. The shooter was a new character known as the Peacemaker. As the first panel of the day started to wrap up a noise behind the curtain elevated the interest of the attendees around the room.

Comic writing superstars Jason Aaron, Robert Kirkman, Jonathan Hickman, and J.H. Williams III entered the panel. The panelists, along with Morrison himself, talked about the craft as a whole. Jason mentioned how, on his comic book Wolverine And The X-Men, he had to really pay attention to the plot threads and character arcs he was juggling from the large cast of his comic. The writers then began to discuss the controversial writing process known as Marvel Method. Usually writers give artists full scripts, however the Marvel Method consists of just detailed scene breakdowns and dialogue.

The next panel consisted of the relationship between comics and music. Gerard Way was the first to join on stage welcoming back Darrick, Grant, and J.H. Williams III. Grant told a story about how he first got into comic books was when he was in the hospital and received issues of Daredevil and X-Men as a gift. He then began to talk about what music influenced his comics and mentioned Oasis. He then got up in front of the stage and did an incredible Oasis impression. Grant confessed that The Batman and Robin villain professor Pyg was a creation directly influenced by a Smashing Pumpkin song. At one point after profusely joking about the song "Pegasus," the Morrisoncon attendees were prompted to wave their hand back and forth to the rhythm of the song. While explaining the writing process of his comic The Umbrella Academy, Gerard way interrupted himself and apologized to the audience for not shaving this morning. The panel was then derailed with beard talk. The parallels between comics and beards were also discussed.

The next day opened with a sketch jam featuring Chris Burnham. He drew anything the audience demanded from Judge Dredd on the toilet to Thor after a long night. Chris was was sleep deprived and cracking jokes throughout his sketching. The tone of the following day was very laid back. Insanity hit the stage only when Grant Morrison emerged to bid the con farewell. Morrisoncon was a rousing success and something to truly behold. Every person who had been in attendance was looking forward to the show next year.

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12