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Grant Morrison (born January 31 , 1960 ) is a Comic Book writer and artist. He is best-known for his Nonlinear Narrative s and Counter-cultural leanings. He is also a practicing Chaos Magic ian. BIOGRAPHY Early years Morrison was born in Glasgow , Scotland . Morrison's first published work were '' Gideon Stargrave '' strips for '' Near Myths '' in 1978, one of the first British alternative comics. Although his work only appeared in three issues of ''Near Myths'', he was suitably encouraged to find more comic work. This included ''Captain Clyde'', a Captain America -type superhero based in Glasgow , for a local newspaper, plus various issues of DC Thomson 's '' Starblazer '', a Science Fiction version of that company's '' Commando '' title. 1980s 's cover to '' Zenith Book one'']] Morrison spent much of the early and mid-1980s struggling to find work with a major comic publisher. However, after writing '' The Liberators '' for Dez Skinn 's '' Warrior '' in 1985, he started work for Marvel UK the following year. There he wrote two three-part and one one-part eight-page comic strips for '' Doctor Who Magazine '' (his final one a collaboration with a then-teenage Brian Hitch) as well as a Zoids strip in '' Spider-Man and Zoids''. 1986 also saw Morrison start to write several '' Future Shocks '' (normally short two- or three-page comic strips) for '' 2000AD ''. Morrison, however, wanted to write a continuing strip rather than short stories. He got his wish in 1987, when he and Steve Yeowell created '' Zenith '', an early example of Deconstructing the Superhero genre. Zenith proved to be a hugely popular character in ''2000AD'', even rivaling Judge Dredd in terms of most popular character. Morrison had been sending proposals to DC Comics for revamping various minor characters during this time. He had several proposals rejected, including one for The Phantom Stranger , but his work on ''Zenith'' got him noticed by DC. They accepted his proposal for '' Animal Man '', a little-known character from DC's past whose most notable recent appearance was a Cameo in the '' Crisis On Infinite Earths '' Limited Series . ''Animal Man'' placed Morrison at the head of the so-called "British invasion" of American comics, along with such writers as Neil Gaiman , Jamie Delano and Alan Moore (who had launched the invasion with his work on '' Swamp Thing ''). Morrison had himself a hit with ''Animal Man'', even writing himself into the story as a character in his final issue, #26. Morrison's uniquely Surreal take on the superhero genre proved such a success that he was given '' Doom Patrol '' to write, starting with issue #19 in 1989. Previously, ''Doom Patrol'' had been a fairly formulaic superhero title. Morrison introduced more surreal elements, introducing concepts such as Dadaism into his first several issues. 1989 was also the year Morrison wrote ''''. Painted by Dave McKean , ''Arkham Asylum'' was a Batman graphic novel that featured uses of Symbolic writing not common in comics at the time. (The story was to have included a Transvestite Joker , an element toned down by DC.) The book proved financially and artistically lucrative for Morrison, cementing his reputation as a major talent in the industry. Morrison also wrote various other titles for DC at this time, most notably issues 6-10 of '' Legends Of The Dark Knight '', another of DC's Batman titles. He also kept working for smaller publishers, most notably writing '' St. Swithin's Day '' for British publisher Trident Comics . ''St. Swithin's Day'' proved to be controversial due to its anti- Margaret Thatcher themes, even provoking a small Tabloid Press fury and complaints from Tory MP s such as Teddy Taylor . He was also still writing for the '' 2000AD '' spin-off title '' Crisis ''. It was in ''Crisis'' he would experience controversy again with '' The New Adventures Of Hitler '' — a strip that started life in ''Cut'' magazine in 1989 — due to its use of Adolf Hitler as its lead character. He also experimented in storytelling with artist Daniel Vallely on '' Bible John-A Forensic Meditation '', telling the story of the Glaswegian Serial Killer of the same name. 1990s The early 1990s saw Morrison revamping another old DC character, Kid Eternity , with artist Duncan Fegredo , and updating Dan Dare to be set in the era of Thatcherism in '' Revolver ''. In 1993 Morrison and fellow Glaswegian comic writer Mark Millar were "given" ''2000AD'' for an eight-week run called "The Summer Offensive". Morrison wrote Judge Dredd and co-wrote with Millar '' Big Dave '', a highly controversial strip that helped give Morrison and Millar some brief fame outside the world of comics. 1993 also saw the start of DC Comics' Vertigo imprint, which published several Morrison titles, such as the steampunk mini-series '' Sebastian O '' and the graphic novel '' The Mystery Play ''. Later Morrison would write '' Flex Mentallo '', a ''Doom Patrol'' spin-off with art by Frank Quitely , and '' Kill Your Boyfriend '', with artist Philip Bond , for Vertigo. He also returned briefly to DC Universe superheroics with the critically acclaimed but short-lived '' Aztek '', co-written with Mark Millar . In 1996, Morrison was given the '' Justice League Of America '' to revamp as ''JLA'', a comic book that gathered the most powerful Superheroes of the DC Universe into one team. This run proved to be hugely popular, returning the title back to its former best-selling status. It also proved to be influential in creating the type of "widescreen" superhero action later seen in titles such as Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch 's '' The Authority ''. He also handled DC's crossover event of 1998, '' DC One Million '', a four-issue mini-series with multiple crossovers, as well as several issues of '' The Flash '' with Mark Millar. It was with '' The Invisibles '', a work in three volumes, that Morrison would start his largest and possibly most important work. ''The Invisibles'' combined political, pop- and sub-cultural references. Tapping into pre-millenial tension, the work was influenced by the writings of Timothy Leary and Morrison's practice of Chaos Magic . At DisinfoCon in 1999, Morrison said that much of the content in ''The Invisibles'' was information given to him by aliens that abducted him in Katmandu , who told him to spread this information to the world via a comic book. He later clarified that the experience he labeled as the "Alien Abduction Experience in Katmandu" had nothing to do with aliens or abduction, but that there was an experience that he had in Katmandu that ''The Invisibles'' is an attempt to explain. {Link without Title} The title was not a huge commercial hit to start with. (Morrison actually asked his readers to participate in a " Wankathon " while concentrating on a magical symbol, or Sigil , in an effort to boost sales {Link without Title} ). The first issues were critically acclaimed, but many readers found them too confusing or lacking in action. The title was cancelled and relaunched as volume two — intentionally more "American" — featuring more action while still maintaining Morrison's ideas and themes. Volume three appeared with issue numbers counting down, signalling an intention to conclude the series with the turn of the new Millennium in 2000. However, due to the title shipping late, its final issue did not ship until April 2000. The entire series has been collected by Vertigo into trade paperback. 2000s In 2000, Morrison's graphic novel ''JLA:Earth 2'' was released with art by Frank Quitely . It was Morrison's last mainstream work for DC for a while, as he moved to Marvel Comics to take over the writing of '' New X-Men '', with Quitely providing art. Again, Morrison's revamping of a major superhero team proved to be a huge critical and fan success. Morrison's run brought much-needed new ideas to the title, which had been editor-in-chief Joe Quesada 's goal when he brought Morrison to Marvel. Morrison had one more project for Vertigo during this time: '' The Filth '', drawn by Chris Weston and Gary Erskine . ''The Filth'' actually started out as a Nick Fury proposal for Marvel, which had turned the idea down. Morrison adapted it into a 13-part mini-series, said to be heavily influenced by Chris Morris 's '' Blue Jam '' radio series. ''#1, cover art by Frank Quitely .]] Morrison also wrote the six-part '' Marvel Boy '' series, as well as '' Fantastic Four 1234 '', his take on another major superhero team. Morrison proved a huge success in helping Marvel change its image and reputation, but after finishing his ''New X-Men'', he again returned to DC Comics to work on several titles and help revamp the DC Universe. Starting in 2004, Vertigo published three Morrison mini-series. '''', tales set within the JLA mythos by various creative teams. In 2005, DC Comics started publishing what was dubbed the first ever "megaseries". The Grant Morrison-scripted '' Seven Soldiers Of Victory '' features updated versions of old, obscure DC characters like the Guardian , Mister Miracle , Klarion The Witch Boy , Bulleteer , Frankenstein , Zatanna and Shining Knight . The megaseries consists of seven interlinked four-issue Miniseries with two "bookend" (introductory and conclusive) volumes — 30 issues in all. Dan DiDio (current editorial vice president of DC Comics) was impressed with Morrison's ideas for revamped characters. Giving him the unofficial title of "rewrite guy", DiDio asked him to assist in sorting out the DC Universe in the wake of the '' Infinite Crisis ''. As part of this editorial role, Morrison will be one of the writers on '' 52 '', a weekly comic book series starting in May 2006. In November 2005, DC started publishing a new ongoing Superman series, starting with a 12-issue story arc by Morrison and Frank Quitely . Called '' All Star Superman '', the series will not so much revamp or Reboot Superman, but present an out-of-continuity "iconic" Superman for new readers. Morrison and Quitely have also worked on pop star Robbie Williams ' album ''Intensive Care'', providing designs for the packaging and cover of the CD. In 2006, Morrison will write '' Batman '' for DC, as well as '' The Authority '' and '' Wildcats '' for DC's Wildstorm imprint. APPEARANCES AS A COMICS FIGURE Grant Morrison first appeared as a comics character with a cameo in ''Animal Man'' #14. He made a full appearance at the end of issue #25, and spent most of #26 in a lengthy conversation with the comic's title character. Shortly afterwards, a character called "The Writer" appeared in issue 58 of the DC Comics title '' Suicide Squad '' (not written by Morrison), protesting that other "writers" had taken control of his fate now that he was part of "the continuity". The character was killed shortly afterwards. He has also appeared in an issue of '' Simpsons Comics '', where he is seen fighting with Mark Millar over the ''X-Men'' titles. BIBLIOGRAPHY 's cover to '' Animal Man #5'']]
:New World Order'' collecting the first four issues of Morrison's run.]]
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