History Creator / GrantMorrison

** ''Seven Soldiers'' reveals that Zatanna became addicted to magic and depressed after ''ComicBoook/IdentityCrisis2004''.

** They retconned Batman and Robin's more cartoonish adventures involving flying saucers and weird transformations into [[AllJustADrea hallucinations due to chemical attacks by the Scarecrow, the Joker or Prof. Milo. They also turned the original ComicBook/{{Batwoman}} into a spy hired by Spyral to find out Batman's secret identity.

** ''Seven Soldiers'' reveals that Zatanna became addicted to magic and depressed after ''ComicBoook/IdentityCrisis''.

** They're big on GenreBusting, but they specially like to incorporate [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Humanoid Abominations]] to their stories. [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol The Phone Avatar, the Candlemaker, the Decreator, the Scissormen, Red Jack,]] [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers the Nebula Man, the Sheeda and martian fauna,]] [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Darkseid, Mandrakk, the Overmind,]] [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles the Archons, Barbelith, Mr. Quimper, Orlando, the Harlequinnade, the King in Yellow, the Blind Chessman, the Roswell Incident,]] [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison the Hyper-Adapter, Dr. Simon Hurt, Bar]][[ComicBook/DarkNightsMetal batos,]] [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo Mr. Mind,]] [[ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth the Bat,]] [[ComicBook/{{Nameless}} the Titans and the Outsiders, the Entity]], [[ComicBook/JLA1997 the Star Conqueror, Maggedon, the Pax Dei,]] [[ComicBook/ActionComicsNew52 Vyndktvx,]] [[ComicBook/TheFilth Mother Dirt, Man Yellow and Man Green,]] [[ComicBook/AllStarSuperman the Chronovore, the Sun-Eater, Solaris,]] [[ComicBook/TheGreenLantern the Green Lantern Entities]], [[ComicBook/TheMultiversity the Gentry or the Empty Hand]] are just a few examples.

** They're big on GenreBusting, but they specially like to incorporate [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Humanoid Abominations]] to their stories. [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol The Phone Avatar, the Candlemaker, the Decreator,]] [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers the Nebula Man,]] [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Darkseid, Mandrakk,]] [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles the Archons, Barbelith, the Roswell Incident,]] [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison the Hyper-Adapter, Dr. Simon Hurt,]] [[ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth the Bat,]] [[ComicBook/{{Nameless}} the Entity]], [[ComicBook/JLA1997 the Star Conqueror, Maggedon, the Pax Dei,]] [[ComicBook/TheFilth Mother Dirt,]] [[ComicBook/AllStarSuperman the Chronovore, the Sun-Eater, Solaris,]] [[ComicBook/TheGreenLantern the Green Lantern Entities]], [[ComicBook/TheMultiversity the Gentry or the Empty Hand]] are just a few examples.

** In their ''JLA'' run, they brought back such goofy stuff as Comicbook/{{Aquaman}}'s Silver Age imp sidekick Quisp in a way that fit the tone of the new title.

** [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles King Mob and Lord Fanny]], [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Mo G.]], [[ComicBook/SuicideSquad "The]] [[ComicBook/AnimalMan Writer"]] [[labelnote:*]]this one was actually written by John Ostrander as a TakeThat to their appearance in ''ComicBook/AnimalMan''[[/labelnote]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers No-Beard]], [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Nix Uotan]], both [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol Wally]] [[ComicBook/FlexMentallo Sages]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers Mind]], [[ComicBook/TheFilth Greg Feely]], [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo Grabber]] [[ComicBook/FlexMentallo Man]], [[ComicBook/We3 the homeless man]], [[ComicBook/NewXMen Professor X]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers The Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp]], the "Batman" architect from ''Tales of the Unexpected'' [[labelnote:*]]again by a different writer, in this case Creator/BrianAzzarello. Morrison was reportedly unhappy with the character's [[PhoneticAccent Scottish accent]][[/labelnote]], and many more.

** [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles King Mob and Lord Fanny]], [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Mo G.]], [[ComicBook/SuicideSquad "The]] [[ComicBook/AnimalMan Writer"]] [[labelnote:*]]this one was actually written by John Ostrander as a TakeThat to their appearance in ''ComicBook/AnimalMan''[[/labelnote]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers No-Beard]], [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Nix Uotan]], both [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol Wally]] [[ComicBook/FlexMentallo Sages]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers Mind]], [[ComicBook/TheFilth Greg Feely]], [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo Grabber]] [[ComicBook/FlexMentallo Man]], [[ComicBook/NewXMen Professor X]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers The Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp]], the "Batman" architect from ''Tales of the Unexpected'' [[labelnote:*]]again by a different writer, in this case Creator/BrianAzzarello. Morrison was reportedly unhappy with the character's [[PhoneticAccent Scottish accent]][[/labelnote]], and many more.

** They're big on GenreBusting, but they specially like to incorporate [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Humanoid Abominations]] to their stories. [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol The Phone Avatar, the Candlemaker, the Decreator,]] [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers the Nebula Man,]] [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Darkseid, Mandrakk,]] [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles the Archons, Barbelith, the Roswell Incident,]] [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison the Hyper-Adapter, Dr. Simon Hurt,]] [[ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth the Bat,]] [[ComicBook/{{Nameless}} the Entity]], [[ComicBook/JLA1997 the Star Conqueror, Maggedon, the Pax Dei,]] [[ComicBook/TheFilth Mother Dirt,]] [[ComicBook/AllStarSuperman the Chronovore, the Sun-Eater, Solaris,]] [[ComicBook/TheGreenLantern the Green Lantern Entities]] or [[ComicBook/TheMultiversity the Gentry]] are just a few examples.

** [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles King Mob and Lord Fanny]], [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Mo G.]], [[ComicBook/SuicideSquad "The]] [[ComicBook/AnimalMan Writer"]] [[labelnote:*]]this one was actually written by John Ostrander as a TakeThat to their appearance in ''ComicBook/AnimalMan''[[/labelnote]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers No-Beard]], [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Nix Uotan]], both [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol Wally]] [[ComicBook/FlexMentallo Sages]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers Mind]] [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo Grabber]] [[ComicBook/FlexMentallo Man]], [[ComicBook/NewXMen Professor X]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers The Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp]], the "Batman" architect from ''Tales of the Unexpected'' [[labelnote:*]]again by a different writer, in this case Creator/BrianAzzarello. Morrison was reportedly unhappy with the character's [[PhoneticAccent Scottish accent]][[/labelnote]], and many more.

** They're big on GenreBusting, but they specially like to incorporate [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] and [[HumanoidAbomination Humanoid Abominations]] to their stories. [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol The Phone Avatar, the Candlemaker, the Decreator,]] [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers the Nebula Man,]] [[ComicBook/FinalCrisis Darkseid, Mandrakk,]] [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles the Archons, Barbelith, the Roswell Incident,]] [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison the Hyper-Adapter, Dr. Simon Hurt,]] [[ComicBook/BatmanArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth the Bat,]] [[ComicBook/{{Nameless}} the Entity]], [[ComicBook/JLA1997 the Star Conqueror, Maggedon, the Pax Dei,]] [[ComicBook/TheFilth Mother Dirt,]] [[ComicBook/AllStarSuperman the Chronovore, the Sun-Eater, Solaris,]] [[ComicBook/TheGreenLanterns the Green Lantern Entities]] or [[ComicBook/TheMultiversity the Gentry]] are just a few examples.

* AuthorTract: Morrison pretty much likes to either add themself, or characters who act like them, in a large amount of their stories. Most of their comics (most notably ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' and ''ComicBook/FlexMentallo'') are tracts speaking against the Dark Age of comics, specifically the idea that comics should mirror RealLife in their violence and morally ambiguous attitudes. Morrison's takes on Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are extraordinarily optimistic and straight-forward; Franchise/{{Superman}} is often shown as a borderline God (especially in ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'') who tirelessly works toward the betterment of mankind, while Franchise/{{Batman}} represents the peak of human ingenuity and intelligence, who can break free from any trap and defeat any villain. Since they're an experienced writer in {{Metafition}} and PostModernism, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools they usually manage to pull this off pretty well.

** They're a chaos magician, and their works usually include ties to occultism, mysticism or just plain religion. [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo Batman's thogal]], the apocalyptic iconography in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers the Seven Soldiers's arthurian magic]], [[ComicBook/Nameless2015 Nameless's esoteric magic]] or the whole [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles Invisibles.]]

* AuthorAvatar:

* AuthorTract: Morrison pretty much likes to either add themself, or characters who act like them, in a large amount of their stories. Most of their comics (most notably ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'' and ''ComicBook/FlexMentallo'') are tracts speaking against the Dark Age of comics, specifically the idea that comics should mirror RealLife in their violence and morally ambiguous attitudes. Morrison's takes on Franchise/{{Superman}} and Franchise/{{Batman}} are extraordinarily optimistic and straight-forward; Franchise/{{Superman}} is often shown as a borderline God (especially in ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman'') who tirelessly works toward the betterment of mankind, while Franchise/{{Batman}} represents the peak of human ingenuity and intelligence, who can break free from any trap and defeat any villain.

** Morrison loves the sillier Silver Age characters, something they share with Geoff Johns. If they write a title, expect [[CardCarryingVillain Card Carrying Villains]], [[PhysicalGod insanely overpowered heroes]] [[GoodFeelsGood who are nevertheless as pure as snow]], a MacGuffin, gimmicky villains and lots and lots of NarmCharm. They fought [[WhatCouldHaveBeen (and lost)]] to have Egg Fu have his prehensile mustache in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo''.

* ''ComicBook/{{Klaus}}''

** Morrison loves the sillier Silver Age characters, something they share with Geoff Johns. They fought and lost to have Egg Fu have his prehensile mustache in ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', for instance.
** They like [[CardCarryingVillain openly evil villains who are aware and enjoy their villany.]] [[ComicBook/NewGods Darkseid]], [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Dr. Hurt]], [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol the Brotherhood of Evil]], [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles the Outer Church]]...

** They're a chaos magician, and their works usually include ties to occultism, mysticism or just plain religion. [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo Batman's thogal]], the apocalyptic iconography in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis'', [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers the Seven Soldiers's arthurian magic]], [[ComicBook/Nameless Nameless's esoterism]] or the whole [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles Invisibles.]]

** Due to their religious beliefs, they tend to include a lot of occultism and mysticism in their works. Batman's thogal, Final Crisis, the Seven Soldier's arthurian magic or the whole fucking Invisibles.

** [[ComicBook/TheInvisibles King Mob]], [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Mo G.]], [[ComicBook/SuicideSquad "The Writer"]] [[labelnote:*]]this one was actually written by John Ostrander as a TakeThat to their appearance in ''ComicBook/AnimalMan''[[/labelnote]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers No-Beard]], both [[ComicBook/DoomPatrol Wally]] [[ComicBook/FlexMentallo Sages]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers Mind]] [[ComicBook/FiftyTwo Grabber]] [[ComicBook/FlexMentallo Man]], [[ComicBook/NewXMen Professor X]], [[ComicBook/SevenSoldiers The Seven Unknown Men of Slaughter Swamp]], the "Batman" architect from ''Tales of the Unexpected'' [[labelnote:*]]again by a different writer, in this case Creator/BrianAzzarello. Morrison was reportedly unhappy with the character's [[PhoneticAccent Scottish accent]][[/labelnote]], and many more.

Their first published comic book work was Gideon Stargrave in 1978. After a few attempts at Marvel UK, they started writing ComicBook/{{Zenith}} for Britain's ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' magazine. Like pretty much every superhero comic by English/Scottish/Irish writers during the eighties, it was both a superhero deconstruction and an excuse to take shots at UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher. It was because of Zenith that Morrison was hired to do a comic about ComicBook/AnimalMan, a character few knew and nobody cared about, and started their long tradition of taking total losers and transforming them into something completely awesome. Next was the ''ComicBook/DoomPatrol'', turning them into the greatest constant MindScrew ever put into Four Colored pages.

After those critical successes, they wrote ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'', which became the best-selling graphic novel up to that point, and featured selected members of Batman's rogues gallery - as well as the Dark Knight himself - as different aspects of non-comic book, medical insanity, such as schizophrenia and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. They then wrote several miniseries in Britain and for Creator/VertigoComics, and rose to stardom with the relaunch of ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', which featured DC's big superheroes together again for the first time in years. Besides being aptly described elsewhere on this website as "made up of back-to-back Crowning Moments of Awesome", Morrison's JLA also served as inspiration for the Franchise/{{DCAU}}'s ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', usually made up of back-to-back Crowning Moments of Awesome itself. At the time they were writing JLA, they were working on Vertigo Comics' ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'', their most personal world, which they described as information given to them by Aliens during an abduction in Kathmandu.

->''[[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou I can see you!]]''

** According to the notes included by other members of the ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'' writing staff in one of the [=TPBs=], Morrison themselves.

After those critical successes, they wrote ''ComicBook/ArkhamAsylumASeriousHouseOnSeriousEarth'', which became the best selling graphic novel up to that point, and featured selected members of Batman's rogues gallery - as well as the Dark Knight himself - as different aspects of non-comic book, medical insanity, such as schizophrenia and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. They then wrote several miniseries in Britain and for Creator/VertigoComics, and rose to stardom with the relaunch of ''Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica'', which featured DC's big superheroes together again for the first time in years. Besides being aptly described elsewhere on this website as "made up of back-to-back Crowning Moments of Awesome", Morrison's JLA also served as inspiration for the Franchise/{{DCAU}}'s ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', usually made up of back-to-back Crowning Moments of Awesome itself. At the time they were writing JLA, they were working on Vertigo Comics' ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'', their most personal world, which they described as information given to them by Aliens during an abduction in Kathmandu.

Since then, they've worked with Creator/MarvelComics, writing the controversial ''ComicBook/NewXMen'' run, and the ''ComicBook/MarvelBoy'' and ''ComicBook/FantasticFour: 1234'' miniseries. They returned to DC, and wrote ''ComicBook/TheFilth'', ''ComicBook/{{Seaguy}}'', ''Vimanarama'' and ''ComicBook/We3'' for Vertigo before cutting loose in the Franchise/DCUniverse with the seven ComicBook/SevenSoldiers miniseries and the universally beloved ''ComicBook/AllStarSuperman''. They proceeded to yet again redefine the mindscrew in their ''ComicBook/{{Batman|GrantMorrison}}'' run, attempting to reconcile the character's 70 years' worth of interpretations, and finally realized their life long dream of somehow making the DC Universe a sentient being in ''ComicBook/FinalCrisis''. They then went on to work on the new ''Batman Incorporated'' and ''[[Franchise/{{Superman}} Action Comics]]'' series.

Whether or not their stories are good is a topic of much debate. Lot of people love them, lot of people hate them, and a good amount think they're just some wacky person who can't write a story without severe WriterOnBoard and whose constant forays into ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs end up dominating their books to the detriment of plot and character. They did once state in the letters page of ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' that their protagonist, King Mob, a TuxedoAndMartini AuthorAvatar only got laid all the time because the comic book was a magic spell Morrison was casting, and so [[SympatheticMagic making their main character get laid would get]] ''[[SympatheticMagic them]]'' [[SympatheticMagic laid in turn]]. And if you think they're joking, [[CloudCuckoolander you haven't read]] their {{biography}} ''Supergods.''

Recognizable in real life by their shaved head and their already difficult to follow topics being uttered in a nearly incomprehensible accent. In an anecdote in the first volume of ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'', their conversation with the other writers and editor goes like this:

** As ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'' was collected without the letter columns from the single issues, one deeply odd fact about Morrison has been mostly lost to memory. After their analogue, Kirk Morrison/Gideon Stargrave/King Mob, spent a few issues slowly dying of a gunshot wound to the stomach, Morrison themself nearly died from what turned out to be a collapsed lung; they just fell over one day after martial-arts practice and spent three days lying on the floor. Morrison draws a straight line between what happened to King Mob and what happened to them, which may explain why King Mob spends most of Volume 2 ballsdeep in Ragged Robin...

* {{Metafiction}}: This is what they're most known for. They love to play with rules of storytelling in comic books. Their run on ''ComicBook/AnimalMan'' and ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'' are probably the biggest cases.

* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: A real perpetrator of this due to their tendency for, to paraphrase [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]], cramming a thousand ideas into a twenty two page comic book. We never really see [[ComicBook/JLA1997 Batman beating up four White Martians]] or [[ComicBook/BatmanGrantMorrison Stephanie Brown taking down an entire student body of an assassin school by herself]].

** Never, ''ever'' bring up their time on the UK ''Franchise/{{Zoids}}'' comic. It tends to be "conveniently forgotten" by their biographers and fandom, and they seems to prefer that it remains obscure. However, ''Zoids'' fans who know about it generally rate it high and wish [[CutShort the ending was known...]]

*** On a more general note, Batman's aversion for alcohol, at least as far as UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks had it, was originally part of his goody-two shoes personality. Now, it is part of his fear of losing his physical and mental edge if he drinks, so he has good reason to prefer milk.

* StatusQuoIsGod: Morrison adheres to this but also makes it clear they're not exactly thrilled about it. Almost any in-canon run they've written is done with the intent to shake up the status quo to the point where nothing was really recognizable anymore. If Grant Morrison wrote it, you'll ''know'' they wrote it by the time they're finished. That said, even with all the shake-ups, they always ends each run with enough room for other writers to come in to undo it. More often than not though, these are done with a somewhat back-handed connotation. Their ''Batman'' run ends with almost everything they've built in ruins or shambles to make room for Creator/ScottSnyder's tenure with the character, and Bruce Wayne continuing his crusade against crime is treated as a tragedy rather than a heroic triumph. They even told Snyder to feel free to do his own thing and take Bruce wherever he wanted from there.

* TheCameo: [[spoilers: In the penultimate episode of ''Series/{{Titans}}''.]]

* AuthorGuestSpot: Famously in ''ComicBook/AnimalMan''. Hilariously, fellow DC writer John Ostrander realized not long after that by writing themself into a comic, Grant Morrison had put themself ''in continuity'', and made "the Writer" a member of the ComicBook/SuicideSquad for [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin one issue]].