MORRISON, GRANT 423
tradition of fi rsts, More Fun Comics became the fi rst of DC’s eight main anthologies
to be canceled with issue #127, cover dated November 1947.
Henry Andrews
MORRISON, GRANT (1960–). Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Morrison started
his professional career in the late 1970s and early 1980s working for DC Th omson
in Dundee, publishers of Th e Beano and Th e Dandy , while also working for indepen-
dent comics such as Near Myths. At DC Th omson, Morrison wrote and drew issues of
the science fi ction comic Starblazer , before turning exclusively to writing. In the mid-
1980s he started work for Marvel UK, writing short Doctor Who stories, and for the
short-lived but very infl uential Warrior , which also featured work by Alan Moore. At
Marvel UK, which mainly published licensed material, he wrote the Zoids script in
Spider-Man and Zoids , turning a story about warring robot dinosaurs into an apoca-
lyptic story about obsession and fate. Th is was far more than the story deserved, and
was an indication that Morrison was ready to tackle a much more demanding project.
Th e opportunity came when Morrison began work for 2000 AD , creating their fi rst
superhero , Zenith, in 1987. Th is was an intelligent deconstruction of superhero com-
ics, at a time when Moore’s Watchmen had made such things extremely marketable, but
this was not a cheap copy of Wa t c h m e n ; rather it was about the occult, the apocalypse,
and transformation, referencing the poetry of William Blake, and drawing on spiritual-
ist Aleister Crowley, popular fashion and music, and a host of other eclectic sources. It
was also about the infl uence of American comics on British comics, and was carried off
with irony and precision, aided by stylish artwork by Steve Yeowell. Following the suc-
cess of Wa t c h m e n , DC Comics started head-hunting new British talent, and Morrison
was the obvious target. Morrison would eventually contribute to the new Vertigo line
of adult comics produced by DC; however, his early work with DC saw him revamp-
ing second-rate superhero comics such as Animal Man and Doom Patrol , following a
pattern established by Moore with Swamp Th ing. In Animal Man the story became
a platform for Morrison’s animal rights views, and ultimately twisted in on itself in a
postmodern deconstruction of the comics form itself. Likewise, Doom Patrol became a
surreal rumination on madness, disability and art that quickly caught the attention of
readers, and soon it came under the Vertigo banner.
Never content to simply knock out genre fare, Morrison continued to make a
name for himself with his strange vision of Batman’s world in the graphic novel
Arkham Asylum , with artwork by Dave McKean. At this time he was still produc-
ing work for the British market, including the controversial stories St. Swithin’s Day
and Th e New Adventures of Hitler , as well as a reworking of Dan Dare, simply called
Dare. Morrison’s most mature and personal work emerged in the mid-1990s, and in-
cluded Flex Mentallo (1996), and arguably his most important project, Th e Invisibles
(1994–2000). He also wrote the enormously popular Justice League of America
series JLA (1996). Morrison continued to balance personal work with mainstream
success, with Th e Filth (2002) and We 3 (2004) on one hand, and Marvel Boy for
