Grant Morrison’s AMA: 30 revelations on Batman, Damian, Hal, Multiversity, and more

Grant Morrison (posting as u/Ok_Satisfaction7133) dropped a trove of candid insights on Reddit today, spanning a great deal of topics. It was a generous download of process tips, character philosophy, and career tidbits. Below, I’ve curated the most useful answers/facts.

Craft & creative philosophy

• On writer’s block: “There’s no such thing as writer’s block… If writing gives you pleasure, do it. If you want to write for a living, learn craft, be disciplined, and get an agent.”

• Why certain stories stick: The right idea “draws you towards it with its own gravity.”

• Comics as consciousness maps: Comics can stage “dramas of consciousness” across a page that already encodes spacetime.

• Optimism vs. doom: The mediated world is “ferocious,” but Morrison still chooses “the sunny side of the street”—and likes art that pushes against apocalypse narratives.

• On magic practice: Daily, “less pyrotechnic and extravagant and more immersive.”

Multiversity, meta, and breaking the fourth wall

• That famous “don’t turn the page” plea wasn’t lifted from The Monster at the End of This Book; Morrison traces their 4th-wall lineage back to The Flash #163.

• Society of Super-Heroes wasn’t conceived as a straight analogue book, though the pulp DNA (and “Doc Fate”) is intentional.

Batman, Damian, Talia—and that flipped Dynamic Duo

• Morrison expected Damian’s return due to popularity, but maintains that Bruce is always Batman in the core timeline. The best answer for Damian? “A whole new costumed character”—if it’s great.

• Talia had “crossed a line” (post-Blüdhaven/“Chemo” era), so Morrison leaned into her as a genuine arch-villain.

• On Dick & Damian as Batman & Robin: they loved that lighter Batman/broodier Robin inversion and wish it had run “for years.”

JLA: Why Kyle & Wally mattered—and the Olympian lens

• Swapping in Wally West and Kyle Rayner gave the team modernity and legacy; “JLA wouldn’t have worked without them.”

• Roster guided by Olympian archetypes: Plastic Man as Dionysus, Huntress as Artemis, Steel as Hephaestus.

• Favorite to write: Martian Manhunter.

Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, and Green Lantern

• Morrison’s Hal channels John Broome’s drifter—Kerouac restlessness plus veteran calm: “very hard to beat.”

• On Hal’s baggage: Morrison feels he’s accepted himself—“except Carol.”

• Barry Allen: a methodical mind navigating surreal speed; straight-laced exterior, mind-bending metamorphoses.

The Absolute Universe this fall.
Credit: DC Comics

Absolute, Ultimate, & the state of lines

• Morrison calls DC’s Absolute line “a masterstroke… the freshest the characters have felt since the Silver Age.”

• Notes hearing about the Ultimate line’s end but focuses praise on Absolute’s reinventions.

52, Aztek, and unfinished business (that actually finished)

• 52 was “like being in a band”—Morrison handled Oolong Island, the Starfire/Animal Man/Adam Strange odyssey, plus key Elongated Man, Yeti, and Super-Chief beats.

• Aztek: apocalypse framed as bureaucratic/calendrical inevitability; closure arrives in JLA vs. Mageddon, with Azteka seeded.

Out November 19th.
Credit: DC COmics

Batman/Deadpool: how it happened—and what it isn’t

• Marie Javins pitched it; Morrison had a take immediately. They wrote their story before seeing the Marvel half, then threaded a few continuity nods after.

• Don’t expect them to chase more crossovers after this one.

Adaptations, cameos, & screen takes

• Enjoyed X-Men ’97 nods to New X-Men: “Always nice to see where you’ve made an impact.”

• James Gunn’s Superman: “The best Superman movie yet!”

• Consulted at times (Sofia Coppola on Wonder Woman; Jared Leto’s Joker; Alan Tudyk’s Mr. Nobody).

• Recorded their Titans cameo in Glasgow; there’s even a full-Glaswegian outtake.

Wish lists, side doors, and obscurities

• Professor Pyg is the villain they’d love to see in the movie.

• Obscurities deserving sunlight: El Gaucho and Ragman.

• Underused playground: The Atom can still be stretched in wild directions.

• “I’ve done them all,” Morrison says of dream characters, though Silver Surfer earns a wistful nod.

AI, future myths, and new gods

• AI will be a tool/collaborator; right now it’s “collage and repetitive imagery,” which might catalyze an outsider-art boom that evolves faster than models can keep up. “It’s a technology that won’t be stopped by the looks of it. It’s concerning when you’ve developed a personal style and approach that can be copied by an efficient machine capable of doing a fair copy of your work in 30 seconds, and creative people rightly fear the loss of paying jobs…”

• Following Kirby’s lead, expect techno-cosmic gods to keep re-emerging.