Infected Worldmind

Coming to the end of a five-year run on various titles starring the caped crusader, the Batman brand has cemented Morrison’s reputation as one of the top writers in his field. That fame though has come with the price of becoming a figurehead for the industry, a responsibility that he is happy to…

Great comments. Here’s where David and I part company - I think Grant Morrison’s series of controversial interviews and comments over the last year and a half are incredibly helpful. They remind me of things that I should never forget (as a comics reader):

(a) the public personae constructed by entertainment figures are fundamentally fictions. They’re created to evoke a response from the audience and generate revenue. We never should have taken Morrison seriously. He’s a “freelance commercial writer who sells stories to pay the bills”. We were suckers for thinking that he was anything else, or that the counter-culture stuff he peddled in the ‘90’s was anything more than a slick advertising campaign for a product.

(b) most journalists working the ‘cultural industry’ beat are hopelessly compromised. Sometimes this is because of the journalists themselves, many of whom double as enthusiasts. Sometimes this is because of the commercial interests of their employers, who rely on the industry that they cover for advertising revenue.