Funnybook Babylon

CHECKMATE #31 Written by Bruce Jones. Art and cover by Manuel Garcia. All the pieces on the Checkmate board have converged on China. Is it the end of the world as we know it in this series finale issue? Or will Chimera save the day? On sale October 29. 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US FINAL ISSUE

Scrolling through the solicitations I came across this doozy. It looks like DC finally did what I jokingly asked them to do a couple of months ago. What has the book been doing since you and I dropped it? Why, it has been building up the sensational character find of ‘08, Chimera! Who is he? He’s pretty much a super soldier who can turn into his enemies’ worst fears. His ongoing story has hijacked everything I found interesting and wonderful about the spy thriller Checkmate was before Jones got on to it.

John Rogers in an interview stated that some sort of Magic Event would be spinning out of Checkmate post Final Crisis. This event has to be why they decided not to go with the collaborator of the original writer and with Bruce Jones instead. Chimera has been the only thing the book has been about since the switch. So now that Chimera has been introduced and established,  they can turn off the lights on the book so he can move on to what ever great things they have planned for him. I guess Checkmate as an organization will languish in the background, used the same way SHIELD was pre-Civil War. Great Job DC!

Wait… what’s this?

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Back from a long hiatus due to birthdays, movings, and sheer laziness, the Funnybook Babylon crew discusses two recent standout books:

Geoff Johns and Scott Kollin’s Final Crisis: Rogues Revenge #1 has some kinetic art that Joe loves, but does Chris warm to Johns’s new treatment of the Flash Rogues? We also discuss the recently completed Omega the Unknown series by Jonathan Lethem, Farel Dalrymple and Paul Hornschemeier.

We end the podcast with a round-up of Paul Levitz’s speech on Transmedia, The Watchmen Trailer, the “Moving Comics” initiative, and whatever crazy ideas DC decides to shove into another medium.

After SDCC, we are totally going to work FBB into a video game like Def Jam Fight for New York. All your favorite comic bloggers will be in it.

Finally, please vote for a song for Jamaal to sing in three weeks. Try to pick something from the Batman Soundtracks or Celene Dion related. He’s totally gonna have to do it.

 

FBBP #64 - Transmedia, the "synergy" of 2k8 [59:59m]

 

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I think most fans of nerd-based movies have been sitting and watching as the fresh tomatoes come in on The Dark Knight. And, you know, it’s pretty fantastic news - it’s close to universally agreed that this is a goddamn good, if not truly great, movie. I’m hearing “better than Batman Begins“, and since that’s my high-water mark, I’m pretty happy.

However, what truly baffles the shit out of me is the critical attitude towards liking it. I mean, I know that the superhero genre has a bad rap in the overall groupthink, and considering some of its representatives in the past (Helen Slater’s Supergirl, Batman & Robin, Daredevil) it’s hardly lost on me why that would be the case. But, guys, come on:

In its rethinking and transcending of a schlock source, The Dark Knight is up there with David Cronenberg’s 1986 version of The Fly. It turns pulp into dark poetry… The Dark Knight is bound to haunt you long after you’ve told yourself, Aah, it’s only a comic-book movie.
-Richard Corliss, Time Magazine

Nolan wants to prove that a superhero movie needn’t be disposable, effects-ridden junk food, and you have to admire his ambition. But this is Batman, not “Hamlet.” Call me shallow, but I wish it were a little more fun.
-David Ansen, Newsweek

In other words, you expect moralistic underpinnings in a Martin Scorsese movie; in a Batman movie, they hit home with renewed vigor.
-Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter

Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” is another unforgettable offering from the visionary that defies all expectations by creating a serious “superhero” movie for grown-ups, one so grounded in a brutal reality you’re left in a cold sweat by its stalwart refusal to cater to escapist fantasies.
-Edward Douglas, Comingsoon.net

This is not a Batman movie… this is a 2008 version of The Untouchables with The Batman as Elliot Ness, The Joker as Al Capone, much better toys, and, it seems, a topper.
-David Poland, The Hot Button

What is this, the denial hour?

Is there nobody on staff at fucking Time and Newsweek to point out that their reviewers are praising the film for ‘transcending’ limitations that don’t exist? Dark Knight certainly looks more intellectually stimulating than the Burton/Schumacher flicks, which were just audiovisual spectacles with varying degrees of commercial success - design masterpieces without soul. (Well, at least the first two.) As an object to compare The Dark Knight favorably to, it does the job just fine.

However it’s just astonishing, although I really shouldn’t be surprised, to see the film critic community react in such a bewildered fashion to an interpretation of Batman that challenges their minds as much as their senses. While I admit that I have not yet seen The Dark Knight (although if anyone has some sweet preview passes for Toronto I would be your friend forever) the aspects of the film commonly praised - the focus on moral quandaries, the intelligent and reasonable approach towards cause and effect, the thematic unity, the roots in crime fiction - for God’s sake, these aren’t new to the character. They aren’t anywhere close. The modern conception of Harvey Dent and the theme of violence escalation in Gotham came from current fan community whipping boy Jeph Loeb. I can’t even imagine how reviewers would react if presented with The Long Halloween, never mind Death and the Maidens or The Killing Joke or, shine on you crazy diamond, Batman R.I.P.

As a former expatriate from comics fandom, I understand the tendency towards ambivalence in the public mindset regarding the artistic merit of superhero properties. But, when presented with evidence to the contrary, don’t try to pass it off as something else - justifying its quality as saying it took more cues from crime films, or being disappointed for not falling within its predetermined boundaries, is a mistake. Above, Honeycutt essentially states that, due to the fact that The Dark Knight is a Batman movie, the bar is lower with regards to intellectual stimulation - so, essentially, a smart Batman movie is a greater achievement than a smart crime film, like the Bat is some kind of horrendous creative albatross.

So, I mean, let’s stop this ridiculous notion of treating comic book movies differently because, you know, they’re just comic book movies, right? Stop giving things you don’t think are that great a free pass on characterization and theme because of their origins. Simultaneously, don’t try to decontextualize works that don’t fit within the expected boundaries. And don’t be surprised when other established franchises start getting adaptations this good.

I’m looking forward to seeing the public reaction to the first truly thematically intact and intelligently constructed Superman film.

Part one

Part two

Part three is HERE:

Batman #676

Batman #676 - “Batman R.I.P. Part 1: Midnight in the House of Hurt”

(art: Tony Daniel, Sandu Florea & Guy Major)

Page 1: We shoot forward in time for a page. The background, with red skies and lightning, fairly definitely dates this page as being during or around Final Crisis. Batman and Robin’s identities are vague; Robin looks smaller, like Damian, and seems to have a white cape, while Batman is completely ambiguous (but, given Final Crisis itself, is likely Bruce).

Page 3: Hurt’s description of their coverup for Le Bossu’s murder sets a clear precedent for the Black Glove’s methodology, falsifying documents and destroying reputations. It’s certainly in line with the framing of Mangrove Pierce for Mayhew’s murder of his fifth wife, and the way they destroy Bruce Wayne.

Pages 4-5: We meet the rest of the Club of Villains - Charlie Caligula (Legionary), King Kraken (Wingman), El Sombrero (the real one this time - El Gaucho), Pierrot Lunaire (Musketeer), Scorpiana (El Gaucho) and Springheeled Jack (the Knight). Dark Ranger appears to be unrepresented by a nemesis in the group.

Pages 8-9: Finally we see the new Batmobile, under construction since #655. It’s shockingly functional.

Page 11: The hobo with the shopping cart is Honor Jackson, who plays a very important role in #678. The money Bruce gives him is used to buy heroin, which he overdoses on. The Green Vulture is yet to reappear, but may; he could simply be a representative of what Alfred calls on the next page “the American Idol era of equal opportunity supercrime.”

Page 13: “Miss St. Cloud” was Bruce’s love interest from the Englehart/Rogers Detective run; much like Jezebel, she was a smart lady who figured out who Bruce was, but ended up driven away. “Miss Bordeaux” is Sasha Bordeaux from Greg Rucka’s Detective Comics run, who similarly found out but got burned (by taking a murder rap) and ended up becoming the Black Queen of Checkmate after playing a huge role in 2005’s OMAC Project.

Page 14: Here, Alfred’s manner of speech becomes much more learned and curious - not subservient, but especially the “His is a mind like NO OTHER” speech seems to evoke Hurt’s scientific study of Batman.

Page 15: Note, also, how he practically goads Tim on to feeling insecure about Damian, sowing discord in the ranks of Batman’s trusted.

Page 17: Establishes the Black Glove as a group of “incredibly rich and mysterious people”, in line with Mayhew’s comment about how the wealthy are beyond law and morality.

Page 18: Arkham Asylum.

Page 19: This is all a creepy fantasy in Joker’s head.

Pages 20-21: Joker is utterly insane, surprise surprise. It’s shown this is his fantasy lookin gat a Rorschach blot held by an in-disguise Le Bossu, who’s apparently infiltrated Arkham (so this must take place a while after the opening scene ’six months ago’ with Simon Hurt) and is inviting the Joker to work in the Glove’s plans.

Page 22: The blood on the Joker is a coloring error, according to Morrison; this is the real world, and the Joker hasn’t actually killed anybody. He’s still stuck in Arkham. Also notice his obsession with flowers, his instruments of death in #663.
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CBR just put up a (quite sweet-looking) preview of some new Dodson pages from Uncanny 500, and in the process also put up the final Greg Land cover (original here). Besides compressing a lot of the figures to make it fit on two pages (I gues it’s not a gatefold anymore), there was just one thing that had to pointed out and, frankly, publicly approved of:

After and Before

Whoever was responsible: thank you! It’s nice to see Pixie not represented as being midcoitus anymore.

Going forward with part two!

Don’t forget to read yesterday’s part one as well.

Batman #667

Batman #667 - “The Island of Mister Mayhew”

(art: J.H. Williams III & Dave Stewart)

NOTE: Rather than recapitulate it here, I’d just like to point everyone towards J.H. Williams III’s commentary on the Club of Heroes and the particular artistic style associated with each one.

Page 1: The Black Glove, named for the first time. Note the roulette wheel, red and black, good and evil - it’s clear here that Mayhew, strung up, is making a bet. Judging by the actual wearing of black gloves, it seems clear this is the same character we saw at the end of 665. A friend of mine who for some reason wants to remain anonymous because this idea is fucking brilliant thinks that this might be a sort of retelling of the story of Job, with Hurt acting as Satan and Alfred as God, which fits in perfectly with the question raised by this bet - which is stronger, good or evil? It also fits in perfectly with Morrison’s use of the blind chessman figure in Invisibles.

Page 2-3: I just want to mention I love the look Tim gives Bruce for asking a question to which he himself is the answer.

Page 4: Tim mentions that Alfred is staying at home rebuilding Wayne Manor, which seems to place this after the Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul crossover - which is after this arc, so I have no idea how that works. Anyway, that’s his alibi for now.

Page 5: The Knight was last seen in JLA: Classified #1-3 by Grant Morrison & Ed McGuinness, and before that in Morrison’s JLA run.

Page 6: El Gaucho, respected crimefighter from Argentina; Legionary, past-his-prime Roman-themed crimefighter from Italy; the Musketeer, French crimefighter who, as he says here, just got out of prison; and Chief Man-of-Bats, the Batman of the reservation. All members of the Club of Heroes.

Page 7: More details about Mayhew’s life. Just as all of the Club of Heroes are alternate takes on where Batman may have gone, John Mayhew represents a directionless, unfulfilling life for Bruce Wayne without a cause and a mission. This is where we first see the poster for the Black Glove film, which comes into play later during R.I.P.; Mangrove Pierce and Marsha Lamarr are both names worth remembering, both within and after this arc. The group shot of the Club of Heroes is new, and lacks Superman, whom the original story (Detective #215) featured.

Page 8: The Native American vigilante is an alcoholic? Seriously, Grant?

Pages 14-15: Someone wearing Mayhew’s face, presumably taken off with the switchblade at the start of the issue. However, considering Mayhew shows up safe and sound later on, it seems likely this is simply a parlor trick (which raises the question of what the use of the blade was). “Place your bets” again digs in the gambling angle, and Morrison really loves to use the wearing-skin concept.

Page 16-17: We later find out the explosion originates from Wingman’s ship, where he planted the bomb as an accomplice to Mayhew and the Glove.

Page 20-21: Mayhew, wearing black gloves, kills Legionary.
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I’m seeing a whole hell of a lot of confusion about Batman R.I.P. out there, which is perfectly understandable - it’s a pretty damn opaque story, even more so than Final Crisis. In the interest of art appreciation, I’ve decided to try to go through Morrison’s recent Batman work and see if I can help shed some light on this fairly byzantine plot, as well as point out the myriad continuity references Morrison makes.

Also of considerable interest are Tim Callahan’s annotations and musings about this run - as always, this article is just one dude’s opinion. Apologies to the numerous people I’ve talked about this run with over time whose ideas and comments I’m probably about to partially steal, but thanks to you anyway, especially Chris Eckert.

This was originally going to be all in one go, but when I finished I realized I somehow wrote 8500 fucking words, and nobody in their right mind wants to read that. So I’ve split this up into the Kubert issues (655-658, 663-666), the Williams/Daniel issues (667-669, 672-674), and the R.I.P. issues (672-678) (which are jam fucking packed). I’ll have it serialized out throughout the week.

Before we begin, I just want to mention many of the recurring themes/phrases/ideas throughout this story, that you’ll see me pointing out:

1. Hallucinogenic drugs/through isolation: Batman tripping balls is the overriding concept throughout this entire run, and the seed from which almost every other aspect and plot development takes place. Drugs, and their effect on the human psyche, especially in combination with living an iconic fantasy life, have brought Batman to a very fragile point. None of this is new, half of Batman’s enemies use hallucinogenic poisons (especially the Joker and Scarecrow), and he’s been poisoned or on drugs like every third Batman story since 1960.
2. Nature vs. nurture: This is especially evident in the rivalry between Tim and Damian for the right to be Batman’s son, as well as the ruminations on Batman’s own upbringing. This theme generally extends more into the Resurrection of Ra’s al Ghul crossover, which I won’t be discussing here since it seems to have little relevance to R.I.P., and I’ll also probably feel like an idiot when it becomes important and I have to do an appendix, but ah well.
3. Red and black: These two colors show up everywhere representing good and evil, with special relevance to the colors on a roulette wheel.
4. Zur en Arrh: self-explanatory after the latest issue, this is Batman’s implanted Manchurian Candidate codeword and the identity of a planet from Batman #113 that Bruce was abducted to (no wonder Morrison is referencing that story; he loves alien abductions) and on which he had the powers of Superman. The guy who summoned him was the “Batman of Zur en Arrh”, who had on that horrendously/hilariously ugly costume Tony Daniel reintroduced at the end of 678.

Throughout, I’ll also be taking a look at the various suspects for the identity of the Black Glove, whose identity Morrison calls “the most shocking Batman revelation in seventy years.” Taking a look, then, at the likely suspects:

1. Bruce Wayne: Batman’s fucking with himself, a la Len Wein’s seminal Untold Legend of the Batman miniseries, where he got hurt in an explosion and started blacking out and being his own worst enemy, in a very personal and similar manner to the Black Glove. He’s supposedly cured by the end of the story, which was also a rather excellent round-up of his origin and life up to that time in continuity, and contained a lot of elements Morrison seems to be reusing (Thomas Wayne’s original Batman suit, for instance).
2. Thomas Wayne: Batman’s father is alive, actually a con man, and out to reclaim Wayne Manor. I personally think this is actually going to be an issue four or five fakeout Morrison employs, a la Jason Todd in Hush, and it was hinted at in Batman #677. However, I just think this would be too crazy to stick, and would also harm Greg Rucka’s (in my opinion underrated and brilliant) Death and the Maidens, a story Morrison’s expressed fondness for.
3. Dick Grayson: Pretty damn unlikely, considering recent events in R.I.P..
4. Tim Drake: See above.
5. Alfred Pennyworth/Beagle: Anyone who’s been reading my stuff on this site knows that this is who I think it is, and I’ll be pointing out instances of his absence and evidence of his guilt. I’ll be taking a look at the reasons against, too, but I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty damn sure this is the culprit and recent issues have only backed that up.

So. Let’s go.
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We’re back from a Mac-induced hiatus (Can you believe an Apple product had the gall to break on us?), and we talked about Marvel’s massive week (thirty-four books !!!) and whether any of them were worth your dollars. But that tidal wave from Marvel didn’t stop us from talking about DC’s big book, Final Crisis #2. Have Jamaal and Pedro warmed up to Morrison’s new Epic Event?

Wizard World Chicago had much news that left Pedro full of sadness, hate and joy. Mike Turner passed away on Friday, S-Triangles are back (see 1991 for further details) and Marvel may be creating the wordiest comic book ever.

Finally, Funnybook Babylon has some bad news to tell you. Image and Erik Larsen are breaking up. It’s not your fault, you didn’t do anything wrong. They still love each other and you very much. But sometimes a comic artist who becomes a publisher gets an itch to go back to drawing again. He doesn’t have the time to spend with Mommy like he used to. It’s okay, your Uncle Eric Stephenson is your new daddy, so things will probably be the same.

As always comments, questions and suggestions are always appreciated.

 

Image and You [55:17m]

 

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You know the drill. Let’s roll. Massive spoilers ahead.

Note: I’m going to be largely talking about the book without Countdown; sections that relate to events in Countdown or Countdown-related series or really anything outside of the Johns/Morrison/Rucka axis will be discussed separately, since anything “learned” in Countdown is suspect.

Okay, double note: Note the text on both covers is rougher and misaligned - I assume this is the beginning of the “dissolving effect” Chip Kidd was talking about.

Triple note: Oh, hey, Douglas Wolk was timely too! His annotations are up here.

Page One:
We kick off with another letterboxed page similar to last issue, this time outside of a harajuku club in Japan. I’m afraid I can’t read any of the signs, but I imagine it’s just referenced from a real location since that appears to be a Blade advertisement on the billboard.

Flash #163

The kids outside the club are all wearing mishmashes of superhero iconography, per Morrison’s descriptions of the culture in the Sketchbook. The guy in center is wearing a shirt of Batman TV show sound effects, next to a guy wearing the cover to Alan Moore and Brian Bolland’s The Killing Joke on his back.

Of the most note, however, is the bouncer, whose plea - “STOP! You must be SUPERCOOL to proceed! YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!” - mirrors (literally!) the cover of Flash v1 #163, cited by Morrison as his favorite comic, where he declares to the reader “STOP! Don’t pass up this issue! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!”. This is especially important given the event at the end of the issue.
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Chris and I had a long chat this weekend detailing the impact of former Marvel Head Honcho: Bill Jemas.

It’s really quite likely that quite a few of you out there would not be reading comics today were it not for Jemas, so check this out. Chris brings us a wealth of info about the late 90’s - early 2000’s period at Marvel Comics.

 

Standard Podcast [78:45m]

 

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NRAMA: And so you were left with a handful of continuity issues as result - – why didn’t the Guardians call a 1011 when all the other New Gods died? Why didn’t Superman recount his experiences in Death of the New Gods when he was talking about the New Gods to the JLA? How did the villains capture J’onn? Obviously, if you dealt in all the minutia of every storyline since Identity Crisis or earlier, you’d go nuts – so what was your personal line in the sand that you used in writing Final Crisis in regards to what “mattered” and what didn’t?

GM: What mattered to me was what had already been written, drawn or plotted in Final Crisis. The Guardians didn’t call 1011 when Lightray and the other gods died in Countdown because, again, Final Crisis was already underway before Countdown came out.

Why didn’t Superman recount his experiences from DOTNG ? Because those experiences hadn’t been thought up or written when I completed Final Crisis #1. If there was only me involved, Orion would have been the first dead New God we saw in a DC comic, starting off the chain of events that we see in Final Crisis. As it is, the best I can do is suggest that the somewhat contradictory depictions of Orion and Darkseid’s last-last-last battle that we witnessed in Countdown and DOTNG recently were apocryphal attempts to describe an indescribable cosmic event.

To reiterate, hopefully for the last time, when we started work on Final Crisis, J.G. and I had no idea what was going to happen in Countdown or Death Of The New Gods because neither of those books existed at that point. The Countdown writers were later asked to ‘seed’ material from Final Crisis and in some cases, probably due to the pressure of filling the pages of a weekly book, that seeding amounted to entire plotlines veering off in directions I had never envisaged, anticipated or planned for in Final Crisis.

The way I see it readers can choose to spend the rest of the year fixating on the plot quirks of a series which has ended, or they can breathe a sight of relief, settle back and enjoy the shiny new DC universe status quo we’re setting up in the pages of Final Crisis and its satellite books. I’m sure both of these paths to enlightenment will find adherents of different temperaments.

Grant Morrison, 2008

Oh, Grant. This sounds like trouble in paradise. Let’s see what wrong, okay? We’ll talk you through this.

I met her last week, this insane tart
We been swimmin’ in each other with the same heart
I mean, I think we might be sections of the same part
And we don’t separate at all until the day’s dark

–El-P, “Oxycontin Pt 2″

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Wow, I haven’t written anything in a while. I need to adopt Dave’s work ethic, but work is all consuming at the moment. Since I missed the recording of the podcast this week (a compelling discussion of the Bill Jemas era at Marvel), I decided to put some thoughts together in a typically long-winded (and hopefully somewhat coherent) fashion. Come join me for the DC Pile-on!

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And we’re gonna go yet another round in the “What the fuck is going on at DC” sweepstakes, thanks to Warren Ellis’s latest Bad Signal (stolen from Schwapp!!!):

People like talking shit about Dan Didio online. The truth is that he’s actually a smart guy who, on entering the company, had to make some tough decisions fairly quickly. It’s also true that some lifers at DC editorial are very resistant to any kind of change. Are some of them just plain nasty and dumb enough to say, “screw Morrison, we’ll do our own story, and if it blows his big reveals, well, fuck ‘im”? I would hope not, but it does seem to have happened anyway.

Aw, shit. I was wondering why Death of the New Gods #5 was so revelatory.

For those of you who missed my original article about it, see here. Basically, in DONG5, Starlin said that the Source was behind killing the New Gods, and the creation of the 52 worlds, and all of that crap. This always seemed like a hell of a plot point to drop there, so at NYCC I asked Geoff Johns if he wrote Infinite Crisis with DONG5’s retcons in mind. He quickly said he didn’t know what I meant and wasn’t caught up and couldn’t answer. I thought that was pretty damn weird, and judging by Ellis’s comments, I was right.

So - putting the pieces together - Morrison’s stated before that the villain of Final Crisis won’t be obvious, and won’t be revealed until the last issue. Within the framework of Final Crisis alone as we know it so far, the Source isn’t an obvious villain. So let’s take a look at the history of blowing secrets over the course of this project: Jim Starlin’s New God-killer, Infinity-Man, had his identity blown by a silhouette in Bedard’s first issue of Birds of Prey. Then, Jim Starlin blew the even BIGGER villain of Morrison’s Final Crisis months in advance by, uh, giving him a motherfucking Bond Villain Speech months before the miniseries even started. Wow.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON AT 1700 BROADWAY? Do Marts and Berganza just hate each other? Did Didio know this was going on? Does anyone read all their comics? How does Ian Sattler still have a job? Will Geoff Johns take me up on my pony keg offer? Did, as Huxford seems to think (but then again Huxford is like the comics blogging equivalent of Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory), Carlin sabotage all of this? With all this lead time, why does the book need Carlos Pacheco? Can’t the Marvel offices just work three days a week and still win? Tune in next time, in DC Publicly Falls Apart.

There has been - to understate - a bit of a storm around Morrison’s recent Newsarama interview regarding the lack of connection between the 51-issue weekly Countdown and the series it was leading to, his 7-issue (plus tie-ins!) opus Final Crisis. For those who didn’t read it, it essentially goes like this: Grant Morrison writes Final, submits it to DC; DC decides that like its predecessor, Infinite Crisis - and its far more distant ancestor, Crisis on Infinite Earths - it can’t show up out of nowhere, and needs to be led up to. There needs to be anticipation beyond the normal solicitation cycle.

Except, instead of the random Monitor appearances for COIE or the well-orchestrated miniseries and one-shots leading up to IC, it was tacked on without the participation of the primary architect of the event. I’ve seen a decent number of people claim that this was Morrison’s fault for not paying enough attention to Mike Carlin’s office and the fairly badly-received weekly comic they were outputting. This frankly utterly confounds me, as it’s not like Morrison is a writer unused to working within larger editorial dictates (’Nuff Said Month, Invasion, etc.). He knows the system, he’s worked within it for quite a while, he’s used to having other people shit all over his stories. I mean, look at Xorn. He didn’t fail the system; the system failed him. This also isn’t the end of the world.
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Anyone who follows Morrison’s career likely remembers his announcement of numerous new Vertigo projects at the New York Comic Con. Well, by numerous I mean three (maybe technically four): Seaguy 2 and 3, Atomika & Me (which was apparently a surprise to even the panelists - I’m afraid this was the one panel I missed so I have no eyewitness experience) and… actually, here’s what he said:

as well as a brand new book called Warcop, about everything that’s happened since 9-11: “I was interested in the fetishism of soldiers,” said Morrison. “It’s about how media, video games, comics, movies, etc., are basically primers for teaching people how to kill. It’s about one soldier who goes off to war and comes home looking for a new war; it turns into a conflict between kids and adults for control of the planet.”

Now, I’m not discounting the possibility that he just reused the title, but I was browsin’ Morrison’s website (since he was promising a redesign later this week - where the hell is that, G-Mo?) and I noticed this under screenwritingcredits:

‘WARCOP’

(Treatment for aborted Todd McFarlane/Madonna project 1993)

What? This… should be… interesting. It’s not ridiculous, since Morrison penned an issue of Spawn, but… Madonna?

This… yeah. Any ideas?