“Annihilator” Grant Morrison, Frazier Irving. Legendary Comics. 09.09.2014. $3.99
“Annihilator” is a chaotic run through the mind of writer Ray Spass who has found himself on a deadline for literally everything. After losing what is presumed to be the girl of his dreams he has transitioned to a life of chaotic partying. Ray finds himself in desperate need of a blockbuster film while simultaneously meeting the character from his current project. Only Grant Morrison coupled with Frazier Irving can give us something chaotic, strange, and simultaneously gorgeous.
This first issue is as intensely interesting as it is chaotic. The panels jump you through scenes of a man finding a home, and beginning to write while referencing you back to a recurring theme of a black hole which must have future significance for the series. As we follow the separate lives of Max Nomax (Ray’s creation for his new film) and Ray himself we are led to draw parallels between the two, and you are heavily pointed in the direction the comic will go.
The art is absolutely gorgeous with some spreads looking more like an oil painting than a comic page. The layout is superb as it lends to making the story feel even more chaotic. The writing is done in such a way that even if you’re not sure how to proceed through the page, it still adds up to a single story as you advance page to page.
Mr. Morrison was kind enough to talk to us about the new comic. You can read the interview below.
Interview: Grant Morrison
BSR!: What is the premise of “Annihilator”
I’m real bad with premise because I could spend days talking about it. But it’s about a Hollywood screen writer who is a hell raiser who has a final opportunity in a film writing called “Annihilator” about Max Nomax who is the ultimate rebel and ultimate bad-ass. Turns out he has an inoperable brain tumor, and basically if he can write this story within 7 days he’ll save the world. So it’s about the ultimate evil of deadlines, if he doesn’t hit it everyone dies.
Anyone who doesn’t enjoy it by issue 3 is probably brain dead.
BSR: What underlying theme do you hope readers get from “Annihilator”.
I hope they can see that it is trying to focus on the central emotional pull in their lives. It’s a devil deal story and it is very sexy with a monster and haunted house story at the back of it. Anyone who doesn’t enjoy it by issue 3 is probably brain dead.
BSR!: You have an incredible artist in Frazier Irving, how did you get him on the project?
I’ve loved his work for a number of years and always wanted to work with him, and after we did the Best of Batman with him and with the whole story being about Neo Nihilist I couldn’t think of a better artist to work with. He’s done an incredible job, and is doing some of the best work coming out of the industry. He brings the characters to life. I love how he uses so many different color palettes.
BSR!: This is a six issue run through legendary, how long have you had “Annihilator” in your mind.
I came up with the idea a few years ago, but just recently did the actual script. It’s a very fresh subject and so it is very much alive for me, since I’m still tweaking the last few issues. But we’ve been working for 2 years maybe.
BSR!: What is your creative process like?
I kind of had the story and the story is about the black abyss and your life. It focuses on the annihilator black hole, which is the center of our galaxy; I developed that thinking of the holes that can be our reality. (laughs) So using that with Black holes and life and death, and they become innately part of the characters and they all grew out of that.
Comics let me tell stories how I want to, and as an Egomaniac I like that.
BSR!: What pulled you into writing comics?
When I was a kid I wanted to write novels and write for TV, and even wrote a novel when I was 18. Comics really caught fire in the 80s and people from Britan were getting noticed at the time. Writing for film required a lot of preciseness, but with comics its fun to work in a different structure, because TV costs a lot of money, with comics you can experiment and try different items and there aren’t 1000 people telling me what to do. So I can tell stories in the way I want to and as an egomaniac I like that.
BSR!: You’ve created countless characters and written for tons of different publishing houses, is there a character that you connect with the most?
Not really, there are tons of them but they all connect really. Whether its marvel boy or Jake seeley from the filth I identify with all of them. They are all just in a different world in your head. Depending on the mood you were in when you created them, I like the stories for that, but they’re different moods and different days for me and they’re all favorites, I love ‘em all.
BSR!: I’ve heard you are also a musician?
I’ve played music since I was a teenager and I still write music and songs. I did a spoken word piece with music in the Sydney Opera House in September.
BSR: Is that the first time?
No I’ve done a bunch, even in Vegas, but this was at the Sydney Opera House with the best acoustics ever and it was a packed house. But I still kind of do music stuff and always keep involved in things.
BSR!: One of our readers wants to know if there will ever be another Morrison Con?
That was a one off in time and space that will never occur again. I want to do something in Los Angeles more focused around music next time. So if we did it, it would have bands and other kinds of art and wouldn’t be called Morrison Con, which wasn’t my idea.
BSR!: Who named it?
The people who organized it in San Francisco they wanted to use the name of somebody really well known in comics, and I really can’t think it can be called anything worse than using my name.
BSR!: Any other things you’d like to share about the book.
Morrison: Talking about Annihilator I really hope people check it out. I know they know me form the Avengers or Batman, but this is weird stuff that they might be into like Satanism, Sex and Drugs, and it’s a really cool fan fiction story. I’m working on all kinds of new projects in the next years so life is fun and Scotland is funny.
BSR!: I don’t think they’ll have an issue seeing as Multiversity is so popular.
Morrison: I’m glad people are enjoying that, and the next issue is completely different and I am anticipating to see what people think about it since it is so different. That’s why people like my stories is because they’re so different.