Sunday, January 04, 2009

Fraction at Comics Reporter

Tom Spurgeon gives us yet another excellent interview today, this time with Matt Fraction.

Some highlights:

Fraction on Morrison's Batman:
Have you read Grant Morrison's Batman run? It's a pretty spectacular example of this -- using Batman as frame of reference for Batman. The gag is that everything that's happened in the Batman comic actually happened to Batman, right? And what would that do to a human mind? From the bleak noir stuff to the bam-sock-pow stuff and everything in between. He's using the whole history of the character to comment on the character as the character endures it. And to comment on the comics mainstream, and on heroes, and all that great stuff. I mean, the first fight scene takes place in an art gallery during a Pop Art retrospective where these faux-Lichtenstein paintings of comics are commenting on the comic we're reading as we're reading it, for god's sake. And as the run went on, Morrison really used the entirety of the character's history as a frame of reference and context to comment on the character. Batman-as-Batman-
as-Pop-Culture-in-toto. It's a mess, and a glorious one at that, and his reach might have exceeded his grasp for a couple reasons not exactly germane to this discussion, but it's been a pretty amazing piece, all the same. It's the Cremaster of superhero comics.

Fraction on Iron Man being "damaged goods" before he launched Invincible Iron Man:
I don't think any character is "damaged goods." I reject the premise. Creators can be damaged goods, sure. But characters? No character is damaged goods in the hands of a writer with vision. It's fiction. You can do anything. Some people on the internet didn't like the way the character behaved in a story. That's not "damaged goods."

Fraction on Larocca's tendency to photoreference with celebrity images:
I can't stand that stuff, personally -- yanks me out of the story immediately. Not photo referencing, that's not what bugs me, but using celebrities just... it's as intrusive as someone standing over your shoulder reading the word balloons with funny voices. Bums me out.

Fraction on Casanova's return:
It's a safe bet we could sell at least as many copies at regular length, in color, for a buck and a half more, and actually not just break even but Ba and/or Moon could make something approaching a wage. Maybe it's the format; maybe the book's just never going to find an audience. I'm not ready to concede the second point so I'm focusing on the first.

Good stuff. Read the whole interview HERE.

2 comments:

andy khouri said...

I agree with Matt on all the details, but I still come to a different conclusion. As a Morrison fan and an admirer of yours and Matt's and other friends and commentators, I've had to think a lot about this particular Batman run and why I dislike it so much. I'm not prepared to get into a lengthy defense at the moment, but I will say that Matt's comparison of Morrison's Batman to the loathsome Cremaster Cycle made a lot of sense to me. I think there's enough context to assume Matt likes the Barney piece. I find it ghastly. Again, agree on the details, but reach different conclusions.

Sigh.

When will Superman Beyond #2 come out so we can all get along once again?

Kris Krause said...

I liked Fraction's "backmatter" and the monochromatic $2 format of Casanova. I understand why they're looking to change that, but I still found it sad when I read that. Oh well, at least he confirmed new Casanova some time this year.