Read on Twitter
Since I'm being asked on The Bomb in Morrison work, and it's not the first time I've been asked that question, even if it is a well known/established thing, let's do a thread as a primer: https://twitter.com/GhosttGray/status/1335469190845632512
Grant Morrison grew up with huge activist parents who were anti-nuclear activists.
Poor working class people who were socialists and very political.
Their father, Walter Morrison, was a soldier who came back from the WW2, haunted by what he'd seen.
Poor working class people who were socialists and very political.
Their father, Walter Morrison, was a soldier who came back from the WW2, haunted by what he'd seen.
Having been stationed in India, as a member of the British forces, Walter went into the whole thing to fight fascism and fascists.
What he instead found there, amongst the British soldiers he served with in India, was deeply horrifying.
What he instead found there, amongst the British soldiers he served with in India, was deeply horrifying.
The British soldiers pointed to the nearby village and said 'Listen, you can do whatever you want with the women and children, it doesn't matter', and every idea of 'Joining The Good Guys To Fight Fascism' was ripped apart in that moment.
Walter beat the dude who said that down.
Walter beat the dude who said that down.
He took a gun and held it to his superior officer and the rest of the men and basically said 'If you so much as touch these people, I will shoot you down.'
He was labelled a nutcase, locked up, nicknamed THE BIG CRAZY, bc *he* was 'the crazy one' in all this.
He was labelled a nutcase, locked up, nicknamed THE BIG CRAZY, bc *he* was 'the crazy one' in all this.
He was then thrown in Burma, and a whole lot of shit happened.
He came back from the war, firmly anti-authority, distrusting of power, more than ever.
Morrison's mother meanwhile went to Holland to give speeches on women's liberation at The Hague.
He came back from the war, firmly anti-authority, distrusting of power, more than ever.
Morrison's mother meanwhile went to Holland to give speeches on women's liberation at The Hague.
Both weren't educated, didn't have a ton of money. Constantly unemployed, on welfare.
But anyway, when Walter comes back and the two are raising their kids, Walter became what was called The Spy For Peace.
People who'd break into government facilities and take photos/get deets.
But anyway, when Walter comes back and the two are raising their kids, Walter became what was called The Spy For Peace.
People who'd break into government facilities and take photos/get deets.
As a kid, Morrison was often used as a cover to do this, with the pretense of the kid's ball having gotten in, you get the idea.
They lived very close to an American Military base, with a nuclear arsenal to blow everyone up. The terror of The Bomb was constant for them.
They lived very close to an American Military base, with a nuclear arsenal to blow everyone up. The terror of The Bomb was constant for them.
As you can imagine, Walter was constantly arrested, put into prison, and Grant and the family would go out and protest, with signs like #SaveWalterMorrison and #BanTheBomb and you name it.
And when he got out, men would show up and threaten him and his family, unless he stopped.
And when he got out, men would show up and threaten him and his family, unless he stopped.
(Spoilers: He didn't stop.)
Anyway, the cops and the military constantly arresting your father and threatening him, alongside the horror stories of British armed forces, does not tend to make you sympathetic to authority.
So getting back to What is The Bomb in the work?
Anyway, the cops and the military constantly arresting your father and threatening him, alongside the horror stories of British armed forces, does not tend to make you sympathetic to authority.
So getting back to What is The Bomb in the work?
Grant grew up with constant nightmares about The Bomb, which was the only thing that scared their parents, who were the toughest people they knew.
The only thing that helped with those? The *idea* of something that could withstand the bomb:
Superman.
The only thing that helped with those? The *idea* of something that could withstand the bomb:
Superman.
The Bomb is, well, obviously, The Bomb.
But The Bomb is also a symbolic image and idea.
Before The Bomb was a bomb, it was an Idea.
We imagined something that could destroy and made it.
It's a destructive idea.
But The Bomb is also a symbolic image and idea.
Before The Bomb was a bomb, it was an Idea.
We imagined something that could destroy and made it.
It's a destructive idea.
And it's a destructive idea that could only ever be the product of the culture that produced it, and the system that manufactured it:
The Military Industrial Complex.
The Bomb is The Weapon, the tool to hurt and maim and destroy, that which traumatizes and devastates.
The Military Industrial Complex.
The Bomb is The Weapon, the tool to hurt and maim and destroy, that which traumatizes and devastates.
The Bomb is the condensation of every single terrible, awful human impulse, and a culture and system devoted to said impulses.
It's our nature and need to hurt, to dominate, to terrorize, to destroy, when we could be doing literally anything else that's productive.
It's our nature and need to hurt, to dominate, to terrorize, to destroy, when we could be doing literally anything else that's productive.
For a creator obsessed with 'Internal Reality', the relationship between creators and creations, whether it be parents and children, writers and fictions, consciousness, the power of the imagination and ideas, The Bomb becomes a symbol of all that is rotten, The Hole In Things.
This thread is basically also a summary of why I'm fascinated by their work (and it's not cuz they wrote Batman or whatever).
Their career and history goes through every single era and touchstone of comics from the 80's onwards, and is part of the fabric of it. And vitally...
Their career and history goes through every single era and touchstone of comics from the 80's onwards, and is part of the fabric of it. And vitally...
...it's all rooted in very real stuff, all the influences and experiences that feed back in and shape stuff, they're from a wider cultural landscape, and thus their history becomes an interesting way to look at and study wider comic history from the '80s onwards.
It's like how Kirby is a useful barometer for comics across *multiple* decades and their history is tied up with it in fun, interesting ways, from the late 30s on to the 70s.
Moore/Morrison interest me similarly from the 80's onwards, as they intertwine with the landscape.
Moore/Morrison interest me similarly from the 80's onwards, as they intertwine with the landscape.
Sometimes I just write out these mini-essays as tweets when a smart person would instead just write the essay and get paid instead.
But in any case, the above is a solid 101 and starting point to look at the work. You'll notice and see a lot in there that is rooted in all this.
But in any case, the above is a solid 101 and starting point to look at the work. You'll notice and see a lot in there that is rooted in all this.
Anyway, this is Walter Morrison.
The Morrisons:
