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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

18 Comments

  1. Eric Gimlin
    July 18, 2013 @ 12:31 am

    And as usual, need to think about things before I actually post much here. One minor correction, though: Morrison drew one page in Invisibles v3, n2 (a jam issue by multiple artists). Hardly major, but I think it does qualify in its own small way as "self-illustrated" work. He was also solicited as doing a variant cover for Batman Incorporated 12, but that didn't actually come out:

    http://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/07/04/the-batman-inc-grant-morrison-variant-bait-and-switch/

    Neither of these are major, of course, but they (and some occasional sketches as bonus material in the back of collected editions) seem to suggest there's still a desire from Morrison to show he COULD draw the comics still if he wanted to.

    Reply

  2. Carey
    July 18, 2013 @ 12:45 am

    "Morrison, in other words, is the David Bowie to Talbot’s Brian Eno"

    Brilliant!

    Although that does beg the question, if we are making musical analogies, who is Alan Moore? Led Zeppelin?

    (Kirby and Lee, of course, are Lennon and McCartney).

    Eno will undoubtably be a reoccurring character in your narrative: not only has Moore admitted to using Eno's Oblique Strategy Cards to help him on occasion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies) but also interviewed him for the Radio 4 programme "Chain Reaction" (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kwdrn). A wonderful interview, including the lovely revelation that while recording the brilliant Heroes, Bowie and Eno were taken by the work of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wejNjdPndLI) and often spoke in their voices. Which makes listening to the moving tale of a couple of star crossed lovers separated by the Berlin war all the stranger. And all the better.

    Which leads us to something that I hope you'll be addressing in your essays, Doctor Sandifer: both Moore and Morrison have a sense of humour that runs through much of their work but is usually ignored.

    Reply

  3. Daibhid C
    July 18, 2013 @ 2:10 am

    "although these quotes come from 1990, a period when Moore’s public persona was defined by what might charitably be called over the top rhetoric"

    Should that be Morrison?

    Reply

  4. Anton B
    July 18, 2013 @ 3:12 am

    One of Eno's Oblique Strategies cards is –

    'Which is the Picture? Which is the Frame?'

    Which makes your statement –

    '…where Moorcock sets out to demonstrate that the story exists regardless of its frame, Morrison sets out to demonstrate that the story is just a skeleton to drape a frame onto.'

    Even more cogent.

    Another great post Phil. I need to read this one a few times.

    Reply

  5. Spoilers Below
    July 18, 2013 @ 5:59 am

    Although that does beg the question, if we are making musical analogies, who is Alan Moore?

    David Byrne.

    Reply

  6. Theonlyspiral
    July 18, 2013 @ 6:40 am

    I'm glad that this project is not shattering my image of Morrison as a self important and pompous asshole. The more I learn and the more we explore the war, the more vindicated I feel. Of course anyone who throws their own Con and names it after himself is fairly suspect.

    I'm glad you mention Talbot; I feel he is an incredibly underrated artist. His work in Starman is to this day some of my favorite comic art. The comparison to Blake seems clear now, although I will admit I would never have come to it on my own.

    Excellent entry!

    Reply

  7. C.
    July 18, 2013 @ 9:26 am

    Moore is more a slightly-out-of-time Dylan, the guy who made a "juvenile" medium "serious," who spawned a number of lesser imitators, a colossus even among his contemporaries/rivals.

    Reply

  8. rossco
    July 18, 2013 @ 10:02 am

    So if Morrison is DAVID BOWIE, then Alan Moore is, oh, ALL OF THE BEATLES, fused into one Meta-being. I can backup my statement with graphs and pie-charts.

    Reply

  9. Cleofis
    July 18, 2013 @ 10:11 am

    "This sense of unity as a form of divinity – that it is only when all the disparate elements of a thing are gathered back together and allowed to coexist, contradictions and all, that it becomes, in Blakean terms, a part of Eternity – is an obvious precursor to the composite landscapes of Burroughs’s cut-ups, Ballard’s pataphoric lists, or Moorcock’s shifting facets of the Eternal Champion."

    And, as will no doubt be touched upon later, Morrison's approach to superhero comics; integrating every Batman story ever as canon, fusing all of the various interpretations and Silver Age strangeness of Superman into one monolithic take in All Star Superman, etc.

    Reply

  10. Kit
    July 18, 2013 @ 11:30 am

    I don't remember Simecon, when was that?

    Reply

  11. Theonlyspiral
    July 18, 2013 @ 12:02 pm

    Simecon? I was referring to Morrisoncon.

    Reply

  12. dm
    July 18, 2013 @ 1:52 pm

    Moore is Stephen Malkmus, Morrison is Billy Corgan.

    Reply

  13. Jesse
    July 18, 2013 @ 5:23 pm

    George Harriman is Duke Ellington
    Frank King is Thelonious Monk
    John Stanley is Carl Stalling
    Charles M. Schulz is Hank Williams
    R. Crumb is John Fahey
    Chris Ware is Beck

    Reply

  14. BerserkRL
    July 19, 2013 @ 11:15 am

    He should really have called it MorriCon. Except people might have thought it was for fans of Errico Morricone.

    Reply

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  16. Roger Whitson
    May 26, 2014 @ 3:16 pm

    I keep thinking of that Arkwright ascension image in terms of Blake's Glad New Day.

    http://blogs.plos.org/neurotribes/files/2012/02/blake.glad_.day_.jpg

    Reply

  17. Daru
    February 15, 2015 @ 2:46 am

    "… air like cannabis smoke hung over social meetings in Edinburgh’s Science Fiction Bookshop."

    Wow Phil. You have genuinely blown me away – my ancient haunt mentioned on this blog! I spent my teens/twenties and onwards at The Science Fiction Bookshop whenever I could. It was devastating when it closed and we got Forbidden Planet in its place. I have so many memories of whiling away hours there and I loved its slightly worn and dingy atmosphere.

    Reply

  18. Perumal
    November 23, 2015 @ 9:30 am

    Reply

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