Grant Morrison Spoils Everything

Firstly, I love the placement of the Skrull Manhunter next to John Stewart and Human Flame next to Professor Ivo below. Everything else is a spoiler...



"Martian Manhunter was known around the offices as a character that was sort of boring, but was a JLA "staple," if you will (though we did try to jazz him up with that storyline where he was Scorch's love-slave). If it was him, the fire on the cover would make sense, because fire is his only weakness." -Valerie D'Orazio

Obviously, my opinion of the character varies, but not so much my reaction to the news. Let me tell you, I really just want to move on. I vented a bit of spleen about a tangential subject on Monday, and Tuesday I was all set to do a double post about cute little doggies. Well, that was not to be, but definately today, right? Or will Grant Morrison have an interview posted on Comic Book Resources giving away most of the plot against the Martian Manhunter? The latter, it seems:

"Along the same lines, Morrison shared all readers need to know about the two D-level villains who have been rumored for months as heavy hitters in "Final Crisis" - Libra and Human Flame. "Again, you don't need to know anything about them. Because the more you know about these guys, the lamer they become," laughed Morrison. "I'd rather have people pick up the book and see Libra for the first time done the way I want to see him done and the same goes for the Human Flame character.

"The reason I chose them was because Libra came from my favorite ever run of 'Justice League of America' and he's never been used again. He was a character who had stolen all the powers of the Justice League, but then couldn't handle it and ascended to some kind of screaming godhood where he became a million transparent body parts spread across the sky. So I thought if I was doing a thing about the New Gods, he'd be an interesting guy to bring back because I needed a masked mystery man to start a new recruitment drive for the Secret Society of Supervillains, because they become almost a terrorist sect. Under Libra's guidance, they start doing quite bad things, even to superheroes' wives and families, crossing the line. So there's that element to the story and I needed a masked guy, who people didn't really know that well. And I remembered Libra and the fact that he is connected to this ascending to godhood thing tied him in really quite nicely. What's really going on under the hood will be revealed later in the series.

"With The Human Flame, I wanted a Martian Manhunter villain, and I couldn't find a really good one. Then, looking through the old 'Showcase Presents' books, I discovered this stupid guy called Mike, who declared himself to be the Human Flame. And he wore a homemade costume with six nipples that shot flames. So I just thought this is a great way to start this book because the idea is that Libra gives all the villains a very simple choice, he says, 'Follow me and I'll give you your heart's desire.' And that's it. And some of the villains naturally say, 'Prove it.' So the Human Flame is one of the first to fall in with Libra and he says, 'If you can get revenge on my old enemy, who has had me stuck in jail for the last five years, I'll follow you anywhere.'

"I needed a small-scale dumb guy, who could make very big waves and open the book with a shock moment and the Human Flame fit the bill. Also the name is great, because he's the first of the villains to succumb to the Anti-Life Equation. And the idea of the Human Flame being 'extinguished' in this way was just too cool for me to let go of it."

"All of these guys were chosen for roles in the story, not because they are fan favorites. I just don't play that game. I wish I could. So I don't want readers to run back to their 'Who's Who' thinking that there will be some big revelation about these characters in there. All the stuff you need is in the book. And these two are just the tip of the iceberg, every DC villain appears in this book. There's a cosmic murder mystery running through the book and the really big bad doesn't turn up until the very last issue. There's a lot going on but I've noticed that no matter what I say about the content of 'Final Crisis,' there will still be online fans who'll swear blind they have no idea what the book is about so I'll leave it at that."

And so will I, again, hopefully...