Morrison Unveils ‘Annihilator’ for Legendary [NYCC 2012]
Happy isn't Grant Morrison's only foray into creator-owned independent comics these days, it seems. At New York Comic Con, the writer announced a new project with publisher Legendary Comics, entitled Annihilator.The series sounds like a Charlie Kaufman movie gone even weirder. According to Morrison, the series follows Ray Spass, an unsuccessful screenwriter who gets a chance to write a blockbuster that quickly starts interfering with his real life. "Our story is that [Spass] has got this movie and he kind of makes a deal with the devil," Morrison explained. "Two days later, the FBI shows up at his door and says, 'A man just turned up -- in a black hole we created. Why does he want to meet you?' He looks at the picture and says, 'This is the new character in my new flick.'"
The story continues as Spass and his fictional creation go on a road trip, with Morrison describing the series as "a love story, it's a mystery, it's a sci-fi story. It's kind of got everything in it, but most of all it's a Hollywood story - the difference between artifice and authenticity." But there's an added twist: Spass is dying of a brain tumor.
"He has four days to finish the screenplay or he'll die," Morrison said of the character's central dilemma. "I think we've all had the deadline horror and I want to take the deadline horror and expand it to make it cosmic."
Annihilator, which has an artist attached but unnamed until contracts are signed, is set to launch next year.