Grant Morrison on Bush, Blair, and Obama

IGN this week sat down with writer Grant Morrison to discuss DC Comics’ Final Crisis.  I couldn’t help but notice in issue #7 there was a distinct look and feel to the black President/Superman, guess I wasn’t that far off:

IGN Comics: How about the African American Superman/President in Final Crisis #7? It seems like you’re having some fun with the idea of Barack Obama as this conglomeration of hero, leader and celebrity.

Morrison: Completely. What I was thinking, because I wrote that obviously last year, was that Obama was getting in in February, and I realized this comic would be out right around that time. I knew it was going to happen. And so Final Crisis #7 has Darkseid defeated, and the good guys have won and everything is bright and optimistic again, I knew that the feeling in America was going to be the same. When Final Crisis started, I wanted to talk about the kind of crushing horror of the George Bush/Tony Blair axis we all had to live through. Final Crisis was my fictional diary of how it felt to live through the early years of the 21st century.

By the end of that, there’s this wind-of-change feeling that Obama brings to America and by extension everyone else – as to whether things actually change, we’ll see. I wanted to open Final Crisis #7 with that feeling that the weather had changed. And it’s the DC Universe, where anything can happen so here’s a black President Superman and we’re off! I think this guy’s a little better looking than Obama, though. I mean, Obama’s a fine-looking fella, but I don’t think he could fill out that Superman suit. [laughs] This guy is more Muhammad Ali. So we have him, and we also have Beyonce as Wonder Woman. That’s Beyonce at the microphone. [laughs]