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Supergods What Masked Vigilantes Miraculous Mutants and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human Grant Morrison Books

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Supergods What Masked Vigilantes Miraculous Mutants and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human Grant Morrison Books

Grant Morrison is among a small handful of fiction writers who have most inspired and informed the style of non-fiction writing that I do in my column Hero Worship. And of those fiction writers, he and Neil Gaiman are the two comic book writers who forever altered the way I looked at superheroes and comics. The themes that obsessively reappear in almost all of his major works - gods and myths, the occult, epic conspiracies and a Philip K. Dickian view of reality - were the very same obsessions of my young, impressionable mind when I first discovered him.

Needless to say, I was excited to be able to finally read his non-fiction opus, Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human.

While, on the whole, it's a good read it wasn't quite what I had hoped or expected it would be. The subtitle, I feel, is misleading. I have my own views on what "masked vigilantes and miraculous mutants can teach us about being human" and so was eager to read Morrison's take on it, since he did, after all, help me to shape some of those views (albeit indirectly through his fiction).

But Supergods is really just part cultural history of superhero comics and part personal memoir. It isn't until the end, and only very briefly, that Morrison discusses what I had hoped the majority of the book would be about: an examination of superheroes as mythical archetypes that illuminate profound spiritual lessons on life and living.

Having said that, it's an impressively incisive cultural history, albeit focusing more on how superhero comics and their creators, throughout history, have reflected the shifting social values, morals and concerns of their time than on a straightforward historiography of the business and industry of comic publishing. Though for those who prefer their history to be written in a clear, lucid style (and I'm one of them), Morrison's prose often gets a bit too baroque in a way that works better when he crosses over into the realm of memoir, especially when recounting his experiences with altered states of consciousness.

Another problem is the lack of images from the works that Morrison analyzes. He goes into such minute detail that it's truly hard to follow along unless you've got images from the comic he's referring to in front of you, especially if you've never read those comics. I had to constantly look up old and now-obscure titles on Google for images as I read which became tiresome.

Nevertheless, for fans of comic culture in general and Morrison's penchant for psychedelic mysticism in particular, Supergods is a fitting addition to your book collection.


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Supergods What Masked Vigilantes Miraculous Mutants and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human Grant Morrison Books Reviews

An excellent, thorough review of the history of comic-book heroes, of Grant Morrison's life and career, and the deeper meanings of our love of superheros. Coming from one of the most creative and innovative minds in comics, it is no real surprise that this book delivers on multiple levels.

Morrison intertwines the history of comics with their impact on American culture, the underlying needs fulfilled by superheros, and the role of comics in his own life. He gives detailed descriptions of comics that are typical of different eras in comic book history or were otherwise noteworthy or "ground-breaking." He does not spare his unique perspective and personal opinions of the comics he describes. From the introduction of Superman and Batman to Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Miller's Dark Knight to more modern works, Morrison describes, analyzes, and opines about the impact, quality, and meaning of important comic developments. Even a comic buff has much to learn about comics from Morrison's book.
Grant Morrison's saga of the superhero from its birth to its many tomorrows is a welcome breeze wafting from an endless summer somewhere in the future where we will all become superbeings. Welcome to me, at least, who, like the author, grew up absolutely enthralled by comic books.

And like Morrison, I'm tired and bored with the dystopian, snarling pretenders in tights who masquerade as superheroes these days. I'm no Pollyanna or prude afraid of the dark - I've spent a fair share of my career writing about dark worlds present and future - but there's still that kid in me who grew up believing in Stan Lee's admonition that "with great power comes great responsibility." Too many superheroes have mistaken their shirking of responsibility for a punk rebellion against authority.

The contrasts between the Green Lantern and Captain America movies highlight this problem. Hal Jordan allows himself to be convinced - all too easily - that he doesn't deserve the ring he's been given by a dying hero. His acceptance of his role finally comes rather perfunctorily, as a necessity for the final act, rather than from any real desire to live up to his destiny. Not so with Steve Rogers, who is untiring in his efforts to shoulder more responsibility than his weak frame can handle.

Morrison thinks superheroes are archetypes of aspiration, untiring and, in the end, always undefeated. His book chronicles the pop culture history of this archetype in many of its manifestations, not just in comics but also in similar trends in music and fashion. I've read many of the comics he calls upon as exemplars, and I loved reading another author's heartfelt and deeply illuminating appreciation of these works.

Heartfelt is the key word for this book. Grant Morrison is laying it bare, confessing to his love of the good guys, and using biographical moments to back it up. Even if I were inclined to disagree with his analysis - and I am surprisingly on the same page for the majority of it - I could never argue with his passion and love for the writers and artists whose work consumed by childhood.

I do, however, have a geek critique. Even though Morrison admits that he couldn't give a shout out to all his favorite comics stories, I still would have liked to have seen more attention given to Steve Englehart for his Secret Empire saga in Captain America and his Detective Comics collaboration with Marshall Rogers, both of which I feel are keystones worth mentioning in the evolution of the superhero in the `70s and early `80s. But I can't complain too much - he does give proper attention to Starlin's Warlock, after all.

This is probably the best book to give to someone who hasn't read comics in a long time and might be looking to rekindle their interest in the men and women of tomorrow. It's also a great introduction for Jungians and archetypal psychologists who have yet to turn their analytical gazes to the primordial pop culture pool in which our culture swims.
Grant Morrison is among a small handful of fiction writers who have most inspired and informed the style of non-fiction writing that I do in my column Hero Worship. And of those fiction writers, he and Neil Gaiman are the two comic book writers who forever altered the way I looked at superheroes and comics. The themes that obsessively reappear in almost all of his major works - gods and myths, the occult, epic conspiracies and a Philip K. Dickian view of reality - were the very same obsessions of my young, impressionable mind when I first discovered him.

Needless to say, I was excited to be able to finally read his non-fiction opus, Supergods What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human.

While, on the whole, it's a good read it wasn't quite what I had hoped or expected it would be. The subtitle, I feel, is misleading. I have my own views on what "masked vigilantes and miraculous mutants can teach us about being human" and so was eager to read Morrison's take on it, since he did, after all, help me to shape some of those views (albeit indirectly through his fiction).

But Supergods is really just part cultural history of superhero comics and part personal memoir. It isn't until the end, and only very briefly, that Morrison discusses what I had hoped the majority of the book would be about an examination of superheroes as mythical archetypes that illuminate profound spiritual lessons on life and living.

Having said that, it's an impressively incisive cultural history, albeit focusing more on how superhero comics and their creators, throughout history, have reflected the shifting social values, morals and concerns of their time than on a straightforward historiography of the business and industry of comic publishing. Though for those who prefer their history to be written in a clear, lucid style (and I'm one of them), Morrison's prose often gets a bit too baroque in a way that works better when he crosses over into the realm of memoir, especially when recounting his experiences with altered states of consciousness.

Another problem is the lack of images from the works that Morrison analyzes. He goes into such minute detail that it's truly hard to follow along unless you've got images from the comic he's referring to in front of you, especially if you've never read those comics. I had to constantly look up old and now-obscure titles on Google for images as I read which became tiresome.

Nevertheless, for fans of comic culture in general and Morrison's penchant for psychedelic mysticism in particular, Supergods is a fitting addition to your book collection.