Supergods

Supergods, the new book by comicphile, Grant Morrison, gives us several interesting takes on history of superheroes, from Superman to Batman and from Ma Hunkel to Flex Mentallo. Some of these characters are better known than others.

Who's ready to slap a Jap?

Morrison divides the book into four "ages", Golden Age, Silver Age, he renames the Bronze Age as the Dark Age and then finishes with the Renaissance. Any of you whom have read any of Morrison's work know that he can be a pretentious little Glaswegian, but hey, it structures the book very well and it takes us through as simply as he can, chronologically.

He covers the creation of superhero comics, DC and Marvel/Timely, and the struggles they had to go through to get published. A light hearted romp through the extreme silliness of the Golden and Silver Ages, where anything could happen. Literally. Look at any Golden Age cover and you can see the ludicrousness of the stories. Apart from Wonder Woman, which is merely a bondage fest, but never mind.

It shows his love for the books, also shown in his work. It sometimes veers off track, such as the time where he claims he has healing powers or went lo Las Vegas with Greg Rucka. It carries the traditional Morrison tone, a mix of aloofness, arrogance and modesty, which gives the book a different feel to your standard history book. There are even some laughs in there.

Personally, it got interesting when it reached the era of time in which I was actually alive. The creation of Image Comics, Identity Crisis and event Comics, not discountign the effect September 11th had on many comics. He follows the changing styles and themes through out the books, themes that aren't neccessarily obvious if only reading comics as comics.

A worthwhile read, not the first choice for comics' history, but a worthwhile chapter and a good read. I certainly stuck with it and I hate reading. Thank God that comics have those cool pictures.