Supergods

This started out as a relatively benign survey of golden and silver age comic lore and then just flipped off the rails when Morrison decided he would tell us about each and every acid trip he ever took and how he was so grateful for every grubby royalty dollar he earned from comic book nerds to fuel his drug habit. I've read much better analysis of comic heroes and really, is it all that complicated? They're a reflection of what we want most for ourselves. Who wouldn't want to fly? Have nifty gadgets? Sock it to the bad guys. Walk through walls. Have a skeleton made out of adamantium... Okay maybe the analogy only goes so far. Annoyed I spent the better part of a week reading this.

Best book I've read this year. I feel like it was written specifically for me and I didn't want it to end. Morrison tells the history of comic book superheroes and hits all the stopping points we've been familiar with but his analysis of these points is incredibly entertaining. He makes makes brilliant points as well as hilarious ones and his love for superheroes is undeniable. He also shares his autobiography as it relates to superheroes and writing. Unlike the dark vogue I've seen in far too many comics of the last twenty-five years, Morrison is essentially optimistic about the future and about humanity.

If you ever thought Grant Morrison was tripping when he wrote some of his plots, you were correct. This book is part history of comics, part analysis of the art form, and part memoir of Morrison's life. You could safely skip the recap of the golden age. Who needs to hear the Siegel and Schuster story again. The book gets good when we get to the merging of comics history and Morrison's life. Obviously, he's a great storyteller, but he's also an insanely intelligent, interesting guy. This was so much more than the dry lists of creator names in the Marvel history I recently read. My “To Read” list of comics doubled in length thanks to Morrison's behind the scenes tales of their creation.