Supergods by Grant Morrison

[Emperor]

On July 19th, Spiegel & Grau will release Grant Morrison's SUPERGODS, his non-fiction history and exploration of the superhero archetype. I've read through an early version of the book and found it to be the page-turner that I expected it to be: an enlightening, in-depth journey through seven decades of costumed superheroes, from the big ones like Superman and Wonder Woman to the most obscure, forgotten caped vigilantes. Part history and part memoir, if you have any interest in what comics Grant found most inspirational in the formative years of his writing career, then you absolutely need to pick up this book.

http://dcu.blog.dccomics.com/2011/04/28/exclusive-debut-grant-morrisons-supergods-cover/

Preorder and note the different titles (I wonder what that tells us about the difference between Brits and Yanks):

Supergods: Our World in the Age of the Superhero:
www.amazon.co.uk/Supergods-Our-World-Age-Superhero/dp/022408996X/

Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human:
www.amazon.com/Supergods-Vigilantes-Miraculous-Mutants-Smallville/dp/1400069122/

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Full page ad in the latest Previews too. It's Morrison's ability to convey in his work what he finds so thrilling about superheroes that results in Stevie disengaging his suspension of disbelief in spandex.. So that's gone straight onto his want list.

Gotta love the calculating desperation of US publishers cramming so many keywords as possible to maximise online sales so one feels not so much a reader as a zeppelin captain scouring the hirozn for thunderheads whilst approcahing the title page.

[John Caliber]

Thanks for new of this bok; I've just placed an order for it. I've also been spurred on to buy the 90-minute Grant Morrison DVD.

[matty_ae]

Great. His whole memoirs frames around the four ages of comics.

It wasn't what I was expecting but it's brilliant stuff with a whole chapter on Zenith. He was hilarious at Foyles bookshop last night. I like his world view stuff and he's an amazing creator. The book has a huge section on watchmen, dark knight, authority... Really good.

I can't see it appealing to casual superhero fans as it is memoir heavy but I really liked his assessment of superhero cinema.

[Colin YNWA]

I'm waiting for this to come out in paperback but everything I've heard about it sounds really interesting and can't wait to get my (cheap) mits on it.

[Tiplodocus]

I have my tickets to see him at the Embra Book Festival.

[gdwessel]

I totally need to get this book.

[Emperor]

I can't see it appealing to casual superhero fans as it is memoir heavy

Now, you see, that would be a plus in my book - you can buy any number of books with people banging on about superheroes, but what I want is more of an insight into GM and how it all fits with his worldview.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

US edition shipped to Auxtralia via Diamond this week.

[The Monarch]

So just read this...wow he is insane....

Oh and did you notice the bit of trolling in the recommended reading section...

Zenith is listed as a must read...despite the fact the bald bastard is more or less banned it from being reprinted

[Professor Bear]

I thought Supergods read like a Julie Burchill  column - someone defensively past it and middle class trying to convince themselves they didn't sell out a long time ago.  I found his odd reverence of DC over Marvel telling - because they're the one paying his bills, he comes down on the side of a creatively bankrupt company who haven't been remotely relevant since the late 1980s over the company that rose from creative and actual bankruptcy to become an economic powerhouse whose characters were unknown outside comic book fans in 2000 and are now synonymous with the western superhero genre in a way that Batman and Superman used to be.

But Morrison is always an interesting read, of course, and the bio parts are fascinating.

[JayzusB.Christ]

Excuse the necropost, but I've finally got round to reading this.  I liked it, anyway.  I think it's been criticised for the later part of the book veering away from superheroes and towards Grant Morrison.  I didn't mind though; frankly I find Grant Morrison more interesting than superheroes, generally speaking.

Despite all the Moore stuff that's arisen in the meantime; I think he gave a fair and reasonable account of Big Al's work.  He doesn't like Watchmen; fair enough, but he sees the value of it.  It really isn't a John Byrne-ish bit of inferiority-complex-fueled cattiness.

The only thing I'd have serious issues with his his repeated insistence that he was a punk when he started out in comics.  Bollocks.  He wanted to be Morrissey, for fuxake - the punk thing came later.