Seriously, Chapter 18 blew my mind. Grant Morrison might be full of himself but fuck this book was awesome.

Loved the history lesson! I wasn't too fond of his second half as he entered the comic era and gave a memoir/ social commentary, plus I feel he skipped some huge changes and kept most of the story on him and his group of friends/ fellow Brits! ( )

For Grant Morrison, arguably the greatest of contemporary chroniclers of the “superworld,” these heroes are powerful archetypes whose ongoing, decades-spanning story arcs reflect and predict the course of human existence: Through them we tell the story of ourselves, our troubled history, and our starry aspirations. In this exhilarating work of a lifetime, Morrison draws on art, science, mythology, and his own astonishing journeys through this shadow universe to provide the first true history of the superhero—why they matter, why they will always be with us, and what they tell us about who we are . . . and what we may yet become.

I put this behind a spoiler because I feel a weird sense of guilt posting a short novel about how I feel about Grant Morrison for all my friends to see in their Goodreads feed.

Grant Morrison is a guy I have a strange fascination with (I think he may be the author I've actually read the most work by on Goodreads) - I think he's probably one of the most creative, consistently interesting people working in comics, but his work can be wildly hit or miss for me. I was curious to read this as I had imagined it would sort of be a master key to all of his work and I would suddenly see the error of my ways in not liking, say, Wonder Woman Earth-One.

It's not that - this varies between a history of the comics industry from 1939 to present (about 2011-2012) and Morrison's autobiography. The historical parts are entertaining even for someone well-versed with the different "ages" and have a unique take on some parts (Morrison's commentary on the origins of Batman and Captain Marvel/Shazam are particularly interesting). But God, my kingdom for someone who can write intelligibly about the comics industry post 9/11, because even this becomes more focused on recapitulating the plot points of the Marvel Cinematic Universe/the Nolan Batman films instead of actual interesting commentary on Image's transformation over the years or anything that happened with creator-owned titles after Vertigo. The autobiography is interesting, charming, and clarifies the entire "Grant Morrison is a wizard" meme in a very sensible way, although Morrison seems to have misidentified the end of his "jerk" phase judging by some of his commentary on meeting fans later on. :S

Overall, I feel about this the way I feel about a lot of other Morrison work - it's entertaining and definitely made me think a lot, but there are more than a few bones that I have to pick. ( )

Grant Morrison loves comic books and superheroes, I have enjoyed his work over the years and if you like him or like comic books you will probably enjoy this book. Morrison calls this book "…a personal overview of the superhero concept from 1938 until the present day." and it is part history of the comic book and the comic book hero, part analysis of how comic books reflect society (or society reflects comics or the solar cycle?), part autobiography of Morrison, and part pseudo-scientific-magical-chemical philosophy of life, the universe, and everything of Grant Morrison. While Morrison can be a little out there his take on the evolution of the comic book history over time was passionate and interesting.
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