Supergods by Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison is a Glasweigan comic book writer.  He's been writing comics for about 33 years.  He has written a lot of good comic books and a  lot of crazy comic books.  The crazy comic books may be partly due to his other career as a Chaos Magician which involves some drug use.  He has apparently left the Chaos Magic behind in recent years.

Morrison use to write the Starblazer comic libraries that DC Thompson produced in the '80s as well as toy tie-in Zoids and Zenith.  At different points in my childhood I loved all of those books as well as his later work for DC comics and Marvel. 

In Supergods Morrison starts with a history of comic books superheroes, initially focusing on Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman before moving on to lesser character such as Green Lantern or the Flash.  He also looks at Captain America and the early Marvel characters.  He follows the genre through the '50s and the '60s as Lee, Kirby and Ditko created the big Marvel characters like Spiderman before moving on to the darker comics of the '80s and '90s.

Morrison knows his stuff and he is clearly a fan.  For the first part of the book he gives us a decent critical history of the evolution of superheroes.  An autobiographical element enters the story from the '70s onwards and in a few chapters he is the focal point of the narrative.  I enjoy hearing about his life in familiar parts of Glasgow and some of his 'cosmic experiences' and 'rituals' are fairly amusing.  I'm not sure that these passages will appeal to everyone.

It is also good to hear what he was trying to achieve in some of his own work.  His rivalries with Alan Moore and Mark Millar are also given space.  He is also critical of some of the editorial constraints that were put on him at Marvel. 

Worth a read if you like comic books.  Some of it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt.

For more go to his recently updated website.