Super, and Not-So-Super

The new, and typically half-thoughtful/half-drug-fucked, book by frequently amazing Scottish comics writer Grant Morrison is Supergods, a look at the history and philosophy of superheroes--something he knows a lot about, having written acclaimed runs of Superman, Batman and X-Men, among others. (My own personal favourite among his works is his Doom Patrol series--a funny but ultimately sad, surrealistic take on superheroic cliches--and its long-lost offshoot, Flex Mentallo: Man of Muscle Mystery.)

Anyway, to Supergods. Here's the excellent US cover:

This uses the artwork by Frank Quitely from page one of Morrison's All-Star Superman series. Most comics (and movies) which retell the beginnings of various superheroes do so at wearisome length. Morrison knew that everyone reading a Superman comic already knew those basics, and summed them up in one page and four panels, getting it out of the way so that the fun stuff could start.

Click for bigger version

And here's the UK cover.

I can see why people are spending extra to import the US version.

Next post: an uncanny similarity spotted by Welsh correspondent Miss Disco.