About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 2011)
I AM. I AM SUPERMAN A famous story has Eric Clapton, the artist formerly known as God, going into a club and seeing Jimi Hendrix for the first time, where upon Clapton's stunned reaction was, "What do I do now?" I always imagine that to be the reaction of the creators of American com ics in the late '80s, when a horde of British writers led by Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison showed up and started taking over, ripping up tired old conventions and injecting the funnies with a potent cocktail of mature dialogue, punk attitude and thematic psychedelia that gave us such groundbreaking comics as Watchmen, The Sandman and The Invisibles, all books that we funnybook fans inevitably shove into our friends hands as proof that "comic books aren't just for kids!" For those of us who'd become bored with the same old tired hyperthyroid punch-'em-outs in mainstream com ics, suddenly here were heroic stories with brains, funnies that challenged us, and—perhaps most importantly—comics our girlfriends read, too. For those who aren't familiar with these writ ers, I'll give you an example of what the Glaswegian punk shaman Grant Morrison does for a living. In his break out title, Doom Patrol, he took a fourth-tier DC comic about a misfit superhero team and introduced a hero with 64 different person alities, each with a different superpower; revealed a loving gay relationship between two bad guys who happened to be a talking gorilla and a brain in a jar; created a team of villainous Dadaists who sucked Paris into a painting; and gave us Danny the Street, a hero who was literally a street (philosophy profes sor Steven Shaviro used Morrison's work as the jumping-off point for his amazing and highly recommended collection of essays on post modernism, Doom Patrols). And that's just one book. Since then, Morrison has emerged as one of the top com ics writers in the industry, lending his unique, mind-expanding perspective to projects that range from the ridiculous (Animal Man) to the sublime (New X-Men, Superman). Morrison is the Elvis Costello of comics—even his throw away ideas are spun gold; not always success ful, perhaps, but smarter than funnybooks have any right to be. What makes Morrison's work so powerful is not a rejection of the traditional superhero idiom but the embrace of its potential. In that way, it's punk as punk was always intended, not as a condemnation of institutions but of their failures. While mainstream comics had for decades worked hard to humanize their heroes, giving them mundane problems and soap-opera crises, Morrison views super heroes as exemplars of something greater, more "super" than "man." Heroes are heroes because they step up, go beyond, do what all of us would do if we could. That gives their stories power to inspire us and imbues them with life beyond their creators, injecting them into the collective unconscious as surely as myth. This is the point behind Morrison's remarkable book Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human (Random House, 2011). Part history of superhero comics, part autobiogra phy and part Joseph Campbell-esque medita tion on the resonance of archetypes, the book examines a lifetime spent in the company of men and women who save the world in their underwear, how they contributed to his extraordinary life as writer, musician and intrepid explorer of higher conscious ness and how we all might do the same. While Morrison's analyses of comics heroes (Superman as socialist hero vs. Batman as defender of capitalism, the paradox of Wonder Woman as both femi nist ideal and fetish object, DC's pater nalism vs. Marvel's radicalism) have all been expressed many times before, the author infuses his narrative with a curiously effective mixture of wide-eyed gee-whiz and know ing cynicism that's a real pleasure to read. Moreover, Morrison works with a wide canvas, continually working his subject into the con text of history and pop culture at large, imbu ing his discussion of funnybooks with a proper appreciation of them as cultural artifacts and touchstones of modern Western civilization. This sounds a bit pompous, but Morrison's enthusiasm and accessibility make it work. More importantly, Morrison uses his own experiences as a scenester, musician, occult ist and journeyman writer to build his thesis about the idea of superheroes, if not always the execution, as an archetypal lodestone toward the development of our potential. Simply put, if stories and myths inspire us to greatness, then stories and myths about ideal ized figures who fight for the greater good and never give up should inspire us most of all. Rather than viewing superheroes as mere wish-fulfillment fantasies, Morrison asserts, we should be looking at just how good the wish is and how we might fulfill it. As a template for living, aspiring to work for justice and the common well-being isn't half bad. Word: It has been a while since I've posted anything about poetry in town, but it does happen all around us. Athens Word of Mouth is an open-mic poetry event held on the first Wednesday of every, month at The Globe (on the corner of Lumpkin and Clayton). Local poets are invited to come do their thing this Wednesday, Sept. 7, when the featured reader will be Bob Brussack. For details, check out their website: www.athenswordofmouth.com. John G. Nettles Wow Open Sunday! 7am-4pm Featuring quiche by the slice and including our usual breakfast yummies! Bring your church bulletin in and receive 10% off. Late Night BOGO Wings 9pm-Midnight • On orders ot 6,10,16. or 24 SATURDAYS Try Our Shuttlegating™ to and trom Home Games or Come Watch the Oawgs with Us! SUNDAYS 10% Off with Valid College ID NFL Ticket Every Game in the BBR with Free Wifi Brewer’s Inquisition Trivia 7pm www.facebook.com/BuffalosCafeAthens for Daily Specials and Events | 706.354.6655 • 196 Alps Rd. [I STEVE COOCAM R08BRY0O* THE TRIP c I N E IT" r ,it|iji" jjri HAPPY HOUR M-F 3-9 S 1 PBR & HIGH LIFE s 2 DOMESTIC BOTTLES s 3 CALL SHOTS x&wnnAcifj&i lmiv/P'V 21 & tiP W/VALCD ID AVAILABLE FOR SOCIALS! BEST BARSTOOLS IN TOWN - 159 W. CLAYTON ST • 706-546-9884 SEPTEMBER 7, 2011 • FLAGPOLE.COM 11
