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  • Published: 3 September 2012
  • ISBN: 9780099546672
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 480
  • RRP: $29.99

Supergods

Our World in the Age of the Superhero




The mind-bending history of superheroes by comics legend Grant Morrison.

In 1938 Action Comics #1 introduced the world to Superman. In a matter of years, the skies of our imaginations were filled with mutants, aliens and vigilantes. Batman, Wonder Woman and the X-Men - in less than a century they've gone from not existing at all to being everywhere we look. But why?

For Grant Morrison, possibly the greatest of contemporary superhero storytellers, these heroes are not simply characters but powerful archetypes whose ongoing story arcs reflect and predict the lives we live. In this exhilarating book, Morrison draws on history, art, mythology, and his own astonishing journey to provide the first true chronicle of the superhero.

  • Published: 3 September 2012
  • ISBN: 9780099546672
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 480
  • RRP: $29.99

About the author

Grant Morrison

Grant Morrison was born in Glasgow in 1960. As a comics writer, he is renowned for his bold reinventions of existing superheroes and his own authored titles. He has had successful runs on Batman, Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles, New X-Men, Fantastic Four and All Star Superman. His Batman: Arkham Asylum is the best-selling original graphic novel ever published. A documentary on his life and work, Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods, was released in November 2010.

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Praise for Supergods

It is stunningly good on the utopian dream that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster kick-started when they invented Superman, and the dark twin that Bob Kane created for the Man of Steel in Batman. As one of the best writers of both characters, Morrison knows what he is talking about...essential without being definitive

Independent

Authoritative overview of the genre...detailed and thoughtful

Spectator

Part manifesto, part memoir, part idiosyncratic spiritual/philosophical tract... Morrison knows the genre and loves it deeply, and both that knowledge and that love shine through... an often funny and sometimes very moving account of Morrison's life as seen through the lens of his relationship with superheroes, which began in childhood

Katherine Farmar, Irish Times

As a writer for Batman and Superman, Grant Morrison is in the perfect place to analyse the rise and fall of the superhero

Sunday Times

Supergods is a rather astonishing piece of work that leaves you feeling pretty much as those first readers of Superman in 1938 must have felt: slightly more aware of our place in the universe and cautiously optimistic about the future

Independent on Sunday

Whatever your views on Grant's own creative output which I find both dazzling and, on occasions, daunting, no one can deny the man's blistering intelligence and throughout his career he has never ceased from innovation. Each new project makes readers sit up and think and I imagine many of his peers have felt the same way. Similarly this 400-page history of and tribute to this medium's meta - humans will give you much to ponder, and I don't think any true fan of the genre, as I have been since five, can afford to be without its illuminating torch

Page 45

Magnificently idiosyncratic new history of the genre... Supergods is packed with intriguing nuggets of insight, and it will be fascinating to see how the trends it discerns play out... What was it they said about the geeks inheriting the earth?

Daily Telegraph

Supergods is perhaps the most satisfactory potted history of the American comic book industry I've ever read (and I've read just about all its competitors) while also offering a brilliantly incisive, if very personal, appreciation and analysis of the most important comic books or graphic novels - call 'em what you will - to be published in the past 30 years

Guardian

If this were just Morrison's story, the reminiscences of an original Scots thinker who works in a medium that silly people scorn, it would be worth your time. The sections detailing the writer's relationship with his father are especially touching. What makes this book exceptional is the history of comics that comes with the history of Morrison... As a superhero fan, I found this a diverting read. As a people fan, I found it unputdownable

Scotsman

It offers the same switchback exhilaration as Morrison's comic books

Sunday Herald

The author shows a deft turn of phrase while appraising his fellow creators...Supergods proves an entertaining introduction to newcomers

Metro

Morrison's analysis of how comic books have reflected and influenced mainstream culture is never less than intriguing, and his turn of phrase is often a joy

Robert Colville, Daily Telegraph

Morrison makes a passionate and knowledgeable tour guide through comics' golden age

The Times