Grant Morrison redefined comics in the 1980s and early '90s, from his trailblazing creation of ZENITH, through his metatextual innovations in ANIMAL MAN, to his Dadaist super-heroes in DOOM PATROL. Along the way, he also addressed Batman with his multi-layered ARKHAM ASYLUM and his literary "Gothic" storyline. Callahan examines all five works in detail, drawing out their evolving themes and exploring Morrison's sometimes difficult texts in plain language. Rounding out the an exclusive interview with Morrison, a foreword by popular comics writer Jason Aaron, and an appendix addressing Morrison's even earlier, shorter work. From Sequart Research & Literacy Organization. More info at
This great book covers (of course) the early years of Grant Morrison's career in creating comics. The works discussed in detail are: Zenith, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Animal Man, Batman: Gothic, and Doom Patrol.
This book expertly dissects and analyzes each of the works in detail. Like any book about Morrison and his works, this one is a must read for any Morrison fan.
I guess technically this could be a 2.5 or maybe even a 3 because there's nothing really wrong with it (I was gifted it as a precursor to a birthday present of Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human) but I did come out the other end kind of wondering who exactly this books is for, and that comes mainly down to what the book is and what it isn't. It is a detailed examination of Morrison's early work (ZENITH, ARKHAM ASYLUM, ANIMAL MAN, BATMAN: GOTHIC & DOOM PATROL, along with a cursory interview at the end) - but it's not an analysis (or much of one) and certainly not a critique in any rigorous sense. So people who don't like Morrison's work (and there are legions) won't be convinced by anything here. And fans (like me) pretty much already know the majority of stuff Callahan touches on because we read the issues as well (well, I've never read ZENITH because it wasn't easily available - but then ZENITH seems to involve my least favorite aspect of Morrison's themes, "pop culture") - and the analysis doesn't go much deeper than "what he's doing here" type stuff. So, as well-intentioned as this book is, it does seem like a strange mash-up of a show-and-tell college thesis and an extended series of blog posts.
I mean, it was nice to have someone else confirm that one of Morrison's rarely appreciated strengths (as shown strongly in ANIMAL MAN) is that while doing all his showy po-mo stuff he (usually) remembers to anchor things in an emotional reality for the characters. Sad then that the overview of DOOM PATROL seems to rush the final issue and miss the sadness inherent in Morrison's concluding point (as I read it) - that the weird may be marvelous and important and all that "up with oddness" stuff we get from all corners of our culture nowadays in prepackaged form, but also that, in the end, there's no place for them in the real world. The weird exists best when it is transient. Callahan can rake through all the murk of ARKHAM ASYLUM to dredge up every symbol and tell us what it was supposed to mean, but since he's not critiquing in any depth (at most, there's a few issues of ANIMAL MAN he finds weak) he can't really engage with why ASYLUM doesn't work very well and is unsatisfying (the intentions of the author, even when deliberately deep and obtuse, do not automatically assure success, so telling us what Morrison meant by this and that seems like special pleading).
So all the good stuff is here of course: the wonderful revelatory panel in ANIMAL MAN (gave me chills when I first read it, sitting in my shitty little dorm room at Coventry Polytechnic in 1989) and its wonderful ending in which an author is petitioned by his character to do the right thing, the heady rush of DOOM PATROL being reinvented into, truly, the strangest superhero team there ever was.
The book could have used an editor - not in the usual sense of that statement (the proofreading seemed spotless to me) but more in the sense of someone to perhaps prod and guide into deeper, more thorough thought; someone to snip and prune excessive repetition (honestly, the book does read like blog posts - where you're not expected to have read preceding chapters - and not the unified whole it is presented as) and, especially, extraneous and sometimes purely fanboyish footnoting. Yes, comics being a serial form, the reader will need context when characters and tropes - known and unknown to the general comics reader but unfamiliar to the lay person - are being reinvented. But, seriously, did we need a footnoting of the fact that the aliens introduced in DC's INVASION series, which crossed into ANIMAL MAN, had all previously been seen in THE LEGION OF SUPERHEROES but had not previously been shown to exist in the contemporary DC universe? A supposition that the use of the poem as a reference means that Coledridge's "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" can be considered part of DC continuity? Seriously? That Dick York replaced Dick Sergeant in BEWITCHED? That Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver?!?
For all that, and the overall attention to detail, Callahan occasionally misses interesting details: some just fun (no mention of the Subgenius thread in DOOM PATROL - Cliff's comments on Doc Magnus, "Bob"'s appearance at the Brotherhood of Dada rally), some important (Jane's escape into her underground necessitated by her need to shout "DADA! DADA!" to steer the Horseman to the correct zone).
In the end, this is a fine book for what it is - but what it is isn't much beyond the usual internet examination. More rigorous criticism needed, please!
It covers his work on Zenith, Arkham Asylum, Animal Man, Gothic and Doom Patrol, from a literary standpoint (without taking itself too seriously). I don't think there are plans for it, but I would definitely read Callahan's observations on later work (especially the more opaque stuff like Invisibles, Filth and Seaguy). He makes points I had never noticed, but also misses some I have, which isn't surprising given the richness of most of Morrison's stuff.
An entertaining and thoughtful analysis of Morrison's earliest comics work. Callahan points up themes that recur in Morrison's writing, most notably mind vs. body, and fiction vs. reality. Callahan's eye-opening dissection of Arkham Asylum alone is worth the price of admission. The author's interview with Morrison adds surprisingly little to the book as a whole; his analysis is that sharp.
I'd love to see what Callahan would make of later works such as Seaguy, The Filth, and Vimanarama.
It doesn’t feature any mind-blowing interpretations that make you look at Morrison’s work in a completely new light, but for what it is – a basic examination of recurring tropes and motifs – it does its job very well. Will undoubtedly come in handy if you work on your own critical analysis of Morrison.