A brief thought on Grant Morrison's "Animal Man"

[andrewducker]

I just re-read the entire of Grant Morrison's run of Animal Man.

More than anything else it reminds me of Synecdoche, New York. Not for plot, but for the way it illustrates its creator's uncomfortableness with fiction, and life, and the relationship between them.

As an actual story, it's laughably weak. As a musing on comics mythology, fiction, and the relationhip between the author and their character it's marvellous.

I'm now looking forward to the release of Flex Mentallo, which (IIRC) builds on this idea.

On the other hand, I'm also glad to Morrison grew out of this, and that his more recent comics largely valued plot over existentialism (particularly for things like We3 and All-Star Superman. Obviously Seaguy is still heavy on the subtext. I'm hoping that gets finished at some point.)

Comments

[nanaya]

Yes, I'd love to see more 'Seaguy' too.

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

regarding your LJ pic.

Daughter asked me a wee while ago if I ever got bored. I told her no: life and the world is so full of wonders that it's impossible to be bored as long as you're capable of observing, thinking and doing.


she seemed to like that a lot.

[ajr.livejournal.com]

Have you read Doom Patrol? Flex Mentallo first appeared in an issue of that series.

[andrewducker]

I read the first couple of trades, but it never really worked for me. Flex Mentallo did though. I'd have to do a re-read to work out why.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Have you looked at Dave Sim's Glamorpuss? Odd combination of a history of comics artists and musings on female fashions.

[andrewducker]

Not picked it up. The thought of reading Dave's thoughts on female anything was enough to drive me away.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Ah, his infamous rants about feminism?

[andrewducker]

And religion. And homosexuals.

When it got to the point where I didn't trust anything he was saying to bear any relationship to reality I gave up.

I do intend to re-read Cerebus at some point. The first 200 issues will hopefully hold up quite well, and I'll force myself through the last 50 to see if there's anything in there that's saveable.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Whatever Sim's position on various issues, I think the sheer scale of Cerebus is impressive. It's the Remembrance of Things Past of comics.

[andrewducker]

Oh, absolutely. It's an amazing achievement.

I pretty much agree with this:
http://whenwillthehurtingstop.blogspot.com/2011/09/how-we-will-read-cerebus-part-i-as-i.html

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's pretty batshit insane. But I don't know if Alan Moore is necessarily more sane, even if his politics are more acceptable. It's like Steve Ditko - I can enjoy his comics and the Objectivist idea(l)s they entertain even if I in no way agree with them.

[andrewducker]

Alan Moore is certainly crazy, but seems to at least be self-aware enough to know that the things he's saying are not concensus reality, and admit that a lot of it is metaphor that he enjoys taking too seriously.

[khbrown.livejournal.com]

Or it is divorcing the text from the author. My favourite author, as I've said to you before, is Louis-Ferdinand Celine. He was an anti-Semite, but that doesn't mean I in any way agree with his views. (As a French Catholic he also didn't like Protestants or Freemasons, who he also viewed as part of the same conspiracy, which pretty much means my father, grandfather, great grandfather etc.) Rather I just think he was an incredibly powerful writer who happened, at a certain point in his life and career, to be in the wrong.

[andrewducker]

You just reminded me of something I've been meaning to link to. Have a preview:
http://www.baen.com/library/palaver8.htm