Supergods what masked vigilantes, miraculous mutants, and a sun god from Smallville can teach us about being human

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Something

Summary

Morrison draws on history, art, mythology, and his own astonishing journeys through this alternate universe as a comic book writer to provide the first true chronicle of the superhero.

Contents

The sun god and The dark knight
Lightning's childl
The superwarrior and the Amazon princess
The explosion and the extinction
Superman on the couch
Chemicals and lightening
The fab four and the birth of the marvelous
Superpop
Infinite earths
Shamans of Madison Avenue
Brightest day, blackest night
Feared and misunderstood
Fearful symmetry
Zenith
The hateful dead
Image versus substance
King Mob : my life as a superhero
Man of muscle mystery
What's so funny about truth, justice, and the American way?
Respecting authority
Hollywood sniffs blood
Nu marvel 9/11
The day evil won
Iron men and incredibles
Over the event horizon
Star, legend, superhero, supergod?
Outro: 'nuff said.

Published Reviews

Publisher's Weekly Review: "A Scottish playwright and comic book writer, Morrison (Arkham Asylum) traces the rise of superheroes from the 1940s golden age to the comics industry of today. This excellent survey of pop deity origins begins with "the ur-god and his dark twin," Superman and Batman. As Morrison sees it, "archetyped, pop-mythic tales of superpowered heroes and villains" soared into our collective imaginations in an explosive fashion. Superman, "the personification of a thrusting industrial tomorrow," had a primal impact. Soon there was a pantheon of gods and figures from legend and myth: Hawkman ("an avatar of hawk-headed Horus"), the Flash ("the Greek god Hermes") and Captain Marvel, whose magic word, "Shazam," was an acronym: Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury. When writers brought the superhero gods down to Earth and gritty real life (as in Watchmen), Morrison went back to basics: "I decided I would plant my flag in the world of dreams, automatic writing, visions and magic." The second half of this engrossing book covers his own comics career while also probing his personal psyche. Morrison is a skilled word magician, seeking creativity in a cosmological dimension. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved."
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Additional Information

Subjects	Comic books, strips, etc. United States Superheroes United States Comic and Graphic Books Fiction Electronic books.
Publisher	New York :Random House Publishing Group,2011 Random House Publishing Group2011
Edition	1st ed.
Other Titles	Super gods
Contributors	OverDrive, Inc.
Language	English
System Details	Mode of access: World Wide Web. Format: OverDrive READ Format: Kindle Book Format: Adobe EPUB eBook Requires Amazon Kindle or Adobe Digital Editions
Description	1 online resource
Bibliography Notes	Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN	9780679603467 9780679603467
Other	Classic View