Post by rberman on Dec 1, 2018 9:42:10 GMT -5
Flex Mentallo and Animal Man
Many of these same themes were already present in Morrison’s earliest DC work, Animal Man (1989-90):
Intelligent apes
Grant Morrison enters the comic book to talk with his character – not just at the end of the story when Animal Man enters Morrison’s world to confront him, but also much earlier when Morrison enters the comic book world to awaken John Highwater, who is sleeping outside the Glasgow restaurant Lock 27:
Later, Morrison and Animal Man are seen thinking about this same restaurant in the context of whether Animal Man will remain vegetarian under future writers:
As in Arkham Asylum, the Mad Hatter is not insane but rather is a “super-sane” character who is aware of the higher dimensions in which he is a fictional character.
This sort of cosmic awareness is the next step in human evolution, also as suggested in both Arkham Asylum and New X-Men:
Protagonists having a sense that their identity is not their true self:
Holding the universes apart like The Spectre in Crisis on Infinite Earths:
Versions of the same character thinking about their differences:
The dimension above our world is different but not better, and maybe worse. Fiction is a way to create a better world “lower down” in the chain of realities:
Cats and cat food everywhere. Animal Man’s first act in Grant Morrison’s debut issue is to rescue a cat, and Morrison’s own cat Jarmara makes an appearance by his fireplace, then later in a eulogy:
Contemplating suicide by pills. In reality, males are much more likely to kill themselves by instantly lethal means such as gunshots.
The hand that draws the story becomes part of the story.
Characters escape the confines of the comic book panel:
Hey, it’s Charles Atlas! This time in a parody of the “Hanz and Franz will pump you up” comedy routine from Saturday Night Live.
Pointing out all the uses of these themes in Morrison's concurrent series Doom Patrol is a job too big for a single post, but maybe I will take up that gauntlet in the future.
Many of these same themes were already present in Morrison’s earliest DC work, Animal Man (1989-90):
Intelligent apes
Grant Morrison enters the comic book to talk with his character – not just at the end of the story when Animal Man enters Morrison’s world to confront him, but also much earlier when Morrison enters the comic book world to awaken John Highwater, who is sleeping outside the Glasgow restaurant Lock 27:
Later, Morrison and Animal Man are seen thinking about this same restaurant in the context of whether Animal Man will remain vegetarian under future writers:
As in Arkham Asylum, the Mad Hatter is not insane but rather is a “super-sane” character who is aware of the higher dimensions in which he is a fictional character.
This sort of cosmic awareness is the next step in human evolution, also as suggested in both Arkham Asylum and New X-Men:
Protagonists having a sense that their identity is not their true self:
Holding the universes apart like The Spectre in Crisis on Infinite Earths:
Versions of the same character thinking about their differences:
The dimension above our world is different but not better, and maybe worse. Fiction is a way to create a better world “lower down” in the chain of realities:
Cats and cat food everywhere. Animal Man’s first act in Grant Morrison’s debut issue is to rescue a cat, and Morrison’s own cat Jarmara makes an appearance by his fireplace, then later in a eulogy:
Contemplating suicide by pills. In reality, males are much more likely to kill themselves by instantly lethal means such as gunshots.
The hand that draws the story becomes part of the story.
Characters escape the confines of the comic book panel:
Hey, it’s Charles Atlas! This time in a parody of the “Hanz and Franz will pump you up” comedy routine from Saturday Night Live.
Pointing out all the uses of these themes in Morrison's concurrent series Doom Patrol is a job too big for a single post, but maybe I will take up that gauntlet in the future.
