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Alan Moore exorcises his soul and cleanses it from the malignant claws of comic books. An incredibly energetic and fast read with Moore taking you across a lifetime of grievances and rumours without care. Sandwiched in the Illuminations short story collection but is an entire novella contained inside it.
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A history of superhero comics written by my favorite comic book writer, Grant Morrison. Or at least that’s what it’s billed as. The book quickly evolves into Grant’s autobiography and a retrospective on their practice of chaos magic. I think more than anything else it’s an awesome insight into one of the greatest comic writers of all time. I’ve recc’d Grant’s works time and time again. If you ever want to get into trippy Scottish punk superhero comics, you should start with Morrison’s Animal Man (1988 - 1990), followed by their historic run on Doom Patrol (1989 - 1993), then be permanently changed by their four-issue Flex Mentallo (1996) miniseries (my favorite comic book of all time), be blown away by All-Star Superman (2005 - 2008) (arguably their most acclaimed work), and if your brain hasn’t melted into mush yet you should experience The Multiversity (2014 - 2015). God I love comic books.
Apr 6, 2025
the trailer for "i saw the tv glow" has me thinking about my favorite analysis of the media/fan relationship, flex mentallo!
dc comics' vertigo imprint in the 80s/90s was as fringe and weird and beautiful as dc comics can get, but flex mentallo was no one's expectation for a character that would be the focus of the deconstruction of the reader's relationship with comics. initially created for grant morrison's 80s "doom patrol" run, flex mentallo is a superman archetype straight out of the golden age, not quite as punk as the rest of the doom patrol cast but surely twice as strange: he's so strong he can fight people by flexing his muscles and using the vibrations to alter reality, even turning a pentagon into a circle!
morrison's 1996 flex mentallo miniseries was released over 4 issues and can be purchased as a graphic novel wherever you buy your comics. abandoning the proper dc universe, this miniseries follows parallel journeys of flex solving the mystery of a missing friend, and a depressed rockstar who loves comics. no spoilers, but historical context is necessary: the first three issues revolve around the three "eras" of comics at the time: the golden age, following great world war 2 era comics like superman and batman, the silver age, with scientific wonders like the fantastic four and the flash, and the dark age, the post-watchmen era that this comic was contemporary to, and that third issue really highlights all the wrong lessons that contemporary writers learned from alan moore's genius deconstruction of superheroes.
the fourth issue? maybe the very future we live in today! i think this comic grows more relevant with time for the comics medium, but it can say a lot about people who grew up loving any art and their adult relationship with it.
definitely requires a reread or two, so good thing it's short. grant morrison (who is also gerard way's comics mentor) is a master of the medium, and this is my favorite of their works, and there's nothing like a good quitely book.
Feb 29, 2024
while not a direct sequel to the immortal hulk, the immortal thor is described by author al ewing as "the new testament to the immortal hulk's old testament". thor, king of asgard (this has been the status quo for a few years now) is essentially jesus, sent by his mother gaea to save humanity from her wrath for their greatest sin: destroying the environment. in this story thor fights elder gods, story magic threatening to change the narrative of thor's myth, evil megacorporation roxxon/roxxon's ceo (the minotaur named dario agger), and a corporate mcu-ified version of thor known as the roxxon thor aka AI spokesguru chad hammer. this book tackles a lot of themes regarding capitalist evil and the necessity to fight the biggest polluters directly, themes touched on in the immortal hulk but that ewing didn't have time to flesh out more. in a lot of ways it reads to me as a modern day version of grant morrison's animal man.
May 5, 2024
Top Recs from @meglas
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Reading a page or two before going to sleep is a great feeling, and will have you slowly make your way through your books, eventually reading more than a few pages when you find yourself compeltely engrossed.
Mar 13, 2024
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I have a cigar I play with and put in my mouth for funny photos or to just mess around with. I don't smoke it and I don't even have a cigar cutter it just feels fun to play mafia.
Feb 1, 2024
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Incredibly fun heist film, and the first by Wes Anderson! Honestly think it's one of his best too.
Jan 26, 2024