Grant Morrison, Chas Truog, Tom Grummett, et al — Animal Man - Page 5

Of course they move into the mountain and make it their home--wouldn't you?

"Those brief radiant sparks that live and die... filled me with their noise and their haste...filled me with the brightness of their being, lit me like a lantern...all these echoing secret grottoes...and then they were gone... I often wonder what became of [them]... Now my heart lies empty, untenanted. And I grow old in the slow light of the stars... Sometimes some small creature will pass through me...activate the lattice memory with its ultrasound...and for a moment they are with me once more...burning brief candles of life...bright and splendid...flickering...long gone. Ghosts of stone."

It's sort of like "Till human voices wake us and we drown", in reverse... And there you have it, friends--the cavern-mind of Grant Morrison! Ready to replay the stories echoing through its' chambers for our pleasure--and his own...


But the vibration is the key.


The first sign of a ripple occurs in Animal Man #6 (usually written-off, thanks to the Invasion badge on its' cover). I think it's a mistake to pay too much attention to the famous "Coyote Gospel"... It's a brilliant story, sure--but it throws us off the track, ramming that fourth wall... justifying the craze for a dead end... Killing coyotes doesn't solve anything... it certainly won't bring Billy back... Is this a paint brush I see before me? Out out damned ink blot!


So yeah, in issue #6 we find "Morrison"'s first avatar--the Thanagarian "art martyr". What's his deal? He gives us a good synopsis on page 17: "I've psi-recorded my entire life experience onto the bomb, fully cross-referenced and infinitely detailed. The bomb will conduct a high-speed random search through my life fractal and when it encounters my most emotionally charged moment...It will detonate." Previously, he had explained that: "A fractal shape is one which reveals more detail, more information, upon closer examination. It can be magnified indefinitely and still reveal new complexities. It occured to me that life itself could be regarded as having a fractal shape." He thinks rather highly of himself: "[I am] A thing of rock. My heartbeat measures geological time. I feel invicible. I can do anything. Anything. And in the end, only one thing matters... The performance."


Crazy art martyrs--they'll be the death of us yet! But not this guy! The bomb finds its' target (a proud moment: the creation of a fractal bird sculpture, a "great tortured shape wracked by infinities", which causes its' sculptor to wonder whether he is "creator or created") and Buddy stares in horror as it gets ready to serve up the void... Luckily, good ol' Katar Hol stops by, flashing a wry grin under that crazy beak: "All you had to do was switch it off."


That's Hawkman: 1, Apocalypse: 0.

Article Author: David Fiore

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