For the
final chapter of my Hell and Back broadcast pieces on Radio GrandPapier (this
18th of December), I thought it might be fun to wonder about a new “Age
of Comic Books”. What if the “Modern/Dark Age of Comic Books” was in fact far
behind us? Did we enter a new era without noticing it? If we did, I would say
the dynamic duo composed by Scottish comic book writer Grant Morrison and comic
book artist Frank Quitely might be held accountable for the shift (like the O’Neil/Adams
duo back in the early 70’s). After their first collaboration on Flex Mentallo in 1996, they revamped the X-Men imprint in 2001 under the impetus of the
newly appointed Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada who wanted this
flagship title to “regain its former glory”. And they brought it back to
success and critical acclaim by making it “cool” and “pop” again but also, as
Morrison declared in his X-Men Manifesto, by using “the rich history of the
X-Men more as background window dressing and as a treasure trove of material we
can recut for a new eager audience (in the same way Claremont and Byrne sifted
out the best stuff from the original series and combined it with new material).”
And from “sifting out” and “combining” to “alchemy”, there’s only a “separatory funnel” in between… Leaving behind them the “grim” atmosphere of the
Modern/Dark Age, they worked on the transmutation of comic books and brought it
to its highest level (yet) with their All-Star Superman limited series in
2005. This series, which would “strip down the Man of Steel to his timeless,
essential elements”, takes its roots in a plan (co-written by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Mark Waid and Tom Peyer in 1998) intending to “revitalize the Superman
franchise for the new millennium”. They stated that their “New Superman
approach is an honest attempt to synthesize the best of all previous eras”. They
also suggested a new approach in which the “cosmic reset” notion was replaced
by a policy of “include and transcend” with regard to past continuity. This “include
and transcend” notion is also present in Grant Morrison’s 7 year-long run on
Batman which started in 2006. Again, the
Scottish writer worked on combining all the previous “ages” of Batman into one
man's life and declared: “Batman's been a lot of things, and if you can
encompass all those things, I think it's much more true.” By “sifting out”, “combining”,
“including” and “transcending”, Morrison and Quitely discovered their own philosophers stone which could not only transmute bronze and modern comic books into the “noble metals” of their
Silver and Golden Ages but could also, as an elixir of life, “be useful for
rejuvenation and achieving immortality” (see their Superman stripped down
to “his timeless, essential elements”). So “ALCHEMIC AGE of COMIC BOOKS”
sounded (fun and) right if I had to give a name to that hypothetical new era…
Yet I could not made up my mind about its beginning… Somewhere between 1998 and
2001? There’s the Superman 2000 plan co-written by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar, Mark Waid and Tom Peyer in 1998. The first issue of The Authority by
Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch (followed by the Millar/Quitely and Morrison/Ha
teams) and the America’s Best Comics imprint set up by writer Alan Moore were
launched in 1999 both for WildStorm and with the goal of building brand new universes (based
on homages/pastiches to previous eras) after the “Deconstruction of the Hero”
during the Modern/Dark Age. In 2000 with Joe Quesada becoming editor-in-chief
of Marvel Comics? The logic would suggest in 2001 with the revamp of the X-Men by Grant
Morrison and Frank Quitely (and the X-Men Manifesto)… Or even in 2005? With the cornerstone first issue
of All-Star Superman by Morrison and Quitely and the first issue of House of M event which settled American writer Brian Michael Bendis as one of the prominent architects
of the Marvel Universe? Not sure yet… But I’m sure all these writers and
artists made comic books bright as gold again…
PS: sorry
for my English.
Nicolas
Verstappen
