Review of 'Animal Man, Book 3 - Deus Ex Machina' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This final volume of Morrison's run on the Animal Man title culminates in balls out meta-fiction, which was interesting for all its implied, abstract elements of contemplation but as far as the text itself it worked as a kind of short hand for theoretical work a reader could do, you know, on his own time. Lack of intellectual rigor aside, this is a comic book, meaning it has certain responsibilities to entertainment as well as enlightenment and I thought Morrison balanced both wonderfully.
I am so glad I read Crisis On Infinite Earths before this series as much of the last issues in this volume deal directly with that event, even critiquing its foundation (what does it mean when a character is "outdated" and needs to end? What is a character? When does a character live?). Animal Man develops into a sort of comic book superhero version of Sartre's No …
This final volume of Morrison's run on the Animal Man title culminates in balls out meta-fiction, which was interesting for all its implied, abstract elements of contemplation but as far as the text itself it worked as a kind of short hand for theoretical work a reader could do, you know, on his own time. Lack of intellectual rigor aside, this is a comic book, meaning it has certain responsibilities to entertainment as well as enlightenment and I thought Morrison balanced both wonderfully.
I am so glad I read Crisis On Infinite Earths before this series as much of the last issues in this volume deal directly with that event, even critiquing its foundation (what does it mean when a character is "outdated" and needs to end? What is a character? When does a character live?). Animal Man develops into a sort of comic book superhero version of Sartre's No Exit crossed with Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author. Though the final surprise confrontation comes off a little kitschy (like Julia Roberts playing herself in Ocean's 12), this story was written at a time when postmodernism wasn't as familiar as it may be now.
I definitely recommend this three volume series but I think a reader gains more from reading Crisis On Infinite Earths as prerequisite literature, if only for the final volume. In any case, this certainly has been a great introduction to Grant Morrison's interests and daring as a writer.
