Thursday, August 02, 2007

SUICIDE SQUAD #58 DC Comics, 1991

"Welcome to the Suicide Squad, Grant Morrison! Hope you survive the experience!"

Yes, comic book rock star Grant Morrison himself appears in the pages of Suicide Squad #58. Writer John Ostrander and Kim Yale slipped Morrison into the Squad line-up - and promptly kill him off - in what is either sly mockery or affectionate piss-taking, or both.

In this comic, an obligatory tie-in to DC's 1991 War of the Gods crossover event, the sinister anti-hero Black Adam enlists the help of the Suicide Squad for an attack on a witch's island chock full of Uzi-toting Amazons and werewolves. I mean, even Black Adam needs help with shit like that.

Squad leader Amanda Waller assembles a small army of Squaddies and second stringers for the assualt, including "The Writer," a pale emo dude who can alter reality just by writing in his laptop. I don't know what version of FinalDraft he has, but I want it.

"The Writer" first appeared in the now famous Animal Man #26 (DC Comics, 1990) , written by Grant Morrison. At the end of his brilliant head-trip of a run on Animal Man, Morrison broke the fourth wall big time by introducing himself in the comic itself to Animal Man as his writer, his creator and ultimate adversary. It was a very well done issue with a surprising emotional resonance that transcended what could have just been a cheap Twilight Zoney storytelling gimmick.

Ostrander and Yale figured, hell, if Morrison appeared in an issue of Animal Man, then he's part of mainstream DC continuity, right? Fair game, right? In Animal Man #26, artist Chas Truog depicted Morrison / The Writer as a ghostly pale British mod, and Squad artist Geoff Isherwood follows form, although here The Writer is dressed in more practical field attire.

The Writer explains his situation to Firehawk and Silver Swan:


Once their ad hoc superhuman army is assembled, the Squad attacks Amazon Werewolf Island, no doubt to weave some plot point into the narrative tapestry that was War of the Gods, which they should have named Yaaawn! instead.

Our man Grant Morrison is doing pretty good, typing away on his metareality laptop and blowing people away just with the power of Story! Robert McKee would be stoked.

You may have seen this coming, but The Writer gets Writer's Block and then he gets Writer's Killed by a werewolf who has probably never even read The Invisibles and wouldn't appreciate good writing if he ate it. What kind of fucked up world do we live in, where a great writer like that can just get killed by an ignorant werewolf? It's depressing.

Maybe it's not a good-natured diss at G.M., maybe Ostrander & Yale are reminding us that the sensitive, the creative, the odd are always at the mercy of the brutal and the stupid.

I think we've all got some thinking to do, don't we? About how you picked on that one Debate Team guy in Jr High just because he was different and maybe he crapped his pants? Or perhaps you were like Grant Morrison getting attacked by werewolves? How does that feel? Talk about it, let it out.

Thank you, Suicide Squad. Thank you for taking us places in our heads we didn't even know we needed to go.

27 comments:

Adam Reck said...

Never heard of this issue of Animal Man... reminds me of Dave Sim's major-meta-confrontation with Cerebus in "Minds".

Anonymous said...

This one-off issue had, at the time, the best treatment of Black Adam ever. Not only was he properly imperious, but his look was finally done right by the merits that he was actually depicted as Arabic. (Granted, it was "comic book Arabic" with a zip-a-tone-ish gray hue, but it sure beat his normal depiction as a spritely cracker with ever-so-adorable pointy ears.)

It made me a bit surly when Adam showed up next under Ordway's reboot, and went back to his shoddy Anglo look.

Harvey Jerkwater said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Harvey Jerkwater said...

Grant Morrison in "Animal Man" + John Candy in "Delirious" + Insufficient Sunlight = The Writer.

The Writer + a Giant Hungry Werewolf = Pure comic book radness.

Y'know, if I were to have a comic book counterpart and said counterpart were to die, I think being murdered by a giant werewolf on an island of Uzi-toting Amazons would be a good way to have it happen.

Anonymous said...

True, mr. Jerkwater, true.

But why didn't he think to write: everyone other than the writer was frozen stock still, not moving?

Buys all the time you need.

Jon the Intergalactic Gladiator said...

Could he pre-write some stuff and paste it in a Word doc so he could use it in case something like this happened? I'm just saying.

Tyler said...

He should have written a macro and hot-keyed it. Kind of like Anon's idea, Control-T should have been "And then suddenly time stops for everyone except The Writer". That would have been a cure for the 'Block. Maybe someday they'll retcon it and write that he did stop time and then during the stoppage he switched clothes/places with someone else and wasn't killed.

Anonymous said...

I guess the 21st centure version of "The Writer" would have to be "The Blogger." I look forward to his/her appearance in a funny book soon.

Dave said...

The Blogger's last moments:

"This story sucks! But I suppose I'll have to keep reading to find out what happens next!"

SPLURCH

Anonymous said...

Very nice post, Dave.

(Captain Boomerang's war on fashion and taste is pretty disturbing though.)

By the way, do you happen to have any Velvet Marauder news you can share?

Anonymous said...

You know what another good macro would be (in addition to the first one)?

"suddenly the writer had one of the most brilliant combat ideas of all time.

Or just "the writer had an idea perfect for favorably resolving the situation at hand. He quickly typed it in."

Anonymous said...

I always thought it was a nice touch the way Black Adam showed up in a severe business suit, and only switched to his costume when it was time to go on the mission. Nothing like being well-dressed while you casually slap around people like Firehawk, Maser, and Silver Swan, none of whom are lightweights.

Speaking of Silver Swan, I have to appreciate any woman that gets her costumes at Frederick's of Hollywood.

And wasn't Spritely Cracker a romance comic back in the 50's?

Josh Elder said...

This is the book that defined Black Adam for the modern era. No small feat as I think he was one of the most genuinely interesting and morally complex superhero characters in comics until the 52 writers had him go all Kid Miracleman on us.

Alas.

Anonymous said...

josh elder said
until the 52 writers had him go all Kid Miracleman on us.

I haven't read 52, but I always thought of Johnny Bates when Black Adam told Amanda Waller (in SS #58), "Then I will see your blood spurt. Yours and everyone else's within a 100-mile radius. I do have that kind of power and I will use it."

Anonymous said...

"I mean, even Black Adam needs help with shit like that" made me laugh out loud. Thanks, Dave.
- BR

Anonymous said...

Pleasantly thank you

Anonymous said...

Everyone other than the writer was frozen stock still, not moving?

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