Nameless #6

[history79]

Warning for some Gore



9.66 pages of 29

Comments

[deathcrist2000]

As explicitly stated in the trade, this is a story where Grant Morrison effectively finds his own mystical system and persona wanting. In many ways, this is the second part of a trilogy starting with Multiversity (which is primarily about the limitations of the Superhero genre in the same way Flex Mentallo was about its possibilities) and ending with Klaus (which should be fairly obvious what that's about).

[captainbellman]

You'll note that Morrison's idea that "God is actually evil, hates us and wants us to die screaming" has been bubbling in his mind since at least Final Crisis - in Superman Beyond Ultraman literally shouts "There is a God. And he hates us all!" - focusing on both Mandrakk as Darkseid as variants.

He meditated on it also in "Annihilator", which is more along the lines of "What if Earth was created by the Devil".

[deathcrist2000]

Actually, I think that might be one of Morrison's core themes from his critical look at himself in the pages of Animal Man to The Mystery Play, which includes quotes like "Sometimes I look at the world, you know, and wonder if God put us here to be instruments of his death. Like we're his death wish. He can't stand the horror of what he is and what he's done. He can't feel pain or remorse. He...he's just waiting and praying for us to grow strong enough to kill him and make him feel what we feel." But my comment had less to do with his portrayal of God and more to do with the titular character.

[captainbellman]

Another aspect that this carries over from Multiversity is Morrison's conviction that analysing and criticising fiction at a deconstructive level - especially his own work - causes that work to become worthless.

Compare the sadistic God of "Nameless", eviscerating and vivisecting anything it gets its hands on, with Captain Allan Atom of "Pax Americana" reducing his beloved dog to pieces and tearfully realising "it's hard to love the pieces like [the whole]"; and his introduction to Waid's "Irredeemable", where he compared internet critics to the criminals in the Phantom Zone, mocking and jeering at Superman in his fortress.

Morrison's belief is that stories should make a lasting impression without in-depth analysis. The above pages are *meant* to not male much sense. He wants an intuitive response, rather than an intellectual one.

[bruinsfan]

Wow, there must have been a LOT of people criticizing Morrison's fiction at a deconstructive level.

[captainbellman]

Word. In 2009, his animosity had built up to Godwinian levels:

" I don't care about geeks, you know? Geeks shouldn't be given power. When geeks get power, you get Hitler."

(- the above said in the context of a statement about how movie adaptations open up comics to a wider, more diverse audience than your stereotypical grumbling white male geek. Still a troubling comparison, though.)

[captainbellman]

Also, I feel obliged to point out that this conception of God is very Western, very white, and very...basic.

[deathcrist2000]

In Morrison's defense, that's more to do with him using the God of The Portable Atheist, and the crowd that wrote and edited that book is... extremely White with no consideration of faith beyond the Christianity of White people (and, indeed, ahistorical to previous versions of atheism, which were extremely anti-capitalist, but that's a conversation for a different time when I actually know enough to talk about it).

[captainbellman]

It is funny how easily my mind has been changed about this - while I remain a confirmed agnostic, in the last few years I was pushed entirely away from the Dawkins conception of atheism because it assumes that "Religion" = "Mostly White Christianity".

The idea is kinda...well, I've heard it called "Goyische".