He wanted to do what HE wanted to do, not sacrifice himself for others. His parents had been superheroes so, ever the rebellious type, Zenith wanted to be everything else BUT a hero. Who would have expected Spider-Man to use his powers in a rock band? “With great powers comes great music?” Really? We KNOW what he’s going to do because he wants to do the right thing as much as possible.īack in the 1980s, the notion of an imperfect hero was outrageous! Granted, Marvel had heroes with their imperfections, but they were still heroic. The fact that Superman has a strong moral compass has made him a difficult character to write, it seems to me.

These days, we expect our heroes to be truly flawed. ” THE FIRST TRULY FLAWED SUPERHERO I EVER READ ABOUT But the superhumans of the past have other plans …. So when he is contacted about the threat from the many-angled ones and the impending destruction of our world, his first reaction is to steer well clear. Maximan’s defeat was only kept secret by the nuclear bomb which destroyed both men. Forty-plus years later, and twenty years after a generation of ’60s British super-powered heroes came and went, the teenage pop star Zenith is the only superhuman left – and his only interest in women, drugs, alcohol and fame. Berlin, 1945: The allies unleashed the second world war hero Maximan upon the German super-soldier Masterman. Previously in ZENITH: “Grant Morrison’s first comics masterpiece with unforgettable art by Steve Yeowell, has been unavailable to trade for twenty years, but is published again here in a stunning new hardback edition. It’s still worth discussing, so let me dive in and talk about a book way, way ahead of its time!

The first “phase” or volume has now been released, if somewhat late. It was in a Comics Portal column a few months back that I talked about the return of Zenith, the first Grant Morrison story I ever read.

Zenith phase one