Salvatore Pane
In One Note, Gabriel Blackwell asks writers to talk about the book they are currently reading and why. One Note 023: Salvatore Pane, Grant Morrison, Supergods.
In One Note, I ask writers for just that: one note, a single paragraph, on what they’re reading right now.
Today’s note comes courtesy of Salvatore Pane:
You ever read a book and imagine that the writer brought it into being for you and you alone? That’s how I feel about Grant Morrison’s Supergods. Morrison is one of the best comic book scribes of the past three decades and has written some of my favorite works in the medium (All-Star Superman and We3 chief among them). But Supergods is his first attempt at a full on prose book. It’s one part history of the superhero genre, one part working class outcast to pop hero memoir, one part gonzo sci-fi theory. When Morrison riffs on entering the world of the superheroes (which he claims exists parallel to ours, vibrating on an unimaginable membrane) by way of a “fiction suit”, you’re either all in or all out. I’m clearly all in. Morrison is the antidote to the nihilism of Alan Moore and his disciples and even the stuffy cynicism of the post-blogger irony set. Supergods is packed to overflowing with wonder, its pages crackling with tangible joy.
Salvatore Pane has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Web. His work has appeared in PANK, Annalemma, Hobart, Quick Fiction and BOMB. Find his website here.
