Call for Papers: Religion in the Grant Morrison Comics

Editor: Matthew Brake

Series: Religion and Comics (McFarland)

In the 1980s, a movement known as the “British Invasion” saw a number of writers and artists from the UK join the ranks of American comics writers to produce some of the most popular and enduring work in mainstream comics. Some of these writers include Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, and Grant Morrison, who have written such notable works as Watchmen, Sandman, and Animal Man. Of their fellow so-called “British Invaders,” Grant Morrison is the only who has remained a prolific presence in comics. While Alan Moore has continually pulled away from the industry in resentment and disappointment and Neil Gaiman has gone on to become a prolific prose writer, Morrison, until quite recently, has remained a fixture of the comic book industry into the beginning of the 2020s.

Many books have been written on Morrison’s comics, and while some of the essays within these works have touched on spirituality and religion in their comics, there is not a yet volume dedicated to the study of religion in Morrison’s body of work, despite the ubiquity of religious themes and imagery throughout. This volume will seek to fill that gap.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Eschatology, The Omega Point, and the Eternal Return in JLA: Rock of Ages, JLA: World War III, and The Return of Bruce Wayne
• Gods and Monsters in Nameless
• Appropriation and Representation in The Invisibles and New X-Men
• Neoplatonism and Gnosticism in Flex Mentallo
• J.R.R. Tolkien and subcreation in Animal Man
• Indigenous Spirituality and Apocalypticism in Aztek and JLA
• Dr. Hurt and Augustinian Evil
• Pico della Mirandola and All-Star Superman
• New Religious Movements, UFOs, and Abduction
• Neoshamanism, New Age, and Chaos Magick in Morrison’s work
• Sacred Geometry in Batman: Gothic
• Imagination and the Supernatural in Happy!

Abstract submissions and CVs will be due by April 30, 2024 and should be sent to popandtheology@gmail.com. First drafts will be due by August 15, 2024 and initial revisions will be due by December 01, 2024. The manuscript will be sent in for peer review by January 30, 2025. A reviewed manuscript will be submitted by June 01, 2025.