The Spirit of Michael Turner Lives On The Hero

The Spirit of Michael Turner Lives On The Hero

Michael Turner was one of the greatest graphic novel creators ever to live, and it was a great tragedy when he died. 2 months before his death from terminal cancer I waited for hours in line hoping he would show up at the Wizard World Los Angeles, not because I wanted him to sign my comics (even though he did) but because I wanted to tell him something. I simply told him "Thank you. Your work is the reason why I got into comics." People were getting impatient with me for saying anything at all to him because of the hundreds of people in line, but I had to say it. I had to thank him. I used to call him the Walt Disney of modern comics and if you had read the Shrugged (which seems to have inspired Monsters Inc) and Soulfire (which HEAVILY inspired this film's world) you would understand why. While most people will probably remember him for his work drawing amazingly beautiful people, for his jaw-dropping comic covers, and perhaps for his masterpiece Fathom, I primarily will always remember him for his endless stream of amazing ideas and creative genius. It's a shame that more people failed to recognize it. This film is loaded with influences from all kinds of science fiction. You've got battling robots from Real Steel, powered body-suits from Bubblegum Crisis, and a super-hero team that seems like combination of The Incredibles and Stars and Stripes (Star Girl and her robot-suit-wearing-dad from the JSA). But what stuck in my mind as the credits rolled was something like...thank goodness someone still remembers Michael Turner and J. Scott Campbell (Wildsiderz). Seriously, read the parts of Soulfire completed before Turner's death. It's like the city in this film is that world breathed into life.

The Spirit of Michael Turner Lives On The Hero 

A Book with a capital "B." The Hero with a Thousand Faces

A Book with a capital "B." The Hero with a Thousand Faces

First of all, I feel inadequate and unworthy to review this book, but since Amazon has given me the chance, all I can say is that this is one of the greatest Books (with a capital "B") of my experience. I suspect that it shall be recognised as one of the single greatest products to come out of 20th century American letters.

No, I'm not setting Campbell up as a prophet or anything like that, indeed, I suspect that this book's greatness lies in the eternal truths that transcend Campbell's individual personality. He just managed to tap into them- thank God.

The entire book deals with the hero's journey. This is the Monomyth shared by all cultures- and indeed seems to be a direct inspiration from the cosmos itself by way of the collective unconscious. Here we have the eternal cycle of 1) the call to adventure; 2) the crossing of the threshold; 3) the tests, trials, and helpers; 4) the sacred marriage, apotheosis (becoming one with god), or elixir theft; 5)the flight 6) recrossing/ressurection; and 7) the return to society with hard won gifts. He examines all of these elements in depth with a wealth of cross-cultural examples. The first half of the book deals with this cycle on a more individual and personal level (the microcosm), while the second half deals with the greater cosmogonic importance (the macrocosm.)

Now, the really amazing part of all this is that virtually all of it comes across as meaningful, interesting, and totally nonacademic. That's why academic types hate Campbell, and his mentor Jung,- they know that Campbell's and Jung's works will endure and be read a thousand years from now, while their own monographs will be justly forgotten. There are a lot of mediocre Ph.Read more