Zenith: Phase Two

Zenith: New Edition #2

by Grant Morrison, Steve Yeowell

ZENITH’S BACK!

It’s 1988 and Zenith is as popular as ever thanks to his victorious battle against Masterman. The threat from the Lloigor has been quashed and now Zenith must face an all-too human threat – Dr. Michael Peyne – the creator of Britain’s post WWII superheroes and ‘father’ to Zenith’s parents, has teamed up with the megalomaniac billionaire Scott Wallace who is intent on taking over the world. Together with C.I.A. agent Phaedra Cale, Zenith must stop Wallace from destroying London whilst also confronting his past and a less-than-happy reunion with his father!

Written by award-winning writer Grant Morrison (Batman – Arkham Asylum) with art by Steve Yeowell (Black Shuck) Phase II unveils the rich tapestry of Zenith’s world with superhuman panache!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fiction, Horror, British Literature

112 pages, Hardcover

First published December 4, 2014

About the author

Grant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.

In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I realize that I just wrote a review in which I kind of slammed Grant Morrison (see my review for “Final Crisis”), but the truth is, I still kind of like him, especially his non-DC stuff. In particular, I have grown fond of a little series he wrote in the late-80s for the British comic book 2000 A.D. (known for introducing “Judge Dredd”, one of my personal fave comic series, ever) featuring a thoroughly unlikable superhero/pop star battling Lovecraft-ian creatures from an alternate dimension.

The series was called “Zenith”, and it isn’t really a superhero comic. It’s actually a weird blend of cosmic horror and British black humor which just happens to feature superheroes. Imagine “Doctor Who” if Clive Barker from the ‘80s (“Books of Blood” Barker, not “Imajica” Barker) were writing the series.

In “Zenith: Phase Two”, Zenith begrudgingly teams up with a CIA agent named Phaedra Cale to take on Dr. Michael Payne, the elder scientist who helped engineer the creation of Zenith’s superhero parents. Payne has teamed up with computer billionaire Scott Wallace, who not-so-secretly wants to take over the world, starting with London.

Zenith is one of those unlikable heroes who does the right thing for all the wrong reasons and, occasionally, by accident. He's slowly growing on me, though, and in each episode, he gets that much closer to figuring out how to be a decent human being.

The artwork by Steve Yeowell is pretty minimalist, but it fits the tone of the series. I’m not sure if it was originally published in color, but the hardback volume is in black and white. I'm not complaining because the black and white works. It definitely gives it the noir/gothic feel that I'm fairly certain Morrison was going for.

Readers can definitely see the embryonic ideas that helped shape Morrison’s later works such as “Nameless”, "Arkham Asylum", as well as recurring motifs that showed up in “Final Crisis”.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading is big fun, especially where the prolific Grant Morrison is concerned. Here are familiar Morrison themes and tropes in a coming-of-age superhero series. Art by Steve Yeowell is more than sufficient, even filled with character and some humor. I was never a 2000 AD magazine reader, but this is one of those series from 2000 AD that deserves a look every so often. I forget if there was ever much resolved in this continuing saga... Still, great fun from across the pond.
Recommended.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The overarching background plot and the world building in this volume were good. The finale to the central story was kind of funny, but also seemed too unbelievable, even by oddball Zenith standards.

But it’s still pretty good, and I’m continuing in without a doubt

[ComicNerdSam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Morrison and Yeowell are both growing stronger as artists with this one, there's more of that clash between genres that you see in other Morrison works. I like this series a lot!

[Jacob A. Mirallegro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an improvement and I'm excited to see where this series goes. I liked the art a lot more too.

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's interesting that it works as a coherent story even though it was apparently originally published in really small (3 to 5-page?) snippets.

Ultimately, it's not as nonconventional (now, at least?) as it seems to think it is, but it's pretty solid.

[Chris Browning · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do wonder if the reason I am predisposed towards Grant Morrison over Alan Moore is because I was still cutting my teeth on non funny comics when the first two phases of Zenith were being published in 2000AD and I found the sheer gall of using Fleetway and IPC superheroes in phase three downright hilarious and really ballsy. I started reading back issues of the prog during this time but Moore seemed like a brilliant plotter while Morrison was just throwing mad brilliant ideas at the page to see what would stick and what wouldn’t

At the time phase two felt a bit of an anticlimax - Zenith is facing down a Richard Branson/ Bill Gates nerd with messianic tendencies instead of a swaggering space Nazi - but now it’s a brilliant collection of beats filling in the background of the story, hints at what’s to come and something I really noticed here for the first time - healthy misdirection with the CIA subplot. You probably think that’s the way the story is heading, but Morrison has bigger, more cosmic ideas to play with. And anyway, not that we knew it at the time, we really would need a breather before the next phase where everything - literally - goes to shit

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zenith gets a hard time for being selfish and shallow and not particularly heroic, but consider here all the people who set out to save the world, or change it, or seek to advance it, turn out to be monsters, and Zenith's rationale for NOT taking over the world and running things as a super-fascist makes complete sense. Even St John, radical-turned-conservative, who truly seems to care and wants to save London from the missiles, if nothing else, has a nasty little sting at the end showing what he's prepared to do. Otherwise, this deals with Zenith's past while providing intimations of the war to come. I'm, pretty sure it was called 'The Hollow Kingdom' or something like that when originally collected, so it's annoying that that's not used here, and there's at least one superfluous exclamation mark added, so those otherwise gorgeous collections have their annoying bits.

[Gabriel Llagostera · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este segundo tomo ya es un delirio morrisoniano más conocido. Se explora el origen de Zenith y el destino de sus padres, además de aparecer otros personajes que van a dar jugo a siguientes tomos. Me gustó que no se repitiera la amenaza del primer tomo y se hayan incorporado nuevos personajes que refrescan la historia, que agregan a lo ya construido.
Acá encontramos villanos más tradicionales (una especie de trasunto de Luthor, por ejemplo) con un plan más acorde a eso, pero que no contradice ni resta de lo anterior, e incluso Morrison parece independizarse de las ideas de Moore, que tanto influyeron en la Fase Uno.
El final promete un tercer tomo más alocado, lo que significaría otra vuelta de tuerca con lo que se viene contando. Veremos.

[Padraic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful. Last volume I complained about the storytelling structure and the limitations of 5 page episodes when collected.



Things really changed in Book 2. What was stilted flows and develops in leaps and bounds. Character and plot exposition is dense without feeling rushed or under-developed.

Some of the changes are structurally - the storytelling takes place in three and then two locations. But mostly the bar is just raised.



The artwork also really improves this book round. What was good is now fantastic.

[Diego Pantoja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Si la primera fase mostraba potencial, esta segunda lo aprovecha y consigue mejorar en prácticamente todo.
Las temáticas metafísicas con las que Morrison se siente tan a gusto y un trazo cada vez más expresivo y fuerte por parte de Yeowell.
Sigue pecando de algunos momentos de misoginia gratuita y, por otro lado, no deja de prometernos a los lectores más de lo que este segundo volumen contiene.
Ya veremos si la tercera fase es tan apoteósica como nos están anticipando...

[John Feetenby · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid building on the foundations of Phase One. This fills in yet more background, and sows the seeds of future plots. It’s interesting how many of the abiding concerns of the 80s are still current, and surprising how many have just faded away. In some ways the 80s now seems unimaginably pastoral. Or maybe I’m just getting old. Whatever else, Grant Morrison abides

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Zenith taking part in James Bond/Secret Service cliches. It's a bit deeper than Phase 1, but really the the B-sides of writer who did better things. But for an early work, it really is quite competent and has a fairly nicely built world.

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure, why I have been so long put off by Zenith. Maybe it is the art of Yeowell that I do not care too much.
But oh my this was good. Good solid story with mad man, simple superhero and different alternatives in peril. And snappy dialogue. Good times.

[Periklis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The portrait of the superhero as a young... brat. Morrison's writing is phenomenal, setting the stage for his future career. Yeowell's art is as murky and precise as the 80s as an era demand. On a sidenote, there is a great Oedipal joke about Zenith's origin in this part that really cracked me up. Brilliant "Britcit" comics here...

[Thomas Hale · Rating 4 out of 5]

ramps things up as expected, with a lot more backstory and exploration of worlds beyond the one Zenith knows. Thatcher looms off to one side as eugenics and genocide threaten the world. The final standoff is rather satisfying, too. Interested to see where things go as the scope grows.

[Aiden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading all four phases of Zenith prior to the new spin-off series. Yeowell’s art on this one blew me away when I read it first in 1988. It holds up well. I still prefer this to some of the later styles he evolved.

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phase 2 isn’t quite as good as the Lovecraftian weirdness of the first volume, but it seems to be setting up some good things for the rest of the Zenith story.

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeo well.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zenith's character gets more backstory and becomes more fleshed out while he is introduced to a multiverse of stories and possibilities. Great retro designs and some interesting characters.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Missed reviewing this. Grant borrows his ideas from his own books, but they're ideas I enjoy.

[Tobias Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fun concept still, and the storytelling is great. I still find the art hard to read sometimes but I think it's a real shame this hasn't made it huge. Would be an amazing TV show!

[Al Capwned · Rating 3 out of 5]

Phase Two is not as good as Phase One but it seems like the obvious next step in the whole story, which is probably getting more absurd.

[Nate]

Zenith keeps getting better. In this volume, Morrison introduces parallel Earths, digs into the history of Cloud 9 and Zenith’s parents, and ramps up the excitement. There’s a lot of elements here, but the story remains very fun and surprisingly straightforward. It’s so well-plotted; you can tell Morrison had the entire story planned out from the beginning, and watching it unfold is a joy.

[Antti Rask · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this installment of Grant Morrison's earlier work for 2000 AD, more things are revealed about Zenith's past and origin. Also, Morrison hints to a multidimensional happening that is yet to come (I don't remember there being anything about it in the first book and it felt a little vague, but it's been awhile since I read it and it might have been there all along). I hope it pays off in the next phases, but we'll see.

While I enjoy reading these books - it is interesting to see the early stages of Morrison's development - of his earlier works I find myself preferring The Animal Man Omnibus. I mean, it had its flaws too, but it was more fun.

Obviously, I don't recommend this to anyone who hasn't already read Zenith: Phase One.

[Kevin Kimmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mecha, mayhem and multiple earths! Zenith Phase Two picks up right where Volume One leaves off and continues the adventures of the "Superbrat" superhero. Highly recommended for fans of Grant Morrison and superheroes in general.

[Tony Laplume · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second collection of Grant Morrison's seminal epic brings new facets to Zenith's story, bringing the narrative closer to a contemporary feel and yes, reflecting many of Morrison's later proclivities.

Imagine if Lex Luthor had created superheroes (it's not that hard to do: in two separate stories from the last ten years, he's more or less done exactly that). Now, imagine that Luthor's archenemy weren't Superman but Superboy. And then imagine him in collusion with Mark Zuckerberg. Yeah. It's a lot easier after you've read this. And it's a concept that Morrison absolutely nails.

Zenith's life story advances here, too, including harrowing realizations about the fates of both his mother and father.

There's a great line when Morrison tackles the possibility of dinosaurs in the modern era, too: "Evolution takes no prisoners. The masters of the earth become simply monsters, condemned to extinction." It's a throwaway scene, but this is a writer who wastes no opportunities.

The whole collection is yet another reminder of Morrison's remarkable ability to synthesize concepts and then illuminate them, and like the first volume, all the more remarkable to realize this was early in his career and that he's been building on these concepts ever since. The fact that Zenith seemed destined to be lost to time until these reprints is all the more mind-boggling. This is prime material. And the journey is still only getting started...

[Geoff Sebesta · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite chapter, though it's not as good now. When I read it the first time, I only got to see one chapter in the middle, and as it happens it was the best one. Warhead was scary, the bad guy was a charming nutter, and there were hints of an enormous tale behind it. When you read the whole thing at once, it gets subsumed a bit in the fact that it all goes nowhere.

Looking back on it, the joke in this was undone by being a bit too good. When I read this comic, in scattered pieces through the 80s and 90s, I had no idea whatsoever that the main villain was a real person, much less that he was Richard Branson. However that chap must have annoyed the British of Thatcher, by the time he came to America he was just a rich guy with an airplane.

So be it. In this comic, he's amazing. He's a batty James Bond villain in a sweater, an utterly believable monster in this age of Shkreli. The character of Warhead is terrifying -- they should have strung that storyline out for years, instead of disposing of it so quickly -- and this is probably the best work of Yeowell's career right here. This was the perfect moment when he was still thinking his storytelling through and his figure drawing skills were at the peak. Plus you can tell he's having loads of fun. Nobody's asking him to draw backgrounds, it's all punching and yelling and cool character designs. Moody, poorly-lit rooms are just the best place to plot nuclear armageddon.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy Morrison's writing in this series, but find Yeowell's artwork too monochromatic and confused. He also has a tendency (common among many artists, IMO) to make his characters look facially similar, so when the writer relies on the reader recognising characters rather than spelling them out, this often gets me confused. However, I am enjoying revisiting this series from my youth so will almost certainly continue to buy the remaining two books when they become available.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

via NYPL - An interesting series, but not overly memorable. Morrison plants some intriguing seeds and hits a few solid dramatic beats. It doesn't transcend itself, as later Morrison works do, but it's entertaining, which is sometimes all you can ask. It's interesting to see early Morrison work, and Yeowell is a solid craftsman.