This Grant Morrison Series Remains Unmatched (And We Should Talk About It More)

Grant Morrison is one of the greatest writers to ever write in the comic industry. Morrison joined DC in 1989, after working in the British comic industry, and immediately made a huge impact with books like Animal Man, Doom Patrol, and Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. Morrison became known as one of DC’s most out there creators, their imagination going to places that no one else’s did and became one of the primary architects of the Vertigo line. Morrison would soon get a chance to prove themself on the biggest stage of them all in 1996, getting the keys to the Justice League of America with JLA, where they worked with artist Howard Porter.

Morrison and Porter’s JLA is one of the best books of the 1990s, and its success allowed Morrison to become an arbiter of the A-list superheroes at DC and Marvel, where they wrote the X-Men. Morrison’s stories get a lot of credit — books like The Invisibles, Final Crisis, Batman/Batman and Robin/Batman Inc., Action Comics, and especially All-Star Superman are considered among the best comics of all time. However, there’s another Morrison story, one he worked on with Porter in JLA, that we need to talk about more — “Rock of Ages”.

“Rock of Ages” Is Morrison Madness in the Best Possible Way

“Rock of Ages” is a story that is overstuffed with plot. It all begins when Superman villain Lex Luthor brings together the Injustice Gang — Joker, Dr. Light, Circe, Ocean Master, and Mirror Master — and uses corporate takeover plans to take on the Justice League. This starts with using hard light projection copies of the Justice League to sow chaos, headhunting the younger members of the League to get them to betray the team, and trap them in new ways. Luthor also has an ace in the hole, the Philosopher’s Stone, an object of power unlike any he’s held before. Luthor and the Injustice gang are able to outwit the League at every turn, pushing the team closer and closer to destruction.

Just as things start to look they’re taking a turn in the Justice League’s favor, Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman are pulled to Wonder World, the home of primordial superheroes, Here they learn the truth about the Philosopher’s Stone and why the Justice League can’t win — if they do, they’ll destroy the Philosopher’s Stone and Darkseid will be able to take over the Earth. Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman live to see this nightmarish future as they sent back to their own world, and are able to stop the League from destroying the Stone in the nick of time, giving Earth a fighting chance in the future.

Okay, so that’s a lot and that’s honestly skipping over a whole lot more. Morrison always did an amazing job of packing their JLA stories with plot and callbacks to various eras of DC, but “Rock of Ages” goes in entirely different directions. Morrison begins to set up their endgame for JLA in this book, and also presages their 2008 superhero magnum opus Final Crisis; it’s believed by some Morrison scholars that the future seen in “Rock of Ages” is the future that would have happened if the heroes couldn’t defeat Darkseid. Wonder World, a dimension of ur-superheroes, is one of Morrison’s most audacious ideas, supplying readers with New Gods for the ’90s. In fact, “Rock of Ages” is all about bringing Jack Kirby-style bombast to a Justice League book, a comic that Kirby never got to touch.

The way the book turns on a dime halfway through, going from a standard superheroes versus supervillains story into an alternate future dystopia story for two amazing issues is beautiful twist. The issues set in the future are the highlight of a story that is full of highlights. Seeing Flash, Green Lantern, and Aquaman help the remaining heroes of the future fight Darkseid is amazing, and these two issues are basically better than any event comic… well any event comic not written by Grant Morrison. It’s amazing that “Rock of Ages” is just a story in a monthly book; everything about it screams big time event. It’s one of the pinnacles of Morrison’s run and deserves to be looked at as the greatest Justice League story of all time.

“Rock of Ages” Should Be Talked About Among the Greatest DC Stories of All-Time

Grant Morrison is responsible for many of the greatest comics of all time. Morrison has a legion of fans, and their work is highly regarded. Morrison’s JLA is widely considered one of the greatest team books ever, but most of the time people talk about the opening story “New World Order” or the last story “World War III”. These are both excellent stories, as is nearly every Morrison written issue of JLA, but there’s just something about “Rock of Ages”. The story is Morrison going full Morrison on the Justice League and it deserves to be talked about more than it is.

“Rock of Ages” is a perfect Justice League story. It shows off how good the team is at dealing with basically anything. They’re just as good battling a team of their greatest enemies as they are fighting against a mad god in the future, and even beat themselves to save everyone. It’s a masterful tale, and an example of why Morrison has always been such an exciting creator. Go out, find it, read it, and love it. You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor.

Have you read “Rock of Ages”? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section!