Zenith: Phase One (1)
Price: $25.00 - $21.05
(as of Jan 24, 2025 20:40:06 UTC – Details)
Zenith Phase 1, Grant Morrison’s first comics masterpeice with unforgetable art by Steve Yeowell, has been unavailable to trade for twenty years, but is published again here in a stunning new hardback edition.
The all time classic is back! Berlin, 1945: The allies unleashed the second world war hero Maximan upon the German super soldier Masterman. Maximan’s defeat was only kept secret by the nuclear bomb which destroyed both men. Forty-plus years later, and twenty years after a generation of ’60s British superpowered heroes came and went, the teenage pop star Zenith is the only superhuman left – and his only interest in women, drugs, alchohol and fame. So when he is contacted about the threat from the many-angled ones and the impending destruction of our world, his first reaction is to steer well clear. But the superhumans of the past have other plans…
ASIN : 1781082766
Publisher : 2000 AD (October 21, 2014)
Language : English
Hardcover : 112 pages
ISBN-10 : 9781781082768
ISBN-13 : 978-1781082768
Item Weight : 1.72 pounds
Dimensions : 8.5 x 0.6 x 11.25 inches
12 reviews for Zenith: Phase One (1)
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Original price was: $25.00.$21.05Current price is: $21.05.
NitroJohnny –
The book is beautifully done and the story itself is amazing
The book is beautifully done and the story itself is amazing. What could be better than a 1980’s pop star fighting a super-nazi?
Manukaman –
Five Stars
superb and arrived safe
Patrick Mcgann –
Introducing Iok Sotot and the Many Angled Ones!
The end of this beautiful, hard-covered, graphic novel contains a selection of original 2000AD comic covers where the Zenith story line was featured. It also indicates that this story ran in 1987; so it has been almost 30 years since I first read it as a very (very) young schoolboy. With that in mind, I was both a bit surprised, but also happy, that the story was still as good as those 27 year old memories. Zenith was one of my favorite story lines in 2000 AD back then, and it was great to finally be able to read it again after so many years. For some reason, the name “Iok Sotot” has often come into my memories over the past few years (it is, in my humble opinion, a pretty cool name for a god); I knew I had read it somewhere in my youth but could never place it. Well, the mystery has been solved and it was pretty funny to see that it was the name of the main antagonist in this story!
This first book (I believe four are planned), introduces the reader to Zenith, a young, brash British pop star that also happens to be the last person with super human abilities on Earth (or so we are lead to believe). The story revolves around Zeniths entanglements with the “Many-angled ones” (think Lovecraft), a race of extra-dimensional “Gods” that have plagued mankind for over 20,000 years. This book wraps up the first arc nicely and sets the stage for the pretty epic story lines that follow from here.
For anyone familiar with the work of Grant Morrison, this is one of his earlier stories and really showcases why he has been such a huge success. Fantastic story and not to be missed.
Chris the Mardroid –
2000 AD does superheroes. – a very strange interesting ride.
2000 AD does superheroes. At least they did with Zenith, and this is a very strange interesting ride. If you want something that subverts superheroes to some extent with a strong sense of strange, you could do worse than this.
Matthew W. Wilson –
If you like Grant Morrison
If you like Grant Morrison…here he is near the beginning of his craft. Wonderful material. Four volume set coming out. Three are out now. I love the story and artwork. Go Grant!!
JBats –
Solid, tame Morrison effort
Early Morrison and it shows, for better or worse. If you find his later original works to be a bit too far out there, this is for you. I liked it well enough but don’t feel too compelled to pick up the rest of the books and probably won’t unless they’re cheap.
Spidey –
The pinnacle of Morrison’s UK writing.
Probably the best of Morrison’s UK stuff. You still feel those 80’s comic influences like Watchmen and V for Vendetta when reading this. Morrison writes a pretty straight forward save the world from Cthullu story with a twist on the superhero archetypes.
Martin O –
Das Frühwerk von Grant Morrison ist nun endlich in einer leistbaren Form veröffentlicht. Nun zeigt sich schnell, dass es die ersten Gehschritte vom Meister waren: Zenith ist der Nachkomme einer Gruppe von – durch Experimente hergestellter – englischer Superhelden aus den 60er Jahren, der sich hauptsächlich mit Selbstvermarktung und dem GenieÃen seiner Popularität beschäftigt. Als nun eine Bedrohung aus der Vergangenheit auftaucht – ein von Nazis hergestellter Ãbermensch, der von einem der alten Göttern frisch aus dem Ctulhu-Mythos beseelt wird – fällt es Zentih naturgemäà schwer, sich seiner Verantwortung zu stellen und gemeinsam mit den verbliebenen reaktivierten Mitgliedern der Gruppe so etwas wie einen Sieg zu erreichen.
In einem raschen Tempo für 2000AD geschrieben, sauber von Steve Yeowell in Szene gesetzt, reicht es aber noch nicht an die späteren in Amerika erzielten Erfolge heran. Zu sehr bleibt Morrison den Genre-Gesetzen treu, zu rasch und sauber werden manche Konflikte gelöst.
Interessant ist auch, dass Morrison von der graphischen Darstellung der Auswirkungen der Superhelden-Gewalt – im Gegensatz etwa zu von der Grundkonzeption ähnlichen Szenen in Alan Moore’s Miracleman – Abstand nimmt. Es ging Morrison auch offensichtlich nicht um die Dekonstruktion des Superhelden Genres oder einen Metakommentar dazu (wie bei seinen aktuellen Stories wie etwa The Multiversity), es ist nur schlicht eine durchaus gelungene SF – Fingerübung.
G-Man –
I read Zenith in the eighties and it quickly became my favourite comic book story of all time. Sorry Messrs Gaiman and Moore, but Grant Morrison’s incredibly well planned and superbly written adventures of an obnoxious British superhero-cum-rock star who is forced to team up with a middle aged pacifist superhuman hippy-turned-Conservative MP to defeat a resuscitated Nazi uberman and ultimately save our entire plane of existence from extinction pips anything you chaps have written.
How best to describe it?
Easy.
It’s Captain America vs. Cthulhu, but with brave, self sacrificing New Yorker Steve Rogers replaced by narcissistic, self serving Londoner Robert McDowell in a battle with the superhuman Earthly host of one of Cthulhu’s nastier brother entities, a megalomaniacal billionaire and creatures from beyond time and space.
There’s an exquisitely planned 4-year arc, back plots told in flashback, government conspiracies, men in black, a psychopathic Richard Branson, soul eating devourers born in the heart of a black sun and some very sharp, very funny dialogue. And what other story features a Machiavellian Tory MP who turns out to be the true hero of the piece?
Just buy it, settle back and enjoy Morrison’s writing and the wonderful artwork from Steve Yeowell (before he went all simplistic and minimalist). You won’t be disappointed.
S. M. Robinson –
While the Zenith epic is relatively early in Grant Morrison’s career, it’s still one of his greatest works to date. It has a classic feel to it, seamlessly mixing Nazi occultism, Lovecraftian horror and superhumans in a way that few others have managed well, Hellboy being the obvious exception. Zenith himself is the ‘hero’ you love to hate, the literal superbrat. This edition also includes several interludes and a character gallery. I’ve also picked up Phase Two and look forward to Phases Three and Four also being made available on Kindle.
Wayne –
Early Grant Morrison work originally published in the 2000AD Judge Dredd Megazine I believe. Been a fan of Morrison’s work for a while and was nice to get this after purchasing the Limited Edition collector’s version of this from the 2000AD website almost a year ago. This way I can leave the sealed and unread for the time being. Overall the story and artwork is really good and tells a version of superheroes being created through science to do the bidding of their government with the original superhero designed as a tool to battle the Nazi superhero created in world war 2 through occult means. Not wanting to give away anything this takes place decades after the death of the original super hero and the eventual creation of his successors who either died, disappeared, or vanished while all surviving heroes lost all their powers. Now we have a child of two of the heroes which is the only one believed to have powers still and this story follows his life and the essence of the rebirth of the nazi antihero and the occult aspects of the destruction of all life by these mythical beings. Great story really good artwork that matches up well with the story and would definitely recommend it.
stuart gardner –
An acclaimed writer produces a groundbreaking take on the superhero genre, initially published in a British anthology, reprinted with lousy colouring in an American monthly, it disappears in legal confusion, only available on the second hand market as collected editions for silly money and now triumphantly returns albeit without the author’s approval. But that’s enough about Miracleman, we’re here to talk about Zenith.
The parallels between Grant Morrison and Alan Moore’s early superhero tales are striking, particularly given their antipathy toward each other. Although Miracleman was probably the more important work, it hasn’t aged as well as Zenith and just isn’t as much fun. When Zenith first appeared in 2000ad the comic was going through one of its periodic doldrums, where Judge Dredd is often the only thing worth reading. Zenith arrived with a modest fanfare but quickly established itself as the most exciting and dynamic thing in the comic. Morrison’s bored, spoilt pop star superman was a totally new type of character and his world is quickly established with some deft storytelling and Steve Yeowell’s dramatic artwork. Morrison seems to work best when placed under restrictions and the requirement to tell the story in five page installments keeps the script tightly focused and disciplined rather than the rambling self indulgence of some of his more recent work. This still allows his fantastic imagination plenty of room to work, after all not many comics have Elder gods defeated by William Blake’s poetry. For me Zenith, along with Arkham Asylum, represents Morrison’s best work.
The new edition is beautifully presented ( and reasonably priced!). The reproduction quality highlights that Yeowell is as much responsible for the success of the story as Morrison. An absolute must purchase for all comic fans. I’m already looking forward to phases 2,3 and 4