Grant Morrison has covered a broad range of themes in his work. His work has often involved characters that can be described as offbeat misfits living on the fringes of society. In his work with DC Comics especially, he has had great success in revisiting largely forgotten comic book characters and giving them an updated image. When working with mainstream titles such as Batman and Superman, Morrison has made efforts to fight against the gritty realism that invaded the genre in the 1990s and instead has revisited the mythological origins of the characters and examined their role in society as paragons of human virtue. He sees superheroes as representing the best that humanity has to offer and has sought to re-establish them as true heroes while keeping them rooted in a modern perspective.
In much of his original work, Morrison has explored themes of counter-culture, the occult, conspiracy theories, the psychedelic, alternate realities, chaos magic, altered states of consciousness, and experimented with the narrative structures of comic books. These themes mirror the adventures he’s had in his own life in subcultures on the outskirts of mainstream society. He has openly resisted the tendency for modern comics to take on unnecessarily dark tones, instead preferring to portray ideas of humanity taking control of and influencing its shared consciousness to create a better world. In the midst of all the surreal and otherworldly imagery present in his work there is a consistent enthusiasm for the ability of the individual to achieve enlightenment and invoke positive change in their lives.
