I saw into another world and it was worse than this one. It was like I glimpsed Heaven and...and it wasn't Paradise. It was more like Hell.

What if God, or whoever it is, created us to be better than himself? What if God's reality...Heaven, if you like...what if it's so bad that he had to imagine us to help make his life bearable?

What if we're characters and not people?

-Grant Morrison, Animal Man, Issue 19

As suggested by J.T. in the comments to this post, this morning I checked out the 26 issues of the Grant Morrison run on Animal Man. Very interesting, very strange stuff; what begins as the adventures of (Morrison's words) "an out-of-work, married-with-children, third-rate superhero who becomes involves with animal rights issues" rapidly becomes a deeply metafictional, almost self-indulgent exploration of the production of superhero narrative itself.

In short, after a series of bizarre retcons, personal tragedies, and a little recreational peyote use, Animal Man becomes aware of his creator, who explains to him the true nature of his world. It's quite surreal, rather Gnostic, and very much unlike any other comic you've ever read. The closest comparison I can think of is to some parts of the Cerebus series by David Sim (though I understand Marvel has recently tried to rip this idea off somewhat in the pages of New Avengers).

It's very good. Rightly legendary.

If you're a superhero dork fan and you haven't checked out Animal Man, consider buying all three trades. For more information on Animal Man, consult your local library.