Editor's note-- in an effort to demonstrate just how cool and alternative Grant Morrison is (jus' kidding), INVISIBLES vol. 3 is a 12-issue maxiseries counting backwards from #12 to #1, which will be published in the first month of the new millennium. Freaky, eh?
More holographic fun from the man who brought you the severed head of John The Baptist and a crash-landed God in his first two volumes of the series he was born to write. The Invisibles are covert, occult, counter-culture subversives, fighting a war against the Outer Church, which is the dystopian and oppresive aspect of our holographic universe (Imagine two concentric circles, overlapping just slightly. Our universe is the result of those two circles overlapping; those two circles are the Outer and Inner Churches). The Outer Church has been responsible for the death of Princess Diana (Who was ostensibly supposed to bear their new messiah), mass suicides, and just about any conspiracy theory you care to think of. The Invisibles are basically the anarchist's wet dream: They embody the rejection of culture, society, history, and every possible convention that would normally go unchallenged. And while all of this may sound like 7-Up's current ad campaign on LSD, it's a lot brighter and much more creatively realized then you could ever expect.
Volume 2 snapped, crackled, and popped on the strength of Morrison's smooth-as-liquid-silver scripting and far-out imaginings coupled with the equally smooth and far-out pencils of Phil Jiminez and Chris Weston. Volume 3 is similar in script, but the art of Philip Bond (Who produced some sweet, sweet work on the Invisibles tie-in story "And We're All Policemen" in the 1997 VERTIGO WINTER'S EDGE special) is a little less suited for this version of the Invisibles. It's crisp and it's clear and it's wonderfully stylistic, but it doesn't have the same juxtaposition of beautiful imagery and kick-your-scrawny-ass action as Jiminez or Weston. There's still a pop-art sensibility to it that matches up with the title nicely; it just runs second to the work of those others. The writing is... well, the writing's the same as every other issue of THE INVISIBLES; you're not supposed to understand it easily, and you never will unless you hop inside Grant's mind while he's on a drug trip. Actually, that's inaccurate; if you've read every previous issue of both volumes of the series you can construct a frame-of-reference in which nearly all events have impact; but otherwise, you're just here for the ride. It's always hard to recommend THE INVISIBLES to a friend in good conscience because no matter how wonderful and enjoyable the series is, it's unavoidable that whoever reads it for the first time will get their head screwed with in a big way. This issue also heaps into the mix old characters from the first volume and at least one brand-new one without introduction, so that if you're just leaping aboard you'd need a scorecard to know who was who when (The Indian woman in the two-page interlude is new; she's apparently about to take Boy's place on the five-member team). For all his beloved ambiguity, however, Morrison is still telling a great story in a fun way; playing on the information-overload undercurrent, the lettering "censors" the name of a public offical Sir Miles Delacourt deals with in Hard-Copy fashion; and he hauls in pop-culture references which range from the throwaway (A Teletubby with a cross on its head) to the important (H.P. Lovecraft's Old Gods are apparently one of the manifestations of the Outer Church).It's become apparent to me that I've written this entire review and said very little about the comic. INVISIBLES is undoubtedly the toughest series to review out of the thirty-odd comics I read regularly; but it's also my favorite to read. Hopefully all the bizarre crap flowing from my keyboard has you interested enough to give it a try (One issue is not enough; any of the TPBs-- SAY YOU WANT A REVOLUTION, BLOODY HELL IN AMERICA, or COUNTING TO NONE-- would probably do the trick nicely, though you can always just pick up an issue and try to keep your head from exploding). 8.5 out of 10. Advisory: R, Suggested For Mature Readers. R.I.Y.L.: Transmetropolitan, The Minx, Preacher, X-Men, Doom Patrol, Channel Zero, Sandman, JLA. Pop Culture Parallel: Probably couldn't hurt to freshen up on your H.P. Lovecraft before you check out the current arc.
"Out here I can hear insects shagging. I can hear the grass grow. I can sit up on that mountain all day if I want. I've vowed I won't be satisfied until I can hear radio with the naked ear." Back To HomeVol. 2, Issue #18
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