The Invisibles: Bloody Hell In America by
Grant Morrison
hbk out August 98
JLA: AMERICAN DREAMS and JLA: ROCK OF AGES by Grant Morrison, Howard
Porter, John Dell. Titan £5.99; £6.50
Grant Morrison is hard to figure as a writer. He is capable of very good work, as demonstrated by early comics such as ST. SWITHEN'S
DAY and DARE, and even interesting takes on the dreaded superhero tale, as in BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM. He has also shown a penchant for
the truly lacklustre, as proven by such forgettable titles as SEBASTIAN O and KILL YOUR BOYFRIEND. Morrison remains a very hot
property in comics, largely due to the popularity of the monthly JLA series, the most successful (indeed, the *only* successful) comic
currently published by industry giant DC. His other ongoing project - and rumored to be coming soon to the BBC - is THE INVISIBLES, a
hyperbolic catalogue of conspiracy plots blended with Hong Kongcinema-style action. THE INVISIBLES is the far more interesting of
the two series, though both seem well below the standard of whichMorrison is capable. Of course, he's probably earning a ton from the success of JLA. So maybe he ain't *that* hard to figure.
The JLA (Justice League of America -- remember them?) stories
are conventional, old-fashioned superhero fare gussied up for
today's audience: i.e., they're a bit more knowing about themselves
than comics were in the old days. The plots are comic-bookish in the
most pejorative sense of the word, though so convoluted (as opposed
to complex) that you actually have to be pretty attentive to make
sense of them. That's not to say they amount to anything in the end,
but with their pretensions to cosmic cool it's not hard to see why
they're so appealing to thirteen year olds. In the "American Dreams"
collection, Morrison at least pokes some good tongue-in-cheek fun at
the material, though he plays it mercilessly straight in "Rock of
Ages," which for all its gimmicks and fancy vocabulary is still just
Jack Kirby- wannabe stuff. The artwork is bright and vibrant, though
poorly flowing and unhelpful in augmenting the absurd narrative.
THE INVISIBLES could almost qualify as a guilty pleasure if only
Morrison took the material just a little more seriously. Morrison's
basic style, as in JLA, is take a simple story and tack onto it as
many red herrings and dead-end flights of fancy that he can before
bringing it to its predictable resolution. The plot is almost all
MacGuffin and sleight of hand, though some of the trips down
Morrison's dead ends are good fun. The eye-catching art by Phil
Jimenez is crisp and bright, and the covers by Brian Bolland are
terrific. Morrison is a guy with lots of interesting stuff in his
head and he can express it in a very amusing way when he wants to.
Unfortunately his love of the convoluted and obscure overrides his
storytelling good sense. He's just a little too anxious to show how
clever and postmodern he can be, at the expense of the story and the
characters (who are tedious). It's a shame really, because it's
clear that if he'd just stop revelling in juvenile pursuits, Morrison
good once again turn out excellent comics. Clever is better than
stupid, but thoughtful is better than clever.
(
Jay Russell
- one of the greatest talents the horror industry has produced for some time… (Black Tears))
