It Came From the Longbox - II
Note: Sorry that this is later than I would have liked--my laptop monitor decided last night would be a great night to crap out. We now continue with last night's blog entry, already in progress...
As Rock Spectacle plays on iTunes, I run upstairs and pick a comic at random. Tonight's selection:
The Invisibles #5
Grant Morrison - Writer
Jill Thompson - Pencils
Dennis Cramer - Inks
Issues one through of four started the series with a bang, telling the story of Glaswegian punk Dane McGowan as he's inducted into a secret society by King Mob and Tom O'Bedlam. Featuring guns and a guest appearance by some of the Beatles, repercussions of the first issues held sway years down the line. (The final issue in volume 1 repeated some of the story, only this time from the perspective of one of the guys King Mob casually blows away.)
Issue 5 was the start of the "Arcadia" storyline, which should also be called The Invisibles Nearly Dies In The Crib. Sales just plummeted during this run, jeopardizing the title and contributing to the remix of Volume II.
Actually, the sales numbers during this run dropped so low that Grant had to prompt a wankathon during Thanksgiving of 95. Everyone who wanted to keep the series going was supposed to practice a bit of magick--his spelling, not mine--and wank during Thanksgiving while imagining a sigil that Grant had drawn. This was, in theory, a way to boost the sales of the comic.
This issue is also notable as there were multiple plain brown covers, each with different slogans of rebellion. The image from comics.org is the cover I have, but I remember others. This gimmick wasn't repeated again, as far as I remember. Neither the cover nor the wanking requests. (The cynic in me wonders just how much prodding some fans needed to wank, even for a theoretically good cause.)
As for the contents, it's pretty complicated. The team, now up to the requisite number of five, prepares for its first mission with the new guy--traveling back in time to rescue an operative. Who JUST HAPPENS to be the Marquis de Sade. But wait, there's more! Add in a framing sequence with Romantic poets Byron and Shelley talking about revolution and hinting they are members of the Invisible College (making them early Invisibles, more on this organization later), plus a trip to a madhouse. Now how much would you pay?
But Morrison isn't done yet! He also adds King Mob taking a trip through an alternate post-apocalyptic future! There's a demon on the loose with a suit made of human skin, and he's got ice cream! Witness one of the weirder mysteries of a French painting! Dane gets drunk, hits on Boy, and gets all homophobic at Lord Fanny! And finish the issue with a beheading!
Given all that--plus the interweaving structure--it may not be a huge mystery why people bailed off this book in droves. The first four issues are slap-dash weirdness with magic and demons and filthy licking and guns o'plenty. Then hear the mental tires squealing as Morrison does a couple of complete revolutions, throwing in a bunch of philosophy, dark hints about a mysterious painting, time travel to the French Revolution, sadistic perversion, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. "This isn't what I asked for?" cried the fanboys. "Give me more Ragged Robin in leather!"
In addition to the lack of pervert suit fighting, there's just a blur of stuff going on. The issue breaks down like this:
1 page of King Mob in India
4 pages of Byron and Shelley riding a horse and a boat
1 page of King Mob taking a shortcut
(Ad for Jurassic Park dinosaur figurine. Remember: not all plates go up, some go down.)
2 pages of Dane and Boy practicing their kung fu
(House ad for Dark Destiny and Elric: Tales of the While Wolf)
1 page of Byron and Shelley in a madhouse
2 pages of King Mob in a post-apocalyptic future and a cyclops baby
2 pages of Orlando the human-skin-suited demon
5 pages of King Mob and the team in London
(House ad for Sandman: World's End)
2 pages of time travel in a windmill
(House ad for Tainted)
1 page of Byron and Shelley
1 page in Revolutionary France with a beheading
Lettercolumn and ads
It probably makes more sense in trade format, but remember--up until quite recently, the only way to even find this stuff was in single issues. Taken in the initial reading, even the devoted fans were asking, "What the fuck?"
Which for Morrison, is sometimes what he's shooting for. He identified strongly with this title--King Mob's injuries in later issues were later reflected in actual medical problems Morrison had. And I have a hunch that Tom O'Bedlam is a little bit autobiographical.
The Invisibles demanded a lot out of its readers. There's a note in the final bit of the lettercolumn that many of the lines in the comic will not have resolution until 70-80 issues down the road, and Grant did deliver on some of those promises. This issue is a rocky chapter in that endeavor.
Previous Installments:
ICFL I
