Rating: 
Summary: Which Side Are You On?
Review: This seditious series is definitely comics' most bizarre example of anarchy from the U.K. A decidedly different sort of superhero group, as part of a millennia old secret freedom fighting cult, the Invisibles hide their very existence from the public; their only identifying mark, occasionally worn by some members, is the "blank badge" (a plain, round, white button-the slogan-bearing kind, not the shirt-closing kind). "The only rule of the organization," as explained in one issue, "is disobedience." The series follows a particular Invisibles activist cell made up of: King Mob, a bald, tattooed and multiply body-pierced tantric magician and master assassin; Jack Frost, a teenaged, foul-mouthed, psychokinetic alien abductee; Boy, an African-American former policewoman and deadly martial artist; Ragged Robin, a mime-faced, time-displaced, clairvoyant witch; and Lord Fanny, a glamorous drag queen and Aztec shaman. The series ran from 1994 to 2000, totaling 59 issues divided into three volumes. Fortunately, the entire series has been collected in the form of seven easily accessible trade paperbacks. Say You Want a Revolution, collects the first eight issues of volume one, which focus around the recruitment of Dane "Jack Frost" McGowan: the story begins in a reformatory where juvenile delinquents are indoctrinated into a life of mediocrity by extradimensional beings hoping to harvest their souls, and ends in revolutionary France where the team recruits the Marquis de Sade. Apocalipstick(issues 9-16 of volume one) is about Jack Frost's attempt to flee from his role as an Invisible and how Lord Fanny was indoctrinated as a shaman when still a young child. Entropy in the UK (volume 1, issues 17-25) tells the story of how Lord Fanny and King Mob escape imprisonment and torture by the agents of total Control. The next three books collect the entirety of volume two. Bloody Hell in America (issues 1-4) follows the groups invasion of a top-secret military installation in the New Mexican desert to rescue the AIDS vaccine being kept there. Counting to None (issues 5-13) deals with bad karma, time travel, and brainwashing, and Kissing Mister Quimper (issues 14-22) covers a return to New Mexico, making amends with the past, and setting the stage for the final conflict between the forces of control and freedom, which takes place in The Invisible Kingdom (this collects the entire third voulme, which ran backwards, from issue 12 to issue 1, counting down to the new millennium). Having recently reread the entire series from beginning to end, I was struck by the intricacy of the plot, and the way that events in the first volume of stories foreshadow and continually intertwine with later events. Although presented as a mind altering, spy thriller, roller coaster ride of conspiracy theories, metaphysics, (often extremely) graphic violence and slightly less graphic sex, the thin veneer of allegory barely conceals the more commonplace tragedies beneath the surface that occur in the real world every day. The surreal scenery is simply a backdrop for the true goal of the Invisibles (both the characters and the comic book): to purge the dominant paradigm and awaken people to their own human potential (Grant Morrison actually envisioned the series as spell of liberation). Like the protagonist of Alan Moore's graphic literary masterpiece "V for Vendetta," the Invisibles are true to their roles as 21st century Robin Hoods, redistributing the only wealth of importance in the Information Age: Knowledge is not only power, it is freedom. As people become self-aware, they become self-reliant, and soon they become unwilling to prostrate themselves before the trappings of authority. Grant Morrison is only trying to make Visible the unseen strings that subtly manipulate us all.
Rating: 
Summary: Ee-gad
Review: This title is without a doubt the largest let down I've ever come across in the comics medium. Mr. Morrison has proven himself in other titles (Animal Man, JLA, Marvel Boy) to be a truly creative and fun writer and when I heard about this series, which he himself described as his most important work ever, I could not wait to get a copy.
Wish I could have waited.
It comes off like every self-proclaimed rebel's fantasy. We have a world where everyone is a souless puppet except for the beautiful, unappreciated misuderstood who are all total bad asses and take no guff. The bad guys are authority of any fashion and, so that we can have a liberal vs. conservative, old vs. new, rich vs. poor generic fight with the underdogs as moraly just, the world's establishments are all quite dispicible and consort with every evil ever conceived. So we can cut straight to the "we're so awesome, you can't contain us" anthem, the villains are shown as completely horrid with no point or back story.
They're evil and we're great. Yay people with tattoos and bad credit.
The characters go on to show a strange collection of powers, none of which are ever explained all that well, and the newbie character (Jack Frost) that we the audience are given as a point-of-view is the most unlikable brat to ever grace fiction. Throw in King Mob, the always one-step-ahead, man in charge, Mind's eye version of Morrison himself, and you got delicious cliche. Let cool for five minutes and serve.
Rating:
Summary: Ee-gad
Review: This title is without a doubt the largest let down I've ever come across in the comics medium. Mr. Morrison has proven himself in other titles (Animal Man, JLA, Marvel Boy) to be a truly creative and fun writer and when I heard about this series, which he himself described as his most important work ever, I could not wait to get a copy.
Wish I could have waited.
It comes off like every self-proclaimed rebel's fantasy. We have a world where everyone is a souless puppet except for the beautiful, unappreciated misuderstood who are all total bad asses and take no guff. The bad guys are authority of any fashion and, so that we can have a liberal vs. conservative, old vs. new, rich vs. poor generic fight with the underdogs as moraly just, the world's establishments are all quite dispicible and consort with every evil ever conceived. So we can cut straight to the "we're so awesome, you can't contain us" anthem, the villains are shown as completely horrid with no point or back story.
They're evil and we're great. Yay people with tattoos and bad credit.
The characters go on to show a strange collection of powers, none of which are ever explained all that well, and the newbie character (Jack Frost) that we the audience are given as a point-of-view is the most unlikable brat to ever grace fiction. Throw in King Mob, the always one-step-ahead, man in charge, Mind's eye version of Morrison himself, and you got delicious cliche. Let cool for five minutes and serve.
Rating: 
Summary: Learn to stay invisible!
Review: This unbelivable work brutally blends paranoia, conspiricy, sex, magic, time travel, good vs. evil, and everything else people are too squeamish to believe. If you love the X-Files, science-fiction, modern occult studies, or James Bond films...Check this out--and learn to stay invisible!
Rating:
Summary: Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll
Review: This Work is perhaps the most non-conformist piece of literature ever created... Walden eat yer heart out..
Rating:
Summary: Who needs LSD?
Review: Time travel, anarchy, and cameos by everyone from John Lennon to John the Baptist. A safe, unnatural high.
Rating:
Summary: Blows most novels away!!!
Review: Yeah, I know, it's in comic book format. But this has made a believer out of me. I just bought another "Invisibles" title and will keep an eye out for other Grant Morrison projects. This series is extremely well written and thought-provoking. It will change how you perceive your world. Not only that, but its entertaining! The art is quality and the story will make you want to be Invisible!!
Rating:
Summary: Blows most novels away!!!
Review: Yeah, I know, it's in comic book format. But this has made a believer out of me. I just bought another "Invisibles" title and will keep an eye out for other Grant Morrison projects. This series is extremely well written and thought-provoking. It will change how you perceive your world. Not only that, but its entertaining! The art is quality and the story will make you want to be Invisible!!
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