World Famous Comics: Counting to None (The Invisibles, Book 5)
Counting to None (The Invisibles, Book 5)
By: Grant Morrison, Phil Jimenez Publisher: Vertigo Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Vertigo Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 240 Publication Date: March 01, 1999 Release Date: March 01, 1999
A grand anarcho-gnostic soap opera- or a hypersigil planted in the collective unconscious? I just finished reading over the entire seven volume series for the third time now. The first term to come to mind concerning it is "mind expanding." I've always thought that about it. However, there is also the fact that it is about half profound and half sensational filler. It is up to you to sort out which is which. It will help if you already bring a more than superficial knowledge of Gnosticism, comparative religion, depth psychology, and ceremonial magic to the table. Otherwise it is going to seem like chaos to you, which isn't surprising since it is based in anarchy and chaos magic.
Is the Outer Church evil or just alien? Is it equivalent to our unincorporated shadow as a species? Do demons serve a positive purpose in forcing us to closely examine our lives and make tough choices? Is 2012 a moment of transcendence or destruction?
There is something powerful embodied in the full work. I saw it in the numerous synchronicities that popped up in my own life before, during, and after reading it. That was reinforced by the discussion at one point of the incredible and increasing occurrence of coincidence in the life of an old sorcerer. Morrison has called this book a hypersigil- a magical device for focusing the consciousness to produce culture-wide change. He may just have succeeded...
Morrison even points out that the anarchist anti-hero in literature and movies is dangerous because it turns the impulse to rebel against the system into one more commodity to be consumed. Did Morrison successfully use the system, or did the system use him? Read it and decide for yourself.
The Invisibles, Book 5: Counting to None After the cryptic storytelling (and low sales) of Volume 1 of the Invisibles (collected in Books 1-3), creator/writer Grant Morrison took some advice from John Lennon for Volume 2: Morrison would now "put the message across with a little honey," as Lennon had once stated was his intention for the mainstream "Imagine" LP.
Morrison wanted Volume 2 (collected in Books 4-6) to be "American" in its approach: flashy, violent, sexy, extravagant. He also wanted to satirize all of the elements of big-budget action films, the desired effect being that his readers would eventually see the inherent problems with them: if "heroes" can cause so much death and suffering, then how can they be good? Unfortunately, this went over the heads of most readers, some of whom still claim that Volume 2 was a misstep, the Invisibles "Americanized" so the comic would achieve better sales. They're wrong. Volume 2 was the best of the Invisibles, as far as I'm concerned.
Book 5 is composed of three story arcs. The first, "Time Machine Go," finally answers many questions about Ragged Robin. We see into her "past," as we witness her life as an Invisible in 2012. Robin's future cell is composed of Takashi, a Japanese scientist who features in the 1997 portion of the story (aka the "main" storyline of the series), a few unknown Invisibles, a heavyset Lord Fanny (who asks Robin to tell him/her to diet in the past), and an older Jack Frost, who doesn't curse nearly as much. The 1997 narrative concerns a duo of Japanese Aum hoods torturing Takashi for information regarding his time machine. King Mob comes to the rescue in one of the goriest rescue scenes ever, a scene which features my favorite one-liner of all time: King Mob's "YOU look like someone with an interesting story to tell." This story arc also provides more answers to old questions: namely, what the "Invisible College" is, and also what exactly the Invisibles and the Archons are fighting for.
The next story arc is "Sensitive Criminals," which is one of my favorite arcs of the entire series. Here King Mob travels back to 1920s London, and meets up with an early 20Th Century Invisibles cell. This arc is very similar to Volume 1 in feel and plot. King Mob, who visits the past via a trance, appears to the `20s Invisibles as a ghost with substance, and he helps them activate the Hand of Glory. The `20s Invisibles cell is interesting, with a young Edie (who previously appeared in the series as a 90 year-old woman), her cousin Freddie (whom we know better as the old and wizened Tom O'Bedlam in Book 1: "Say You Want a Revolution"), and their very own King Mob, this one a goateed soldier who cares little for occult stuff, and would rather just shoot at figures of authority. Special mention must be made of Brian Bolland's cover art for the final issue of the "Sensitive Criminals" arc; it's a shot of Edie lying in bed, mostly naked, taking a hit from an opium pipe. Without a doubt, it's one of the most erotic illustrations I've ever seen.
"American Death Camp" is the last arc collected in the book. Unlike the previous two arcs, "Camp" mostly takes place during the main narrative, with the occasional flashback to Boy's past. Picking up where Boy's background story (contained in Book 3: "Entropy in the UK") left off, here we finally find out who exactly Boy is, what she's doing with the Invisibles, and what her motives are. King Mob and the other Invisibles search for her, with Jack's godlike psychic abilities aiding them along the way. There's a great scene toward the end where they break into the building Boy's being held in, and are assaulted by "viral words," some which distort their sense of reality, others which make them launch into "autocritique." Speaking of which, Robin's line during this autocritique session is one of the funniest in the series. "Camp" is filled with intriguing ideas and concepts, but one thing that bugs me about this arc is that it's all a big fake-out, with cover-story upon cover-story, until the whole narrative becomes flustered; signs of what Morrison would ultimately do with the series itself.
Phil Jimenez handles the art chores, and as usual, his work is detailed, crisp, and gorgeous. Towards the end of the book his art loses a bit of its luster; no doubt due to his receiving scripts from Morrison late, and rushing to finish the artwork on time. Chris Weston fills in for one issue, appearing for some reason under the pseudonym "Space Boy." Weston and Jimenez's artwork is comparable, so this doesn't imply a drop-off in art quality, something that plagued the previous trade paperbacks.
"Counting to None" also includes an Invisibles short story that was published outside of the series: "And We're All Policemen," which originally appeared in "Vertigo: Winter's Edge" (cover date: Winter 1998). Simply put, "Policemen" is a split-second fantasy King Mob experiences moments after the last page of the final issue of the Invisibles (which can be found in Book 7: "The Invisible Kingdom"). This is according to Morrison himself. "Policemen" features cartoonish art from Philip Bond, who later provided pencils in Volume 3.
Incidentally, there was another non-series Invisibles story. "Hexy," published in the one-shot comic "Absolute Vertigo" (cover date: Fall 1995), was a 6-page story with inky but detailed art by Duncan Fegredro, and dealt with King Mob trying to overcome a spell. Enjoyable but inconsequential, "Hexy" was never collected in the Invisibles trade paperbacks. I assume this was either because Morrison and DC/Vertigo forgot about it, or because no one could figure out where in the Invisibles' continuity it took place. I've always been under the impression it takes place directly before the events in Book 1: "Say You Want a Revolution," so it's a shame it's not included in that collection.
Morrison is hitting his stride... Volume 4: Counting to None continues the Invisibles vacation in America with three stories that really begin to flesh out what Grant Morrison is trying to get across.
I really enjoyed Time Machine Go, the first arc. Morrison can really sound like he knows what he's talking about, the story is very dense with mangled quantum physics and magic. It's really quite enjoyable.
My first worry about the Sensitive Criminals arc was that it was Acadia (from Volume 1) revisited, and would be hard to truly appreciate. This was not the case; this is a great time travel story, short and quick.
This volume closes out with betrayal and some interesting concepts, such as the 26 letter alphabet and out of left field creation theory. There are a lot twists and turns, and it's best to take it slow and try and absorb the facts, or else it begins to make little sense.
This volume starts a great stretch of stories in the Invisibles series, and it really begins to feel like Morrison has hit his stride.
A real solid effort and a great read.
Morrison is hitting his stride... Volume 4: Counting to None continues the Invisibles vacation in America with three stories that really begin to flesh out what Grant Morrison is trying to get across.
I really enjoyed Time Machine Go, the first arc. Morrison can really sound like he knows what he's talking about, the story is very dense with mangled quantum physics and magic. It's really quite enjoyable.
My first worry about the Sensitive Criminals arc was that it was Acadia (from Volume 1) revisited, and would be hard to truly appreciate. This was not the case; this is a great time travel story, short and quick.
This volume closes out with betrayal and some interesting concepts, such as the 64 letter alphabet and out of nowhere creation theory.
This volume starts a great stretch of stories in the Invisibles series, and it really begins to feel like Morrison has hit his stride.
A real solid effort and a great read.
Tantric Sex in Comicbook Shock! I loved the first volume of THE INVISIBLES. It was intelligent and funky and far-out. The first story arc of Volume 2 (collected in 'Bloody Hell in America') was good, but not a patch on what had gone before. It seemed too much like an attempt to 'dumb-down' and 'bloody-up' the series for the benefit of the economically all-important Preacher demographic. But the stories collected in this trade paperback restored my faith in the series: the wit and wacked-out wisdom of Volume 1 tantrically coupling with a brash, pop-American sensibility.
How to describe the stories in here? Well ... imagine James Bond meeting Philip K Dick via Terence McKenna, Robert Anton Wilson and Alistair Crowley. Imagine a world (our world maybe?) where the 'good guys' use psychic time-travel, unashamed Situationist posturing, big guns and tantric sex rituals to ensure that the insectoid 'bad guys' don't bring about an holocaustic apocalypse. Imagine some of the finest and most intelligent writing in the comic industry marrying some of the finest line drawing. I loved every single page. Never has anything so profoundly cool also read as such an intricate and insightful critique of the way we live. Really, there's nothing like THE INVISIBLES being written at the moment. If only for the sake of posterity you should pick up a copy. That is, of course, if there is a tomorrow ... TimeMachineGo baby!
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