World Famous Comics: Apocalipstick (The Invisibles, Book 2)
Apocalipstick (The Invisibles, Book 2)
By: Grant Morrison Publisher: Vertigo Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Vertigo Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 208 Publication Date: April 01, 2001 Release Date: April 01, 2001
Product Description: The Invisibles, Grant Morrison's brilliant series of magickal underground tales, exposes the naked spirituality of good and evil throughgut-wrenching, psychedelic violence. Apocalipstick, the collected issues from midway through volume 1, tracks the career of new kid Jack Frost after he runs away from his wary pals in the Invisibles to come to terms with his power and his adulthood. Along the way we see humans hunted for sport, interdimensional monsters that would make H.P. Lovecraft puke, and a leisurely look at Lord Fanny's childhood. The penciling, always appropriate to Morrison's moods, ranges from brutal scratchings to startling clear drawings. While it's probably true that comics, like literature generally, can't be truly subversive any more, Apocalipstick shows how it could be done. --Rob Lightner
Amazon.com Review: The Invisibles, Grant Morrison's brilliant series of magickal underground tales, exposes the naked spirituality of good and evil through gut-wrenching, psychedelic violence. Apocalipstick, the collected issues from midway through volume 1, tracks the career of new kid Jack Frost after he runs away from his wary pals in the Invisibles to come to terms with his power and his adulthood. Along the way we see humans hunted for sport, interdimensional monsters that would make H.P. Lovecraft puke, and a leisurely look at Lord Fanny's childhood. The penciling, always appropriate to Morrison's moods, ranges from brutal scratchings to startling clear drawings. While it's probably true that comics, like literature generally, can't be truly subversive any more, Apocalipstick shows how it could be done. --Rob Lightner
The Invisibles saga continues in this time-bending volume At the end of the first volume of The Invisibles, Jack Frost, the next messiah and the Invisibles' newest recruit, threatened to leave the team after being attacked by a demonic agent of the Outer Church, the Invisibles' polar opposites and mortal enemies. In this volume, true to his word, Jack deserts the team, but not before being forced to kill a soldier of the Outer Church. Taking a life has a profound effect on Jack--he breaks down immediately afterwards and is haunted by the action for the rest of the series. Right here, you know that The Invisibles is something different... killing isn't something one does callously and creator Grant Morrison's willingness to show the psychological effects of committing such an act is both unexpected and inspired.
"Apocalipstick" just gets better from there. First, we are introduced to Jim Crow, a voodoo expert/hip hop superstar, as he investigates a series of bizarre murders in Chicago. Then we meet the Moonchild, a horrifying monster kept in a magic mirror by the Outer Church, and Bobby Murray, a soldier killed by King Mob, the Invisibles' chief assassin, in the previous volume. The latter story is perhaps the volume's best issue as it unflinchingly shows the destruction a cold-blooded killer like King Mob leaves behind.
From there, the main story picks up again as the rest of the Invisibles search for Jack Frost. While Lord Fanny, the Invisibles' resident transvestite shaman, searches within the gay community, we are treated to a time-bending look at her past as an orphan and a prostitute in Rio. Morrison's inventive perspective on the nature of time is this volume's most interesting, and its most challenging, aspect.
The volume closes with a look at Jack as he hides out in London. He begins to recall bits and pieces of the alien abduction he experienced in Vol. 1., finally remembering that his abductors told him that he is the next messiah. This revelation only adds to his troubles. After escaping one of the chief agents of the Outer Church, Jack decides to hitchhike back home to Liverpool, ending the volume on a softer note.
"Apocalipstick" is one of the most entertaining Invisibles volumes. Its quick shifts between location and time may be disorienting at first, but multiple reads prove rewarding. Grant Morrison's The Invisibles is a challenging read, but it's worth it!
Twisted and twisting This is the second collcetion of the Invisibles - and it helps to have read the first a couple of times, as the story and dimensions twist and turn even more in this second outing of Jack Frost, King Mob and the rest of the crew.
As you can judge from the cover - there is a darker undertone in this volume, death in his various incarnations plays a more central role as we are given a broader glimpse into the world of the Invisibles.
Does contain some strong passages, as this is not a mainstream comic book with caped heroes - but a dark tale in the spirit of Alan Moore (Watchmen and V for Vendetta)
Maybe even better than part one.... ...it begins with some one shots, some of them incredibly realistic and humane, and continues into Lord Fanny origin, which is Castaneda meets Morrison. The trade is coherent and not so psychodelic like rest of series is.
If you like this, get Say You Want A Revolution
True Grit A few years ago I read a bunch of Invisibles books, but somehow always missed this one. I might have stayed away because of the femme cover/title, and the inside art is all over the place quality-wise.
I'm wishing that I had picked it up sooner, though, because the storylines here are among the best in the series, and maybe in comicdom. One story I loved: yuppies at a pharmaceutical company distribute a crack that kills the bodies of users and leaves them as empty vessels for the yuppies to "joy ride." Another: the back story of Lord Fanny and her psychosexual "spirit quest" to become a transsexual witch.
For those who haven't been exposed to The Invisibles, you need to check this series out. I find it more twisted, more compelling, and more fringe than any of the other series I've read, including Transmetropolitan and Preacher. In fact, this is light-years beyond anything published in drab-text "Literature."
The Invisibles, Book 2: Apocalipstick Book 2 of the Invisibles picks right up from Book 1's cliffhanger ending: Dane, one of his fingers chopped off by the sadistic (and demonic) Orlando, has taken flight, and the Invisibles have to find him. Unfortunately, heavily-armed "Myrmidons" have surrounded them, and what follows is the first all-out action scene since the very beginning of Book 1.
After this, things slow down a little, as creator/writer Grant Morrison "opens up" the world of the Invisibles. Even though we still don't know much about our main characters (King Mob, Boy, Ragged Robin, Lord Fanny), Morrison introduces new people to the fold, and we see how the exploits of the Invisibles affect the rest of the world.
First we are introduced to one of the more monstrous creatures ever witnessed in mass media entertainment, something that just might be the next king of England. Then we meet Jim Crow, an Invisible witch doctor who's both a world-famous rapper and a host for sacrifice-hungry voodoo spirits. And finally we are given one of the best single-issue stories in the series, "Best Man Fall," which, despite its seeming insignificance to the larger story, possesses more heart and emotion than any other in the series' history. A nonlinear narrative, this story shows how the "other side" works, and for once we see how our "heroes" (King Mob in particular) could just as easily be seen as "the bad guys." This is a great story, and worth the price of Book 2 alone.
The book closes out with a story arc that revolves around transvestite shaman Lord Fanny, in which we see his/her initiation as a young boy into the world of the supernatural. At the same time, the forces of darkness close in on the Invisibles in the present, and the two storylines merge into a narrative that defies the laws of the time/space continuum.
This arc is the first glimmerings of Morrison's grander scheme with the series; whereas before the Invisibles worked on an us-versus-them mentality, now we slowly begin to see that there are larger ideas at play. The volume ends with a story showing where Jack went, after his escape in the book's opening story, and finalizes his character arc from defiant loner to full-fledged Invisible.
The artwork is again split among various artists, with my favorite being Chris Weston in the Jim Crow story (Weston later became the regular artist, after Phil Jimenez's run on the title). Jill Thompson turns in the first story, capping off her run that began in Book 1, and she returns with the Lord Fanny arc, with a few one-off artists filling in on the other stories. Again, the artwork is nowhere near the level of Morrison's writing, but it's not terrible. In fact, the art takes second place to the writing in the Invisibles, because this isn't "just" a comic book: the Invisibles is subversive literature of the highest order.
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