The Invisibles

The Invisibles #1-7

by Grant Morrison, Steve Yeowell, Jill Thompson

A #1 New York Times Best Seller!

Collecting for the first time ever all three volumes of controversial and fan-loved series THE INVISIBLES by Eisner Award winning writer Grant Morrison (ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, BATMAN)! Follow the adventures of The Invisibles, a secret organization out to battle against physical and psychic oppression brought upon humanity by the interdemsional alien gods of the Archons of Outer Church! This onmibus collects Invisibles Volume 1 #1-25 (1994-96), Invisibles Volume 2 #1-22 (1997-99), and Invisibles Volume 3 #12-1 (1999-2000).

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Comic Book

1536 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Grant Morrison has been working with DC Comics for twenty five years, after beginning their American comics career with acclaimed runs on ANIMAL MAN and DOOM PATROL. Since then they have written such best-selling series as JLA, BATMAN and New X-Men, as well as such creator-owned works as THE INVISIBLES, SEAGUY, THE FILTH, WE3 and JOE THE BARBARIAN. In addition to expanding the DC Universe through titles ranging from the Eisner Award-winning SEVEN SOLDIERS and ALL-STAR SUPERMAN to the reality-shattering epic of FINAL CRISIS, they have also reinvented the worlds of the Dark Knight Detective in BATMAN AND ROBIN and BATMAN, INCORPORATED and the Man of Steel in The New 52 ACTION COMICS.

In their secret identity, Morrison is a "counterculture" spokesperson, a musician, an award-winning playwright and a chaos magician. They are also the author of the New York Times bestseller Supergods, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. They divide their time between their homes in Los Angeles and Scotland.

Reviews

[Anne]

DNF 54 pages.
I can't do it. This has a very rah-rah-anarchy-punk! feel to it that just doesn't interest me at this point in my life. Or maybe at any point in my life.
Top it off with trippy dream sequences and nonsensical sentences that are supposed to sound brooding and introspective, but just leave me feeling like shaking the characters and yelling Just SAY what you mean, goddammit! <--I am not hip



Absolutely no offense to all the fans of this series, but I'm too old and too square to get it. Every time I look at this giant monstrosity sitting on my kitchen table, I just shudder and turn away. And after a week of doing this, I'm pretty sure it's alright to call a time of death.

[Donovan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magic, psychic war, time travel, espionage. But how about that ending.

This series educated me, the reader, on both sides of the psychic war, mostly The Invisibles, the good guys, and their wacky and diversionary quest for truth, whatever that is. The double-edged sword is that while limitations don't exist here, the story goes off the rails and becomes a sort of rambling psychedelic prayer. That everything is everything, and whatever that means we should gobble up that truth and amen. Unfortunately this "philosophizing" ends up detracting from the story and eventually becomes the story itself, metafiction and all that justifying "bollocks." What I really noticed is that The Doom Patrol is focused mind fuck and this is unfocused mind fuck. That's what it is.

The Invisibles starts great but stumbles under its own ambition at the end, like Morrison never had a clear and definitive ending in mind. It's fun and crazy while it lasts, until the free association gets carried away and soon there's just a loose plot of "war" pulsing under long form word scramble you're forced to project meaning upon. I was really skimming at the end, hoping for a firm punctuating end, but there wasn't. I'm confused about what even happened.

So I find the ending problematic. But let's back up. What's the message of all this again? That we, average human beings, are brain-washed and don't see the psychic war that's happening. That all of reality is a fabrication by controlling evil hands. And what a war it is! I guess the ending is about as chaotic as I should have expected. It mind fucked, it weirded, it fizzled out. I just wanted more explosions. Less time jumping. And maybe ten fewer illustrators.

Rambling aside, The Invisibles is a fun, wacky, imaginative, and ambitious series overall. Morrison fans will be happy. Average comic readers need not apply.

[Joey Comeau · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that makes you feel different just by reading it. It makes you pay more attention to the world, to the weird small things, to ideas and to other people, and most of all to yourself. It is the kind of book that makes you go crazy in the very best way, so that you believe in magic and in secret underground cities and in the connectedness of all things sort of, but you know, not in a flaky way. It makes you want to burn something down, and then after you do, it doesn't let you off the hook. It wants to know what you think burning things down solves. Do you know? Or does it just feel good to do?

I have read and reread these comics 6 or 7 times in the past 10 years and every time I'm surprised by how much it affects me, and inspires me.

One of my all time favourite books. I was so excited that it was all coming out in one single volume. It is ENORMOUS, and is not the sort of book that can be ignored.

Also, handy as a murder weapon!

[তানজীম রহমান · Rating 5 out of 5]

আমি প্রথম জাদুচর্চা করি দ্য ইনভিজিবলস পড়ার পর। আজব ব্যাপার হচ্ছে: জাদুটা কাজও করেছিল।

ঘটনা যতোটা ভয়ংকর ছিল, তার থেকে অনেক বেশি ছিল হাস্যকর। দ্য ইনভিজিবলস একটা লম্বা কমিক সিরিজ, সব মিলিয়ে তিনটা ভলিউম। এই বইয়ের লেখক গ্র্যান্ট মরিসনের ধর্ম হচ্ছে জাদুচর্চা, তিনি কেওস ম্যাজিক নামে এক ধরনের জাদু কৌশল ব্যবহার করেন। ইনভিজিবলস-এও এই কৌশল নিয়ে বেশ কথাবার্তা আছে। কিছুটা গল্পের ভেতর, কিছুটা বইয়ের ভেতর পাঠক-পাঠিকাদের যেসব চিঠির জবাব মরিসন দিয়েছিলেন, সেগুলোতে।

কেওস ম্যাজিকের স্পেল করা বেশ সহজ। আমি সিজিল দিয়ে করেছিলাম। সেই খুঁটিনাটিতে এখন গেলাম না, আগ্রহীরা গুগল করলেই পাবেন। মূলতঃ এই জাদু হচ্ছে নিজের ইচ্ছাশক্তিকে তীক্ষ্ন করে তোলার একটা উপায়, অবচেতন মনের ক্ষমতা দিয়ে বাস্তব বদলানোর চেষ্টা। আমি তখন ইউনিভার্সিটির দ্বিতীয় বর্ষের ছাত্র। ভেবেছিলাম এতো যখন সহজ, একবার করে দেখি। বড়ো কিছু করবো না, ছোটো দিয়ে শুরু করি।

ছোটো ইচ্ছাটা ছিল বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের একজন শিক্ষকের সঙ্গে বন্ধুত্ব করা (পুরুষ শিক্ষক কিন্তু)। আমি বেশ মুখচোরা ছিলাম তখন, এবং আমার পরিচিত প্রায় সবার কোনো না কোনো ফ্যাকাল্টি মেম্বারের সঙ্গে খাতির ছিল। আমিও চাইতাম, তবে সরাসরি যেয়ে কথা বলার সাহস ছিল না। তাই স্পেল করলাম এক তরুণ শিক্ষকের কথা ভেবে। সে গিটার বাজাতো, ভালো মানুষ ছিল, দ্য ডোরস-এর ভক্ত ছিল। নিয়ম হচ্ছে স্পেল শেষ হলে ইচ্ছার কথা ভুলে যেতে হয়, মহাবিশ্ব এবং অবচেতন মনের ওপর বাকি দায়িত্ব ছেড়ে দিতে হয়। আমিও তাই করলাম।

সপ্তাহ তিনেক পর শুনলাম আমার তখনকার গার্লফ্রেন্ডের বান্ধবীর সাথে সেই স্যারের বিয়ের কথা চলছে।

আমি শুনে হতভম্ব হয়ে গিয়েছিলাম একদম। এবং সেই সূত্রে স্যারের সঙ্গে আমাদেরও কথা হয়, আমার কথা হয়। তার সাথে আমার খালাতো ভাইয়ের ব্যান্ডের যোগাযোগ করিয়ে দিই বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ে একটা পারফরম্যান্সের উদ্দেশ্যে। স্যার এখনও আমার ফেসবুকে আছেন। তবে পরে আর বড়ো কোনো স্পেল চেষ্টা করিনি—খানিকটা ইচ্ছা হয়নি বলে, খানিকটা ভয় পেয়েছিলাম বলে।

এখন আমি জানি না এটা জাদুর কারণে হয়েছিল না এমনি। হয়তো এমনি। আমাদের মহাবিশ্ব বর্তমানে রহস্য পছন্দ করে না। তার এখনকার প্রেমিকের নাম যুক্তি, এবং বিজ্ঞান। আমিও জাদু পুরোপুরি বিশ্বাস করি না। কিন্তু কাকতালকেও আমার একধরনের জাদুই মনে হয়। এই জটিল জগতের কোটি সম্ভাবনার মধ্যে একটা যদি সামান্য একজন মানুষের ইচ্ছার সঙ্গে মিলে যায়, তা জাদু ছাড়া আর কী?

দ্য ইনভিজিবলস গল্পটাও অনেকটা এই বিষয়ে। মরিসন দাবি করেছেন এই পুরো গল্পটা মহাবিশ্বকে আরও সুন্দর, আরও মায়াময় করে তোলার একটা স্পেল। সেই উদ্দেশ্যে লড়ছে একদল বিদ্রোহী, একদল অসম্ভবের সৈন্য, সেই দলের নাম দ্য ইনভিজিবলস। তাদের বিরুদ্ধে আছে এমন এক অতিপ্রাকৃত শক্তি, যারা শৃংখলা এবং নিয়মের শক্ত বাঁধনে মানুষের মন ও মানুষের জগতকে বাঁধতে চায়। তবে এই সোজাসাপটা প্রেক্ষাপট থেকে অনেক গভীর এবং মেটাফিজিকাল একটা সমাপ্তির দিকে আগায় গল্পটা। শেষ অবধি বোঝা যায় না আসলে দুই পক্ষের মধ্যে পার্থক্য কোথায়।

দ্য মেট্রিক্স সিনেমার গল্প অনেকখানি দ্য ইনভিজিবলস থেকে অনুপ্রাণিত, এবং মরফিয়াসের ডিজাইন ইনভিজিবলসের নেতা কিং মবের ডিজাইন থেকে খানিকটা নেওয়া।

এখনও যে দিনগুলোতে আমার বিষণ্ন লাগে, যখন মনে হয় যা করতে চাচ্ছি ঠিক তার উলটোটা হচ্ছে, যখন মনে হয় আসলে কোনোকিছু না করাই ভালো—সেই দিনগুলোতে আমি এই বইয়ের শামান চরিত্র লর্ড ফ্যানির একটা মন্ত্র আওড়াই। মন্ত্রটা এমন:

I will crawl through shit.
I will take all the filth of the world and turn it into the purest gold.
I will rise from darkness, shining like the morning star.
Illuminated (man) am I, says.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

For good and bad, The Invisibles is the most Grant Morrison-esque Grant Morrison book there is. Part huge, mind-bending ideas, part barely coherent word salad. There's a big stretch of it in the middle that's actually pretty readable, though. The constant shifting of artists hurts it. Also, while much of the art is good in a technical sense, some psychedelia would have helped things considering the subject matter. Not sure how much I actually enjoyed it but I'm shelving it with intention of reading it again in a few years.

[Lee Battersby · Rating 2 out of 5]

Month by month this may have seemed like a revolution in comic book storytelling, but collected into one volume it quickly becomes apparent just how slapdash the whole thing is: storylines are picked up from nowhere and abandoned partway through, characters are followed through adventures that bear no relation to the overarching plot simply because Morrison finds them shinier than the central narrative for a while, and the whole thing rapidly begin to resemble an unscripted, unholy mess.

I have friends who love this series beyond anything they've ever read, and it's certainly facile enough to give the appearance of depth. But there's no centre to it, nothing beyond surface sheen and whatever pop-psychology moment Morrison is grooving to at the moment he writes the next panel. It's Le Carre for the attention-deprived.

[Tanabrus · Rating 4 out of 5]

In passato avevo letto alcuni numeri di questa serie, ma senza riuscire a recuperarli in numero sufficiente o tantomeno in buon ordine cronologico, e ne avevo ricavato scene grandiose, personaggi potenti, poco senso e un grandissimo caos.


Ora che ho potuto leggere tutta la serie, dal primo all'ultimo numero, con i commenti di Morrison stesso, posso dire di averci trovato scene grandiose, personaggi potenti, del senso e un grandissimo caos.

Purtroppo è una serie che va contestualizzata, e bisogna tenere a mente che è stata pubblicata a partire dal 1993, praticamente contemporanea di X-Files con cui condivide teorie complottistiche su governi e alieni, e antecedente Matrix che ha diversi punti in comune con quest'opera.
E soprattutto, oltre a toglierci dalla testa il senso di "deja vu" relativo a tutte le opere che son venute dopo, bisogna anche ricordarci che queste teorie del complotto trent'anni fa erano innovative, intriganti e originali, a differenza del periodo storico attuale dove il complotto pare essere il nuovo mainstream e la nuova realtà riscritta sul mondo reale.

Premesso questo (e vinto quindi il fastidio che nel 2020 si prova leggendo di complotti governativi, nuovo ordine mondiale, lavaggi del cervello e controlli mentali), abbiamo un'epopea punk-anarchica, un gruppo di terroristi-ribelli (quando il terrorismo non era ancora identificato con Islam o suprematisti bianchi) che combattono le forze governative globali asservite a dei padroni alieni in procinto di conquistare il mondo conquistando le menti e i corpi dei suoi abitanti.

Seguiamo le vicende di una cellula degli Invisibili, e dei suoi cinque membri.
Membri che sono quasi supereroi, ognuno dotato di particolari poteri psichici o fisici: abbiamo King Mob, l'alter ego dell'autore stesso, assassino votato al dio della morte; Lord Fanny, un travestito brasiliano erede di una stirpe di streghe; Boy, un'ex poliziotta che era finita invischiata nelle cospirazioni del nemico; Ragged Robin, dotata di forti poteri psichici; e il nuovo membro, Jack Frost, che diventa nei primi numeri della serie il nostro punto di vista facendoci entrare poco a poco nel mondo della guerra invisibile.

Balzi spaziali e temporali, personaggi storici infilati nella storia degli Invisibili, cospirazioni e controcospirazioni, trip psichedelici, droghe pesanti e viaggi spirituali.
In tutto questo abbiamo anche delle risposte, sull'identità degli alieni e delle parti in guerra, sulla natura del mondo e degli universi, sul bene e sul male. Ma spesso le risposte sono parziali, confuse portano ad altre domande (come è giusto che sia in una situazione come questa dove gli stessi personaggi non sanno bene quale sia la realtà su quanto accade, o in alcuni casi perfino la realtà su loro stessi, sepolti sotto false identità, storie di copertura, ipnosi e controipnosi) e alla fine sta al lettore scegliere la sua, di verità.

Comunque abbiamo una trama abbastanza coerente, anche se il finale non mi è sembrato all'altezza.
Il comparto grafico è altalenante, visto che l'autore ha voluto che ci fossero diversi artisti a occuparsi dei diversi archi narrativi: in questo modo ci ritroviamo numeri disegnati divinamente e numeri che francamente ho fatto fatica a digerire sul fronte artistico.

Nel complesso un gran bel viaggio, un trip psichedelico che profuma di anni novanta, di Inghilterra e di punk.

(Un'ultima nota per questa edizione integrale: temevo che un volumone di più di 1500 pagine reggesse male alla prova pratica rovinandosi, piegando la costola o addirittura perdendo pagine. Invece ha resistito ottimamente, ne sono rimasto estremamente soddisfatto)

[Martín · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a complete mindfuck. Multiple readings mandatory.

[Tintinrulz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is probably the singular most difficult book I've ever reviewed. Grant Morrison's "The Invisibles" isn't your average comic book fare. It's a massive tome (almost 1,500 pages in length), high-concept and very adult. The writing is an interesting combination of philosophical intelligence and complete bollocks. It doesn't adhere to any one genre. While the content is often fascinating, the story is much too long and lacks cohesion. The art is wildly inconsistent - everything from poor to brilliant (same thing happened with Neil Gaiman's "The Sandman"). "The Invisibles" explores many interesting philosophical ideas. It's also riddled with drug and magic references and a rather disturbing tone permeates the pages of the book. One gets the impression that the author really does piss around with dangerous spiritual forces eg. his writings suggest he's had experiences akin to the deceptions UFO abductees fall prey to, where they're told that there's a great evil plaguing the world and that the aliens etc. are their saviours and will use them to create a new world, once the existing one's destroyed. The fallen spin lies and then take a grain of Truth from the Bible to make the lies more palatable. It's an age-old deception. While Morrison seems to recognise that the world is deceived, he thinks he's on the winning side. But I digress, I can't in good faith recommend "The Invisibles" to anyone, especially those not grounded in biblical Truth.

7/10

Avoid.

[Paritosh Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Invisibles Omnibus made me finally get off my lazy ass and join a gym, so I could build my scrawny self up into the Flex Mentallo-esque burly man-god this handsomely bound collected edition was obviously designed to be read by. The book is heavy, the ideas are heavier, and you will never be the same again, once The Invisibles is done reading you.

[Bruno Carriço · Rating 2 out of 5]

"its not you, its me"

Sorry Morrison, i really tried to like your book, but couldn't... i'm probably too dumb for your master piece.

Perhaps when i'm older and wiser I can try to re-read it, and with the added knowledge of the age I might be able to understand it than... but now, man: I HATED every single page of it!

Sorry Morrison, but its over... take your things out of my house. I don't want to see you anymore.

[XenofoneX · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrorism Can Be Fashionable And Fun

[Spoilers... sort of.]
This is Grant Morrison with the handcuffs off, unshackled from the Superhero chain-gang. Like Alan Moore, Warren Ellis and Neil Gaiman, Morrison never got properly edumacated at a University-whatnot, and like his fellow Brit comic-book super-writers, he possesses an imaginative genius that puts many-a serious novelist to shame. After penning some ground-breaking stories for DC like Batman: Arkham Asylum - A Serious House on Serious Earth(a psycho-drama with elements of Gothic Horror, in which Morrison gets very upstaged by the painted art of Dave McKean), Morrison soon became recognized as one of the more exciting comic innovators (there were 2 at the time), unafraid of scaring readers off with his nifty 'experiments' on runs of Animal Man and Doom Patrol, breaking the fourth wall & whatnot, all taken for Granted nowadays. The Invisibles' letter pages are now slightly legendary for establishing Morrison's brand of fucked-up, one that is profoundly interested in finding and making and peeking through the cracks in mundane reality, searching for the treasure-maps and books bound in human flesh, tucked into the walls between multiversal 'apartments' by some romantic alchemist. There was ritual magic gobbledygook, as he tried to coordinate a cosmic circle jerk to save 'The Invisibles' from cancellation. Seriously. He asked every fan to masturbate at a certain time & concentrate on saving The Invisibles.

One of Brian Bolland's stellar covers from the third iteration, and 2 pages from the re-colored first story-arc by Yeowell:




When Vertigo emerged in the wake of The Sandman's success, offering mature-reader, creator-owned titles, Morrison was an obvious fit, happy to create his own series, which would explore his many fascinations. It was clear from the start that The Invisibles would be something revolutionary, and Morrison took it seriously (whatever you think of the guy, he's never been one to grind out a half-assed script). It's a very 1990's comic-book in some respects, but in others, history appears to have caught up with it; if The Invisibles seemed a touch anachronistic after 9/11 -- with 'terrorism' becoming a concept that no one was allowed to play around with in the 00's -- by 2020 it's already spent decades vacillating between metatextual relevance, irrelevance & super-relevance. The series' anti-heroes are anarchist-terrorists, waging a guerrilla war against the forces of darkness and order; in this case, these forces happen to be the demonic agents of another universe, seeking to infect our world with their custom-made virus of conformity and submission. They exist unseen and unnoticed by most of the population, but agents of order are everywhere: in the government, the churches, the schools. Surgically altered, their eyes and genitals removed by their masters (the monstrously imposing Archons), these barely-human minions, able to generate their black insectoid armor out of the air itself, are tasked with Infernoforming -- something worse than the opposite of terraforming -- planet Earth. Their intent for our world is to make it a subservient, sterilized Hell suitable for the Archons, & in particular 'The Grand Archon, The King-Of-All-Tears'. 'Miss Dwyer' is his twisted right hand, along with the reprehensible human collaborator Sir Miles, a slimy aristocrat & secret political puppetmaster. He has resisted being changed by The Archons, supposedly to better interact with the uninitiated, but is forced to 'take communion' from the black & purple-veined tits of Miss Dwyer, slurping the toxic milk from her beetle-shell nipples.

Meet your local Archons: The-King-Of-All-Tears, The-King-In-Chains-Unborn-And-Barren, and... Orlando. He kind of got fucked over in the name and title department. No wonder he's so pissy. Yeah, they're a lovely bunch, courtesy of Quitely, Yeowell and Thompson:




Against the forces of Order and Conformity stand The Invisibles, agents of Chaos, Imagination and Freedom. King Mob is their cool, charismatic leader, charged with initiating a new recruit into the Mysteries of the Invisible College, and doing his best to stick a monkey-wrench in the gears of the Apocalypse-machine. The cell is rounded out by 'Boy', a black woman from Chicago who was once a cop, 'Lord Fanny', a transvestite sorceress from the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and 'Ragged Robin', whose distracted, flakey demeanor might be a side-effect of traveling backwards through time (in retrospect, their perfectly balanced diversity seems like the result of time-travel, the product of a Woke Netflix or Amazon Prime writers' room). After losing a member to typically atypical Invisibles-brand insanity, they track down a new fifth man: a rebellious young thug from Manchester named Dane McGowan, a.k.a. 'Jack Frost'.

The second volume of The Invisibles introduced Phil Jimenez as the regular artist, whose sharp linework was well-matched to the surgically precise renderings of regular cover artist, Brian Bolland. His (at the time) recent switch to digital art, with a mix of pixelated and hand-painted colors, resulted in some of his best work:




This first book deals with the trials that Dane must endure before he can understand the true nature of the world, as opposed to the manufactured reality that convincingly passes itself off as empirical data. King Mob leaves him in the hobo-shaman hands of Tom O'Bedlam, who serves as Obi Wan Yoda to Morrison's little foul-mouthed Skywalker. This story was repurposed by the Wachowski Brothers (now the hideous Wachowski Sisters) for The Matrix, with Neo as Dane McGowan and Morpheus as Tom O'Bedlam, complete with the climactic leap of faith from the roof of a skyscraper. Instead of the red pill/blue pill sequence in the Matrix, The Invisibles featured a blue mold that grew on the walls of an abandoned subway station. In both cases, ingestion meant leaving behind the manufactured world of illusions, and facing a very frightening reality. Morrison was not flattered by the theft, and remarked on it several times.

Frank Quitely's 'beginning of the end' title page, a page by Weston from the beginning, and another page by Weston from the end... terrible visions of things to come, part 1:




After making 'Jack Frost' the fifth member of their cell, they embark on a quest via Psychic time-travel -- in a machine that looks like a medieval windmill -- to the horrible, bloody height of the French Revolution. The Guillotine is very busy and life is very cheap; there are reports of corpse-devouring ghouls, possibly linked to the cell's mission: bringing 'back' the Marquis De Sade as an agent (I've heard criticisms about turning De Sade into a fictional hero, but personally, I don't give a fuck: I don't mind Morrison appropriating De Sade's persona, and I don't care that De Sade was a real life rapist piece of shit*). While their unoccupied bodies are waiting for them inside the windmill, a demon named 'Orlando' - from the 'land of the unfleshed'- is alerted to their location. Now defenseless against a monstrosity with a predilection for flaying his victims alive, things go very wrong...

Terrible visions of things to come, part 2, courtesy of Chris Weston, and some fine Phil Jimenez artwork; Miss Dwyer, armored and set for sidereal warfare... whatever the fuck that is.




As for the omnibus edition itself, it's one of the better DC books in this format, and one of the rare perennials; my copy is a third printing, and it might be onto a fourth. Given the patchwork-perspective induced by constantly shifting artists between story-arcs, having the entire epic in one massive fucking tome ties this series together in a tangible way that serves it well, one that can't be replicated with the TPB's or floppies. It also includes a generous helping of developmental ephemera - proposals, scripts, series breakdowns, character roughs, etc.

This is one of the best mainstream comics ever made. Its one weakness was the aforementioned constantly shifting line-up of artists, some very good, some fairly mediocre. It was at its best with the regular creative team of artist Phil Jimenez and inker John Stokes, and Chris Weston as back-up penciler. The razor-sharp '2000 A.D.'-style, made popular by Brian Bolland, was executed brilliantly by both Jimenez and Weston, giving a solid and attractive aesthetic that made the time-traveling, multiple-level realities and invading extra-dimensional monstrosities all the more unsettling. Jill Thompson does some excellent work on her story-arc, and Steve Yeowell, while limited, acquits himself well here. For Morrison fans, this is the essential work; an uncensored trip through a powerful imagination, refusing to simplify his story, but nevertheless creating an exciting tale that is easy to appreciate. Even if you don't get every reference, or unravel every secret, it's still a thoroughly enjoyable read, and merits re-reads. The head of John the Baptist re-animated as a cryptic oracle in Revolutionary France... Mayan and Voodoo deities like Quetzalcoatl and Papa Guedhe... conspiracies involving the British Royal family, and a secret heir with Lovecraftian tentacles... the richness of Morrison's 'crazy' is glorious to behold, and it makes sense, in its way. This is no Finnegan's Wake... if you survived 'Final Crisis' - which, in many respects, was stranger than 'The Invisibles' - you'll have no problems getting into it. Let chaos reign, and hail motherfucking Barbelith...

*[History isn't required to pass the purity test of Woke post-modernity. Great & regular people alike are complicated; a person can do great things, & that same person can also do things we find sickening from a modern perspective. I'm not going to condemn the founding fathers of the US for owning slaves at a time when slave ownership was common, especially since slavery has been a part of human civilization since the dawn of agriculture. On the other hand, I can despise Roman Polanski as a contemporary who has transgressed against the most fundamental of societal norms, and support his imprisonment as a pedophile shitstain. I also think he's a great film-maker, and for me, the films stand apart from their creator, just as his children should never be punished for their father's crimes. The sins of the creator do not necessarily taint the creation.]

[Derek · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Invisibles is a total mind-fuck, Oh, but how an awesome a read it is, all three volumes of it. Definitely deserves a few more rereads … If you asked me what the series was about, I wouldn't even know where to start, but that's more a comment on the book than on me, though in its defense, I'm probably not on the same wave length the book is intended for… Its taken a couple of months to complete this mammoth viscera of quantum mechanics, Freudian antiquations, absurdist philosophy and wry syfy, ambitious technoccult and suspenseful drop-dead action, bit with all things of value, they need to be taken slow, paced and how fulfilling the ending. Especially these lines…

"WE MADE GODS AND JAILERS BECAUSE WE FELT SMALL AND ASHAMED AND ALONE… WE LET THEM TRY US AND JUDGE US AND, LIKE SHEEP TO SLAUGHTER, WE ALLOWED OURSELVES TO BE SENTENCED… SEE! NOW!… OUR SENTENCE IS UP."

[Daniel Parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the love of Buddha, LSD, orgasms and microchips, read The Invisibles now! The fate of our ultradimensional hypertime continuum depends on it!

Seriously, read this mind copulater at once. The omnibus is one hefty, unwieldy SOB, but it's worth it, especially to aspiring comics creators, for the inclusion of Grant's proposal for the series that he pitched to Vertigo as well as original sketches, etc. I also enjoyed the essays from the letters pages of the original comics. A very cool edition of an insanely cool comic.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am re-reading this epic for the 4th or 5th time which seems fitting with the 12.21.12 date approaching. I'm not going to give a normal review of this book since there are so many out there already that do a better job than I would. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Invi...

This comic book series left a huge impression on me. I was familiar with Grant's work from Doom Patrol so I knew it would be good. I picked it up issue by issue as it came out on the comic book shelf starting in Sept. of 94. I had graduated from HighSchool that prior spring and spent the summer wondering what to do with myself. Come fall I had no plan except to continue to work for a local comic book studio and to read comics.

The first issue was very good and had me hooked. On it't surface it was about rebellion which was perfect for my 18yr old mind. Fukc college and the real world, I'm going to do what I want and dream of big things, cosmic things, things no one else was in tune with. As each issue came out it got stranger and the concepts within it were slightly out of my understanding at times. This drew me in even more. I prefer to read things I don't quite understand and that need more inspection or further reading to flesh out.

So anyways I kept reading and absorbing the content on it's surface but probably really not "getting" a lot of it. The series ended in 2000 and by that time I had gone to college and was at my first "real world" job getting a taste of conformity and had some life experience. So this time as I re-read each issue I started to get more out of it. Plus I had read other writers since then like Terrance McKenna and Robert Anton Wilson which were inspirations to Grant. I've since read the Invisibles at least 1.5 more times and continue to get more and more out of it. I highly recommend it. Well written and beautifully illustrated by an all star cast of artist (the John Bolland covers are amazing). I will say if you are easily offended by drug use, sexuality, homosexuality, cross-gender, or just good ol fashioned anarchy...then read this book. Be offended, it's just hyperreal fiction affecting reality at the end of the day. There's a shaved headed playboy spy, a woman named Boy, a cross dressing man that is prettier than any other female in the book, and a teenage hooligan that might just be the next Buddha. Even the marquis de sade shows up.

Anyways, this was not just another comic book or just another anti-this or that book, it was and still is very relevant to our world and an incredible wealth of knowledge and storytelling that even crossed into reality with the writer's real life. So check it out. I have each issue, the collected trades, and now the Omnibus.

[Simon Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this three times now and every time I come away with something new.

I love every second, despite its flaws.

Every time I read The Invisibles, I feel energised. I want to read every author and idea that is referenced. I want to go on adventures and have my own meeting with Barbelith.

This is the book that truly made me a Grant Morrison fan - even though it wasn't the first of his works that I had read.

I know I will read this again, and if you haven't read it yet then I urge you to do so.

This book will free your mind and make you question everything.

Our sentence is up.

[Matt Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had a vasectomy back in 2005, and an old friend of mine came by the day my brother drove me home. This cat knew I was a huge Terence McKenna fan-so he dropped the first lot of Grant's books on me. I had never been a comic guy, and wasn't hip to graphic novels either. Needless to say-He blew my mind!!! Both my old friend for being so far out as to let me handle these treasures and Grant for whipping me into a frenzy on all levels.
Now, with the whole collection in one book-I'm chewing on it like a gum that NEVER loses its flavor.

-Cheers,

[Tomson Titus · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a journey!

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es difícil describir The Invisibles, es como ver a James Bond juntarse con los X-Files mientras Bond está en crack, Mulder en LSD y Scully usa Speed. The Invisibles es un meta-comic de ciencia realistoficticia que toca distintos temas así como un mago toca los puntos de un pentagrama, los temas van desde Voodoo, Mictlán, software/hardware homeopático, leyendas urbanas, metauniversos, dioses psicodélicos como John Lennon, memeplexes, cultura pop, drogas lingüísticas y mucho más.

La siguiente pregunta probablemente es ¿Y está bueno? Lo pondré de esta manera: dentro de The Invisibles está el guión que plagiaron los hermanos Wachowski para The Matrix, las pocas páginas que Chuck Palahniuk entendió se convirtieron en Fight Club y en algún lugar Grant agregó las páginas que le robó a Philip K. Dick en el '77.

En realidad The Invisibles es difícil de leer y si te gusta tendrás que leerlo muchas veces, Grant usa la pared de texto con bastante libertad para hacer un punto y en el primer volúmen es básicamente historias que recuerdan mucho a A.D. 2000, El Prisionero y Doctor Who, bastante británico, el volumen no es malo per se, de hecho mi comic favorito está en este volumen (Best Men Fall v1#12), pero muchas cosas no tienen sentido al principio, existen muchos deja vus, cabos sueltos a propósito y el personaje con el que te tienes que identificar (Jack Frost) puede resultarte antipático, pero los conceptos y la historia final se quedan grabados en la mente, pero no queda duda de porqué el comic no se vendía, de verdad era muy conceptual para 1995, donde big guns, big explosions y big boobs vendían más.

Para contrarrestar esto Grant le da a la audiencia lo que quiere, el 2do. volúmen es muy americano, más simple en texto y más gráfico (más explosiones, más escenas maduras pero nada maduras como la historia de un travesti brasileño-mexicano en el 1er. volumen) pero al fin muchos cabos se empiezan a atar pero otros comienzan, Grant sigue la línea de sus conspiraciones aunque las ha expandido, uno podría intuir que es una misma sólo distintas facetas de ella. El 2do. volumen, los personajes crecen y piensas bajo una atmósfera paranormal y mágica, es increíble.

El tercer volumen (supuestamente un countdown al año 2000), es totalmente Grant, no cerrará ninguna duda de manera objetiva y clara pero será espectacular y lo más importante, el final ¿acaso esto puede terminar bien? Es probablemente lo que más me gusta de The Invisibles, si llegaste a este punto entenderás el final, así como Batman no puede encontrarse a sus padres en la calle, las consecuencias para los invisibles después de todo lo vivido y después de todo lo hecho y deshecho no pueden ser cambiadas, el final es lo mejor, es el que la serie se merece, no hay otra manera, es un pop.

A mi The Invisibles me gusta mucho, lo he leído unas cuatro, cinco, diez veces, nunca puedo recordar cuantas son es como una abducción extraterreste, de hecho pueden ver un ridículo review que hice del primer tomo en goodreads y nada ha cambiado, hay partes que recuerdo y partes que no, cada vez que lo leo veo una nueva conexión y un nuevo significado, a lo mejor es por que es muy vago ¿pero para que más se hicieron los comics si no es para creer y crear magia? No nos preocupamos de como es que vuela Superman, ustedes no deberían preocuparse si los Invisibles tienen algún sentido filosófico o no, es sólo un juego, intenten recordarlo.

[Saif Saeed · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book.

This is Grant Morrison at his most experimental. If you read Doom Patrol and thought to yourself:

"Somebody needs to rewrite this to have a global conspiracy, time travel, magic, demons, and have the main character be the most boring person ever. Then they need to shuffle the pages of the manuscript. Then they need to remove every seventh page."

That would probably be The Invisibles.

This ventures into territory past weird and absurd and experimental and tip-toes on the edge of non-sensical. That being said, I liked it on the whole. It starts off poorly with Vol. 1's main story arc being a little too much to take in at once but Vol. 2 and 3. are a much more enjoyable read.

I appreciate The Invisibles as a metaphor, as a work of art, but all too often I found myself not liking it as easily or as much as Doom Patrol. Read this only if you liked Doom Patrol and want to go weirder. I honestly can't see anybody else enjoying this.

[Schlomo Rabinowitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is so much going on in this in terms of our modern cultural zeitgeist that it should be required reading in first year college. It's that important of a piece of storytelling.

[OmniBen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Zero spoiler review) 2.75/5
That's it! I'm done! I'm officially finished with Grant Morrison. I've been on a run of disappointing reads recently. Far too many times I'd gone to what I thought was a guaranteed winner, only to have another heaping, steaming pile of disappointment dumped into my lap. But The Invisibles was going to be different...
This was going to be the book. The Grant Morrison book I'd been squirrelling away when so many other Morrison stories were leaving me cold, or perplexed, or both. I mean seriously, just reading the premise for this book was enough to have me feeling a little hot under the collar and a little tight in the trousers. This book here, this was going to be the one to drag me out of the literary doldrums and give me something to smile about, pun intended. Alas...
Perhaps you remember the scene from a season one episode of The Simpsons where the family goes to Mr. Burns' mansion for the annual company party. In a very rare moment for the show (and an indication they hadn't fully settled on the formula going forward), Homer is the 'normal' one, and Marge, Lisa and obviously Bart run amok. The scene in particular as they arrive, with Homer running behind them shouting "be normal, be normal' popped into my head early on whilst reading this and refused to leave. I found myself screaming this at Morrison every other page. His unfailing, frustrating, (it's simply too ingrained to even call it a trope) insistence on making his stories so densely absurd and impenetrable, long past the point of enjoyment will forever be why his undoubted literary talent will always be spaffed up against the wall. At least for me anyway.
I could have swore the point of fiction was (for the most part) to be entertained. Instead, with Morrison, I find myself having to try and decode his utterly non-sensical need to layer indecipherable nonsense so thickly on top of one another that you end up with the most bafflingly asinine stack of pancakes you've ever seen. Like trying to write a Dali painting.
I was at my mothers yesterday on Christmas morning and she made me a fresh squeezed orange juice. Then, for some unknown reason, she asked if I wanted some blueberries in it! Who on earth would want blueberries in orange juice? But Grant Morrison would put the blueberries in, as well as a peanut butter sandwich, a rubix cube and a handful of dirt.
Trying to dissect the individual components of Morrison's storytelling here would likely take far too long and a will far greater than I currently possess, so I will simply say that, had this story been even remotely about what it was meant to be about, Morrison's literary narcissism aside, I could have gotten on board. Although the continual time jumps, the lack of any meaningful continuity between the arcs, along with about a hundred other things meant that reading about 90% of this as I did was a hell of a slog.
Every now and then you would get an issue, or an arc that would restore your confidence, or perhaps more annoyingly, kept me reading on in spite of my growing apathy and ire. That and a decent run of Phil Jimenez or Chris Weston art meant this was one of the most sublimely drawn, confusing mindfucks I've ever had. Though in the end, the artists changed on this book FAR too often for it's own good, adding yet another layer of frustration onto my sad and sorry stack of pancakes. I would strongly suggest ignoring the grossly inflated score this book currently enjoys, and invest your reading time into just about anything else. 2.75/5


OmniBen.

[Sebastian Lauterbach · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give myself a rating of three stars, because I'm not smart enough to understand this comic, hence not being able to properly enjoy it. It also gave me a good amount of brain damage, questioning my sanity at times.

I've read (and liked) a couple of Grant Morrison's works beforehand and I thought I knew what I was getting into here, but alas this was too much for me. This story throws so many foreign concepts, trains of thoughts, philosophies, novel vocabulary and flat out nonsense at the reader, it's hard to keep up. This can be fun, if it's done in a tapestry of an overarching narrative, that makes sense, if it is wacky and used in moderation.

This book collects the entire story, which consists of 59 issues, that are spread through three separate and quite distinct volumes. The first one has 25 issues, the second 22 and the third 12, which count down to 0 for the lols.

Here's my experience: The first few issues were really hard to understand, but I could somehow grasp the premise. A group of 5 rebel against the system. On the surface it's a left-extremist terror group, but a huge part of the book is explaining what the 'enemy' actually is. I couldn't retell this here, but it's some mix of aliens, higher-dimensional beings or eldritch lovecraftian gods. This premise is sort of interesting and the book used separate story arcs to show the motivations and backstory of any given character.

It was interesting to learn about each of the 5 members, as the ongoing narrative developed. The backstories are very unique and well told. So are some of the storylines, often resembling a spy vs spy action thriller. As such, I did quite enjoy the middle section of this book. There's plot twists aplenty and I found myself starting to understand what was happening.

In the last third of the book, the story takes a nosedive. Two of the established members leave the book entirely and the story just peters out. The final twelve issues were a chore to get through and I found myself scratching my head, as I understood less and less. I don't understand the ending at all and I think these final 12 issues are an unreadable mess.

Then there's the artwork. The artists rotate quite often in here and it shows. Flipping through this volume, you see a drawing style that vastly differs to another every 100-200 pages. It hurts the book in my opinion, when it is read together in larger chunks.

I acknowledge that this comic is meant to be reread, and that many concepts are foreshadowed quite early on, but I simply don't want to reread this at all. Among the many bizarre concepts in here, there's one that really bothered me: At some point the characters learn (theorise, decide?) that the story is being written by one of them, aka they control their own narrative, aka nothing matters, aka what are we even doing here?

My review might show my ignorance, but so be it. I'm not smart enough for this and I don't have the energy to process all of it. I can only say that some of this was fun, but the book never reaches the heights of other Vertigo titles from the 90s, because it is just too weird and incomprehensible. I much prefer The Doom Patrol Omnibus and JLA by Grant Morrison Omnibus.

[Jacob A. Mirallegro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it but (as stated in the last issue) I'm going to have to read through it from the start a couple more times because I definitely missed some stuff, as is the case with most books written by Grant Morrison.

This is a series that is filled with ideas and concepts- which come off as incredibly personal. The entirety of The Invisibles is a vehicle for Grant Morrison to share their beliefs and experiences with the metaphysical. They put so much of themself in the characters to the point that each one of the main cast is in some way a Grant Morrison self insert. They all represent a different part of their personality and creative mindset. This was completely intentional too which allows them to get weird and meta with it. Dane/Jack may have started as the eyes of the reader but at several points as the series goes on I think he acts as a way for Morrison to make commentary on the plot or poke fun at the book itself. Overall it's super self aware.

I loved most the artists and I get why the second series didn't do the rotating staff, which is great because Phil Jimenez and Chris Weston have great art. But honestly I feel like this series was meant to jump from one artist to the next between story arcs and I'm glad the last series got to do that too.

Like I said I think this is a really personal series, maybe the most personal Grant Morrison book I've read next to Flex Mentallo. They put so much on display here and it's all used really optimistically. This entire book just wants to encourage people to engage with the world around them. They actively want to motivate the reader and share ideas of spirituality, magic, and abstract perspectives of reality and the systems in our world. And it works. Everything is so interesting and engaging and has so much research and honesty behind it that it's hard to disregard anything as comicbooky randomness even if I don't get it at first.
Also when I read issue 20 of series 2, I loved it, smoked some weed, and then I don't remember how but I found myself reading it again that same day and I was able to notice a lot more of the subtle details and meanings in it lol.

I'm really happy I waited until I was more familiar with Morrisons concepts and beliefs before reading this. I've been a huge fan of theirs for years but I kept putting this off just because it seemed like a lot (and it is). I'm glad I did because it made a lot of it easier to swallow and I could appreciate how great it is without getting extremely confused.

[Gjenferd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Invisibles startet sitt utgivelsesløp på midten av 90 tallet, i en tid der man følte at noe apokalyptisk var i ferd med å skje i forkant av Y2K. Desverre er tegneserien bare blitt enda mer relevant i dagens dystre klima preget av økende autoritære krefter.

The Invisibles handler om en gruppe frihetskjempende trollmenn og kvinner, kalt the Invisibles, som gjør det de kan for å bekjempe autoritære og demoniske entiteter fra andre universer. Disse entitetene har allerede stor inflytelse over samfunnet, og prøver å holde befolkningen maktesløse gjennom psykisk krigføring og annet syk driit. Det er opp til hovedpersonene å bekjempe disse entitetene med hjelp av magi, våpen og tidsreiser.

Morrisson er en kaos magiker og dette inspirerer den svært esoteriske fortellingen. Man blir bombardert av okkulte konsepter. Alt fra Kabbala, Wilhelm Reichs Orgon teori, romvesner til Kundalini. Dem har på en måte most alle sine interesser inn i en bok. Noe som kan være overveldende og temmelig forvirrende å henge med på. Jeg slet med å henge med i siste del av historien, og tilogmed hovedpersonene virker usikre på hva som skjer. (Det kan sikkert lønne seg å lese den flere ganger.)

Største minus for meg er den skiftende tegnestilen. I siste bit av historien blir tegningene etter min smak svært svake, og jeg føler illustrasjonen mister litt av formidlingsevne sine. F.eks ser plutselig en karakter helt anderledes ut fordi det er en annen tegner. Noe som gjør ting enda mer forvirrende. Men sett bort ifra dette koste jeg meg masse med boka. The Invisibles er utvilsomt en veldig unik, kreativ og punka serie.

[Youseuf Suliman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A psychedelic fueled trip into a world where every conspiracy theory imaginable is a reality...whatever reality seems to be. Grant Morrison guides us from the Mersey river of Liverpool to the demonic capitalist orgies at the edge of time. Every mind-bending turn of the page is filled with philosophy, provocation and psilocybin. Fasten your seatbelts (If you think it will help), you're in for a ride.

[Keith · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished The Invisibles last week and, just to be sure I knew how I felt about it, reread it all in one shot over the past weekend. Still struggling to put my feelings into words, I submit this Youtube video instead. It's only 4 mins long and basically covers the entire 1,500 page series, so check it out and be rewinded to the days of old battles:

The Invisibles or "this is how we trip at school"

[Chris Breitenbach · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read via Hoopla, so only the first 12 issues. It's wonderfully bonkers, more than a little indebted to Alan Moore (though what ambitious comic writer isn't?) and just a touch gruesome. Certain plot lines are more rewarding than others, though I appreciate its flights of fancy even if it doesn't always nail the land. Looking forward to reading the rest!

[Joshua Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ragtag team saves the world using psychedelia. Pretty good.

[ar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy fucking shit

i think this may be the best comic book ive ever read