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The Invisibles #3
The Invisibles Vol. 3: Entropy in the U.K.
The battle between rebels and conspirators continues as a captured King Mob is beaten and tortured by the Conspiracy in their brutal attempt to learn the secrets of the Invisibles. Looking to save their him, the rest of King Mob's cell joins forces but it will be up to the newest Invisible, Dane McGowan, to stay ahead of the masses of armed Conspiracy thugs and save his compatriot. Also, the horrifying secret that transformed Boy from an officer of law to a disciple of chaos is finally revealed.
229 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 1, 1996
23 people are currently reading
971 people want to read
About the author
Grant Morrison
1,792 books4,570 followersGrant 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
July 11, 2014
In the third installment the leader of the Invisibles finds himself battling against a brutal interrogation that wishes to know all the secrets of the Invisibles and their cells scattered all over the world. It's also focused on how Boy and how she joined the Invisibles as well as more on the rebellious, suconciously dream suppressed Jack Frost, the chosen Messiah who is likely the only one who can truly deal with the Archons, advanced beings that basically want to suck the life out of our world/reality and then destroy it. It seems that in every volume
Jack begins to realize parts of his experiences have been submerged and are arising. Definite nods to the works of author Philip K. Dick's works (he even shows up in this volume) as well as alternate realities and even nods to mystical religions like Gnosticism and other philosophies that speak of a good and evil God that created this world or had a deep impact on its makings. Some of the ideas are convoluted and will therefore be chaotic in the eyes of some readers but if you like these ideas and stick with it you should find the ending satisfying enough. Mister Six is introduced at the very end as another Invisible in another cell who is seeking the mysterious Moonchild.
To me the art is good but never great. I suppose that's partly because they were going to a different look that doesn't do a lot for me. This is considered one of the classics and was said to have shaken up a stagnant period for comics/graphic novels. BBC started a TV series but it never saw the light of day. This series may have very well influenced movies like THE MATRIX and other such types.
ARTWORK: B to B plus; STORY/PLOTTING: B plus; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B to B plus; THEMES/INNOVATION: B plus; WHEN READ: early March 2012 ; OVERALL GRADE: B plus.
Jack begins to realize parts of his experiences have been submerged and are arising. Definite nods to the works of author Philip K. Dick's works (he even shows up in this volume) as well as alternate realities and even nods to mystical religions like Gnosticism and other philosophies that speak of a good and evil God that created this world or had a deep impact on its makings. Some of the ideas are convoluted and will therefore be chaotic in the eyes of some readers but if you like these ideas and stick with it you should find the ending satisfying enough. Mister Six is introduced at the very end as another Invisible in another cell who is seeking the mysterious Moonchild.
To me the art is good but never great. I suppose that's partly because they were going to a different look that doesn't do a lot for me. This is considered one of the classics and was said to have shaken up a stagnant period for comics/graphic novels. BBC started a TV series but it never saw the light of day. This series may have very well influenced movies like THE MATRIX and other such types.
ARTWORK: B to B plus; STORY/PLOTTING: B plus; CHARACTERS/DIALOGUE: B to B plus; THEMES/INNOVATION: B plus; WHEN READ: early March 2012 ; OVERALL GRADE: B plus.
March 28, 2014
King Mob and Lord Fanny have been kidnapped by Sir Miles and The Conspiracy and are being tortured for information on The Invisibles - will Ragged Robin, Boy and Jim Crow save them in time? Meanwhile, Jack Frost is still coming to terms with his role as saviour of humanity as the next incarnation of the Buddha, and a new member of The Invisibles is introduced who is looking for the Moonchild.
I really love Grant Morrison’s writing, I do, but his Invisibles series just isn’t clicking with me in the way his Batman, We3, All-Star Superman and Seaguy comics, to name just a few, do. So Entropy in the UK is the third book in the series and nearly the halfway point in the series as a whole (there are seven volumes), but I’m still having a hard time trying to give a damn about any of the characters. King Mob is tied up in a sterile lab and is being psychically interrogated by Sir Miles – and I don’t care. Am I supposed to be rooting for King Mob? I suppose so, because he and the rest of the Invisibles are fighting the baddies right? But that’s the only reason to care and, to be honest, it’s a really flimsy one. You’re basically telling the reader to like the hero because he’s the hero, rather than giving the reader reasons why they should like the hero – to use the oft-repeated writing maxim, show don’t tell, and there’s a lot of telling in The Invisibles.
To be fair to Morrison he does continue to slowly build up other characters. In the last book it was Lord Fanny, in this book it’s Boy whose backstory is revealed (and is much less convoluted than Fanny’s was), but Boy is really a minor player in the book who doesn’t get nearly as many pages as King Mob when we as readers should be learning more about him in order for us to actually care about what’s happening to his character.
Entropy is another decent sized volume, coming in at 230 pages, but the story is very thin on the ground. King Mob is tortured, Fanny makes a voodoo doll, Dane confronts his destiny, the rest of the Invisibles putter about, and then a rescue is launched. The torture sequence in particular is very drawn out and if there’s one thing I’ll take away from reading The Invisibles it’s how much the Wachowskis ripped off the series for their first Matrix movie. Sir Miles torturing King Mob is EXACTLY like the scene when Agent Smith is torturing Morpheus, trying to find out the location of Neo and co. Combine this and other scenes from the first book the Wachowskis used and I’m surprised Morrison didn’t get a credit in the movie!
Then again, not everything Morrison’s doing is exactly original. I’m not the biggest Philip K. Dick fan but I have read some of his stuff and The Invisibles feels more and more influenced by his work than ever in Entropy. The numerous spiritualism scenes and discourses on Eastern beliefs and the way King Mob claims to really be a writer called Morrison are very much aspects of Dick’s writing. The author even has a cameo here! And the design for the Archon of the Outer Church is very Xenomorph-y.
However even if the story is stretched for much of the book, there are still flashes of sheer brilliance peppered unexpectedly throughout like King Mob’s psychic defences against Sir Miles which are pretty impressive (his alter-ego Gideon Stargrave is a kind of campy James Bond but not as silly as Austin Powers) and artist Phil Jimenez does an incredible job with the artwork for his issues. The way Sir Miles interrogates King Mob by holding up a note stuck to a mirror saying “facial disease” and King Mob seeing himself with a facial disease was quite brilliant, and the way The Conspiracy keeps people in check from a young age using a code-word, which is the alphabet, was inspired.
Morrison’s ambition and enormous vision can’t be faulted. I love the mad, chaotic moments that his imagination throws out onto the page like the sentient satellite Barbelith and the way Dane is forced to absorb the collective suffering of humanity to understand why he has to stop running and face his destiny. It’s just the way Morrison writes it that keeps me from connecting to the material in a meaningful way. The characters remain barely realised and the story remains an abstract idea. Maybe I’d feel more positively toward the series if I were as into chaos magic as Morrison but seeing the Invisibles and their enemies engaged in psychic combat made me laugh more than anything. I kept thinking of that scene from South Park where the “psychics” are having a battle and it’s just a bunch of weird people in costumes making "pew pew" noises and waving their arms at one another with nothing at all happening (sorry if you’re into chaos magic – this is just what it looks like from the outside).
I’m going to keep going with the series because I am interested to see where Morrison is taking all of this but from what I can tell about The Invisibles so far is that it’s a series more interested in portraying semi-philosophical ideas and esoteric magic concepts rather than memorable characters or a meaningful story, which simply doesn’t make for a riveting reading experience unless you’re already interested in this kind of material.
I really love Grant Morrison’s writing, I do, but his Invisibles series just isn’t clicking with me in the way his Batman, We3, All-Star Superman and Seaguy comics, to name just a few, do. So Entropy in the UK is the third book in the series and nearly the halfway point in the series as a whole (there are seven volumes), but I’m still having a hard time trying to give a damn about any of the characters. King Mob is tied up in a sterile lab and is being psychically interrogated by Sir Miles – and I don’t care. Am I supposed to be rooting for King Mob? I suppose so, because he and the rest of the Invisibles are fighting the baddies right? But that’s the only reason to care and, to be honest, it’s a really flimsy one. You’re basically telling the reader to like the hero because he’s the hero, rather than giving the reader reasons why they should like the hero – to use the oft-repeated writing maxim, show don’t tell, and there’s a lot of telling in The Invisibles.
To be fair to Morrison he does continue to slowly build up other characters. In the last book it was Lord Fanny, in this book it’s Boy whose backstory is revealed (and is much less convoluted than Fanny’s was), but Boy is really a minor player in the book who doesn’t get nearly as many pages as King Mob when we as readers should be learning more about him in order for us to actually care about what’s happening to his character.
Entropy is another decent sized volume, coming in at 230 pages, but the story is very thin on the ground. King Mob is tortured, Fanny makes a voodoo doll, Dane confronts his destiny, the rest of the Invisibles putter about, and then a rescue is launched. The torture sequence in particular is very drawn out and if there’s one thing I’ll take away from reading The Invisibles it’s how much the Wachowskis ripped off the series for their first Matrix movie. Sir Miles torturing King Mob is EXACTLY like the scene when Agent Smith is torturing Morpheus, trying to find out the location of Neo and co. Combine this and other scenes from the first book the Wachowskis used and I’m surprised Morrison didn’t get a credit in the movie!
Then again, not everything Morrison’s doing is exactly original. I’m not the biggest Philip K. Dick fan but I have read some of his stuff and The Invisibles feels more and more influenced by his work than ever in Entropy. The numerous spiritualism scenes and discourses on Eastern beliefs and the way King Mob claims to really be a writer called Morrison are very much aspects of Dick’s writing. The author even has a cameo here! And the design for the Archon of the Outer Church is very Xenomorph-y.
However even if the story is stretched for much of the book, there are still flashes of sheer brilliance peppered unexpectedly throughout like King Mob’s psychic defences against Sir Miles which are pretty impressive (his alter-ego Gideon Stargrave is a kind of campy James Bond but not as silly as Austin Powers) and artist Phil Jimenez does an incredible job with the artwork for his issues. The way Sir Miles interrogates King Mob by holding up a note stuck to a mirror saying “facial disease” and King Mob seeing himself with a facial disease was quite brilliant, and the way The Conspiracy keeps people in check from a young age using a code-word, which is the alphabet, was inspired.
Morrison’s ambition and enormous vision can’t be faulted. I love the mad, chaotic moments that his imagination throws out onto the page like the sentient satellite Barbelith and the way Dane is forced to absorb the collective suffering of humanity to understand why he has to stop running and face his destiny. It’s just the way Morrison writes it that keeps me from connecting to the material in a meaningful way. The characters remain barely realised and the story remains an abstract idea. Maybe I’d feel more positively toward the series if I were as into chaos magic as Morrison but seeing the Invisibles and their enemies engaged in psychic combat made me laugh more than anything. I kept thinking of that scene from South Park where the “psychics” are having a battle and it’s just a bunch of weird people in costumes making "pew pew" noises and waving their arms at one another with nothing at all happening (sorry if you’re into chaos magic – this is just what it looks like from the outside).
I’m going to keep going with the series because I am interested to see where Morrison is taking all of this but from what I can tell about The Invisibles so far is that it’s a series more interested in portraying semi-philosophical ideas and esoteric magic concepts rather than memorable characters or a meaningful story, which simply doesn’t make for a riveting reading experience unless you’re already interested in this kind of material.
December 6, 2025
İkinci ciltte biraz kaybolmuştum ama üçte harika bir şekilde geri dönüyoruz. Herhâlde şu hayatta en sevdiğim şey olan yazarın kendini hikâyeye sokması bu sefer etten, kemikten bir şekilde ortadan dalarak gerçekleşiyor. Harikaydı!
Bir de ikinci ciltte lan acaba transfobik mi bu adam diye kıllandığım durumda Morrison'un bizzat TK çıkması ise harika bir sürpriz oluyor <3 Gençler yazım yılına bakıyoruz, dilimiz biraz lgbtt yıllarından kalma o yüzden sakın fobik falan bulmayın saçmalamayın :)
Bir de ikinci ciltte lan acaba transfobik mi bu adam diye kıllandığım durumda Morrison'un bizzat TK çıkması ise harika bir sürpriz oluyor <3 Gençler yazım yılına bakıyoruz, dilimiz biraz lgbtt yıllarından kalma o yüzden sakın fobik falan bulmayın saçmalamayın :)
April 16, 2022
Volume 3 of The Invisibles mostly centres upon King Mob, who has been captured by the many-named antagonists and is being interrogated. Lord Fanny has also been captured but is not tortured to the same extent. The Invisibles, Vol. 3: Entropy in the U.K. includes an entertaining sequence of fake realities that King Mob uses as shields to withstand psychic interrogation. These have definite Alan Moorcock vibes and the reader is left unsure how much of his genuine backstory leaks into them. Is King Mob a former pulp novelist, possibly named Morrison? (I remember reading in Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach Us About Being Human that when Grant Morrison was writing The Invisibles he got high as balls and felt like he inhabited the characters, especially King Mob.) The concept of Key 17 is ingenious: an interrogation drug that makes those dosed see objects when they are shown the words for them.
The intensity of the interrogation scenes slightly undercuts the impact of Boy's backstory as a New York cop. Nonetheless, there is a sense of the Invisibles uniting as a team in this volume. Everyone plays a part in King Mob and Lord Fanny's escape. We also see the Archons properly for the first time and they are extremely creepy. The writing and art evoke psychic horror remarkably well. The final sequence introduces Division X and their extremely 1970s fashion choices, as well as the unsettling Mr. Quimper. There are some extraordinarily arresting images and concepts in this volume, as well as some amusingly 1990s references (e.g Father Ted and The Vampire Lestat). There's nothing quite like this series and it was fortuitous that I came across it as a teenager. Whatever it did to my young brain was, I think, an improvement.
The intensity of the interrogation scenes slightly undercuts the impact of Boy's backstory as a New York cop. Nonetheless, there is a sense of the Invisibles uniting as a team in this volume. Everyone plays a part in King Mob and Lord Fanny's escape. We also see the Archons properly for the first time and they are extremely creepy. The writing and art evoke psychic horror remarkably well. The final sequence introduces Division X and their extremely 1970s fashion choices, as well as the unsettling Mr. Quimper. There are some extraordinarily arresting images and concepts in this volume, as well as some amusingly 1990s references (e.g Father Ted and The Vampire Lestat). There's nothing quite like this series and it was fortuitous that I came across it as a teenager. Whatever it did to my young brain was, I think, an improvement.
July 24, 2021
Sometimes I find Morrison profound and other times I feel like he has been sniffing way too many of his own farts. Whenever I read a volume of The Invisibles, however, I always give Morrison leeway to be as confusing and mind-bending as he wants and he never lets me down.
April 1, 2011
This is where Invisibles really takes off. We've finished all the prefatory explanatory gubbins and now the gloves are off and we meet the bad guys. And what a ride it is: extraordinary mystical journeys, mind-games of the highest order, horrifying alien bio-technology that make the Borg look cuddly, and even more horrifying ultraporn.
Okay, it's not entirely easy to understand, but Morrison is setting up a very interesting synthesis of any number of ideas which neatly sets any number of standard religious tropes on their heads. It's a common idea, from the ancient Mesopotamian religions, to Zoroastrianism, Jewish mysticism, Manicheanism and hence som (heretical) branches of Christianity that the physical world is somehow flawed, and what we want to do is to revert to the pure form of the energy of God outside it. But what if it were the other way round, and the outside is the true evil and is intent on destroying the only possible source of positivity? Who knows? And I'm sure Morrison will do several switches before he's done.
A couple of points worth noting. First, there's a clear and growing debt to Philip K. Dick. One of the key ideas is clearly borrowed from VALIS, and there are repeated references to ideas such as the great iron prison and the phrase 'the empire never ended', both of which come straight out of Dick's Exegesis. Rather amusingly, Phil even has a cameo appearance.
The second point is that you may well notice more than a few similarities to The Matrix and its sequels. Please note that this was first published years before the movie came out. In other words, the Wachowskis did another botched comic-book adaptation, but unlike V for Vendetta, here they didn't even acknowledge the source.
Okay, it's not entirely easy to understand, but Morrison is setting up a very interesting synthesis of any number of ideas which neatly sets any number of standard religious tropes on their heads. It's a common idea, from the ancient Mesopotamian religions, to Zoroastrianism, Jewish mysticism, Manicheanism and hence som (heretical) branches of Christianity that the physical world is somehow flawed, and what we want to do is to revert to the pure form of the energy of God outside it. But what if it were the other way round, and the outside is the true evil and is intent on destroying the only possible source of positivity? Who knows? And I'm sure Morrison will do several switches before he's done.
A couple of points worth noting. First, there's a clear and growing debt to Philip K. Dick. One of the key ideas is clearly borrowed from VALIS, and there are repeated references to ideas such as the great iron prison and the phrase 'the empire never ended', both of which come straight out of Dick's Exegesis. Rather amusingly, Phil even has a cameo appearance.
The second point is that you may well notice more than a few similarities to The Matrix and its sequels. Please note that this was first published years before the movie came out. In other words, the Wachowskis did another botched comic-book adaptation, but unlike V for Vendetta, here they didn't even acknowledge the source.
September 30, 2021
Sigo con esta obra de Grant Morrison, donde se le nota libre como el viento para ir avanzando la trama general pero, también, para meter historias paralelas y dar rienda suelta a sus idas de olla. A veces, estos desvaríos creativos, donde mezcla todo tipo de conceptos esotéricos, religiones, ciencia ficción, leyendas arcanas… son demasiado complejos. O, igual, son simples bombas de escritor demente difícil de entender. Pero encajan bien. E incluso son adictivos.
En sus viñetas igual te mezcla personajes a lo Austin Powers con arcontes y dioses de otras dimensiones. O saca a la palestra el imaginario de autores como Lovecraft, mencionando a los shoggoths, gritando “¡Tekeli-li!” o mostrando un Antiguo. O puede que conozcas un grupo de viejos policías dedicados a lo oculto y que son reunidos de nuevo por un tal Aleister. ¿O era Crowley? Budismo, sexo tántrico, los chacras, el karma, el vudú, los OVNIS, las drogas, el tercer ojo, el cristianismo… Todo cabe en “Los Invisibles”.
Se agradece además que en este tercer tomo recopilatorio encontremos al principio un pequeño resumen de lo leído hasta ahora. Más que nada porque permite centrarnos y confirmar si, entre tanta ida de olla imaginativa, hemos entendido bien el concepto de lo que nos están contando. La guerra por la liberación del mundo continúa.
En sus viñetas igual te mezcla personajes a lo Austin Powers con arcontes y dioses de otras dimensiones. O saca a la palestra el imaginario de autores como Lovecraft, mencionando a los shoggoths, gritando “¡Tekeli-li!” o mostrando un Antiguo. O puede que conozcas un grupo de viejos policías dedicados a lo oculto y que son reunidos de nuevo por un tal Aleister. ¿O era Crowley? Budismo, sexo tántrico, los chacras, el karma, el vudú, los OVNIS, las drogas, el tercer ojo, el cristianismo… Todo cabe en “Los Invisibles”.
Se agradece además que en este tercer tomo recopilatorio encontremos al principio un pequeño resumen de lo leído hasta ahora. Más que nada porque permite centrarnos y confirmar si, entre tanta ida de olla imaginativa, hemos entendido bien el concepto de lo que nos están contando. La guerra por la liberación del mundo continúa.
May 11, 2025
Another great volume, paired with a disturbing cover.
May 9, 2017
Now we're cooking with alien dimension gas!
April 2, 2019
Three stars because I appreciate the Lovecraftian/Occult vibes in this volume. I also like it when comics get real freaky and blue titties leaking nanomachines is really fucking freaky.
But damnit I am profoundly pissed off that Jack is just an asshole. Even after finding out how his magic works, he's being a homophobic twat to people that have saved his hide multiple times.
I'm going to continue but only because this run gets so much praise from people whose tastes I respect, but I'm not feeling it.
But damnit I am profoundly pissed off that Jack is just an asshole. Even after finding out how his magic works, he's being a homophobic twat to people that have saved his hide multiple times.
I'm going to continue but only because this run gets so much praise from people whose tastes I respect, but I'm not feeling it.
July 19, 2017
For me this one slid a bit too much into overdoing the epic metaphysical good vs. evil demon battle thing - like the less interesting parts of Alan Moore stuff.
May 23, 2012
Volume 3 of The Invisibles and the last volume before the new first issue and second installment.
What a blast!
More Jim Crow, a character I seriously adore. The leanings towards Voodoo are something I am particularly fond of in this series, along with the sheer opaque nature of it all. Teasing the reader with switches in time, perspective, and who knows what else - I'm loving it, though I can understand why Grant Morrison is an author that severely polarizes readers in general.
The evolution of Jack Frost is something that I'm terribly interested in. The bits and pieces that fill in the blanks of his time with Tom O'Bedlam are something I'd love to see further explored. While we're on the subject of fleshing out characters further, I am also terribly interested to see more of Ragged Robin. She's one of the characters I particularly love in this series, so imagine my join when she was paired up with Jim Crow during the exploration of the House of Fun. Great stuff there, seriously great.
The Lovecraftian leanings of the Archeons twigged the proper amount of disgust. I was also happy that the final issue in this volume, dealing with Mister 6, brought back the Monster of Glamis in uh.. some sort of form. How bloody disgusting was that tape? The mere thought of that is enough to turn my stomach. Thus: wonderful writing, wonderful plot, and a good gross-out factor that didn't quite overdo it for me.
I am incredibly happy that I picked up this series, and it has certainly gained a place upon my list of favorites. I'll be happy to read just about anything Grant Morrison has put out at this rate, and shall shamelessly stalk David Katzman's recommendations for the remainder of my life.
If that isn't appreciation and admiration, then what is?
What a blast!
More Jim Crow, a character I seriously adore. The leanings towards Voodoo are something I am particularly fond of in this series, along with the sheer opaque nature of it all. Teasing the reader with switches in time, perspective, and who knows what else - I'm loving it, though I can understand why Grant Morrison is an author that severely polarizes readers in general.
The evolution of Jack Frost is something that I'm terribly interested in. The bits and pieces that fill in the blanks of his time with Tom O'Bedlam are something I'd love to see further explored. While we're on the subject of fleshing out characters further, I am also terribly interested to see more of Ragged Robin. She's one of the characters I particularly love in this series, so imagine my join when she was paired up with Jim Crow during the exploration of the House of Fun. Great stuff there, seriously great.
The Lovecraftian leanings of the Archeons twigged the proper amount of disgust. I was also happy that the final issue in this volume, dealing with Mister 6, brought back the Monster of Glamis in uh.. some sort of form. How bloody disgusting was that tape? The mere thought of that is enough to turn my stomach. Thus: wonderful writing, wonderful plot, and a good gross-out factor that didn't quite overdo it for me.
I am incredibly happy that I picked up this series, and it has certainly gained a place upon my list of favorites. I'll be happy to read just about anything Grant Morrison has put out at this rate, and shall shamelessly stalk David Katzman's recommendations for the remainder of my life.
If that isn't appreciation and admiration, then what is?
May 13, 2011
The three-parter Entropy in UK is sheer brilliance and I would read it any day instead of having to watch Matrix or Inception. How I Became Invisible, the back story of Boy, that follows is tonally distinct and is a great read.
Jimenez' entry here for art is a strong plus and this is where perhaps this series catches its proverbial fire.
Jimenez' entry here for art is a strong plus and this is where perhaps this series catches its proverbial fire.
March 15, 2013
Hm. On one hand, I'm consistently fascinated by what Morrison is going to pull out in this series. Anything goes, it seems. But this storyline in particular felt a bit drawn out to me. And could the characters be any thinner? Still, I'm enjoying myself far more than not, and there have been some really stellar issues, even here. Boy's origin story, in particular, just worked on every level.
January 6, 2025
Entropy in the U.K. concludes the first volume of The Invisibles, which has at this point developed a rich and textured playground for Morrison to dump all manner of esoteric concepts about magic, meditation and mumbo jumbo. The story grows ever more weird, though this arc is a fair bit more straightforward for the most part.
Taking its name from the three-issue arc (The Invisbibles #17-19), Entropy in the U.K. opens to the lengthy interrogation of King Mob by Sir Miles and the Outer Church. Though he's subjected to all manner of psychic attacks, the mental defenses in King Mob's mind results in ever-growing frustration from Sir Miles. As the psychic attacks continue, Sir Miles uncovers a labyrinthine maze of memories belonging to a possible fictional entity known as Gideon Stargrave or a writer known as Kirk Morrison. Untangling the mess takes time, which is exactly what Ragged Robin and Boy need to rescue King Mob and Lord Fanny from the Outer Church.
Meanwhile, the search for Jack Frost continues in "Liverpool" (The Invisibles #21), with Jack realizing that he can't simply return to his old life. Accepting his role as a crucial member of the Invisibles, he makes his triumphant return to help Ragged Robin, Boy and Jim Crow rescue their captured compatriots (The Invisibles #22-24). A new member of the team is also unveiled - Mr. Six - a familiar face to Jack. The final issue of this volume features Mr. Six attempting to discover the location of the enigmatic Moonchild which was first shown last volume. The origins of Boy are also explored in "How I Became Invisible" (The Invisibles #20), a backstory told in a bit less of a convoluted way than the Lord Fanny origin story from the previous volume.
Though this volume is a bit more "action-heavy" than the previous ones, Morrison continues to develop the world of The Invisibles in creative and subversive ways. The main flaw here is that the ending to this first 25-issue run of the series isn't provide much of a feeling of culmination - indeed, the story still feels like it just begun. Unlike the previous volume which also had a medley of artists, this one has a little less homogenous of an aesthetic going for it. Contributing artists include Phil Jimenez (#17-19), Tommy Lee Edwards (#20), Paul Johnson (#21), Steve Yeowell (#22-24) and Mark Buckingham (#25). Of these, Jimenez's style is the most striking and unique, whilst the others deliver some fairly standard work that isn't particularly memorable. This is still a solid volume for the series, but it does lack some needed story development.
Taking its name from the three-issue arc (The Invisbibles #17-19), Entropy in the U.K. opens to the lengthy interrogation of King Mob by Sir Miles and the Outer Church. Though he's subjected to all manner of psychic attacks, the mental defenses in King Mob's mind results in ever-growing frustration from Sir Miles. As the psychic attacks continue, Sir Miles uncovers a labyrinthine maze of memories belonging to a possible fictional entity known as Gideon Stargrave or a writer known as Kirk Morrison. Untangling the mess takes time, which is exactly what Ragged Robin and Boy need to rescue King Mob and Lord Fanny from the Outer Church.
Meanwhile, the search for Jack Frost continues in "Liverpool" (The Invisibles #21), with Jack realizing that he can't simply return to his old life. Accepting his role as a crucial member of the Invisibles, he makes his triumphant return to help Ragged Robin, Boy and Jim Crow rescue their captured compatriots (The Invisibles #22-24). A new member of the team is also unveiled - Mr. Six - a familiar face to Jack. The final issue of this volume features Mr. Six attempting to discover the location of the enigmatic Moonchild which was first shown last volume. The origins of Boy are also explored in "How I Became Invisible" (The Invisibles #20), a backstory told in a bit less of a convoluted way than the Lord Fanny origin story from the previous volume.
Though this volume is a bit more "action-heavy" than the previous ones, Morrison continues to develop the world of The Invisibles in creative and subversive ways. The main flaw here is that the ending to this first 25-issue run of the series isn't provide much of a feeling of culmination - indeed, the story still feels like it just begun. Unlike the previous volume which also had a medley of artists, this one has a little less homogenous of an aesthetic going for it. Contributing artists include Phil Jimenez (#17-19), Tommy Lee Edwards (#20), Paul Johnson (#21), Steve Yeowell (#22-24) and Mark Buckingham (#25). Of these, Jimenez's style is the most striking and unique, whilst the others deliver some fairly standard work that isn't particularly memorable. This is still a solid volume for the series, but it does lack some needed story development.
April 5, 2018
So King Mob is tortured, and Morrison (who looks and sounds suspiciously like KM!) had some horrible health issues at the same time. Hence, Grant's belief that he can write reality. No surprise, KM gets a hot girlfriend in v. 4!
Jimenez draws three issues focusing on KM and Fanny's time in captivity and the twisted mind games Sir Miles of the conspiracy plays in KM's head, while Ragged Robin recruits Jim Crow to rescue her teammates and Boy tracks down Jack. Tommy Lee Edwards draws a flashback issue explaining Boy's introduction to the Invisibles, and Johnson returns for another one-off Jack Frost story in which Jack decides to commit to the cause finally. Original artist Yeowell returns for three issues, as KM and Fanny escape, while their allies come to the rescue. Builds to a nice climax, although KM does a lot of ass-kicking for a guy who's lost half his blood and features a collapsed lung! Buckingham draws the final issue, which sets up a villain for the next run of the series.
Funny, reading it all now, despite all the pseudo-magical/philosophical dialogue, it's very traditional structurally. The good guys escape just as their allies fight to their side, the boy messiah faces down the ultimate foe and saves King Mob's life, and then all the characters (except Robin) get a solo spotlight handled by their own artist. Morrison imagines himself as a striking Phil Jimenez-drawn hero, no surprise!
Issue count of artists to draw an issue during v. 1: Jill Thompson 8, Steve Yeowell, 7, Phil Jimenez 3, Paul Johnson 2, Chris Weston 1, John Ridgway 1, Steve Parkhouse 1, Tommy Lee Edwards 1, and Mark Buckingham 1.
Jimenez draws three issues focusing on KM and Fanny's time in captivity and the twisted mind games Sir Miles of the conspiracy plays in KM's head, while Ragged Robin recruits Jim Crow to rescue her teammates and Boy tracks down Jack. Tommy Lee Edwards draws a flashback issue explaining Boy's introduction to the Invisibles, and Johnson returns for another one-off Jack Frost story in which Jack decides to commit to the cause finally. Original artist Yeowell returns for three issues, as KM and Fanny escape, while their allies come to the rescue. Builds to a nice climax, although KM does a lot of ass-kicking for a guy who's lost half his blood and features a collapsed lung! Buckingham draws the final issue, which sets up a villain for the next run of the series.
Funny, reading it all now, despite all the pseudo-magical/philosophical dialogue, it's very traditional structurally. The good guys escape just as their allies fight to their side, the boy messiah faces down the ultimate foe and saves King Mob's life, and then all the characters (except Robin) get a solo spotlight handled by their own artist. Morrison imagines himself as a striking Phil Jimenez-drawn hero, no surprise!
Issue count of artists to draw an issue during v. 1: Jill Thompson 8, Steve Yeowell, 7, Phil Jimenez 3, Paul Johnson 2, Chris Weston 1, John Ridgway 1, Steve Parkhouse 1, Tommy Lee Edwards 1, and Mark Buckingham 1.
March 5, 2020
The final bit of the first volume of The Invisibles is where we start to get some answers to all the craziness that's been happening. It's when I finally felt like I had a grasp on the concepts Morrison we're playing with, and where he wanted to go with the story (as much as you can know about anything by Morrison)
It's arguably more accessible than the rest of the volume, and I really enjoyed being able to get something out of the story on a surface level reading. Obviously you're still expected to do a bit of research, but it's much less routed in British history and more sci-fi instead.
Entropy in the U.K. is probably one of (if not) my favourite arcs so far. It's a bad ass spy/action/psyc-horror mish-mash with all the religion and anarchy you've come to love.
Reviewing this series (especially book by book) is incredibly difficult, as I feel like I've barely wrapped my head around half of this story, but damn if I'm not loving it still. I'm slowly being initiated along with the rest of the Invisibles, and I'm excited to see where this story takes me.
It's arguably more accessible than the rest of the volume, and I really enjoyed being able to get something out of the story on a surface level reading. Obviously you're still expected to do a bit of research, but it's much less routed in British history and more sci-fi instead.
Entropy in the U.K. is probably one of (if not) my favourite arcs so far. It's a bad ass spy/action/psyc-horror mish-mash with all the religion and anarchy you've come to love.
Reviewing this series (especially book by book) is incredibly difficult, as I feel like I've barely wrapped my head around half of this story, but damn if I'm not loving it still. I'm slowly being initiated along with the rest of the Invisibles, and I'm excited to see where this story takes me.
July 19, 2020
Okay, so part of this were really good. The torture drug and the nanobot stuff, but towards the end it was seriously dated with some very 1990s thinking. I'm so glad things progressed and changed from those days. At the time it was the way things were, but now I look back and think- thank the goddesses for progress. At the time this was radical stuff to say all that in a publication.
So undeterred and without harsh social criticism (because that was then) I'll finish the tales because the main story thread is great.
Recently I heard some contemporary self-appointed, social-elitists posing as feminsits, criticising feminists from 25years ago. Being 50years old I think their criticism was really unfounded and also not very self-reflective. I found some of the elitist stuff these people were doing was just crazy and very negative (all another story). The moral being always explore and understand the context of what you are critiquing and be careful when you judge because that pointy judgey-stick is very easy to swivel around and point back at you. 25/30 years ago, in the 80s and 90s in the UK, Tory values and the left-overs of the sexist and misogynous 70/80s was hideous to grow up through and not a fun time to come out as gay, let alone be a woman. Autonomy and independence was not a given, it was a fight. AIDS was very widely-considered a gay disease and as bad as Covid. And remember Section 28? Things were obscenely different back then. Gay Pride was a march for gay rights, not a rainbow party. If you don't remember or know about Section 28 or the Social 'Justice' bill, do some research and learn. Context helps us understand each other. And thank you to everyone in the past who stuck their necks out and said 'Hey, let's do this another way.'
So undeterred and without harsh social criticism (because that was then) I'll finish the tales because the main story thread is great.
Recently I heard some contemporary self-appointed, social-elitists posing as feminsits, criticising feminists from 25years ago. Being 50years old I think their criticism was really unfounded and also not very self-reflective. I found some of the elitist stuff these people were doing was just crazy and very negative (all another story). The moral being always explore and understand the context of what you are critiquing and be careful when you judge because that pointy judgey-stick is very easy to swivel around and point back at you. 25/30 years ago, in the 80s and 90s in the UK, Tory values and the left-overs of the sexist and misogynous 70/80s was hideous to grow up through and not a fun time to come out as gay, let alone be a woman. Autonomy and independence was not a given, it was a fight. AIDS was very widely-considered a gay disease and as bad as Covid. And remember Section 28? Things were obscenely different back then. Gay Pride was a march for gay rights, not a rainbow party. If you don't remember or know about Section 28 or the Social 'Justice' bill, do some research and learn. Context helps us understand each other. And thank you to everyone in the past who stuck their necks out and said 'Hey, let's do this another way.'
July 9, 2019
More mindfuckery abound.
This one is definitely my favorite of these first three. The whole sequence from the torture of King Mob til Jack Frost's triumph at his "Last Temptation" was just fun from page to page. Loved every word-bubble of it.
Can't wait to see what multi-dimensional chaos-fueled magick shenanigans The Invisibles get themselves into in the U.S. in Volume 4. And I hope Jim Crow sticks around for more fun as well.
Honestly, I can't imagine an entry in this mindfuck marathon of a series that I won't love.
Grant Morrison is a veritable mad mage of word-alchemy... balancing an enticing sense of humor, with dark, dark imagery and violence and debauchery that would give Tipper Gore an aneurysm and acid-fueled magick technobabble wordplay that seems to be at the same time deliberate as an incantation and random as cut-up techniques a la Burroughs and David Bowie.
I mean, shit! What's not to love?
This one is definitely my favorite of these first three. The whole sequence from the torture of King Mob til Jack Frost's triumph at his "Last Temptation" was just fun from page to page. Loved every word-bubble of it.
Can't wait to see what multi-dimensional chaos-fueled magick shenanigans The Invisibles get themselves into in the U.S. in Volume 4. And I hope Jim Crow sticks around for more fun as well.
Honestly, I can't imagine an entry in this mindfuck marathon of a series that I won't love.
Grant Morrison is a veritable mad mage of word-alchemy... balancing an enticing sense of humor, with dark, dark imagery and violence and debauchery that would give Tipper Gore an aneurysm and acid-fueled magick technobabble wordplay that seems to be at the same time deliberate as an incantation and random as cut-up techniques a la Burroughs and David Bowie.
I mean, shit! What's not to love?
April 22, 2023
Issue #25 is next week in my group read, but I have read the majority of this volume, so I feel a review is fitting now. Some of these issues seem a little verbose, but that's consistent with Morrison's style. I don't always understand all of their language (Morrison's), and I'm not really sure you're supposed to, at least not on a first read. This story is best read with other volumes of this series, and I would not recommend reading this book by itself. *I* enjoyed reading it, but Morrison can be perceived as using nonsense words, though I think taken as a whole, the sum of all the parts makes a more cohesive narrative, or at least a narrative that is worth reading and can be enjoyed, particularly once you appreciate their unique writing style. While I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, I will say that studying Morrison can be rewarding, but it definitely gets a little weird, for lack of a better term.
May 19, 2020
Most of this third volume of The Invisibles is a big, dramatic, action-packed showdown. I guess for many readers that's an exciting prospect, but my tastes tend to lean in the opposite direction, and as a result I found this less interesting than I would've found a slower-paced installment that focused more on character-building and exploring Morrison's weird mythology. That said, as action-packed showdowns go, this is a fairly enjoyable one, with a whole lot of psychedelic craziness going on. The art varies from ugly (particularly everything pencilled by Steve Yeowell, issues #22–24) to good (Phil Jimenez's work, issues #17–19), but never really surpasses that. The last chapter (issue #25) is a kind of epilogue with quite a different tone to most of the volume, building up some mystery again after all of the action; I hope the series will continue in this direction.
October 3, 2018
The Invisibles are scattered and in serious peril. Can they even survive the magic of the trans-dimensional beings that have arrayed against them? King Mob is being tortured and is on the brink of death. But Jack Frost, seeming to be a chosen one, is still missing. He seems to be the key to everything. They will require the whole team to save him, if they're that lucky.
Terribly violent and loaded with magic and monsters galore, this installment is the best one yet. Don't read this if you're squeamish, but it is fantastically cool.
Terribly violent and loaded with magic and monsters galore, this installment is the best one yet. Don't read this if you're squeamish, but it is fantastically cool.
July 2, 2020
Just brilliant. This does actually feel like a commentary on some of Zenith, particularly the final parts of Phase One. Honestly this is Morrison at his most accessible (well, relatively) because he’s bunging out mad ideas but at the same time bothering to unpack them for you as well. And much as I like Michael Moorcock I think in a world where he gives Gaiman and Moore a free pass but he takes umbrage at Gideon Stargrave says a lot more about him demanding a certain deference than anything else
January 28, 2019
So far, this is the most riveting of the volumes in this series. The dangers which seemed so ethereal before (not that that's a bad thing) seem more real. Some mysteries are explained and the overall mission of the Invisibles is clearer and easier to connect with. Thankfully, though, that doesn't mean the everything is suddenly cut and dried and mundane. The book is still full of secrets, intrigue, and that special Grant Morrison weirdness that charms so many of us, and baffles just as many.
January 26, 2022
Still invested in the story, but I feel as though I’m either missing key parts of what Morrison is getting at (What is the iron train? What is the bit at the end with Mister Six? Am I being introduced to some of these characters for a fleeting moment because they’re important in some other volume or is it just an aside?) or it’s written in a purposefully dissociative manner and I need to go back through again once I finish the series.
July 4, 2017
I was waiting for this series to kick in and blow my mind and this volume does. Is it wrong my favorite character is Sir Miles, who drops the knowledge on the limits of true expression and the flaccid role of the rebel in society. Where can they go from here when the ultimate big bad has shown them the futility of fury? I suppose you rage on, invisible to what goes on around you.
January 11, 2020
Grant Morrison has written some of my all time favorite comics but The Invisibles as of yet still is not reaching greatness for me. There are some great parts to this comic, the Jimenez art, and some of the one off issues are pretty good, but the overall plot is just filled with so much woo bullshit it's hard to get into it.
September 15, 2023
Kinda mid until the finale which was super satisfying. Cool getting a backstory for Boy and also seeing Jack Frost come into form. The King Mob/Gideon Stargazer bit didn’t do much for me even though it was a cool parallel to that interrogation scene. Still weird as hell ultimately
May 26, 2025
Although I bought these comics as they came out monthly in the late nineties, it wasn’t until I read this story arc in graphic novel form that I realized that the bulk of the action likely takes place in the space of a day or two.
Special shout out to the bonus Division X story!
Special shout out to the bonus Division X story!
August 30, 2017
This had cool venom like suits, voodoo, more psychic warfare - lots of good stuff
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