Morning Glories, Vol. 8: Rivals

Morning Glories

by Nick Spencer, Joe Eisma (Artist)

It's time to stop running! Allegiances are formed, rivals are challenged, and the Glories take a defiant stand against the faculty in the explosive turning point-arc "Assembly." Collects MORNING GLORIES #39-42.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Mystery, Fantasy, Horror, Young Adult, Fiction

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Nick Spencer is a comic book writer known for his creator-owned titles at Image Comics (Existence 2.0/3.0, Forgetless, Shuddertown, Morning Glories), his work at DC Comics (Action Comics, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents), and for his current work at Marvel Comics (Iron Man 2.0, Ultimate Comics: X-Men).

Reviews

[Marpapad · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.5 stars]

[Kaisersoze · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting visual style aside, I've now reached the point where I can no longer justify the time spent reading this series. To be honest, I likely wouldn't have even bothered with this one had I not picked up all eight issues leading up to #42 at the same time. But I did, and so I felt compelled, and afterwards I felt annoyed and disappointed, mainly with myself.

Perhaps - perhaps - it might be worth returning to this world once the last edition has been published and a patient reader can sit and go through them all over the course of a frenzied few days. Maybe then things will make an iota of sense.

So at least until the day this series is completed, I'm out. Good luck to the rest of you who are staying on until the bitter end.

1 Massive Rage-Quit for Morning Glories, Volume 8: Assembly.

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this series when it started but it's now become a huge, sprawling, epic... mess. There are SO many characters to keep track of that I can no longer remember them all or their character arcs. Nothing happens in this volume at all except lots of talking. There's a whole issue that is just a lecture on the nature of reality. I'm looking forward to the series ending so that I can read it through all in one read and (hopefully) be able to make sense of the plot from beginning to end.

[Baba · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's no way back, it's too far gone, the Glories are going to take it to the faculty, AND I CAN'T TAKE MUCH MORE OF THIS!!! To be honest I can't really even begin to explain how good this book is, as we march towards possibly a confrontation with the headmaster and the real story of the students? If you've got this far in the series you already live it? 10 of the 12, Five Star read.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

FINALLY! A situation that could turn out amazing and deliver answers!
SPOILERS.... lots... (more like a synopsis for me for when I pick this title back up)

Casey's rival Isabel returns and we find out that she is Class President. One of the benefits of being Class President is that you get to speak face to face with the ever elusive Headmaster. Therefore, Casey, after declaring intent to get answers from him then kill him in revenge for her parents' death, announces she is running for Class President. Hopefully, she'll win and we'll see this Headmaster come around issue 50.

Two new teachers, Vanessa's mom and Ian's dad, show up on campus to teach and Ian's dad has a interesting discussion with his class about the nature of reality. Introduces the possibility that the Glories might be exploring some kind of Multiverse.

Jun/Hisao wants his twin back, and is willing to sacrifice Jade for it. Bringing Guillaume to help, but he doesn't want to.

and, we get introduced to Towerball, a sport where the Headmaster has dictated the Red will always win in Red vs. Blue. For years, it has been as such. The Glories and Truants have a plan in mind to make Blue win to prove the Headmaster's word is NOT law. We'll see...

Lastly, grown up Casey has a baby named David, who is asleep when pre-Academy teen Casey comes to visit her with news of her acceptance. Is baby David destined to grow up to be that "head-stabbing" multi-ghost?

IN SUMMARY... if Casey wins the election, then hopefully we will all go with her to meet the Headmaster AND FINALLY GET SOME ANSWERS!!!!!!!

High Recommend! Nick Spencer please don't let me down!

[Elena · Rating 5 out of 5]

How am I supposed to wait for volume 9 now?

[Whitney Jamimah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Back in my review of the first deluxe volume I said I couldn’t believe more people weren’t still talking about this and now I understand why. I’ve now completed volume 8 and it feels like we are nowhere near any sort of conclusion and I can’t even imagine how one would go about trying to wrap this up, there seems to be no end in sight for this series and that is, again, I’m sure because the author has written themselves into a corner.

There are so many characters in this series that even after taking just a couple weeks off from reading volume 7 I had to look up who most of them were which is not a great thing in my humble opinion. I generally tend to remember characters for many years after reading a great book and I couldn’t even remember most of these guys after a couple weeks.

I plan to read volumes 9 and 10 back to back while things are fresh in my memory and be caught up to as far as the series has came out (and may ever come out) then just wait and see what happens. All I can say at this point is given the complex nature of the plot this is definitely a series that needs to be binged as opposed to reading a volume at a time with much time between volumes.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surprised to find that some of this actually made some sense.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not so keen on Iasabel's return. It remains to be seen what her role in all this will be. Ian connives, Guillaume and Jun make a deal.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is frustrating to read, and even more frustrating to review. It seems like each trade is getting smaller too, with this volume collecting only four issues. It is the most straightforward that the book has been for a while, with the time travel/ritual sacrifice/etc. elements dialed back a bit, but we're still getting a hell of a lot more questions to go with absolutely zero answers. I expect Nick Spencer has a plan, but it's getting to the point where the expectations are definitely higher than whatever the pay-off is going to be. I was under the impression that this series was designed to run for 60 issues or thereabouts, so with less than 20 left, it's about time for some answers, right? The art remains gorgeous, however.

[The_Mad_Swede · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in the summer of 2016, I stumbled across the Deluxe Collection edition hardcovers of writer Nick Spencer and artist Joe Eisma's wonderful and intriguing series Morning Glories at my local library, and I could hardly wait to read on; but I decided to wait for a fourth Deluxe volume (which proved to be a less than stellar decision, as that has never materialised).

Fast forward to the summer of 2018, and my deciding to check if the library had the paperback volumes of the remaining issues (thus far(?) – the series appears to be on an indefinite hiatus). Finding that they did have volume eight of the paperbacks, which picks right up where the fourth Deluxe volume shouls have, I also placed a request with library to order volumes nine and ten as well (which they did).

So, why this much backstory on the review, you might wonder? Well ... I finished Morning Glories: Deluxe Collection Vol. 3 way back on August 26, 2016, i.e. almost two years ago, and I will confess to being a bit at a loss when picking this volume up. New (or at the very least newer) characters take the stage initially and mucked and messed with my already dodgy recollection of who is who and what had happened previously. In fact, this affected my reading to the point where I was actually wavering between giving this volume four stars or three ... and I might honestly have settled on three stars in my slightly bemused state, had I not gone on immediately to volume nine (which I will review soon), which provided enough bulk with this one to put my head back in the proverbial game, and made me able to re-evaluate the volume more fairly.

All in all, this is a fascinating and interesting continuation of the story. But, as noted, reading previous volumes (and preferably not too long before reading this) is definitely necessary.

[Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I enjoy the atmosphere around the story, I was feeling like it was maybe time to give up considering how lost I was with what exactly is going on. I feels like a reread from the beginning would help me. Then I got to the towerball issue and it was enjoyable enough for me to want to continue.

I still wish I was smart enough to pick everything up the first time, but I look forward to finishing and then rereading when I can look up annotations or remind myself of what I should know at this point in the story.

Love a book though that has the characters reading and enjoying the Invisibles.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok I'm calling it quits after this one, I give up. So there is time travel but I don't get what it is about the kids that is different that they can do it. And ok the main character is the one who influenced herself to go to the school in the first place, but because alot of the females look alike a keep on getting confused on who is who. For me this wasn't worth figuring it all out. Enjoyed the art throughout the run, but the plot was tedious and confusing in parts.

[Simon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Okay so having given up on this series last volume, I noticed it had come to some sort of a conclusion in the tenth volume, so I thought well okay, let's see if this train wreck of deliberately obtuse lost fanfic actually goes anywhere.

Based on the evidence of this volume, no. Never has so little actually been done in a volume.

[BookCupid · Rating 4 out of 5]

The action finally picked up! It's looking like the authors are putting all the pieces for a grand finale.

Also, seeing Fortunato in that state still pains me. Hopefully, there's something that they can do to help him.

[Lianne Anta · Rating 3 out of 5]

...

[Erin Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were so many good plot twists. The one at the end was good and the other involving Jun was wild.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

wtf is this.

[Sooraya Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

The series is trying to be smart but ends up the opposite. There is no plot anymore. I repeat, there is no plot anymore.

[Kevin Mullier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apart from Casey's nemesis from her school showing up plus jade being kidnapped pretty much filler

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

De irritatie van nog steeds geen antwoorden te hebben doorheen al de volumes, begint te irriteren, maar toch blijf je lezen.

[Bill Coffin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m afraid this doesn’t work on any of its intended levels.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story a bit more back on track after the last couple of editions.

[Mike Jorgensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still adrift, I enjoy about 60% of the content At this point. I'm tired of meeting new characters and I'd love some answers or even if they would tease me with the idea that there might be answers...

[ReadtoDeath]

read

[Ivan Lopez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muy repetitivo, hay un montón de tramas que nunca se resuelven, y hace que no tenga sentido la historia.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do I really need to keep writing reviews at this point in the series? Clearly, if you've read this far then you know what it's all about. Mystery, intrigue, violence and questions. Always more questions. Never enough answers.

Please stop adding characters, that we all know I'll never remember. Or at least have them look more distinctive so I can tell them apart, rather than Blond Boy #1-5.

[Ryan Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

After being dragged out for a few trades, we finally get some things to help carry a narrative: Casey considers running for student counsel and Guillame wants to win some stupid sports game. Nothing great, but with all the time travel, flashbacks, and dreamscaping, I'm totally fine with just digging in to some cliche teenager problems for a bit.

The good thing about experiencing all the crazy shit up to this point is that it does kind of transcend what is essentially an episode or two of Saved By the Bell. This trade feels like the start of a new season with the introduction of these new arcs, a nice feeling after not getting any real closure at the end of season one and the ensuing few trades.

The student body president gets to meet the Headmaster, so it's worth it for Casey to run (And, oh, I don't know, kill the Headmaster, if she so desires. Not a plan I'd be too forward with, personally.) After everything the school's put her through, it makes sense and isn't just the part of the movie where Lindsay Lohan shoves it in everyone's face.

And the team Guillame is chosen to captain never wins, due to some freak accident or something that always happens. He has a chance to prove the system wrong and really shake up an institution that's placed a lot of emphasis on the idea of "fuck you you're wrong, fuck you we're right."

Where we get more of the same problems as usual is by having all the same problems as usual. There's no follow up on the big ending of the previous trade, and the plot here that threatens Jade's life is more distracting than anything. There's nothing for her to do, so she's involved--seemingly at random, as all the characters continue to not tell each other things--in a murder/sacrifice plot. There are so many narrative threads thrown up in the air that keeping track of them all becomes tedious, even without everyone playing a major role.

Mostly, I'm starting to wonder why this is a 100 issue run when surely a tighter 60 would have done just fine. Spencer claims to have every detail of every issue and arc therein mapped out, but the ensemble cast that was one of the original charms of the series is broken up and mired in their own convoluted stories so much that the bouncing back and forth doesn't do much of a service to anyone.

I still like these people and want them to escape, which I think is their unifying goal, but that might be the only reason I'm still reading. We definitely didn't need the Truants added to the story, interesting as they are, and even with this becoming a too-heavy soup, I'll keep eating it. At least Casey Blevins is a legal adult now, so I don't feel bad about thinking she's a babe, or at least not any worse than I feel about lusting after any other cartoon.

[Shannon Appelcline · Rating 4 out of 5]

A move over to surprisingly mundane things: a student election, science projects, and a school newspaper. Granted, it all has a weird Morning Glories spin, but it's much more normal schooldom. Obviously, the result doesn't have the heft of the initial run or the Woodrun madness, but it's good to see a bit of "real life" at the school before the next bit of weirdness.

Unlike some of the recent microtrades, this one feels like it has a good beginning and end, thanks to the bookending of Casey's decision to run for president. Still, the rest feels like a slice of life, just like the recent (less satisfactory) microtrades.

I found the issue with Simon's father (40) particularly interesting, especially his discussion of branching into alternate realities. It made me wonder about something Hunter said several volumes back, about feeling like he'd previously seen some of the scenes that have repeated in the earlier trades. I'd always assumed the authors were repeating scenes to show us overlapping narratives. But what if they were showing us alternate realities instead, branching differently each time they repeat? (It would explain my inability to fit the last bits of issues #11 or #12 or so into the comics timeline, when lots of other stuff seems to happen after Casey and Hunter's breakup, rather than an immediate jump to Woodrun.) In any case, that issue stuck out as an important touchstone for the comic. We'll see how we return to it.

[Francine · Rating 3 out of 5]

26 September 2016: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
___

27 August 2023: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Okay after this there's only two more volumes to go so we're almost done! 👏

I know I'm always complaining about this series, specifically how much it drags and how few questions get answered, but I do get some enjoyment out of the themes it presents. This volume ends with two pages of theme analysis and I really really appreciated that because the themes are truly this series's strong suit. If this series came out today instead of a decade ago, I would watch all the youtube video essays ever, see what the fandom was up to and engage with theories. This series is perfect for media analysis with the homies.

Another thing I was thinking about was that maybe I'm being too hard on this series sometimes. Like a lot of this is based on philosophy and religion and they're probably intentionally keeping it vague, because there are no answers in philosophy or religion, it's more about the questioning then the truth. I think I get that. I just don't like it. I'm much more into character-/plot-based stories than theme-based ones. It's too esoteric for my tastes.