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Morning in America
"Sharp, snarky and slick, Visaggio gives us a clever rewind to an unfolding mystery set in the early 80s." –– CHUCK WENDIG
It's 1983, and when mysterious monsters start overtaking a small town in Ohio, it's up to a teenage girl gang to save the day in this new story for fans of Paper Girls and Stranger Things .
Created by powerhouse team Magdalene Visaggio ( Eternity Girl ) and Claudia Aguirre ( Kim & Kim ), Morning in America follows the Sick Sisters, a group of friends and small-time delinquents who may be the only people standing between their suffocatingly small town and complete apocalyptic destruction. The Sisters know there's something wrong in Tucker, Ohio—and they also know that the authorities aren't doing anything about it. When the girls take the investigation into their own hands, they run into wild conspiracy theories, abandoned homes... and something that screeches in the night. At the end of the world, four girls with bikes and baseball bats are there to stand in the way.
It's 1983, and when mysterious monsters start overtaking a small town in Ohio, it's up to a teenage girl gang to save the day in this new story for fans of Paper Girls and Stranger Things .
Created by powerhouse team Magdalene Visaggio ( Eternity Girl ) and Claudia Aguirre ( Kim & Kim ), Morning in America follows the Sick Sisters, a group of friends and small-time delinquents who may be the only people standing between their suffocatingly small town and complete apocalyptic destruction. The Sisters know there's something wrong in Tucker, Ohio—and they also know that the authorities aren't doing anything about it. When the girls take the investigation into their own hands, they run into wild conspiracy theories, abandoned homes... and something that screeches in the night. At the end of the world, four girls with bikes and baseball bats are there to stand in the way.
136 pages, Paperback
First published October 8, 2019
2 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
About the author
Magdalene Visaggio
202 books179 followersMagdalene Visaggio is a comics writer and essayist. She's the writer and creator of the GLAAD and Eisner-nominated series Kim & Kim, as well as Eternity Girl at DC Comics. She currently resides in Manhattan.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
September 28, 2022
I'm not sure which came first - this one or the Paper Girls series, and I don't feel like looking up the dates, but I much preferred the latter when it comes to kick-ass girls fighting aliens. The artwork in this one varies wildly from page to page. Some, like the panel below -
- isn't bad, while on other pages, the characters are indistinguishable between panels.
Then there's the long, slow build-up, and the hurried ending.
I'm glad there isn't a sequel.
- isn't bad, while on other pages, the characters are indistinguishable between panels.
Then there's the long, slow build-up, and the hurried ending.
I'm glad there isn't a sequel.
September 20, 2021
I really liked this one! The art and colouring were really great. The story is blurbed as a cross between Paper Girls and Stranger Things both of which I love. It could definitely be argued that is a rip-off of Stranger Things because it is very similar but I have been missing Stranger Things in this long hiatus so I will take any bit of that same vibe that I can get! I'm taking one star off because the ending left everything hanging and it appears that this one volume is the entire story. It feels like when I got to the end of Twin Peaks and that huge cliffhanger was the unsatisfying ending. Of course they came back 20 years later with more. I'm not expecting more from this story but maybe I'll be surprised.
February 12, 2020
I grabbed this book off the shelf at my local library purely for the cover art. Holy shit I adore the style and colorization choices in this cover. The art throughout this book is really in your face and gorgeous, it's almost worth picking up just for that. Almost.
Four best friends, the Sick Sisters (aka Ellen, Nancy, Veronica and Ashley), are the badasses of their tiny Ohio town. It's 1983 and aside from dealing with the normal pressures of growing up, crushes on friends and absentee parents, they're dealing with an even bigger issue; disappearances. When the book begins, a fourth teenager from their area has gone missing and it seems like the police aren't bothering to check out any leads. When one of their own is taken, the girls decide to take matters into their own hands and discover a massive conspiracy, a cover-up, and monsters overtaking their small town.
I was really excited for this, as there's nothing I love more than confident ladies and the 80s, but this book was a little TOO Stranger Things, even for me. To be honest, it was a LOT Stranger Things. A group of kids going off on their own to fight a giant monster (that legit looks to have the same face as a Demogorgon) after their most innocent and naive member gets taken was a bit too on the nose for me to get into. I know this is a specifically personal issue with the book, as someone who hasn't seen Stranger Things wouldn't even notice this, but it very much stuck out to me.
A broader issue was the pacing. The story is composed of 5 issues which make up one volume and honestly it's not enough. Just as I was getting interested in the story and the conspiracy theories about it, we suddenly jump through the build up and conclusion in about 20 pages. Nothing felt like it paid off or was earned because of how quickly everything went down. There's a self sacrifice at a point in the book and I just shrugged through it because the character hadn't spent enough time with our main protagonist for me to really feel emotional about their demise, which is disappointing. There is also a hint of romance throughout the issues, which should culminate in a scene at the end of the book, but there is SO LITTLE offered about this relationship between our protagonist and a character we learn literally nothing about, I felt totally devoid of emotion at their final scene together.
I looked up the author and I read another book by her, Vagrant Queen, and if I remember correctly I had similar issues with that story; awesome idea, muddy in execution. Still worth picking up if you see it on the shelf, especially for the art work, but I wouldn't rush out to read or buy it.
Blog / Twitter
Four best friends, the Sick Sisters (aka Ellen, Nancy, Veronica and Ashley), are the badasses of their tiny Ohio town. It's 1983 and aside from dealing with the normal pressures of growing up, crushes on friends and absentee parents, they're dealing with an even bigger issue; disappearances. When the book begins, a fourth teenager from their area has gone missing and it seems like the police aren't bothering to check out any leads. When one of their own is taken, the girls decide to take matters into their own hands and discover a massive conspiracy, a cover-up, and monsters overtaking their small town.
I was really excited for this, as there's nothing I love more than confident ladies and the 80s, but this book was a little TOO Stranger Things, even for me. To be honest, it was a LOT Stranger Things. A group of kids going off on their own to fight a giant monster (that legit looks to have the same face as a Demogorgon) after their most innocent and naive member gets taken was a bit too on the nose for me to get into. I know this is a specifically personal issue with the book, as someone who hasn't seen Stranger Things wouldn't even notice this, but it very much stuck out to me.
A broader issue was the pacing. The story is composed of 5 issues which make up one volume and honestly it's not enough. Just as I was getting interested in the story and the conspiracy theories about it, we suddenly jump through the build up and conclusion in about 20 pages. Nothing felt like it paid off or was earned because of how quickly everything went down. There's a self sacrifice at a point in the book and I just shrugged through it because the character hadn't spent enough time with our main protagonist for me to really feel emotional about their demise, which is disappointing. There is also a hint of romance throughout the issues, which should culminate in a scene at the end of the book, but there is SO LITTLE offered about this relationship between our protagonist and a character we learn literally nothing about, I felt totally devoid of emotion at their final scene together.
I looked up the author and I read another book by her, Vagrant Queen, and if I remember correctly I had similar issues with that story; awesome idea, muddy in execution. Still worth picking up if you see it on the shelf, especially for the art work, but I wouldn't rush out to read or buy it.
Blog / Twitter
August 9, 2019
I really wanted to enjoy this series, it had an interesting concept but the execution left much to be desired. The pacing was my largest issue with how the story unfolded though I don't think that blame is fully the creators' burden, since it must be incredibly difficult to build and finish such an ambitious adventure in only five issues. Unfortunately pacing is a factor regularly underestimated in its importance in creating satisfying emotional depth, leading the last issue to feel anticlimactic and disappointing.
June 8, 2021
A decent read overall but nothing outstanding. I liked the characters and the art was good but the story itself just felt very rushed and two-dimensional. It definitely feels like it's going for a Paper Girls vibe but for whatever reason didn't want to take the time to really set up the story. Still a fun quick read but not a lot of substance.
August 24, 2020
More like 2.5 stars. This reads like it's trying too hard to be like Paper Girls and Stranger Things. I felt like the story was way too rushed and not developed enough. Don't think I will go further with this series.
December 16, 2022
Me encantó la idea y los personajes, y en realidad mi única queja es que hubiera sido mejor que fuera más largo, porque va bien y de pronto todo lo acelera y me dejó como con ganas de profundizar más, de que hubiera más desarrollo. Aún así lo disfruté mucho.
December 14, 2019
Solid concept. But the pacing was waaaaay too rushed due to the 5 issues/one volume constraint. I feel like with a little more time/more pages this could have really flourished.
Art work was solid. Colors were great!
Art work was solid. Colors were great!
November 1, 2019
Good but definitely feels more like a volume one than a complete series. I would have loved to see more of Ronnie and her and Nancy as a proper couple.
October 10, 2020
Wish I could give this less honestly. It’s interesting that this comic was also by Oni Press, but was just so fucking godawful. I wanted to like it so badly, I mean, it has pretty much everything that I would love: conspiracies, the 80s, a bunch of rough ‘em up chicks, but alas, it’s just yet another absolutely horrible entry into the hypetrain that Stranger Things has created (Paper Girls and Something is Killing the Children are some more examples of this). I cannot get over how bad this was...t was almost impressive.
What I’m left wondering is how the hell this author even was allowed to publish something this bad and how it got so many glowing reviews. It was trash. Derivative, pedestrian, clichéd, incredibly predictable, and clearly trying to tick off as many “Look At Me I’m Super Woke” points as possible. It was also very, very confusing. The panels weren’t well thought out at all and would jump around in time randomly with absolutely no explanation. I’m starting to wonder just how many one shot wonders there are out there. Let me explain: there seems to be an influx of people having one really, really good idea that they execute fairly well getting these creative deals to continue to create. Problem is, they’re actually not good at creating anything else, just that one thing. So what do they do? Steal. Rip off. Copy. Stranger Things is a great example of this. The first season was *chef’s kiss* perfect. It was very obvious they only thought out the story through the end of the first season and weren’t prepared to continue it. Honestly, they’re hacks. Same thing with Visaggio. Seems like she created on good comic and was like, “Oh, I have more ideas,” when really those ideas were her just literally (like seriously) just fucking plagiarizing other, better stories.
Oh, after reading it, even the cover enrages me. It’s a blatant rip-off of They Live, which is one of the best movies ever created. And, look, the cover was the thing that enticed me in the first place *because* I love They Live and was ready to be wowed by how good this story was going to be.
Hah.
What I’m left wondering is how the hell this author even was allowed to publish something this bad and how it got so many glowing reviews. It was trash. Derivative, pedestrian, clichéd, incredibly predictable, and clearly trying to tick off as many “Look At Me I’m Super Woke” points as possible. It was also very, very confusing. The panels weren’t well thought out at all and would jump around in time randomly with absolutely no explanation. I’m starting to wonder just how many one shot wonders there are out there. Let me explain: there seems to be an influx of people having one really, really good idea that they execute fairly well getting these creative deals to continue to create. Problem is, they’re actually not good at creating anything else, just that one thing. So what do they do? Steal. Rip off. Copy. Stranger Things is a great example of this. The first season was *chef’s kiss* perfect. It was very obvious they only thought out the story through the end of the first season and weren’t prepared to continue it. Honestly, they’re hacks. Same thing with Visaggio. Seems like she created on good comic and was like, “Oh, I have more ideas,” when really those ideas were her just literally (like seriously) just fucking plagiarizing other, better stories.
Oh, after reading it, even the cover enrages me. It’s a blatant rip-off of They Live, which is one of the best movies ever created. And, look, the cover was the thing that enticed me in the first place *because* I love They Live and was ready to be wowed by how good this story was going to be.
Hah.
Read
February 26, 2022Much like Proctor Valley Road, one of those comics trying to ride the Stranger Things wave by talent who should know better. You can tell exactly which Stephen King stories it's been bodged together from, and matters aren't helped by some of the art choices, which do things like keep the monster so far off camera in the second issue that you don't even understand how the characters know to describe it (I went back twice to check I hadn't flicked over two pages at once), then show it fully in #3, rather than pulling off the sort of slow build-up of hinted details which might have felt at all spooky. The kids have a bunch of personality in the preamble, then lose most of it as soon as events kick off; the town and the supporting cast never have anything like the solidity and specificity which enabled Paper Girls to make a success of this sort of material. About the best which can be said is that, given the name, the 1983 setting, and when I read it, it turned out to lean surprisingly lightly on the apocalyptic Cold War vibe.
January 20, 2021
Is Magdalene Visaggio okay? Was she present for the last two issues of this series?
The first three issues serve a brand of 80s nostalgia popularized by Stranger Things but actually do it pretty successfully with colorful and pretty art, snappy dialogue and good characterization. And then the series takes a dive headfirst into concrete for literally no discernible reason whatsoever. The characters that were being developed all get abandoned, the plot threads get resolved in a page or two, none of the conclusions satisfying.
It genuinely feels like either Visaggio forgot what she was writing in the first 3 issues vs the last 2 or someone else finished off the series for her. There's barely anything connecting the tone, the pacing, the plot of the ending to the same elements of the beginning.
What a damn shame.
The first three issues serve a brand of 80s nostalgia popularized by Stranger Things but actually do it pretty successfully with colorful and pretty art, snappy dialogue and good characterization. And then the series takes a dive headfirst into concrete for literally no discernible reason whatsoever. The characters that were being developed all get abandoned, the plot threads get resolved in a page or two, none of the conclusions satisfying.
It genuinely feels like either Visaggio forgot what she was writing in the first 3 issues vs the last 2 or someone else finished off the series for her. There's barely anything connecting the tone, the pacing, the plot of the ending to the same elements of the beginning.
What a damn shame.
March 30, 2020
Ok... uh. I don’t know what happened; this was a fun ride that was super 80s and vaguely political, and then it was like the last issue the author forgot she had to wrap it up and then just rushed the heck out of the ending. Maybe it would have been better as a continuing series but it felt like when I badly plan out lettering of a sign and have to fit the rest of it into a tiny bit of paper and squeeeeze it in. Still definitely worth a read, the characters were memorable and the art was vivid.
March 12, 2023
Really engaging premise and some fun character dialogue between the Sick Sisters, but horrifically rushed. Absolutely does not fit everything it wants to in its page count. Needs to be like double the length to be great. It's a fun enough read as it is but lots of wasted potential here. I was really engaged with the slow build up and then they just have this breakneck speed for the rest of the book.
February 9, 2025
Why are comic writers always leaving things unfinished? With books never being a guarantee you gotta finish the story! Was hoping we got something more. Even if it was rushed. I was hook until the end when it just ended. What do we take from this ? I don’t even know.
Also small spoiler:
What author puts their personal phone number in a book lol
Also small spoiler:
What author puts their personal phone number in a book lol
November 13, 2019
in the early 80's, a group of badass teenage girls discover various and sinister strange things afoot in their small town and decide to take matters into their own hands, and also two of them are in love. this was a super fun sci-fi romp that ended too soon. 4/5.
May 3, 2020
Good but it needed to be way longer! I wanted to live in the world and get to know the characters better and understand more of what was going on! The pacing was not great and the end especially felt so rushed.
November 9, 2020
I have heard this reminds people of Stranger Things and Paper Girls, but honestly it felt more like FLCL. The art is gorgeous and the story has a great premise. However, it is a bit rushed and the characters needed a little more development. Overall I enjoyed it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 7, 2019
I know not much people liked how fast it was and me neither not much. But i loved this series I really how they make more of this, how they are going to fight them in the end
December 14, 2019
Eu gostei....
Por mais que seja o clichê de 2019, de buracos de minhocas que o governo esconde e começam a parecer criaturas estranhas, achei divertido.
Por mais que seja o clichê de 2019, de buracos de minhocas que o governo esconde e começam a parecer criaturas estranhas, achei divertido.
June 11, 2020
Started off solidly, but the ending was very much a confusing and rushed mess.
November 13, 2020
Kick butt women saving the world, fighting crime...committing crime, and being queer while doing it. Sounds like a party to me!
March 21, 2021
This is right up my alley! I only wish it had been longer, it was a tad rushed because it was so few issues.
August 31, 2021
Even if it is very reminiscent of other things *cough* Stranger Things *cough* Paper Girls (and self describes as being a combo of those two), I still loved it. I want more!
January 23, 2022
This packs a punch, especially if you’re a STRANGER THINGS fan. Completely bummed there’s only one volume—great art, engaging story, and captivating characters.
November 24, 2022
Gorgeous art, but story lacked direction and emotional impact
March 21, 2023
This was quite good! If you like Hellboy, you'll like this. Especially if you need a break from bleakness but still want a dope horror adventure.
December 4, 2023
Should’ve been a slam dunk. Was unfortunately just okay.
June 28, 2025
fun and queer story about the end of the world with weird bat creatures. ideal
October 6, 2023
Creo que Mags tiene muy buenas ideas en esto del comic americano. Y este es muy norteamericano, I mean, sólo vean el título: Morning in America.
Me encantaron las sick sisters. Me gusta mucho el arte de Claudia Aguirre.
Mi único pero es que realmente a Mags no se le dan bien los finales. jfdhjdshjds Todos los que he leído parece que les faltan páginas y no para todos funciona la cosa. La quiero mucho, pero necesita pulir eso.
Me encantaron las sick sisters. Me gusta mucho el arte de Claudia Aguirre.
Mi único pero es que realmente a Mags no se le dan bien los finales. jfdhjdshjds Todos los que he leído parece que les faltan páginas y no para todos funciona la cosa. La quiero mucho, pero necesita pulir eso.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews