/Steve Yeowell, Jill Thompson and /Dennis Cramer, illustrators Throughout history, a secret society called the Invisibles works against the forces ...
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Aug 17, 2011
Keely
rated it: 
As a child, I collected comics, but I could hardly be bothered to read them. I would just sit and stare at the art. Even when I did read them, it was rarely very satisfying, since I never had two issues of the same story. I would get snippets of some grand arc the inception and conclusion of which I would never see.
But I liked to draw, and so I'd try to make my own comics, and my own characters. When adults asked what I wanted to be when I 'grew up', I would say 'a comic artist'. Suc More...
But I liked to draw, and so I'd try to make my own comics, and my own characters. When adults asked what I wanted to be when I 'grew up', I would say 'a comic artist'. Suc More...
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Jan 29, 2012
It's funny, but everything I liked and didn't like about the Doom Patrol book I read is everything I don't like and like about this book. Whereas I reveled in the "dada" aspect of the Doom Patrol, and was disappointed when all the nonsense began to have a pat logic to it, this book's nonsense struck me as too much free posturing, and I wanted desperately for some semblance of plot to exist to grab my attention on.
There is something to be said about Aristotle's old bit abou More...
There is something to be said about Aristotle's old bit abou More...
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Sep 07, 2008
Zane
rated it: 
I picked these first 8 issues up on ebay for a measly $4.00. Best 4 dollars I've spent in a long time. The cast of characters is weird: the Marquis de Sade, Mary Shelley, The head of John the Baptist, a Mexican tranny witch, Lord Byron, etc.
Immediately, the work and art is really 90's, which is a bit offsetting, because it seems to need a futuristic feel for the story to function. The invisibles are unveiling the present as it is to fight for a future that should have been here by n More...
Immediately, the work and art is really 90's, which is a bit offsetting, because it seems to need a futuristic feel for the story to function. The invisibles are unveiling the present as it is to fight for a future that should have been here by n More...
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Apr 08, 2008
Steve
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This graphic novel is a spicy gumbo of astounding influences. Listing just a few: Illuminatus!, brain machines, psychedelics, chaos magick, conspiracy theory, mind control, The Prisoner, Michael Moorcock's The Cornelius Chronicles, material gnosticism, Dada, Situationism, violence/ ahimsa, time travel, secret societies... Author Grant Morrison never disappoints and serves as a reminder that much of the most advanced fiction of our times is turning up in comic books. Like Robert Anton Wilson befo
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Dec 16, 2009
MIke
rated it:
I'll write this review for all volumes.
"The Invisibles" is 1960's psychedelia wrapped in modern clothing and wrung through every magickal wringer Grant Morrison could reach. Aliens that may or may not be, conspiracies that loop around themselves and the New Buddha in the body of a foul-mouthed Liverpudian boy named Dane. It's a tale of Us vs. Them that eats itself like orobouros.
"The Invisibles" is 1960's psychedelia wrapped in modern clothing and wrung through every magickal wringer Grant Morrison could reach. Aliens that may or may not be, conspiracies that loop around themselves and the New Buddha in the body of a foul-mouthed Liverpudian boy named Dane. It's a tale of Us vs. Them that eats itself like orobouros.
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Mar 01, 2009
Daniel
rated it: 
An interesting work, filled with dark and mystical themes. It's a little hard to get into, there's a unique rhythm to the narrative that the reader needs to find before they can really flow with it. The world is being controlled by an alien (extra-dimensional) conspiracy that forces people into soul-less compliant behavior, and the Invisibles are a secret society of guerrilla cells that practice both physical and psychic warfare against said conspiracy.
It's an ambitious plot, and t More...
It's an ambitious plot, and t More...
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Jan 25, 2009
Andrew
rated it:
Review for the entire run of The Invisibles:
If you're looking for an well-executed occult-thriller comic that goes a little off the rails in its third act, I can't recommend The Invisibles highly enough. Magical terrorists fighting the (British) man! Sweet gunfights! A tantric-sex expert/psychic assassin (And not the way you think! He assassinates psyches! I'm pretty sure!)! Foul-mouthed future buddha! The 62 letters of the true alphabet! Time travel! The Marquis de Sade! A Brazi More...
If you're looking for an well-executed occult-thriller comic that goes a little off the rails in its third act, I can't recommend The Invisibles highly enough. Magical terrorists fighting the (British) man! Sweet gunfights! A tantric-sex expert/psychic assassin (And not the way you think! He assassinates psyches! I'm pretty sure!)! Foul-mouthed future buddha! The 62 letters of the true alphabet! Time travel! The Marquis de Sade! A Brazi More...
Jan 25, 2012
Shannon
rated it: 
This is the first volume of what many consider to be a classic series. The first half focuses on a young Jack Frost, a problem teenager, who is initiated into the Invisibles and thus gives the reader a look into this fantastic world. Jack goes to a boarding school that turns out to be a lot more and picks up a homeless mentor who teaches him about other worlds and the possibility of visiting them. The second part is about the Invisibles using a time travel ritual to visit and hire the Marquis de
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Dec 25, 2011
Marc
rated it:
When I was young, I read an absolutely enormous quantity of comic books. I got older, they went up into the attic at my parent's house, and I went on with my life. At some point this year, I read an article about Grant Morrison, and remembered how much I loved almost everything he's ever written. Since then, I've been reading his Batman epic (holy crap), All-Star Superman (double holy crap) and going back to his other stuff. I thought about this series, and how much I didn't understand it whatso
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Apr 12, 2011
Brad
rated it:
Fried My Little Brains, I believe, is appropriate for this.
This is the first of Morrison's Eighties work that I read, Seaguy was the first thing by him I ever saw and still have no idea what to do with that.
Anyway, The Invisibles, according to Grant, who, at the time was feeling the effects of some very strong hash twinkies come on, is about a man, King Mob, and the loss of his girlfriend. But this isn't a normal man, and somewhere along the line he isn't much of a human either but More...
This is the first of Morrison's Eighties work that I read, Seaguy was the first thing by him I ever saw and still have no idea what to do with that.
Anyway, The Invisibles, according to Grant, who, at the time was feeling the effects of some very strong hash twinkies come on, is about a man, King Mob, and the loss of his girlfriend. But this isn't a normal man, and somewhere along the line he isn't much of a human either but More...
Feb 18, 2011
29alabs
rated it:
Creo que nunca olvidaré la frase con la que empieza esta saga. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK y desde allí se vuelve un viaje psicodélico. Es dificil describir el contenido del libro pero Grant Morrison explora conceptos que son dificiles de ligar, el hecho de que John Lennon sea un dios, drogas que llevan a otras dimensiones, empieza el misterio de Barbelith, abducciones extraterrestres que no son más que un despertar de conciencia y las famosas batallas del bien contra el mal donde en este volumen al men
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Jul 31, 2010
Ryan
rated it:
The first two thirds of this were arresting, but then it quickly irked me once time travel and the Marqui de Sade were involved.
A teenage trouble-making thug is sent to a reform school where parts of their brains and their testicles are removed, but he's saved by an Invisible and inducted into their cell after a long education on the streets with Tom Bedlam. See, there's a war on between the beings who want to rule the earth, the Invisibles, and the earth itself who wants humanity to m More...
A teenage trouble-making thug is sent to a reform school where parts of their brains and their testicles are removed, but he's saved by an Invisible and inducted into their cell after a long education on the streets with Tom Bedlam. See, there's a war on between the beings who want to rule the earth, the Invisibles, and the earth itself who wants humanity to m More...
Jun 18, 2010
Tim
rated it:
This was a little disappointing as the first volume in a series widely touted as innovative. Of course, looking at something in 2010 is not going to be the same as looking at in 1994 when it was first published but it does not stand the test of time in the way that the Sandman series of Neil Gaiman or the work of Alan Moore has done.
Morrison is not stupid. He plays well with the tropes of Chaos Magick (never mentioned but central to the thinking behind the book) and with the psychoge More...
Morrison is not stupid. He plays well with the tropes of Chaos Magick (never mentioned but central to the thinking behind the book) and with the psychoge More...
Mar 16, 2010
Michael
rated it:
This 3 volume series is equal parts genius, acid trip and WTF, and more often than not, it's all three at the same time. In the very first issue, a character named Elfayed says the following, which I think sums up Morrison's style of storytelling perfectly: "Truth speaks best in the language of poetry and symbolism". Admittedly, the poetry and symbolism often left me baffled, but really, I think it was meant to.
Here's just some of the crazy, bizzaro, freaked out stuff I lov More...
Here's just some of the crazy, bizzaro, freaked out stuff I lov More...
Dec 03, 2009
Michael
rated it:
I don't know if The Invisibles is insane, brilliant, or both. Morrison is just throwing everything and anything out there, from Marquis de Sade to The Prisoner to Templar conspiracies. The book is difficult to get into, for two reasons. The first, and most basic, is the central character, Jack Frost, is a bit flat and somewhat tiresome--with so many complex and, let's face it, bat-shit nutty ideas flying around, he's a character who isn't equipped to carry the book. There's also the book's caden
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Sep 07, 2009
Holly
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This comic is, to put it bluntly, a complete mind-f**k. It is truly weird, and truly groundbreaking. After reading this comic I had to decompress with cute pictures of fluffy kittens before bed so that I could try to avoid having nightmares. The kittens didn't really help much. Now, this is not to say I won't be continuing to read this, as I really want to see where it goes, but it's a tough one for me to read.
The Invisibles refers to a "super hero" team fighting the good More...
The Invisibles refers to a "super hero" team fighting the good More...
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Jul 27, 2009
micha
rated it:
i just finished this book this weekend. its so amazing. one of the best comics, maybe the best, i've ever read. the second half really picks up. the first is more introductory. i ran out and bought book 2 cuz it just keeps getting better the more you read it! i was concerned that it was just some pro-drug story, drugs as a way to mental liberation, but its so, so much more than that. this book really looks at the complications of the very idea of revolution, and then surveys a handful of differe
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Jul 03, 2009
Joe
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Oct 17, 2010
James
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I went in to The Invisibles with an open mind. I didn't really know anything about the series or about Grant Morrison. I left this volume with a lot of mixed feelings. There's a relatively straightforward story hidden in there somewhere but I'm not sure what it is. At best, you come away knowing that The Invisibles are a group of "freedom fighters" fighting against a spiritual/pyschaedelic fascist regime of some kind. What this plot is hidden under is a heavy does of attributions, nods
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Apr 01, 2011
Julian
rated it:
Okay, let's be honest and up-front about this. The first volume of 'Invisibles' is not exactly brilliant. Oh, it has some nice ideas, like the windmill time-machine, and the recurrent use of the image of gas-masked figures. But, but, but the problem is that this volume is basically about establishing the character of Jack Frost, and as a person Jack sucks.
I think he's probably meant to be the ultimate free spirit, but what he actually is is the ultimate in selfishness, someone who w More...
I think he's probably meant to be the ultimate free spirit, but what he actually is is the ultimate in selfishness, someone who w More...
Sep 26, 2011
Dan
rated it:
I'm pretty sad to say that I had never read The Invisibles before, and picking up this trade paperback collection of the first twelve issues I was expecting a complete and utter mind-f*ck. Well, what I got was a complete and utter mind-f*ck and then some. It is Grant Morrison's trademark, in his non-superhero stories, to push the envelope of graphic narrative stories and expand the storytelling capabilities of the medium. The Invisibles is surreal, chaotic, and outrageous; audacious in ways t
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Oct 15, 2008
Joseph
rated it:
It is hard to say anything about The Invisibles that accurately summarizes what it is. It is a graphic to be experienced, most likely two or three times just to get in tune with what the hell is going on within its pages. The characters are phenomenal and the imagery will seep into your subconscious and you will find yourself trying to say street signs backwards if only to get closer to knowing the "truth".
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Aug 31, 2010
Hugh
rated it:
"We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future." Marshall McLuhan
Morrison is miming the hallucinatory experience of the chip landscape that is the internet.
Okay, that sounds a little pretentous...but the book is hard to describe in conventional terms. If you are like me and found the early internet fascinating with it’s exotic conspiracy theories, Ufo stories, esoteric, and occult topics that you just don’t get throug More...
Morrison is miming the hallucinatory experience of the chip landscape that is the internet.
Okay, that sounds a little pretentous...but the book is hard to describe in conventional terms. If you are like me and found the early internet fascinating with it’s exotic conspiracy theories, Ufo stories, esoteric, and occult topics that you just don’t get throug More...
Sep 02, 2011
Kevin
rated it:
I'd never read this but Perpetch recommended in on Rolling Stone so OK. I guess I liked it? It gets pretty dark and grody and hopeless in places, not 100% my thing. And it's that kind of odd book where it seems like there might be a really impressive amount of world-building going on, but you see so little of it, or such a narrow slice of it, that you kind of just have to trust that it's there. And I'm reasonably sure it is there, based on what other people have told me about this series, but st
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Oct 04, 2011
A.
rated it:
After 122 pages of violently critiquing the tired trope of the superhero origin story, Morrison finally moves on to present an engaging mediation on utopian thinking in the guise of time travel thriller. Fascinating writing, but it takes almost too long to get to the good stuff. Jill Thompson's art makes me nostalgic for the way we drew comics in the 90s. Steve Yeowell's does not.
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Jul 28, 2008
Jack
rated it:
The first volume of what is so far my favorite comic series ever. Fuckin' brilliant stuff here. Highly recommended for anyone who likes graphic novels with themes like anarchy, surrealism, transcendental spirituality, sex, drugs, queerness and genderqueerness, conspiracy theories, repressive and oppressive world orders, guns, and Molotov cocktails.
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Sep 22, 2011
Stephen
rated it:
Wow, those pamphlet comics were long in the old days!
I almost read this back in the day. I loved Morrison's Animal Man run - and Zenith, and St Swithin's Day - but got a little put off by the psychedelia, automatic writing and channeling of higher powers that came in with Doom Patrol. Coming back to The Invisibles I see why I passed on it, but still have a slight regret that I did.
I'm surprised how much Sandman there is in it. The densely written, historical sections in pa More...
I almost read this back in the day. I loved Morrison's Animal Man run - and Zenith, and St Swithin's Day - but got a little put off by the psychedelia, automatic writing and channeling of higher powers that came in with Doom Patrol. Coming back to The Invisibles I see why I passed on it, but still have a slight regret that I did.
I'm surprised how much Sandman there is in it. The densely written, historical sections in pa More...
Oct 19, 2009
Amir
rated it:
What a disappointment.
I expected something really great, but instead this was weird for weirdness sake, self-indulgent and pretentious.
To top it all, there's the weird conversation on page 158. When King Mob is asked if other people can see them, he answers "They can see us but the thing is, our appearance don't fit the consensus reality here, so their brains will probably rewrite the information coming in through the optic nerves so that it makes sense". What More...
I expected something really great, but instead this was weird for weirdness sake, self-indulgent and pretentious.
To top it all, there's the weird conversation on page 158. When King Mob is asked if other people can see them, he answers "They can see us but the thing is, our appearance don't fit the consensus reality here, so their brains will probably rewrite the information coming in through the optic nerves so that it makes sense". What More...
Oct 29, 2011
Harold
rated it:
I did get into this graphic novel a little more by the end and would probably check out another installment. But for most of it I felt like I was just waiting for things to get going. I remember hearing about The Invisibles back when the first Matrix came out and how similar the two storylines were. Sure enough there's a rebellious everyday main character inducted into a secret society that battles the forces that repress humanity. With The Invisibles, it's just a lot more esoteric and, dare
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Oct 27, 2011
Kathleen
rated it:
So I really like the story and characters and whole idea of it. The artwork is good for the first chapter, but then honestly becomes suddenly horrible in the second chapter. They must have replaced the artist who did the first chapter with a person who just can't draw. I mean we're talking consistently over-sized heads, arms that make no sense, bodies and figures that are out of proportion and just painful to look at-- some frames are just so awful you wonder if the penciler or the inker or both
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