The Invisibles Vol. 1: Say You Want a Revolution

by Grant Morrison, Jill Thompson Steve Yeowell

book data

913 ratings, 4.10 average rating, 78 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		42%
4		33%
3		18%
2		4%
1		1%

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published

June 1st 1996 by Vertigo

binding

Paperback, 224 pages

isbn

1563892677 (isbn13: 9781563892677)

description

Throughout history, a secret society called the Invisibles, who count among their number Lord Byron and Percy Shelley, work against the forces of orde...more

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09/07/08

Zane rated it:

Read in September, 2008

recommended to Zane by: John DiGiovanni

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

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04/08/08

Steve rated it:

Read in January, 1999

recommends it for: anyone with heart and brain connected

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...more

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02/23/07

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.

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11/12/07

Keely rated it:

bookshelves: comics, fantasy, reviewed, sci-fi

Read in November, 2007

I tried to read this collection some time ago, but couldn't get into it. Apparently, I was not entirely alone in this. It was due to this book that I had given up on Morrison. I used to collect comics as a child, and wanted to be a comic artist, myself. However, I don't think I ever had two issues of the same comic in a row. I tried to collect Generation X when it started, but Lobdell never seemed to finish a storyline.

It wasn't until the latter half of my college career that I got i...more I tried to read this collection some time ago, but couldn't get into it. Apparently, I was not entirely alone in this. It was due to this book that I had given up on Morrison. I used to collect comics as a child, and wanted to be a comic artist, myself. However, I don't think I ever had two issues of the same comic in a row. I tried to collect Generation X when it started, but Lobdell never seemed to finish a storyline.

It wasn't until the latter half of my college career that I got into them. I wanted to read the Constantine books after the movie came out, but found out that the story actually started in Alan Moore's reconception of Swamp thing. Of course, reading Moore sent me into an inescapable spiral from which I hope never to recover.

It was only natural to want more, and by way of the other Brits I read Gaiman, Delano, Ellis, Ennis, Milligan, and Morrison. But as I said before, this series turned me off of him quite early on, until I stumbled across WE3. It was difficult to reconcile how the confused and too self-consciously wacky Morrison of Animal Man and The Invisibles could create something so heartfelt and succinct.

I read The Filth and Seaguy and became determined to attack his Magnum Opus again. I find I am in common company in failing to connect with this early outing of his, and have been struggling since reading Animal Man in trying to conceptualize exactly what his failing is; sometimes, the man is a great storyteller, but other times grows inflated and confused.

Perhaps it is a case like Neal Stephenson's, where the author strives for a greater complexity to impress and feel more worthwhile, but fails to connect such disparate elements into something capable of pacing and understanding.

It is not hard to imagine that Morrison would like to be like Moore in this regard, in that the latter is capable of tying together complex storylines and experimental plotting without losing the audience along the way. However, I feel I begin to agree with Moorecock's critique of Morrison as not quite skilled enough to achieve his own aims. Of course, Moorecock's critique of plagarism grows less strong in my eyes after reading both Gloriana and the Titus Groan books.

I find Morrison's complexity outstrips his skill here, though I should note that he was working on scripting for five or six other books at the time, including the enjoyable Flex Mentallo and even better Kill Your Boyfriend.

The art of the early invisibles was also of a lower quality, often simplified without being symbolic and with various errors of foreshortening, perspective, and depiction of the human form. Even after reading early Sandman or other books of the era, the Invisibles still seemed primitive. Perhaps the artists were as rushed as Morrison seems to have been; every other issue talks about some stress-related health problem.

I did feel somewhat bad for the man, especially after reading some of the drivel in the letters page of people who didn't understand what he was getting at. Unfortunately, even thought I did understand what he was getting at, that only helped me to see that he wasn't achieving it.(less)

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03/01/09

Daniel rated it:

bookshelves: fantasy, graphic-novels, science-fiction, urban-fantasy

Read in February, 2009

recommended to Daniel by: Quentin Lewis

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

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01/25/09

Andrew rated it:

bookshelves: fantastic, genre, religious, scientific, visual

Read in January, 2009

recommends it for: alien abductees

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 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 Brazilian transvestite witch who whores him/herself as part of his/her pact with Aztec(?) gods! Awesome pseudonyms- King Mob, Jack Frost, Tom o' Bedlam, Jolly Roger, Mister Six! I could keep this up for hours.

There are enough crazy gonzo elements, and enough spy-style double-/triple-crosses, to keep this a constantly interesting read. Morrison is good at setting up plot threads early in the run that seem insignificant but become integral parts of the later story, and I was always pleased when some puzzling thread from an earlier issue got tied off. Fun stuff.

I found the third volume a little disappointing. The art gets worse (and the artist changes from page-to-page, sometimes), the plot gets a little inscrutable, and shit gets too mystical. But even it has its moments, and the final editorial, where Morrison tells the readers to go try magic--because if they don't they're PUSSIES--is especially fun.

I don't know about you or your chaos magic, Grant Morrison, but this Wikipedia excerpt is something we can all strive for: "At DisinfoCon in 1999, Morrison said that much of the content in The Invisibles was information given to him by aliens that abducted him in Kathmandu, who told him to spread this information to the world via a comic book. He later clarified that the experience he labeled as the 'Alien Abduction Experience in Kathmandu' had nothing to do with aliens or abduction, but that there was an experience that he had in Kathmandu that The Invisibles is an attempt to explain. The title was not a huge commercial hit to start with (Morrison actually asked his readers to participate in a "wankathon" while concentrating on a magical symbol, or sigil, in an effort to boost sales)."

Superb.

(References to volumes, in this case, are not to the graphic novel volumes, but instead to the published volumes. Also, I think the reviews saying the Matrix ripped this off are silly- it's not like this is the first "reality is not as it APPEARS!" book ever written, guys.)(less)

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07/03/09

Joe rated it:

bookshelves: british, esoteric, existential, graphic, postmodern, sexuality

Read in July, 2009

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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10/15/08

Joseph R. rated it:

Has a copy to sell/swap

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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02/27/08

A. rated it:

Read in January, 2008

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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07/28/08

Jack rated it:

bookshelves: comics, owned

Read in January, 2007

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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04/26/09

sian rated it:

Read in April, 2009

When someone tells me they liked a comic better than "Watchmen", that sets my expectation level high, which can lead to bitterness and disappointment -- see my review of the not-to-my-liking "Preacher" series. As I was dissing "Preacher" to a friend, she recommended the "Invisibles" series as of "Watchmen" quality. And she is a woman to be trusted. The series, so far at least, doesn't have the same level of complexity, sophistication, or maturit...more

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04/16/08

Michael rated it:

bookshelves: graphic-novels

Holy shit!!! Grant Morrison is the meta-meta-universe writer from planet whAt?

Have you none?

Yes, no?

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02/24/09

Travis rated it:

bookshelves: comic-books

History has been shaped by the war between two vast secret conspiracies, both trying to shape mankind and prepare it for 'something' that is coming in the future.

Imagine every conspiracy theory is true, and that it's all being explained to you by someone who has just taken LSD and you'll get a small idea what to expect when you read the Invisibles.

A brilliant series, so full of great characters and mad ideas that you won't mind that you'll have no idea what's going on 3/4...more

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10/04/07

Trebro rated it:

bookshelves: tradepaperbacks

Read in July, 2008

So we all know Grant Morrison is completely off his rocker and writes some of the strangest stuff going in comics, right?

Okay, good, because if you didn't know that and you picked up Invisibles, you'd likely never touch a single thing by this man again. That would be a shame, because he has good runs with both Marvel and DC and Doom Patrol, in particular, is a masterpiece.

The Invisibles, while it has its moments, is not close to being the best thing Morrison ever did. I...more

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06/18/09

William rated it:

the problem with the invisibles series is the same as the problem with the sandman- great writing and awful artowrk/layouts. however, it seems the graphic parts of the novel are necessary because i don't think it would have worked as well or at all purely written word. also, a problem, is the fractured and disjointed storytelling, almost mirrors gaiman's sandman books in that respect page to page. annoying.

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01/06/09

Andrea rated it:

Read in January, 2009

dark, dark, seriously dark
multiple (seemingly) random pop culture references
still not sure what the Marquis de Sade was doing there.
imagine a graphic novelization of A Clockwork Orange with a band of time-travelers and there you have it...
I breezed through and was amused; probably won't complete the series

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03/09/09

Adam Patterson rated it:

bookshelves: currently-reading

Just finished this first installment tonight. I watched an interview with Morrison recently, and I was instantly charmed.

The artwork in the second half is def. a little off-putting, but I peeked ahead at the next books and it gets better. I will continue.

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04/10/09

Christopher rated it:

Morrison is an amazing writer and story teller, this series of graphic novels has been the source material for The Matrix, and many other reality shifting films and stories that have followed. The Watchmen, is terrific, but Morrison’s Invisibles is wonderful.

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02/27/08

Kirsten rated it:

bookshelves: borrowed, graphic-novels, read-pre-12-07

Read in April, 2005

recommended to Kirsten by: Dave

The basic premise of the Invisbles series is that the forces of Order and Chaos are at war -- and Chaos is the good side. On the side of Order are the Archons, Lovecraftian evil beings from another dimension who wish to subjugate all mankind. Fighting against the powers of repression and evil are secret cells of agents called Invisibles, who wage constant violent war against the Archons and their human agents.

Something Big is about to come to a head, and somehow Dane MacGowan, a juve...more

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06/27/09

K rated it:

Read in June, 2009

My friend Matthew has been schooling me in comics. He handed me this on my way out of town. If anything, I love what it says and imagines about genders in all their incredible forms and possibilities.

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quotes from this book

"Your head's like mine, like all our heads; big enough to contain every god and devil there ever was. Big enough to hold the weight of oceans and the turning stars. Whole universes fit in there! But what do we choose to keep in this miraculous cabinet? Little broken things, sad trinkets that we play with over and over. The world turns our key and we play the same little tune again and again and we think that tune's all we are." More quotes...