I TEGO ARCANA DEI
(Being an Overview of The Invisibles in Three Parts)
by David Hontiveros

Part 3: “In The Darkness, We Are All Invisible”

“Darling! They have tranny TV presenters here. I feel positively plain.”
“You’ll never be plain, Fanny. The world’s getting more like us every day.
It’s everything I ever hoped for. Everything is real.”
“Except my tits. Fill me in, baby.”
-- Lord Fanny to King Mob
The Invisibles Vol. Three # 10
“Satanstorm” Three: “The `It’ Girls”

The much anticipated third volume of The Invisibles kicks off with the four-part arc, “Satanstorm,” which explores in greater depth, Sir Miles’ past involvement with one of the Invisibles, as well as the true connection between Division X and the Invisibles. Set in Britain, “Satanstorm” returns to the tone of Volume One, as the guns go quiet and the royal conspiracy plot thread kicks back in.

“Diana’s firstborn, the Moonchild we planned, would have been eighteen now and ready to be occupied… if she hadn’t taken fright, if she hadn’t seen `Rosemary’s Baby’ on television, if she’d had the wit to comprehend her destiny as the mother of the new aeon…”
-- Sir Miles
The Invisibles Vol. Three # 10
“Satanstorm” Three: “The `It’ Girls”

In preparation for the upcoming conflict with the Lost Ones, most of the Invisibles we’ve met in the past assemble, a pre-millennial, post-modern bunch of Round Table Knights (with the exception of Boy—who is still in America—and Ragged Robin—who is still in the future). With impressive art by Philip Bond, “Satanstorm” lights the bomb’s fuse in grand style, as we join Grant Morrison as he counts down to the millennium.

In a stroke of sly genius, the numbering of Volume Three begins with issue 12, and counts downwards, till the last issue-- # 1-- scheduled for release in late April. And Brian Bolland (who has already won an Eisner Award—the comic industry’s equivalent of the Oscar—for his cover work on The Invisibles), designs and executes the Volume Three covers so each issue sports its number prominently, along with occasional imagery that also refers to the issue’s number.

From: Ariel@gloriana.freeserve.uk
To: RexPop@virgin.net
Date: June 20 1999
Subject: The day to day…

The day-to-day existence of the elderly, like that of the magician, is filled with an extraordinarily high level of coincidence. Everything ultimately repeats itself.

One seems to stand still while the faces and backgrounds blur past at an ever-increasing rate, like that scene from the film of “The Time Machine.”

The furniture flickers, rearranging itself; skirts are short, then long, then short again; hair flows and dries up and flows once more.
Imagine then the life of the elderly magician. One long, shining thread of coincidence.

-- e-mail from Edith to King Mob
The Invisibles Vol. Three # 8
“Karmageddon” Part One: “Tantrika”

Volume Three’s second story arc, “Karmageddon,” focuses on Edith’s passing from the realm of the flesh, as she returns to India to die. Joined there by King Mob, we also get to see King Mob’s first meeting with Edith (though of course, that meeting is the second time Edith meets Mob), as he contemplates suicide while listening to The Smiths’ Hatful of Hollow (specifically, “Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now”). Here, at this moment, it is almost as if time experiences meltdown, as King Mob sees a body burning on the river (which Edith does not see), which turns out to be Edith’s own body, which Mob sets alight himself upon her death.

And though the art here (by Sean Phillips) is not as wonderfully crafted as Bond’s from “Satanstorm,” “Karmageddon” is nonetheless a moving tale as we bid farewell to one of the most memorably-written characters in comics.

“You are playing a game disguised as everything. Remember?”
-- Harlequinade
The Invisibles Vol. Three # 5
“Karmageddon” Part Four: “Smile”

Volume Three’s third story arc, “The Invisible Kingdom” is an artistic jam, with practically every single artist who ever drew The Invisibles (and some newcomers) contributing to the pages. (A most welcome surprise is the final page of issue 2—“The Invisible Kingdom” Part Three: “The Moment of the Blitz”—which is pencilled by Grant Morrison himself!) Here, the crowning of the Shadow King during the eclipse on the 11th of August takes place, while King Mob and company crash the party. Some of the cast members die in this encounter, and an eleventh hour twist is revealed here.

In a sequence that plays once more with our temporal perception, King Mob is slumped in a phone booth, bleeding from gunshot wounds, while outside, pedestrians walk by, among them, John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe (from “Dead Beetles”—Vol. One # 1) and the Harlequinade. It is also here where we finally see the significance of the story chronicled in Volume One’s “Best Man Fall.”
Meanwhile, as both The Invisibles and JLA are winding down, Morrison reportedly has a falling out with DC. Shabbily treated by certain editors at DC over a rejected proposal to revamp the Superman titles, Morrison is quoted as saying, “[I’m leaving to] get the shitty taste of the company I once loved out of my mouth.”

Some weeks after that though, Morrison expresses regret over his comments, so his relationship with DC may be far from over.

And while this goes on, Morrison’s latest comic book, Marvel Boy (a six-issue limited series under the Marvel Knights line) is announced for a June release. Described as “a punk with superpowers” by Marvel Knights editor Joe Quesada, Marvel Boy seems to hearken back to Morrison’s Zenith days, when he threw rock and roll, spandex, and Cthulhu mythos into a high-octane blender and produced an award-winning strip with collaborator Steve Yeowell.

Finally, issue 1 of Volume Three, the climax of The Invisibles, hits the stores, wrapping up nearly six years and 59 issues of madness and mayhem. Drawn by Frank Quitely (currently collaborating with Mark Millar on the absolutely mental The Authority), “Glitterdammerung” is chockful of information and ties in to quite a number of events throughout the series’ three volumes. The issue also ends with Jack Frost speaking, and here, Jack can be seen as proxy for Morrison, as he conveys his last message to the readers.

In the issue’s text piece, Morrison announces that though The Invisibles comic has come to an end, Reynard’s “Dear Sir” notes (seen in the issue) will be continued in the novel the IF, a hundred pages of which have already been written.

“There’s no difference between fate and free will. Here I am; put here, come here.
No difference. Same thing.
“Nothing ends that isn’t something else starting.
“So which side are you on? Do you know yet?”
-- Jack Frost
The Invisibles Vol. Three # 1
“Glitterdammerung”

For nearly six years, Grant Morrison dosed us up with a heady cocktail of the millennial zietgeist, and we, the “smart, odd people,” the “Midwich cuckoos of the world who don’t really fit in,” took that work to heart, signing up for the Invisible College without even knowing that we were already a part of it.

Well, the book’s done and Morrison leaves us with the reality that there are no more gods but ourselves. He also leaves us with an invitation: I’ve told you my story, time you told me yours.

So let’s get out there, cuckoos, and spin our own tales of the universe’s secrets. Let’s make Grant proud…
Carpe noctem and all that Latin jazz.

“Here’s to the Blank Badge. And to everything around it that makes it seem blank.
No more then. No more now.
“To chaos.”
-- King Mob’s toast
The Invisibles Vol. Three # 4
“The Invisible Kingdom” Part One:
“Planet Stepford”

Parting Shot: Thus far, Invisibles compilations include Say You Want a Revolution (containing issues 1 to 8 of Vol. One), Bloody Hell in America (issues 1 to 4 of Vol. Two), Counting To None (issues 5 to 13 of Vol. Two), and Kissing Mister Quimper (issues 14 to ? of Vol. Two; sorry, don’t have the data on me just now), which you can also find at your nearest comic book specialty store or Powerbooks. (Bizarrely, DC still has to compile the rest of Volume One in trade paperback form…)

Parting Shot 2: When asked what kind of fans he attracted, Morrison answered, “Smart, odd people. My fans are the Midwich cuckoos of the world who don’t really fit in, but suddenly read something and go, ‘This guy thinks around corners the way I do.’ It’s the same way I was when I discovered Burroughs; ‘F*ck, yeah, this makes sense.’”