Monday, May 28, 2001

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.’”

Monday, May 21, 2001

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


Part 2: “Which Side Are You On?”

IT happens on the morning of December 22, 2012. On that day all of history impacts with an unimaginable Apocalypse, an Event glimpsed and interpreted by the prophets of every culture – the biblical Armageddon, Norse Ragnarok, the Aztec Fifth Sun, the Hopi Fourth World, the Breaking of the Seals, the Rapture, Eschaton, Doomsday. It’s almost here. Haven’t you wondered why time appears to be speeding up?
-- from the introduction to
The Invisibles Volume Two


“Darlings! The color in your lives has returned!”
-- Lord Fanny
The Invisibles Vol. Two # 1
“Black Science” Part One: “Bangin’”


On December 1996, the first issue of The Invisibles Volume Two (sporting an awesome cover by Brian Bolland, who’d done cover art for Grant Morrison’s run on Animal Man) bursts onto comic store shelves.

Beginning the four-part “Black Science” story arc, issue 1 is also a wonderful set-up for the entire volume, re-acquainting us with King Mob’s crew, and introducing new Invisibles such as moneyed UFO abductee Mason Lang, and Jolly Roger, the head of a lesbian Invisibles cell called the “Poison Pussies” (Roger was mentioned in Volume One though this is the first time we actually see her), and new baddie Col. Friday. Issue 1 also features the re-appearance of Mr. Quimper (from Vol. One, # 25), while succeeding issues of “Black Science” introduce us (sadly, all too briefly) to other Invisibles like the Scotsman Emilio, and the Indian medicine man Austin.

“Black Science” manages to balance the bigger, brasher tone of Volume Two with all the bizarre little bits we’d come to know and love from Morrison: these are just some of the topics the arc touches upon: film as the Invisibles’ own secret language; the true story behind Roswell (it wasn’t a UFO that crashed in New Mexico; it’s something that could very well be God!); the conspiracy behind AIDS; and the real names of Donald Duck’s nephews!

And, as you may recall, Morrison had discovered the magical nature of The Invisibles during Volume One’s run, and just as Tom O’Bedlam states in “Down and Out in Heaven and Hell,” there is magic, “… neither bad nor good, just there to be used by the people who know.”

So Morrison used the magic of The Invisibles to turn things around in his personal life.

“Then I thought, `Wait a minute, what if King Mob has a good time?’ So I took him to America and gave him Ragged Robin as a girlfriend. I did it deliberately. I got the Brian Bolland cover and I said, `I want to meet that girl’ and I did a magic thing on it. Within months I met a girl who looked exactly like Ragged Robin.” Morrison went on to say, “My life has become the comic, it’s become fiction, it’s become fantasy, and the more fantastic I make it, the better it seems to work.”

And, not only was Volume Two influenced by Morrison’s personal concerns for his health, its over-all tone was also partially determined by lessons learned from the first volume.

Despite it’s not-so-perfect timing, I still think “Arcadia” is one of the most incredibly written, deeply meaningful and significant story arcs ever told in comics, ever.
-- Phil Jimenez

Sales went from 64,000 to 20,000 in the space of a few months and have only just started to rise again with the new stuff.
… So… yeah. “Arcadia.” Trust me, it was a disaster. I really liked it but it almost torpedoed the book. I’m still telling the same story I set out to tell, I still know where it goes and how it ends and the magickal intent behind it remains as was, but if I have to mutate a little to survive then I bloody well will. Or as the divine Johnny once sang, “I use the en-em-ey…”
-- Grant Morrison


And “mutate a little” Morrison did, as Volume Two quickly proved to have more ammunition, blood, and brains flying about in a single chapter of “Black Science” than all the 25 issues of Volume One! Fortunately, the pyrotechnics and John Woo moments are there strictly to attract a wider audience, while Morrison continues to deal the weirdness out in spades.

Of course, there is (in my opinion) the most awkward moment of Volume Two, issue 7 (“The Sound of the Atom Splitting”) whose page count is divided into a protracted sequence of ultraviolence prolonged to the point of gratuitousness, and a wonderful set piece of surreal weirdness, as Fanny and Dane dance like mad to obtain the Hand of Glory from the Harlequinade. I LOVED the dancing bit, but the bullets and the brains…

The awkwardness of that particular issue is painful, but fortunately, it’s immediately followed by the excellent three-parter, “Sensitive Criminals.”

“If my expression fails to convey my genuine surprise, Mr. Skat, it is simply because I have cultivated the bored stare as an art form.”
-- Edith Manning
The Invisibles Vol. Two # 8
“Sensitive Criminals” Part One:
“Poor Little Rich Girl”


An evocative and moving period piece (set in 1924 and 1997), “Sensitive Criminals” introduces us to an Invisibles cell in the Roaring 20’s, made up of Edith Manning (from Vol. One, # 1), Edith’s cousin, Freddie Harper-Seaton (better known to us in his later years as Tom O’Bedlam, from Volume One’s “Down and Out in Heaven and Hell”), Billy Chang, Ronald Tolliver (the first King Mob!), and Beryl Wyndham (a.k.a. Queen Mab, whose other connection to the sprawling tale of The Invisibles is revealed in Volume Three).

As I mentioned in Part 1 of “I Tego Arcana Dei,” The Invisibles folds back in on itself at certain points like an origami figure (origami being a central image of Volume Two beginning in Issue 4). This is seen repeatedly in Part Three of “Sensitive Criminals,” “Parisian Pierrot,” which references events seen in issues 3 and 12 of Volume One (“Down and Out in Heaven and Hell” Part Two and “Best Man Fall,” respectively), and in a sly little warping of our perceptions, a sequence we see again in issue 9 of Volume Three (“Satanstorm” Four: “Digging Up Beryl”), as if past (Vol. One), present (Vol. Two), and future (Vol. Three) were all occuring simultaneously, that indeed, all time was one.

Of course, this is our perspective; to Edith and company, all these events are yet to occur in their “future.” Absolutely mental, eh?

And speaking of perception, Morrison screws around well with ours when he gives us a closer look at Ragged Robin and Boy. Robin’s tale is finally made privy to us (the salient points of which can be seen in issues 6, “The Girl Most Likely To,” and 21, “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” as well as some parts of “Black Science 2”); as it turns out, she was actually sent to the past from the year 2012 to be a pivotal element in the war against the Lost Ones (from a future where Boy and King Mob are conspicuously absent).

And, as for the early, persistent theory that Robin was actually Crazy Jane from The Doom Patrol, here’s a bottom line (one of many perhaps): Robin’s real name is Kay—as is Jane’s—and when we see an eight-year old Kay (in “Black Science”), she is clutching a stuffed rabbit. (Morrison based Crazy Jane on the real life case of Truddi Chase, whose mind-blowing autobiography—recommended reading, children—is entitled When Rabbit Howls.)

Robin’s story, however, is trumped by the exquisite mindfuck Morrison sends our way in the form of the three-part “American Death Camp,” which oh-so-effectively questions all we had come to know and believe about Boy’s past (as chronicled in Vol. One, # 20, “How I Became Invisible”). “American Death Camp” is a wild, dizzying ride that is undoubtedly Boy’s Moment in the entire Invisibles run.

And, since Volume Two does boast an American tone, how much more American can you get than the idea of… a sequel!!!

“`Individuality’ is the name you give your sickness. Your deviation from correct functioning. Understand this: we have come to free you from chaos and uncertainty. And `individuality.’”
-- Mr. Quimper
The Invisibles Vol. Two # 19
“Black Science 2” Part Three:
“Pavlov’s Dogs”


The four-part “Black Science 2” returns us to the New Mexico facility we first saw in the original “Black Science,” and, among other things, reveals Mr. Quimper’s connection to Fanny’s past, and shows Robin in the year 2005, writing a book called The Invisibles. (And in 2005, the process of writing entails placing one’s self amidst the words and architecture of the work, to, in effect, write one’s self into the work; this a recurring theme in Morrison’s body of work: reality impinging upon fiction-- and vice-versa-- and the results thereof.)

We also again see the chess-playing individual who first appeared in “Arcadia.” Here, Dane has an insightful conversation with him (while he again sits in front of a chess board), and though he is never actually named, the script for issue 19 (“Pavlov’s Dogs”) identifies him as “Satan.” (Having said that though, I must also point out that he utters dialogue that echoes lines spoken by the Christ figure in “The Last Temptation of Jack”-- Vol. One, # 23—and intimates that he has met Dane before. Make of that what you will, children.)

“I remember looking at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia when I was a little kid.
“That’s what I love about illusions; they’re right up there in front of you but somehow you don’t see them… until suddenly, you do… and I saw that I lived in a world where the symbol was more important than the reality. Where the menu was supposed to taste better than the meal.”
-- Mason Lang
The Invisibles Vol. Two # 22
“The Tower”


A re-reading of Volume Two has made me appreciate it more; I was initially doubtful of the ultraviolence that ran through its pages. In the end though, it is still The Invisibles we came to know and love from Volume One, albeit with the volume cranked way up, and the adrenaline rushing whitewater-quick.

The sly humor, the weird bits, the imaginative bravura; it’s all still here, beneath the blood and bullets. (In a quaint, self-referential moment from Volume Two-- # 5, “Time Machine Go”—King Mob visits his ex-girlfriend Jacqui. As they speak, he idly reads a comic book, commenting beneath his breath, “Christ! He’s making this bit too far-fetched…” When we get a glimpse of the comic’s cover, we see that it is actually a copy of the previous issue of The Invisibles!)

Next, “I Tego Arcana Dei” winds down as we take a look at Volume Three, where Grant Morrison’s ultimate conspiracy comes to an end. Till then, children, carpe noctem and all that Latin jazz.

“I’ve been asked to commend you for your participation in the assassination of the Moon Goddess, Diana. Or at least her earthly representative in this time section.
“The accompanying emotional climactic made quite a feast for our… governors.”
-- Col. Friday to Sir Miles
The Invisibles Vol. Two # 14
“Only Lovers Left Alive”



Wednesday, May 16, 2001

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


Part 1: “Are You Ready To Wear The Blank Badge?”

“… city’s full of magic, neither bad nor good, just there to be used by the people who know. Cities live and breathe magic. Did you know that if you get a map and join up the sites of all the McDonald’s restaurants in London, it makes the sigil of the Dark Emperor Mammon?”
--Tom O’Bedlam, The Invisibles Vol. One # 3, “Down and Out in Heaven and Hell” Part 2



Grant Morrison’s ultimate conspiracy—in the form of The Invisibles—began on August 1994, when DC’s Vertigo line of comics unleashed the series’ first issue, which sported a day-glo grenade on its cover. Morrison, who had already pushed the envelope of the comic medium in Animal Man, and treated us to the surreal delights of The Doom Patrol, promised a book about occult anarchists, a book whose ultimate pay-off would be nothing less than the secret of the universe.

No one said it would be easy.

Initial low sales and a life-threatening illness were only some of the obstacles The Invisibles had to overcome to get to where it is now, its third volume winding down, the grand and bizarre tapestry begun nearly six years ago nearly in full view.

Most of the characters, themes, and leitmotifs of The Invisibles were established within the first eight issues: “Dead Beatles,” the three-part “Down and Out in Heaven and Hell,” and the four-part “Arcadia” (my personal all-time favorite Invisibles story arc).

Opening with beetle synchronicities and John Lennon as psychedelic godhead (get it? Beetle? Beatle?), The Invisibles then proceeded to delve into the sinister aspects of conformity and the viral nature of cities, before exploding in the brilliant flurry of “Arcadia.” With the assistance of the exquisitely talented Jill Thompson (who, incidentally enough, also illustrated my all-time favorite Sandman story arc, “Brief Lives”)—Morrison filled “Arcadia” with such seemingly disparate elements as Utopia, time travel, the French Revolution, Byron and the Shelleys, Templar lore, the Marquis de Sade, and the head of John the Baptist, and produced a humdinger of a tale.

And somewhere along the way, he also managed to introduce an Invisibles cell to us: King Mob, “the ultimate product of Invisibles training,” Ragged Robin, a neurotic witch whose power is founded on her skepticism, Boy, an African-American martial artist from New York, Lord Fanny, a South American transvestite bruja, and the new initiate, Dane McGowan, a Liverpudlian tearaway who could very well be the next Messiah.

Sadly, it was during “Arcadia” where the book began to lose readers. Having already admitted that “Arcadia” would be the most “difficult” bit of The Invisibles, Morrison pushed on with his ultimate conspiracy, going so far as to enlist the help of Invisibles readers in boosting sales. In issue 16’s letter column, Morrison displayed a sales-boosting sigil which would be charged by the mass wanking he asked Invisibles readers to participate in on the 23rd of November, 1995. This communal magick would then help Invisibles sales. I guess the sigil worked, ‘cause here we are, 41 issues later, with only two more before the tale is fully told. (I shall leave it up to your imaginations, children, to determine whether yours truly took part in said mass wanking.)

Most of The Invisibles’ second year was taken up by the shamanistic trials of Lord Fanny (in the three-part “She-Man”—again illustrated by Jill Thompson-- where the skeleton god Mictlantehcutli said, “We gods are only masks. Who wears us? Find it out!”), Dane (surrounded by his grey aliens—merely another mask), and King Mob (who is tortured mercilessly by the Lost Ones, the otherworldly enemies of the Invisibles).

It was somewhere around this time that Morrison was beset by a bacterial infection that nearly cost him his life, a pivotal event that made him realize the magic The Invisibles was capable of.

“The Invisibles radiates magic. Initially, I didn’t realize this, and I blithely put myself into the book. I figured, King Mob, he’s cool, I’ll make myself more like him. I’ll shave my head and then all the girls who read the comic will like me. So I’m doing all this stuff to King Mob. I wrote the storyline in the first book where he gets captured and thinks his face is being eaten away. Two months later a bug eats through my cheek. It ate right through and I just kept writing.

“Then I put King Mob through his shamanistic experience, where everything that he is gets torn apart. Shortly afterwards, everything collapsed in my life; my girlfriend left me and I end up in hospital dying of a bacterial infection, two days to live. I really thought that was it. And all the stories I’d been writing beforehand were about invasion from beyond by insectile, bacterial beings. Something in my body knew I was writing about it.”

(Later on, during the writing of Volume Two, Morrison would use this magic to turn things around.)

Thankfully, Morrison recovered from his illness, some of his experiences during his ordeal captured in issue 23, “The Last Temptation of Jack.”

Returning to earlier issues though, two stand-alone stories of note were released in The Invisibles’ first year: issue 12, “Best Man Fall,” a crackling bit of non-linear storytelling that not only presented a moving tale of a (at best) walk-on character in the Invisibles universe but also managed to retain the grand theme of the book, of life as a game; and issue 11, “Royal Monsters.”

“I knew she was wrong from the very beginning, but what does one do? Have you any idea how difficult it is to find a suitable virgin named Diana in this day and age?
“She lacked fiber, Willie. The breeding just wasn’t there.
“She was supposed to represent the mythical Diana, you see, the Moon Goddess, the Virgin Huntress, but the very concept seemed beyond her limited comprehension.
“Her firstborn was to have been the Moon-Child, the incarnate Shadow-King of a new England, the terrible Messiah of the Dark Millennium.”
Sir Miles, The Invisibles Vol. One # 11, “Royal Monsters”


“Royal Monsters” introduced the plot element of the English government’s conspiracy to maneuver a shambling monstrosity onto the throne, to crown it as the king of the coming millennium, a conspiracy that had Lady Diana as a failed breeding vessel for the intended “Shadow-King.” In issue 25 (“And A Half Dozen of the Other”), we were even treated to the disturbing sight of a Lovecraftian Shoggoth shagging poor Lady Di (all before her untimely death, of course, in an accident that had just enough questions surrounding it to serve as renewed impetus for this story thread, which became the central plot point in the third and final volume). It was, in fact, in issue 25 (the final issue of Volume One) where this thread was returned to, as Division X (an occult-tinged Professionals, if you will) was tipped off to the royal conspiracy.

Towards the end of the first volume, it also became public knowledge that Morrison was set to write the latest incarnation of the Justice League of America. And whilst others gasped at this apparent heresy, I looked forward to the spin the Baron of the Bizarre could bring to DC’s spandex set. (And, as it turned out, writing JLA was also Morrison’s bid to help keep The Invisibles an on-going concern; a successful gambit, as JLA was a HUGE hit for DC, kick-starting a franchise that still rolls on today. More on that in Part 3 of “I Tego Arcana Dei.”)

“The dalang is more than a puppeteer. His skill makes us believe that we see a war between two great armies, but there is no war. There is only the dalang.”
Agus, The Invisibles Vol. One # 5, “Arcadia” Part One: “Bloody Poetry”


The 25 issues of Volume One represent The Invisibles at its best: the dazzling, shimmering image of Morrison’s intent, kaleidoscopic and holographic, an intricate origami figure with endless facets to its paper self, which folds back onto itself at certain points of its structure. Utilizing rotating artist teams (as per The Sandman template), The Invisibles was a book that could, in Morrison’s own words, “… [give] me an opportunity to do anything that comes into my head, as long as it fits into The Invisibles overview. Which most things do.”

That was the intended ideal, which allowed for the heady trip of “Arcadia” and searing one-off of “Best Man Fall.” But adjustments were needed to keep the engine of The Invisibles running. The earliest indication that Volume Two would clearly be a different sort of animal than the first volume was the regular art team of Phil Jimenez and John Stokes (who’d wowed the crowd on the three-part look at King Mob, “Entropy in the U.K.” from Volume One).

The other overt difference was that Volume Two was to be set in the United States, and would focus on the American paranoiac’s mythos, taking a closer look at the conspiracy theories of the Americas. It would also have a decidedly more American tone to it; bigger, brasher, with more bang for the buck. But was this The Invisibles we had come to know and love over the 25 issues of the forst volume?

Be ‘round this neck of the woods for Part Two of “I Tego Arcana Dei” to find out!

Till then, carpe noctem and all that Latin jazz.


“Where will you be standing on the day of the coronation, when the gates come crashing down?” Mr. Quimper (via remote control), The Invisibles Vol. One # 25, “And A Half Dozen of the Other”

(Author’s note: “I Tego Arcana Dei” is Latin for “Begone! I conceal the secrets of God.” It is an anagram of the Latin phrase, “Et In Arcadia Ego,” whose relevance to The Invisibles can be seen in “Arcadia.”)