The Invisibles
I spent part of the weekend closely re-reading the last three volumes of The Invisibles, and skimming over a few of the earlier ones. As I told the crew last night, it remains my favorite work of fiction that I will probably never fully understand. If you've read the whole thing (all, what, two of you in my reading audience?) then I highly recommend Anarchy for the Masses, a book which breaks the series down issue by issue, makes many things clear (or at least clearer), contains conversations with most every artist and editor whow worked on the series, and concludes with an exceptionally lengthy interview with Grant Morrison.
For a series written on drugs (by Morrison's own admission), it's remarkably well thought-out. We get a bit of Dane in 2012 telling Gaz the story of the Invisibles as early as the third trade. That trade also has King Mob having a hallucination of when he will sleep with Edie, which doesn't happen until #5. In the end though, I'm not really sure why the Hand of Glory is so damn important, or why Satan is wandering around the whole time not doing much of anything, really, or which character (or characters), specifically, John-A-Dreams is supposed to have become. Still, most of it's excellent. King Mob's switch from guns to corporate jujitsu is all there and provides the emotional heart of much of the story. The Matrix series, for all its philosophical posturing, never did address that its main characters were all mass-muderers of largely innocent civilians, but Invisibles takes it in stride. As for the story overall, the parts all work, but they don't all necessarily work together. But unlike something like, say, Mulholland Drive, which has no explanation no matter how long you look at it, The Invisibles does make sense, at least to Morrison. It's how little he lets you in to his throught processes via the narrative that makes it so frustrating. You read his interview in Anarchy and you just kind of want to throw up your hands and say "Well, why didn't you just say so?"
Which isn't to say I don't recommend it. But there are chunks where it's a realy uphill battle to sort everything out. Still, there's nothing else like it.
Also, if I ever have a band (besides Cruciform, natch), I'm going to name it Time Machine Go.
For a series written on drugs (by Morrison's own admission), it's remarkably well thought-out. We get a bit of Dane in 2012 telling Gaz the story of the Invisibles as early as the third trade. That trade also has King Mob having a hallucination of when he will sleep with Edie, which doesn't happen until #5. In the end though, I'm not really sure why the Hand of Glory is so damn important, or why Satan is wandering around the whole time not doing much of anything, really, or which character (or characters), specifically, John-A-Dreams is supposed to have become. Still, most of it's excellent. King Mob's switch from guns to corporate jujitsu is all there and provides the emotional heart of much of the story. The Matrix series, for all its philosophical posturing, never did address that its main characters were all mass-muderers of largely innocent civilians, but Invisibles takes it in stride. As for the story overall, the parts all work, but they don't all necessarily work together. But unlike something like, say, Mulholland Drive, which has no explanation no matter how long you look at it, The Invisibles does make sense, at least to Morrison. It's how little he lets you in to his throught processes via the narrative that makes it so frustrating. You read his interview in Anarchy and you just kind of want to throw up your hands and say "Well, why didn't you just say so?"
Which isn't to say I don't recommend it. But there are chunks where it's a realy uphill battle to sort everything out. Still, there's nothing else like it.
Also, if I ever have a band (besides Cruciform, natch), I'm going to name it Time Machine Go.
posted by Jeff at 9:14 AM
3 Comments:
Mulholland Dr. Explained:
The first half is a dream, but it's filmed and edited in a roughly sequential and straightforward manner. The second half is the Naomi Watts character's real life, but it's filmed and edited like a dream sequence.
Plus there's some shit in there that just makes no sense at all.
Well, yeah. I'm with the movie that far. But the devil's in the details, and by "details," I mean everything in the movie that doesn't involved that basic dream/reality conceit.
Now I've been thinking about this film, which means I've also been thinking about the tiny old people and the guy behind the diner, so that means I've got the heebie-jeebies for the rest of the day.
Just for myself, I love when Lynch goes random and crazy.
Incidentally, read this:
http://www.jaypinkerton.com/blog/archives/001385.html#more
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