Morning Glories Vol. 1 – Review

Words by Nick Spencer, Art by Joe Eisma, Covers by Rodin Esquejo, Colors by Alex Sollazzo

A friend of mine recently got into Lost and said that if he had watched it week to week, he didn’t think he would have enjoyed it half as much as watching them all at once. It would have been too frustrating and tiresome to keep track week-to-week and then over summer hiatus and dealing with the crappy episodes going “Jack’s tattoos? What the hell?” and having to wait a full seven days hoping the next episode would make up for it. On DVD, he got to Jack’s tattoo episode and said, “eh, that sucked. Next,” and moved on. My point is, I wonder if Morning Glories is similar. Because as a graphic novel, it is probably one of the best things I’ve read in the last year…but if I was forced to just get snippets of the story month to month? I might have killed someone. And by someone, I mean Nick Spencer.

Spencer is the new hotness. We all know that. Marvel signed him to be exclusive faster than the devil signed Faust. Now he’s got an Iron Man series, an Avengers series, and slated to write even more (please be Iron Fist…just saying, he would be awesome on Iron Fist). So when his name exploded on the solicitations like an eager high school boy on prom night, I looked him up. Morning Glories—good reviews all around, and what’s this? The first volume is only $9.99? Oh, Image, I love your marketing scheme! How can you say no to a ten-buck trade? And if it’s good—then of course you’ll have to get the next trade at $14.99. So, I was all set give this new guy a try and see if he was really as good as the mythos had built him up to be.

I read the first trade of Morning Glories three times—twice in one night. I just could not believe that this was a comic that existed. It’s everything I love about Lost, Runaways, and Avengers Academy rolled together. If this came in a tortilla shell, I would never have to go to Chipotle again. The mysteries Spencer set up could easily go on for six seasons—I mean volumes. More even. And, as Lost was smart to do, as compelling as the mysteries are, Spencer focuses on the characters. We have our Jack—though this Jack is a 16-year-old blonde, which is perfectly fine. We also have a Ben—Miss Daramount. She might seem like the most evil bitch in comics now, but at one point Ben was the most evil person in television, but look me in the eye and tell me you didn’t cry just a little for him in the series finale of Lost. I feel like we might get something like that from Daramount. The characters are already so fleshed out that they only thing left to do is develop. Now, hopefully Spencer doesn’t do the one thing Lost did wrong—through wrenches into a character’s story just for the sake of throwing a wrench (Charlie season 2…what the hell was any of that about?).  The only character we don’t know much about yet is Jun—but we need at least one really mysterious character, right? Can’t give us too many nuggets this early on, right?

Morning Glories #1 – Review

by Nick Spencer (writer), Joe Eisma (art), Alex Sollazzo (colors), and Johnny Lowe (letters)

The Story: We meet six sixteen year olds as they arrive at the mysterious Morning Glory Academy and get to know one another.

What’s Good: While it may not be an outright explosion of a first issue, make no mistake: Morning Glories’ first issue is a rousing success.  The key reason for this is that it manages to ask a great deal of questions, wrapping itself in a cloak of mystery and outright weirdness.  Yet, unlike a great number of first issues that try to do this, it completely avoids feeling confusing or incomprehensible.  It manages to intrigue rather than befuddle, and given just how many questions it poses and how many bizarre occurrences transpire, that really is a major feat that Nick Spencer cannot be commended enough for.

The clearly defined cast is one of the major means through which Spencer accomplishes it.  The six students provide a solid core amidst all the strangeness, anchoring the reader’s experience.  Despite each following a high school stereotype, all of these characters are likable, well-realized, and incredibly distinct from one another.  Each has his or her own voice and I think that readers will all have different favorites; despite their differences, there’s a sense of equality among the six in that each of them feels equally defined, lively, and special.

Furthermore, the fact that each character gets his or her start from a high school stereotype also means that the six are already looking like a well-oiled machine in how they all fit together.  There’s perfect synergy and chemistry between them all.  When they interact with each other, it’s fun and it’s genuine and it’s already clear that each one of them will have a fun and unique dynamic with each of his or her classmates.  The characters are likable enough on their own, but it goes up threefold when they come together.

While the characters serve to anchor Spencer’s book, so does the Academy itself, providing a single, contained atmosphere for all the weirdness.  The end result is a greater feeling of control, making the book feel more accessible, while also lending Spencer’s world a kind of conspiratorial claustrophobia.

Super-Con 2008 Report!

Daniel, Ray, and I had a chance to check out Super-Con 2008 today. Check out our complete report on what went down!