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the invisibles
by Alex Burns (alex@disinfo.com) - November 10, 2002

Through his seminal stories for Starblazer, 2000 AD, Animal Man and Doom Patrol, Grant Morrison had established a formidable reputation as a writer of seriously dark and adult comic books to rival Alan Moore and Frank Miller. The series that he had always wanted to write--a fusion of every conspiracy theory, counter-culture rebellion and political plot ever--finally became a reality when DC Comic's Vertigo imprint launched the first installment of The Invisibles.

Part of Morrison's sheer genius was to take familiar conspiracy and disinformation culture memes - Philip K. Dick's Vast Active Living Intelligence (VALIS), Terence McKenna's 2012 Omega Point, the Rosicrucian Invisible College, the Rennes le Chateau mystery, Situationism: and re-shape them into radically new scenarios. The Invisibles series is full of encyclopedic cut-and-paste references to films, pop music icons, tabloid controversies, historical figures, fringe science theories and much more.

The first series chronicled the initiation of Dane McGowan transmutating into Jack Frost (and who may be a buddha). Offered the chance to join an Invisibles cell led by the enigmatic King Mob, Frost becomes a key part of their battles against the Cyphermen and the cthonic Outer Church. Morrison hints in places that these two opposing forces fighting to control humanity may simply be two sides of the same coin.

The Invisibles broke new ground with characters like the trans-gender sorceress Lord Fanny and the time-traveller Ragged Robin, but his attention to historical detail (featuring author Mary Shelley, libertine the Marquis de Sade, George Byron and Percy Shelley as characters) and unusual locations perhaps alienated a target U.S. comic-phile audience unused to multi-layered complexity and ambiguity.

Changes were made for series two, positioning The Invisibles cell as a classic DC Comics team. The Dionysian rebels were transplanted to more familiar X-Files settings like UFO lore's Dulce military base (New Mexico) with powerful results (because Morrison still played with audience expectations). Set a year later whilst the Invisibles recuperate in America, the series answered many questions and filled in the relevant backstory to our heroes. But the stories still had a dark edge: Invisibles members are manipulated by subversive mind-control technology, and are torn apart by tension and betrayal. Travelling across multiple time-lines, the Invisibles uncover the multi-dimensional horrors unleashed by Robert Oppenheimer at the Trinity atomic bomb tests (signifying the original Biblical Fall). Virtual assassins, tantric sex rites that warp space-time topography, reslity viruses, immersion tank fiction-suits, Monarch butterflies and aggregate languages spread by alien anti-bodies all feature in a dizzying story arc. This vast scope features an alternative cosmology to the Big Bang where our universe is the phase boundary between an ailing and a healthy universe (suggested by Michael Grady and Hannes Alfvens).

With the third and final series, Morrison again surprised fans by choosing to count down to the millennium and the climatic ground zero (issue one). Self-referential and playfully ironic humour underlies references to Moonchild coronations and British Royal Family conspiracies, which are but minor skirmishes in a perpetual war. And hopefully, the prodigious Morrison will reveal the identity and purpose of Barbelith: a mysterious satellite relic/alien stone orbiting behind the Moon . . .

The views expressed above represent the writer and not necessarily those of The Disinformation Company Ltd.

Purchase Anarchy For The Masses

Beek's Books: The Invisibles
A generally critical review that also hints at the comic industry politics behind Grant Morrison's series: "As a skeptic of conspiracy theories, magic, and mysticism - and a boring, not very cool mundane - I had a difficult time really getting into it. Morrison's fascination with such things tends to permeate the series, and it requires too much suspension of a rather solid disbelief for me."

Reviews From The Forbidden Planet
Collection of early reviews for Grant Morrison's The Invisibles series. First glimpses and thoughts from Forbidden Planet reviewers.

Best Man Fall
Paul McCann's Invisibles fan-site features loads of links, essays on 'The Invisibles Women' and 'What Is The Revolution?' An early Invisibles site.

Call me darling: Lord Fanny of The Invisibles
Insightful Invisibles commentary page part of a larger site that focuses on trans-gender characters in comics: "What Grant Morrison has created with the Invisibles is a complicated and sometimes puzzling mix of all conspiracy theories ( Roswell, the already existing HIV anti virus vaccine), time travel, mysticism, De Sade, and a healthy dose of violence, fun, pop music and movie references. A kind of X-files on acid."

Grant Morrison
Joe Meli created several pages devoted to Grant Morrison and relates how he discovered the Invisibles series: "This comic really took me by surprise. I was not expecting such an intense story, as well as very good art work. Page one starts with a background on the team as well as the story behind the Invisibles. While I was reading it I actually believed it was true. It is very rare that a comic or any type of entertainment media can reach into your soul and bring out feelings and emotions as Grant Morrison does on every page."

ONElist: The Invisibles
A free community e-mail discussion list dedicated to Grant Morrison's The Invisibles: "All topics therein raised. It's a place for annotations, discussions, essays, tangents, plots to take back the world, etc."

The Invisibles: Dream Cast
Dubbed as Quentin Tarantino's Illuminatus! Trilogy, Grant Morrison's Invisibles series is ripe for big screen treatment. The BBC is rumoured to be pursuing an option, and Douglas Rushkoff was going to produce a film with Grant Morrison's assistance, but the project is in development hell. This site presents a Dream Cast. Do you dare to suggest an alternative?

The Invisibles: Dramatis Personae
A brief etymological analysis of the characters in Grant Morrison's Invisibles comic series.

King Mob: Custom Action Figure
Mike gives the popular Invisibles leader the custom 'Planet of the Geeks' action figure treatment.

Ink Junkies: Archives
Micheal Whitney offers several brief reviews from series three of Grant Morrison's Invisibles comic books.

The Invisibles: A Review
Webmaster Brian Linnen's friend Beil has written a review of Invisibles series two. On the protagonists: "These characters are so colorful, I can't help but love them. And finally, they are in a series that is worthy of them."

Sean Phillips: Original Cover Art: The Invisibles
View and purchase official Invisibles cover art created for DC Comics by artist Sean Phillips.

Vanishing Point
Heartfelt commentary on The Invisibles: "And maybe saying this isn't going to win me any points for actually having one, but I think this series has probably changed my life. It's inspired me to remake myself in my own image, to try on new identities for size, after all, I've always wanted to be somebody. Why should I have to be just one? Put on a new name, a new mask, put on a new life. Reincarnation beats stagnation any old day. I'm going to miss The Invisibles once it's gone. When you look around at the world around you, and see things getting stranger, more beautiful, more surreal, but at the same time more violent, more wrong, and yet maybe more right at the same time, and you open the Invisibles - that's when you realize."

Grant Morrison Comixography
A comprehensive list of Grant Morrison's comics, interviews and miscellaneous projects compiled by Darren Shrubsole.

Mr Whisper's Invisible College
Review essays and opinion pieces on Grant Morrison's Invisibles, a topical discussion board, and great running commentary on current events. On the Dionysian Woodstock '99: "Why is it so difficult to realize that the Sixties ARE DEAD? Do people really think that for $120 a person they can relive the magic of the Woodstock festival, sponsored by Pespi and guarded by an anti-gate-crashing regiment of rent-a-cops that would make Janis Joplin turn in her grave?"

The System
Slickly designed Invisibles site, fine graphics, and subtle meditations on the themes of Grant Morrison's series: "Search for meaning in madness, synchronicity in chaos, and truth in 'fiction'."

Ted Faber's Invisibles Annotations
Extremely detailed annotations of the cultural references throughout Grant Morrison's Invisibles series. Loads of material to spark further research and debates.

You Say You Want A Revolution?
This site includes a great Invisibles & Grant Morrison links list and online opinion poll. A small contribution to spreading the revolution.

I Fell: The Winds of the Wings of Madness
Dedicated to "the coolest anti-heroes of today," this site answers such mysterious questions as how to write a postmodern comic narrative, and what *that* mysterious grey blob is.

DC Comics: Vertigo: Direct Currents
The official site for 'Vertigo', the DC Comics adult imprint which publishes Grant Morrison's Invisibles series.

Swerdloff's Invisibles Fan Page
Plot outlines and dramatis personae from an Invisibles fan. Crazy site.

That Invisible Visible Stuff
The immensely talented comic book illustration artist Phil Jimenez has a page dedicated to his seminal Invisibles work. Check it out!

Gnosis: Pop & Circumstance
From the late 'Gnosis' magazine comes a meditation by editor Jay Smoley on whether pop culture artefacts like The Invisibles series can convey authentic spirituality or not. Excellent background analysis for understanding the Grant Morrison series, and his use of motifs.

Doom Patrols: Andy Warhol
This perceptive analysis of Andy Warhol's artistic legacy quotes Grant Morrison and drops references to The Invisibles. Solid background reading.

Barbelith I
Classic Invisibles site featuring essays, annotations, and Grant Morrison news. Full of useful resources, and approved by the genius himself!

The Bomb
Well-designed site with loads of information. Virtually the official Invisibles site. Issue by issue annotations, essays, references to conspiracy theories and much more. You MUST look at this site!

Levity
Meet Dan Levity's Invisibles cell: Terence McKenna, Douglas Rushkoff, Erik Davis, Julian Dibbell, Mark Dery, Martin A. Lee & Bruce Shlain, and much more. Everything here from MK-ULTRA to 2012.

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