The Invisibles

It’s a quiet Sunday here on Island Zero so I’m going to write a bit of a longer piece about a must read comic book.

I talked earlier about wanting a comic adaptation of Miracleman, but that comic is long out of print and unavailable (I have a complete set!) But if you were to press me about my favorite comic book of all, I would probably reply, THE INVISIBLES by Grant Morrison. It's an incredibly complex and rich massive modern mythology with very simple messages behind it. The simple message is this: disobedience. It's more than just a comic book, (in more ways than one) its a wake up call for your collective unconscious, a mind bomb aimed at your mediocre way of life, and an actual magical object shaped like a comic book.

Morrison said that he wrote The Invisibles as a way of describing an experience he had in Kathmandu. While he was tripping on DMT there he was abducted by Aliens. It's an unusual super team book, to say the least.

The story is about a group of anarchist rebels, a secret team known as the Invisibles. You might not even know you are a member of it. The invisibles consist of every counterculturalist you can imagine. The housewife who throws down the shackles of middle class and runs off, she's an invisible, even if she doesn’t know it yet. A lot of the book is about unlocking secret knowledge inside a person. (One of the main characters is a young kid from Liverpool who is recruited by the Invisibles and might be the next Buddha.)

As much as I love volume one (probably my fav) I usually recommend people starting with the thinnest volume, “Bloody Hell in America” to see if they like the taste. It’s a bit more of an action packed introduction but still with all the same ideas, (lots of time travel, chaos magic and tantric sex.)

This comic is one of those deeply rich works that you can lose yourself in further by investigating all the myriad works it references and draws power from. I usually forget so much of what I read that the fact I've retained so much of this comic after the years is a testament to its powerful construction. I encourage you to reach out and grab this book, it will grab you back.