Nov 1The Mat Signal: Morning Glories
Morning Glories Vol. 1 TP $19.90
- By Nick Spencer, Joe Eisma and Covers by Rodin Esquejo
Reviewed by Matthew Henderson
Morning Glories? Never heard of it. White cover – school uniformed teenagers – doesn’t grab me. Chris says it keeps selling out. Better check it. Sentences short. Sorry. Just finished reading a James Ellroy novel (easily influenced).
Ok – so Morning Glories deals 6 teenagers are the newest arrivals at an exclusive private boarding school. Little do they know that Strange Things are Afoot and that Weird (and somewhat icky) Things are Happening! The book starts strong – setting the school up straight away as not your typical institution of learning. The administration (including the nastiest/hottest teacher you’ve ever met/read – Miss Daramount and the shadowy ‘Headmaster’) are apparently more evil than you ever thought your real teachers were in your wildest imaginings, and there is murder, supernatural goings on, and some kind of strange scientific phenomena happening in the basement. The youngsters each come in with their own issues and back story and react differently to what’s happening. Friendships are formed, lies and betrayal are perpetrated, and interesting stuff ensues (excuse me if I have exceeded my quota for the word ‘ensue’ already in my reviews to date but I like it how it sounds and it makes me feel all Joss Whedon/Nathan Fillon-y…think I’ll say it again – “ensues”).
Not far into the book I found myself thinking that it was like a cross between ‘Lost’ and Grant Morrison’s ‘New X-men’ run and sure enough just a few pages later found both Lost and Morrison references. A quick google finds series creator Nick Spenser himself describing the title as a cross between Lost and Runaways (see my previous Runaways review ) so I guess I wasn’t too far off. Both comparisons are accurate. Glories provides a continuing string of Lost style ‘what tha?’ events and revelations as a backdrop to strong character interactions and development – and it’s, like, y’know, teenagers, at school, so like the Runaways/New X men thing fits. I’d chuck a pinch of Joss Whedon in that mix as well.
The covers by Rodin Esquejo are beautifully done and give each of the teens a distinctive look. Interior artist Joe Eisma does a great job of keeping these looks consistent most of the time, though I did find that some of his male characters look pretty similar on occasion.
The story moves along briskly and although like Lost – you don’t know exactly what’s going on a lot of the time, there are revelations enough to keep the pages turning and there is a definite sense that there is a master blue print behind what you are reading (ok, so that’s not like Lost). The Morning Glory Academy is an intriguing setting and you want to find out what’s going on. The characters are archetypal but well formed and the interaction between them is well written…and there is a killer twist at the end of the book!
Recommended for:
- Fans of Lost/Runaways/New X-men
- Whedonites
- Mature readers (there’s a bit of gore and the occasional swear word)
- Anyone who was ever convinced that their teachers were part of a huge evil conspiracy, but lacked the evidence to prove it.
Available in Mk1′s webstore
Tags: Mat Signal, Review
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