The Invisibles Vol. 2: Apocalipstick

by Grant Morrison

Paperback, 2001

Status

Available

Call number

741.5973

Publication

Vertigo (2001), Paperback, 208 pages

Description

In the second volume of this series of action and intrigue, the Invisibles, including new recruit Dane McGowan, try to prepare as the Conspiracy's shock troops launch their greatest direct attack on them ever. And as this hidden war between authority and anarchy continues, the origin of Lord Fanny, the transvestite shaman who can call down the Earth's most ancient and terrifying magic, is finally revealed. But as conspiracies and hidden truths create a labyrinth of deception and distrust, even the power of this she-man shaman may not be enough to keep the Invisibles alive to fight another day.

User reviews

LibraryThing member paradoxosalpha

This second volume of The Invisibles does create some sympathy for its protagonists that I found lacking in the first. In particular, much of it is constructed around the origin myth of Lord Fanny, and the new character Jim Crow (an Invisibles avatar of Papa Guedhe) is quite engaging. While

reading, it struck me that Grant Morrison's comic was not quite so innovative as it has been made out to be. Steve Englehart's Coyote actually covered a lot of this ground at the end of the Cold War, before the seeming monopolarity of the millenium threw popular esotercism into the insurgent mode (later called jihad by Hakim Bey). Still, I have to hand it to Morrison for his ability to introject dead baby jokes and the occasional shocking profundity, such as the placenta as ur-Christ (46)! As a symptom of its occult charge, The Invisibles: Apocalypstick manifested several synchronicities with my life experience in the context of reading it.

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LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini

The degree by which the wonderment and invention in this book increases, flourishes and spills over relative to the first one is exactly equal to the degree to which enjoyment decreases due to familiarity with the world and MO and resultant lessened novelty. What I'm saying is that Grant Morrison

is a proven master of dodecadimensional drug math. Also, I'd expected Lord Fanny to be my least favourite, and instead she is my favourite! Drug math strikes again!

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LibraryThing member MeditationesMartini

Much like the previous volume, so much of this is inventive and compassionate and wonderful, and then Morrison just dumps a lot of obscenity on us, by which I mean ugliness and sadness and torture and death for no plot-related purpose. The heroes here are nuanced and interesting, the villains are

evil cartoons, and the things they do are made just about as awful as they could be just to get a rise out of you, and it left me feeling unhappy and a little sick, and I don't need that--I'm a 36-year-old man with a beautiful little happy boy (who Grant Morrison would love to torture and kill were he only a fictional little boy; more, he'd love to write me as the slavering killer; it's just no good the things he does) and a difficult relationship with his mother and increasingly what I want from books is either nuanced psychology or rollicking adventures or sharp analysis or simple peace, and I have outgrown The Invisibles, goodbye.

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LibraryThing member arouse77

second in the series of Grant Morrison's "The Invisibles" haunting graphic novel about magic, drugs, mysticism, voilence, sex, and anarchy. wicked smart and brutally cool.

LibraryThing member regularguy5mb

In this second volume of The Invisibles, we are treated to some stories from the larger world in which they live. There is the tale of a guard killed by King Mob in the very first issue, told now from his perspective and focusing on his life. There is also the tale of a deep cover Invisible working

as a servant for the enemy and responsible for feeding the monstrous Moon Child.

We also get Lord Fanny's origin, proving even more how interesting a character she is. A new character, Jim Crow, is also introduced and we get to see how he's fighting the war in his own way.

This series continues to be absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to get into volume 3.

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LibraryThing member andrlik

This book takes you deep into the depravity of the people in power, which demonstrates the importance of the war the Invisibles are fighting.

The center of the story arc is the origin story of Lord Fanny, and I found her vision quest as a child to be quite fascinating. That being said, I'm

uncomfortable how marginalized a character she is, and that her sexuality is portrayed in way that is almost freakish (forced into it, prostitution, heavy drugs).

This volume ends on a cliffhanger, and so I was compelled to pick up the next volume.

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LibraryThing member thisisstephenbetts

This really starts to hit its stride. It's shed its debt to Sandman from the first volume (which I was slightly surprised at). For the most part it's becoming less verbose too (although there are still fairly long passages of Morrisson's (pseudo?) automatic writing schtick). It's pretty

scatter-shot, with different characters suddenly taking prominence, but there is a coherent arc.

Generally, there seems to be a certain attention to craft displayed here that Morrisson apparently decided was unnecessary at some point later in his career, and the whole thing - madcap, psychedelic, self-indulgent nonsense that it is - reads surprisingly well.

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