The Invisibles

The Invisibles is a comic book series written by Grant Morrison and drawn by various artists. It was published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics from 1994 to 2000. It follows titular organization in their secret battle against physical and psychic oppression using time travel, magic, martial arts, meditation and guns.

The comic focuses on one cell of Invisibles. At the beginning of the series, the leader of the cell is King Mob. The rest of the team consists of Lord Fanny, a Brazilian shaman and transvestite; Boy, a former member of the New York Police Department; Ragged Robin, a telepathic time-traveller, and Jack Frost, a young hooligan from Liverpool with various spiritual powers. Their enemies are the archons of the Outer Church, interdimensional alien gods who have already enslaved most of the human race.

About the series

The Invisibles was Morrison's first major creator-owned title for DC Comics and it drew from his Zenith strip as well as 1990s conspiracy culture and just about every fringe notion he could find, whether or not he believed in it. His intent was to create a hypersigil with the intention of jump-starting the culture in a more positive direction. Morrison hopes that the comic book will, in the long run, be as influential as the Sex Pistols, though it is too early to say whether this prediction will prove true. Some believe that there is a clear influence on the The Matrix trilogy of films, which is visible from thematic and aesthetic similarities between the two. Morrison believes^* that the Wachowski brothers essentially plagiarized his work to create the first Matrix film. Others note that certain similarities became most pronounced after the Matrix was in theaters, suggesting that possible plagiarism claims could go the other way.

The title initially sold well but sales dipped sharply during the first series leading to worries the series may be cancelled outright. To stop this Morrison suggested a "wankathon" ^* in order to magically increase sales by a mass of fans masturbating at a set time. It is unclear whether or not he was joking.

Morrison became seriously ill during writing the book, something he puts down to working on the title and how its magical influence affected him. After finishing the book he says he has become a different person from the one who started it. He has also said that much of the story was told to him by aliens when he was abducted during a trip to Katmandu. He has since characterized the "Alien Abduction Experience in Katmandu" as more of an experience to which he has assigned that label/name. He believes that the experience itself actually had nothing to do with Aliens, or Abduction.^*

The Invisibles never had a regular art team, the idea being that each story arc would be illustrated by a separate artist. So in volume one Steve Yeowell drew the first, then Jill Thompson. However this was not popular with some readers who wanted a regular artist and in volume two Phil Jimenez was the regular artist. Jimenez left volume two with issue 13 and was replaced by Chris Weston. The final volume started out with Philip Bond and Sean Phillips as artists but issues 4,3 and 2 (the volume was numbered backwards counting down from 12 to 1) were 'jam' issues. These issues were not well received as some artists were criticised for failing to illustate Morrison's scripts as instructed. The most notable example being the three pages Ashley Wood drew in volume 3, issue 2 which were crucial to help readers understand the entire series. The pages were later redrawn by Cameron Stewart for The Invisible Kingdom trade paperback. The final issue was drawn by Frank Quitely to critical acclaim.

Morrison saw the series censored, due to publisher's concern over the possibility of pedophilic and child abuse content. The first case being in volume one, issue 5 at the start of the Arcadia story arc. Dialogue was changed during one scene (where a group rapes and degrades several nameless characters) to "lost souls" to ensure the characters could not be identified as children as intended. Later in the series names of people and organisations were simply blacked out much to Morrison's dismay. Many of these examples of censorship were corrected when reprinted in trade paperback.

The title was optioned to be made into a television series by BBC Scotland but it was never made. A movie option was also taken up but it has also not been made.

Morrison wrote The Filth for Vertigo in 2002 which he describes as a companion piece to The Invisibles, though there is no other connection between both titles.

Publishing history

The Invisibles was originally published as three separate comic book series as well as occasional one-off stories in various Vertigo titles. The third and final series was meant to be a countdown to the new millennium but shipping delays meant the final issue did not appear until April 2000.

All of the series have been collected in a set of trade paperbacks:

Say You Want a Revolution (vol 1, #1-8; featuring the artwork of Steve Yeowell and Jill Thompson)
Apocalipstick (vol 1, #9-16; featuring the artwork of Jill Thompson, Chris Weston, et. al)
Entropy in the UK (vol 1, #17-25; featuring the artwork of Phil Jimenez, Steve Yeowell, et. al)
Bloody Hell in America (vol 2, #1-4; featuring the artwork of Phil Jimenez)
Counting to None (vol 2, #5-13; featuring the artwork of Phil Jimenez)
Kissing Mister Quimper (vol 2, #14-22; featuring the artwork of Chris Weston and Ivan Reis)
The Invisible Kingdom (vol 3, #12-1 - the series was numbered backwards; featuring the artwork of Phillip Bond, Sean Phillips, Frank Quitely, et. al)

Characters

The cell the story focuses on consists of five members, King Mob, Ragged Robin, Jack Frost, Lord Fanny, and Boy. Their central enemy from the Outer Church is Sir Miles. A large number of peripheral characters also have recurring appearances through the story.

Plot summary

Say You Want a Revolution

This first collection of The Invisibles is divided into three parts: a one issue prologue and two multi-issue story arcs.

The first issue “Dead Beatles” has the deputy leader of the Invisibles, King Mob, summoning the spirit of John Lennon to help find a new member of the Invisibles to replace a recently killed teammate John-A-Dreams. King Mob is led to a Liverpool hooligan named Dane McGowan who, after burning down his school library and assaulting a teacher, is sentenced to a juvenile detention school Harmony House. At Harmony House, the demoniacally possessed headmaster Mr. Gelt and his master, the otherworldly King-In-Chains, use A Clockwork Orange-style psychological conditioning to force the boys in the school into mindless conformity. King Mob rescues McGowan only to leave him on the streets of London alone and aimless.

The first major story arc following “Dead Beatles” is titled “Down and Out in Heaven and Hell” and begins with Dane McGowan as a beggar on the streets of London. McGowan becomes targeted by British upper class noblemen who use McGowan and kidnapped victims as prey for a human fox hunt. On the run from the fox hunt, McGowan meets a member of the Invisibles named Tom O’ Bedlam who takes in McGowan as a reluctant apprentice. After helping McGowan escape from the fox hunt, Tom O’ Bedlam gets McGowan high on blue mold found in a subterranean tunnel. Jack sees the word "Barbelith" written on the wall of the tunnel and a surreal event happens (which is later revealed to be a partially remembered abduction experience).

Later, Tom O'Bedlam explains to McGowan that the world is infected by viral cities that are taking over, squandering the planet’s resources. Tom O’ Bedlam takes McGowan to Canary Wharf, the tallest building in London, where McGowan makes a psychic jump that allows him to contact the mysterious Barbelith. When Tom O’ Bedlam disappears, McGowan joins the Invisibles as their newest member.

The second story arc “Arcadia” finds McGowan as the newest member of the Invisibles under the name Jack Frost (a name that McGowan despises). The Invisibles project their astral selves back in time to the French Revolution to recruit the Marquis de Sade. In the present, the Invisibles are stalked by the face-stealing demon Orlando, while in the past, the team faces off against the Ciphermen, humans reconditioned into insect-like hive-mind cannibals. The Ciphermen seek the embalmed head of John the Baptist which has the ability to make prophecies, but Ragged Robin realizes that these prophecies are nothing more than nonsensical ramblings. She then learns that he is speaking the language all of humanity will speak once The Invisibles complete their as of yet ambiguous objectives. Orlando attacks the meditating bodies of the Invisibles while their astral selves are in the 17th-century. McGowan “wakes up” after having his finger cut off by Orlando, and McGowan and his Invisibles teammate Lord Fanny defeat Orlando. Say You Want a Revolution ends with the Marquis DeSade psychically projected into the 20th-century, Dane McGowan threatening to leave the Invisibles, and Myrmidons, human agents of the Outer Church, circling the Invisibles for attack.

Apocalipstick

The Myrmidons close in on the Windmill, unseen until Ragged Robin senses their presence. Jack Frost runs away and steals King Mob's car, and the Invisibles chase after him, killing anything that gets in their way. King Mob informs his teammates that he planted a bomb in the car so it would explode unless the right digits were entered. Jack crashes the car and escapes into the woods just as the car bomb goes off.

While tumbling through the forest, a Myrmidon happens upon Jack, forcing the newest Invisible to shoot the man in the end. After realising what he'd done, Jack has an emotional breakdown and runs away.

There then follows a series of one-off stories featuring various characters who play their own part in the story. Firstly we are introduced to Jim Crow, voodoo hip-hop rap star and powerful Invisible, as he hunts down wealthy businessmen using a mixture of cocaine and voodoo to take control of the bodies of dead black men and wreak havoc on the ghetto.

We are then introduced to the Moonchild, a 200 year-old grotesque being who is being groomed by Sir Miles and the rest of the Outer Church to be the body the King-Archon possesses on the Earthplane because Princess Diana refused to give birth to a newer, more powerful one. The being is being kept in a "magic mirror" that he leaves periodically to consume human flesh and hunt the homeless who Sir Miles captures and presents to him as food.

We are finally introduced and privy to the life of Bobby Murray, one of the guards King Mob killed at Harmony House. His wife, Audrey Murray, will play an important role later on in the series.

Meanwhile, King Mob, Ragged Robin, Boy, and Lord Fanny have split up looking for Jack through the streets of London. Sir Miles hires Brodie, a bisexual assassin with a thing for transvestites, to search the gay community for trace of the Invisibles since there have been rumors of one (Lord Fanny, a transvestite shaman) asking questions about Jack Frost.

He lures Fanny to his house, where he threatens her with a gun for information. King Mob, noticing his teammate was missing, rescues her, but is shot by Brodie (who, in turn, dies soon afterward). Sir Miles arrives expecting to take Fanny into custody, only to learn he's caught King Mob, a hated enemy, as well. The story is interspliced with scenes of Lord Fanny's transformation from girl/boy to Brazillian transvestite shaman.

The volume closes with a look at Jack Frost as he wanders aimlessly through London. He remembers his alien abduction, where he is told by his abductors that he is the chosen one, come to deliver humanity to peace and harmony before the apocalypse. He is encountered by Sir Miles, who tries to convince him to join the Outer Church in their struggle against the Invisibles. Jack Frost refuses and uses his vast powers to level a whole street. He runs way, deciding to hitchhike back to Liverpool with a bag of items Tom O'Bedlam had left him before he died.

Entropy in the UK

This volume opens with King Mob's interrogation by Sir Miles, who is using the drug Key 17 to make him believe words are real (for example, if he sees the words "diseased face" written on a mirror, he thinks he's seeing his own diseased face). To help him resist, King Mob uses his Gideon Stargrave persona. Meanwhile, Ragged Robin and Boy call on Jim Crow to help them rescue King Mob and Lord Fanny from the Outer Church, who have called the King-Archon himself to oversee the interrogation. Robin and Jim head to "Alan Dunn's House of Fun", a front for where King Mob and Fanny are being held, while Boy catches a train to Liverpool in search of Jack Frost.

After breaking King Mob, Sir Miles telepathically sifts through King Mob's mind for information on Jack's whereabouts. He tells King Mob that the English alphabet is designed to limit humanity's ability to express abstract thought. Since, according to Sir Miles, nothing exists unless it can be described, the Outer Church is thus able to keep certain aspects of reality hidden. This idea is brought back up in later issues when the Invisibles learn of the hidden letters of the alphabet.

King Mob calls upon his voodoo guardian, Zaraguin, for power and is able to repel Sir Miles and escape. The King-Archon senses the disruption and dispatches Ms. Dwyer, a human slave in 4-D insectoid armor, to take care of the problem.

Meanwhile, it is revealed Boy was a police officer in the NYPD and joined the Invisibles to get revenge for her brother, who she thinks was captured by the Outer Church. She arrives in Liverpool and begins to search for Jack, who has returned to his mother's flat.

As two cops/Myrmidons search for him, Jack tells his mother all the crazy things he's seen while travelling with the Invisibles. His teacher, "Big Malkie" (actually a big time Invisible named Mr. Six), goes to Jack's mother's flat to warn her that her son might be in trouble. She dismisses him (rather rudely), until the two Myrmidons burst into the apartment, guns drawn. Jack calls on the power within him using Tom O'Bedlam's training, and blows them away with a blast of telepathic force.

Boy and Mr. Six arrive, and the former tries to persuade Jack to rejoin the Invisibles and help her save their friends. Jack suddenly remembers his encounter with Barbelith, where it forced him to feel the pain and suffering humanity has felt for its thousands of years of existence. Barbelith told him only he can stop the turmoil, but only if he perfects himself first. Jack, not wanting to let the suffering continue, agrees, and heads off with Boy and Mr. Six to the "House of Fun".

As King Mob and Lord Fanny fight their way through the "House of Fun" complex, Robin and Jim Crow (who is now being possessed by the Voodoo god Papa Guedhe) battle past zombies the King-Archon conjured to frighten them away. Suddenly, tumors start to spread across King Mob and Lord Fanny's bodies. Sir Miles, who is now their captive, tells them that the King-Archon has released nanomachines to rebuild the environment so he can survive on Earthplane and that they are causing the tumors. He himself is not affected because of antibodies injected into his bloodstream. King Mob injects some of Sir Miles' blood into his and Fanny's bloodstreams so they are immune, too. Then, Ms. Dwyer attacks.

Outside, Jack Frost, Boy, and Mr. Six arrive at the "House of Fun". Jack is split from them as they enter, and is ambushed by the King-Archon. Using magic supplies in the bag Tom O'Bedlam left him, he is able to repel the Archon with a mystical force field. While in the protective bubble, the King-Archon forces Jack to reenact all the terrible things he's done. Jack shakes off the guilt and an apparition of his future self appears before him. He tells him that there is a war going on, but it is too big a concept for humanity to understand and is being manipulated by "gigantic Manichaean intelligences". He also informs his younger self that the Invisibles are trying to perfect his soul so it can be used as a bomb to trigger the apocalypse on Dec. 22, 2012. These ideas are explained later on in the series. Jack ignores himself and thus, falls into the Archon's trap.

As his consciousness ascends higher and higher, Jack loses focus of the battle at hand. He is told by unknown speaker (most likely the collective subconciousness of humanity) that he is "one of the things we made so that we could experience the end". This can be interpreted as a "greater reality" (later on revealed to be the fifth dimension, known as the "supercontext") created humanity so they could experience growth through their human vessels. Growth is apparently something that they can't experience outside of 3-D reality.

Then Barbelith (taking the form of Jesus, an entity who Jack identifies with because of his Catholic upbringing) pushes Dane back, allowing him to remember only one thing: the King-Archon's name (theoretically, names hold power in magic). Threatening him with this knowledge, Jack scares his enemy into leaving.

Meanwhile, Mr. Six and Boy continue to search for their comrades, while Jim Crow, who has since split up with Ragged Robin, comes across Ms. Dwyer and kills her, thus saving King Mob and Fanny. One way or another, the Invisibles reunite, but King Mob is on the verge of death after the combined effect of his capture, interrogation, and Ms. Dwyer's attack.

Jack, summoning up his powers, is able to heal King Mob with a substance Jim Crow calls "Le Miroir fantastique": Magic Mirror. As the others are astounded by King Mob's recovery, Jack Frost restores Sir Miles' "aura", stolen from him by King Mob and Lord Fanny so they could survive the King-Archon's nanomachines, and allows him to escape, showing his reluctance to kill even a hated enemy. Jim Crow allows King Mob and his cell to be smuggled out of England to America as part of his rap group's entourage.

The last issue is devoted to Division X (Det. Jack Flint, Det. George Harper, and Mr. Six), a squad of paranormal investigators who had been called back into operation over the course of the series, and their investigation of mysterious alien pornography given to them by a mysterious dwarf known as Mr. Quimper, which led them to the Moonchild, who was the "alien" having sex with the women in the tapes.

As befits the overall title of entropy, an atmosphere of decay, dissolution and pain predominate here, making this the most grim and harrowing installment of the series. The next volume starts with a change in tone due to Morrison wishing to make it more commercially appealing.

Bloody Hell in America

This volume begins with Jolly Roger, leader of an all-lesbian Invisibles cell, breaking into an Outer Church government facility in Dulce where the cure to the AIDS virus is rumored to be held. Her team is massacred, and only she escapes.

Meanwhile, King Mob's cell has been relaxing for the past year at the New York estate of Mason Lang, an eccentric and extremely wealthy Invisible. King Mob and Ragged Robin have begun to fall in love with each other, while Jack Frost, Boy, and Lord Fanny vacation in NYC. At dinner, after a bout of rough sex, King Mob and Robin listen to Mason Lang's childhood abduction story, which in fact was the first step of his initiation into the Invisibles (much like Jack Frost's abduction in vol. 1).

Jolly Roger bursts in, asking for Mason's help, not realizing King Mob, an old friend from the Invisible Academy in North Africa, is there. King Mob agrees to help her steal the AIDS vaccine, on behalf of himself and his cell. They leave for Dulce.

As this occurs, Mr. Quimper, now working with Colonel Friday, a member of the Outer Church much like Sir Miles (though clearly more "American") and the director of the Dulce facility. He reveals that he has used his telepathic abilities to possess Jolly Roger, and is now leading her and her comrades into a trap.

In New Mexico, King Mob's cell switch roles (an Invisibles tradition), now giving Ragged Robin the position of leader. King Mob, Ragged Robin, Boy, and Jolly Roger infiltrate the Dulce facility, while Jack, Fanny, Mason, and two of King Mob's friends, Austin and Emilio, stay behind as back-up. In the facility, King Mob sees the magic mirror substance (the same kind Jack used to heal King Mob earlier) being transported and knows at once that he has to save it. Tides quickly turn against the Invisibles as Quimper forces Jolly Roger to turn on her teammates and a bogart in the employ of the Outer Church attack Jack and the others.

As Quimper and Colonel Friday race to intercept the Invisibles within the Dulce facility, Ragged Robin uses her psychic powers to turn one of the soldiers surrounding them on the others. Robin tries to enter Quimper's mind to free Roger, but she overloads him and he falls to the floor unconscious, forcing Friday to take him into the Archons' universe to be healed. King Mob helps Roger break free of her brainwashing, while Jack and the rest of the back-up team defeat the bogart.

Jolly Roger and the others succeed in stealing the AIDS vaccine and rush to escape. While Robin and Boy escape with the vaccine, King Mob and Roger take a different route, deep within the twisted bowels of the Dulce facility. They find the remainders of Roger's cell, who all fell victim to gruesome experiments that left them pleading for death. King Mob kills them mercifully. Mr. Quimper, now fully healed, confronts Roger. She shoots Quimper, and then asks King Mob to help her kill him, because he is still alive.

Just as she is able to pull him away from the window, Colonel Friday shoots him in the shoulder. King Mob and Jolly Roger blow up explosives they had planted earlier and escape with the rest of their teammates. The mission was a success.

But all is not well, for a little piece of Quimper's ego has been planted in Robin's mind.

Counting to None

This volume picks up where Bloody Hell in America left off. King Mob and the others have given the AIDS vaccine to Mason Lang's scientists and Jolly Roger says her goodbyes. Mason gets a fax from his scientists in California informing him that they have completed work on a time machine project.

While Mason, Ragged Robin, and Boy go to meet Mason's scientists, Takashi and Shoji, King Mob gets a massage from his old girlfriend Jacqui. He meets her and they argue about the ethics of his killings in the name of Invisibilism. Jack Frost and Lord Fanny travel to a San Francisco nightclub to meet the Harlequinade, a trio of mysterious benefactors with an item the Invisibles want.

As Takashi explains the time machine to Mason and Robin, a duo of sadistic Japanese thugs storm the lab and shoot Robin. They reveal that they want the time machine and that Shoji was working for them. They shoot Shoji and take Mason, Boy, and Takashi with them, leaving a time bomb in the lab.

King Mob comes to the building and rescues Boy, who tells him that there's a bomb in Takashi's lab and Robin is still in it. He rushes into the lab and yells at a recuperating Robin to mind-link with him just as the bomb explodes.

Robin comes to in the same place where Jack was transported to after he jumped off of the skyscraper with Tom O'Bedlam, which King Mob reveals to be the Invisible College (not to be confused with the Invisible Academy in North Africa). He takes Robin to a room where the same aliens that abducted Jack Frost and Mason Lang start to heal her. King Mob tells her they're "antibodies" from the Invisible College (the abductions were part of the initiation process for some Invisibles).

After she is healed, Robin shares a piece of information with King Mob: she is actually an Invisible transported back in time to give Takashi vital information about how to make the time machine. She was sent back in time on Dec. 22, 2012, the day of the apocalypse, and at the very moment she disappeared through time Archons bursted in and attacked everyone in the room (including Takashi, Lord Fanny, and a mystery Invisible).

As the two walk through the Invisible College, King Mob elaborates the secret of the Invisibles' cause. He explains that what humanity perceives as reality is actually the result of two "meta-universes" over-lapping and creating a hologram. The Invisible College lies on the rim of the "healthy meta-universe" while the Outer Church lies on the rim of the "infected meta-universe". The Invisibles are trying to evolve humanity into 5-D beings that can exist in the "healthy meta-universe" before the two meta-universes split on Dec. 22, 2012 (which Jack is destined to cause), while the Outer Church is trying to enslave humanity by summoning the King-Archon into the body of the Moonchild.

King Mob and Ragged Robin return to "reality" and rescue Mason and Takashi, while Jack and Fanny try to convince the Harlequinade to give them whatever it is that they have by dancing like mad while the Harlequinade watches them. They succeed and they give them the item. As Jack and Fanny are driven home in a taxi, they open the box, revealing "The Hand of Glory" within.

As the rest of his cell talk, Jack tells Boy how much he fancies her, leaving her baffled. King Mob asks her to stand watch while he trances back in time (like they did before to recruit the Marquis DeSade). Boy kisses Jack on the cheek, and before he can react, leaves with King Mob. Lord Fanny asks Jack to bring her the Hand of Glory to show Takashi, and when he opens the case, it's gone.

King Mob completes the ritual to send his spirit back in time, and his psychic image appears behind a 24 year-old Edith Manning being held up by Papa Skat, a voodoo practicer like Jim Crow. King Mob tells Papa Skat he is from the future, and Papa Skat lowers his gun, revealing himself as an Invisible who was checking Edith's loyalties. Edith, King Mob, Papa Skat, and Edith's cousin and fellow Invisible Freddie a.k.a. Tom O'Bedlam, go to a nearby apartment where they were told to meet the Harlequinade on the behalf of their leader King Mob I.

The Harlequinade arrive and give Edith the Hand of Glory as King Mob and Papa Skat fight off a pair of Myrmidons and a Cypherman (a psychic projection much like King Mob is now). They then go to see the rest of Edith and Freddie's Invisibles' cell: King Mob I, Beryl Wyndham, and Billy Chang. They activate the Hand of Glory and a series of surreal events happen frightening everybody affected.

Then the scene cuts to King Mob I and II, Edith, and Freddie standing outside of a church where the Harlequinade told Edith he'd meet her after they solved the "first operation of the Hand". Edith demands the Harlequinade to appear and tell her the second operation of the Hand.

The scene shifts again to Edith and Billy Chang, discussing what she saw at the church. She tells him that Harlequin told her the Hand would be fully functional once it was anointed. Edith and King Mob then have sex in Edith's apartment and anoint the Hand of Glory with their sexual fluids.

King Mob I and II, Edith, Freddie, Beryl, and Billy Chang all gather around the Hand of Glory to see what it really does. A rip is opened into the "infected meta-universe" and King Mob abruptly wakes up in the future, leaving the reader uniformed as to what he saw. Robin informs him that Boy stole the Hand and it's up to them to get it back.

As the Invisibles prepare to track down one of their own, Boy is captured by a man named Coyote. He informs her that she is an agent of the Outer Church trapped in her cover personality of Boy, who was created so she could infiltrate King Mob's cell and steal the Hand of Glory for them. He convinces her of this and turns her to his side.

Meanwhile, King Mob, Jack Frost, Ragged Robin, Lord Fanny, and Mason Lang are searching for traces of Boy. They flip a coin on whether to go to Portland, or Seattle, and they decide on Portland, but Jack refuses, saying she's definitely in Seattle.

They arrive in Seattle and check into a hotel where King Mob starts telling them about his experience in 1924. When they opened up the rip in time, King Mob was transported into the supercontext that would assimilate humanity in 2012 and bring them into the "healthy meta-universe". He saw Jack boiling a green glove and then came across a large door. It opened and all he remembered was something terrible asking him "what the word is" before he woke up.

As the Invisibles talk amongst each other, Mason mentions a research facility that he owns nearby and Jack snaps to attention and tells them that that's the place where Boy is being held. As they drive towards the facility, Jack reveals that he read her mind to see if she liked him and unintentionally started a mind-link between them, which is how he knew where she was all the time.

They arrive at the facility and break in, only to be caught by members of the same group that captured Boy. They use the hidden letters of the alphabet that Sir Miles mentioned in Entropy in the UK to subdue the Invisibles by forcing them to confront concepts they were previously unable to conceive. Mason compares the whole experience of being exposed to the hidden alphabet to his alien abduction experience. Robin erases her teammates' memory of the experience (presumably because, since she is from the future, she knows that they are not ready to experience the truth of reality and its relation to language yet).

After subduing the Invisibles with a word that is the off-switch for human consciousness, the group present Boy with King Mob and tell her to shoot him in the name of Abaddon the Destroyer a.k.a. the King-Archon. Boy breaks refuses and attacks Coyote and the others, until one of the men reveals himself to be Oscar, her former partner in the NYPD.

He tells her that he's part of Cell 23, a division of the Invisibles that deals with removing Invisibles with enemy emotional implants like the ones used in Boy to make her want to bring the Hand of Glory to Seattle, which would have led her straight into the hands of the Archons.

Boy is given the opportunity to kill the man who killed her brother, but she refuses and thus is able to make contact with Barbelith, who revealed to her true place in the Invisibles. The Invisibles leave Cell 23 and King Mob declares: "We love Big Brother", a reference to George Orwell's 1984 to show his misgivings about the group's actions.

Kissing Mister Quimper

This volume begins roughly a year after Counting to None. Boy needed some down-time after her experience with Cell 23 so the Invisibles decided to relax in New Orleans. During this time, Boy expresses her love for Jack Frost, while Ragged Robin informs King Mob that Mr. Quimper has been trying to possess her ever since they stole the AIDS vaccine from him in Dulce. They decide to trick him into thinking he has fully possessed her, and Robin lets Quimper fulfil his perverse fantasies by "making" her allow King Mob to dominate her sexually.

After they finish, she and King Mob go to Philadelphia, where their former leader, John-A-Dreams, disappeared while investigating a lead on the Hand of Glory before Jack had been recruited. There they are manipulated by a new weapon developed by Mr. Quimper and Colonel Friday, who are showing it off to the enigmatic Blind Chessman. The weapon, codenamed Scorpio, makes them paranoid enough to believe John-A-Dreams has actually defected to the Outer Church and is stalking them in the catacombs of an ancient church.

Robin figures out that it is all an illusion and they leave, meeting up with the other Invisibles in their cell in New York with Mason Lang, Jolly Roger, and Jim Crow. They have decided to retrieve the magic mirror substance King Mob saw in the Dulce facility in New Mexico. Boy does not wish to accompany them, and decides to leave after she completes Jack Frost's martial arts training. The former hooligan has now completely dedicated himself to the Invisibles and their cause, and refuses to leave them, even with her.

Sans Boy, they travel to New Mexico where they infiltrate Quimper's government complex. Quimper believes he is drawing them into a trap, and allows them to enter with ease. He captures King Mob and Jolly Roger, while Jack Frost is taken to the Blind Chessman. The Blind Chessman compares reality to a game of chess, which correlates to what Jack was told in Entropy in the UK by humanity's collective subconscious. He sits to the side of his chessboard so he is not directing either side. He then asks Jack if he knows what "Manichaean" means yet. The Blind Chessman is like one of the "gigantic Manichaean intelligences" Jack Frost's future self describes in Entropy in the UK since he plays both sides of the chessboard, with both sides representing respectively the Invisibles and the Outer Church. The Blind Chessman's words and actions suggest that there is no difference between the two opposing forces and only by playing both sides like he does can one "win" the game. He also tells Jack that Barbelith acts as humanity's placenta, providing a life-support system to the universe.

Meanwhile, Ragged Robin comes to Quimper, and reveals herself to actually be Lord Fanny in disguise. It is revealed that Quimper was once an ally of the Invisibles until he was raped by a group of humans at the same party Fanny had been molested at.

Fanny kisses him and assimilates him into the magic mirror substance, thus purging his soul of corruption. As the other Invisibles escape, the Blind Chessman and Jack Frost walk into the magic mirror substance and are transported into the Archons' universe, where The Blind Chessman reveals that John-A-Dreams had somehow become Quimper and that "now it's a rescue mission".

A few days later at Mason's labs, Robin is about to be sent back to the future in Takashi's completed time machine. Takashi tells her Hand of Glory is used to power the machine.

Just before she leaves, Robin tells King Mob that in the future she was introduced to the Invisible movement by a novel she read titled "The Invisibles". Ragged Robin then wrote her own version of the book and events in her book turned out to have actually happened in the present (such as the raid on the Dulce facility), thus blurring the line between fiction and reality. Whether or not The Invisibles is real is never resolved in the series.

King Mob sees Ragged Robin off as she returns to the future, and reunites with his cell at Mason's estate. Boy leaves the team after saying goodbye to Jack, and King Mob decides he will give up guns and killing for the rest of his life. He blows up Mason's estate to show Mason how easy it is for someone to change.

The Invisible Kingdom

Another year has passed, and Jack Frost is learning martial arts from Jolly Roger at the Academy in North Africa. The reader learns that the Invisibles' war against the Outer Church is actually a "rescue mission".

After learning all he can from Roger, Elfayed, a veteran Invisible, takes Jack under his wing and teaches him the importance of thinking and rationality to a budding Buddha like himself.

King Mob has been traveling in India where he has been questioning his violent ways, while Division X has been tracking Sir Miles, whom they have linked to the Moonchild. King Mob returns to England, where he, Mr. Six, and Six's associate Helga, a talented linguist, devise a scheme to kidnap Sir Miles.

As Mr. Six attempts to strip away his partners in Division X, Jack Flint and George Harper, of their false personalities and reveal the Invisibles within (they were Invisibles the whole time, just deep undercover in their cover personalities), multiple psychic Invisibles plant thoughts in Sir Miles' head that lead him to a windmill, where they have set up a base of operations.

It is revealed that he wrote "The Invisibles" (the novel Ragged Robin read in the future) after being experimented on by the British government. As he grows up, he is seduced by the power the Outer Church promise him and he becomes an agent of the very enemy he had written about. The Invisibles are able to capture Sir Miles, and Helga begins his interrogation.

Meanwhile, Jack Frost and Jolly Roger are dispatched to a government facility where they sabotage the Outer Church's cyphermen with the hidden alphabet that Helga has deciphered so they can't be used to guard Westminster Abbey where Sir Miles plans to summon the King Archon into the body of the grotesque Moonchild.

King Mob goes back to India, where he sees Edith Manning. She says goodbye to King Mob, for she has decided it is time for herself to die.

While King Mob and Edith meet in India, Mr. Six is invited to join a man in a yellow mask and his two dwarves, thereby betraying the Invisibles. Mr Six, sensing there is more to their story, agrees and learns that they are actually the Harlequinade in disguise. Apparently, The Harlequinade serve both the Outer Church (as the man in the yellow mask and his two dwarves) and the Invisibles (as themselves). They elevate his consciousness, revealing to him the nature of the universe, thus helping him prepare for his final role in the struggle: to end the threat of Sir Miles.

King Mob then regroups with Jack, Jolly Roger, and Fanny back in the UK. He tells Jack that after this last mission, he's quitting his Invisibles cell, but Jack doesn't mind. He's glad he got into it and was given the chance to make the world a better place for everybody.

Meanwhile, Helga tells Sir Miles that only the concept of division divides the Invisibles and the Outer Church. Like Sir Miles and Cell 23 hinted at earlier on in the series, the 26 letter alphabet only limits humanity's perception of reality. So, both the Invisibles and the Outer Church are guilty of the same misconception. Helga then releases Sir Miles, and he travels back to Westminster Abbey to summon the King-Archon. As Sir Miles is about to summon the King-Archon into the body of the Moonchild, the Invisibles attack and all hell breaks loose.

Jack Frost single-handedly defeats the King-Archon and then travels back into the magic mirror the Moonchild had been kept in where he meets the Blind Chessman who tells him that at the place where the Outer Church and the Invisible College meet there is harmony. The Invisibles and The Outer Church, as well as their two respective "meta-universes" (the "meta-universe" theory was really just King Mob's limited interpretation of the truth due to the fact that the two "meta-universes", if they exist, would have to integrate rather than separate for what the Blind Chessman is saying to be true), represent just two different ways to interpret the truth about reality. Humans can only understand it in terms of "freedom" and "control" since they have not the lingual capacity to describe its truth, and it is this binary thinking Jack Frost is destined to rescue humanity from. Only then can they evolve into something greater. Although he never realized it, his rebelling against even the rebellious Invisibles was due to his subconscious understanding that both sides' philosophies are essential and must balance each other out. This balance creates the harmony, the ultimate truth, that Jack is shown.

The Blind Chessman then tells Jack that all humans are larvae being prepared to hatch into flies (meaning all humans are going to evolve into a higher being). After learning this Jack exits the magic mirror. As he leaves, The Harlequinade refer to midwives. Many believe this reference to midwives is connected to Barbelith, who is much like humanity's personal midwife.

Back at the Abbey, John-A-Dreams, who apparently defected to the Outer Church like King Mob had suspected, reveals to Lord Fanny that when he had gone missing he had stepped outside of time and reentered the "game" as himself, Mr. Quimper, and Jack Flint of Division X. He plays both sides of the "struggle", much like the Harlequinade and The Blind Chessman, to manipulate the outcome.

The Invisibles then leave Westminster Abbey after Sir Miles breaks down and kills himself due to the manipulations of Mr. Six and Helga, who had devised a prophecy predicting Sir Miles' death with her own mystical abilities. King Mob vows never to use violence again after a woman, Audrey Murray (whose husband he had killed when springing Jack from Harmony House), helps him, thus freeing him of his bad karma. He quits his Invisibles cell, leaving Jack and Lord Fanny to start anew.

Fast forward thirteen years: It is 2012, and Jack Frost, along with a member of his Invisibles cell, a girl named Reynard, infiltrate a corporation called Technoccult that has created an Invisibles videogame. King Mob is actually its leader, making true on his promise of nonviolence by promoting peaceful forms of anarchy through his company. He reveals to Reynard that he has built a gun to fire a single shot that he has been dreaming about since 1999. The Invisibles, finally seeing through their limited interpretation of reality, have introduced new things like the drug Sky which simulates alien contact (like Jack Frost and Mason Lang both experienced) and memetics to slowly change humanity's way of thinking regarding reality.

We are then taken to Dec. 22, 2012, the day destined to be the end of the world. King Mob, with his gun, enters the lab where Takashi had sent Ragged Robin back in time. The Archons who Ragged Robin had seen attack her comrades before as she was being sent back in time had been defeated, but Takashi and the others, except for an obese Lord Fanny, had all been killed. King Mob steps through a fold in time, caused by the end of the universe being so near, and is transported back into the supercontext he entered in Counting to None.

He sees himself walking through the supercontext back in 1924 and tells him that he doesn't have to be there yet (thus causing his old self to wake up). He then sees Jack, still boiling the green glove, who tells him that the green glove he is boiling is actually the Hand of Glory, which he will send back in time to play a role in the creation of the Invisible movement. He describes it as an object that can move time around like a cursor on a computer screen.

King Mob then snaps out of his trance and The King-of-All-Tears, the only Archon not to be defeated, attacks him. King Mob shoots his gun and a flag with the word "pop" (the word he had been told to remember when he entered the Hand of Glory in 1924 as a psychic projection) rolls out of it on a flag, causing the Archon, who had been dosed with Key 64 (apparently a stronger version of the word drug Key 23) earlier in the series, to explode.

At that moment, Ragged Robin returns from the past and hugs King Mob, finally reuniting with her lover. The stress reality feels due to the action of Robin going back in time and then returning causes the apocalypse. This was all made possible by Jack's creation of the Hand of Glory, which in turn was used to power the time machine. Meanwhile, Jack Frost, having already fulfilled his destiny, declares "OUR SENTENCE IS UP." before evolving with the rest of humanity.

Analysis

Like many of Grant Morrison's works, The Invisibles brings up various questions about the nature of reality. When Ragged Robin writes her own version of "The Invisibles" in the future, it is an implied possibility that through fiction, writers can influence the course of history and even create histories of their own. Also, the Invisibles game that King Mob creates in volume three has led many readers to believe that the Invisibles is in fact a game (combined with numerous references throughout that series to the Invisibles' struggle being "just a game"), played by Jack Frost as he sits in King Mob's lounge. Some also believe that when John-A-Dreams found the time suit, he exited time and reentered it as all of humanity.

Morrison also delves into the fruitlessness of anarchy when he has King Mob's old girlfriend Jacqui quote Philip K. Dick, saying that those who "fight the Empire doomed to be infected by its derangement". Later on in the series, King Mob gives up his violent ways and devotes himself to pacificism. Also, the Invisibles state that they are not fighting the Outer Church like the reader had been led to believe for the bulk of the series, but are actually on "a rescue mission" to save humanity from the greed and oppression the Outer Church represents. It is also said that The Invisibles and The Outer Church are two sides of the same coin.

Morrison presents a magnitude of ideas to the reader, one of which is that humans are like larva waiting to evolve into flies. The realm where these "flies" would live is never revealed (due to a human's inability to imagine anything beyond the third dimension), but it is hinted at in the beginning of the series that in this realm everyone will hear what they need to hear, creating a utopia. It is this "eternal" language that the Knights Templar were protecting. Percy Shelley, a poet who Morrison made into an Invisible for the sake of the series, theorized that utopia could be found in the mind and that it was "waiting for ^* to grow up and recognize it and come home". In other words, humanity holds utopia within themselves and only when they see through the binary interpretations of reality the Invisibles and the Outer Church offer can they access it.

Morrison also had Percy Shelley and his friend, Lord Byron (also an Invisible), argue about whether or not mankind truly wants to be free. Byron believes that "men are like sheep", while Shelley believes they have "a drive towards liberty". This debate is brought up many times throughout the series since much of humanity is content being controlled (albeit unknowingly) by the Outer Church, while the Invisibles fight to be individuals, free to make their own decisions.

References

The Bomb
Anarchy For The Masses: The Disinformation Guide To The Invisibles. Published by the The Disinformation Company

External links

Vertigo titles | Fictional rebels | Controversial comic books and graphic novels

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