Invisibles, The: Bloody Hell in America Vol 04

After the release of issue #25 of the Invisibles (collected in Book 3: "Entropy in the UK"), DC/Vertigo halted publication of the series for a few months. During this hiatus, creator/writer Grant Morrison revised his approach to the series. Deciding that the previous volume had been "British" and that the new one would be "American," Morrison abandoned the methodical pace of Volume 1 and filled Volume 2 with nonstop action, sex, and ultraviolence. Some say this new approach was a "watered down" version of the Invisibles, but I say that's hogwash. The stories collected in this book are the cream of the crop, and fulfill all of the promise of the very first issues of the series. Book 4 collects the first four issues of Volume 2, and the change is immediately noticeable. First and foremost is the return of artist supreme Phil Jimenez. Last seen in Book 3's "Entropy in the UK" arc, Jimenez is probably my favorite artist who ever worked on the series. His art is detailed, clean, precise, and beautifully rendered; everything you could ask for, really. Morrison scored a huge coup when he brought Jimenez on board as the regular artist, something the series never had before. Therefore, there are no drops in artwork quality in this collection, as there were in the previous three trade paperbacks. Picking up a year after the events at the end of Book 3, Book 4 opens with the Invisibles (King Mob, Dane, Ragged Robin, Lord Fanny, Boy) recouping in upstate New York, residing in the colossal mansion of millionaire Invisible Mason Lang. Lang is an interesting character, a neurotic Bruce Wayne-type who obsesses over the "hidden meanings" of mainstream films. The events depicted at the end of Book 3 nearly killed our favorite Invisibles cell, but now King Mob thinks the team is ready for more action. Sure enough, Jolly Roger shows up, looking for help. Roger, a lesbian commando who's as deadly as King Mob, is the leader of her own Invisibles cell, and she's the only one who survived an assault on a high-level military base in Arizona. Those expecting "Area 51" shenanigans with little gray aliens will be surprised, because Roger's cell wasn't searching for extraterrestrial life: they were after the cure for AIDS. The government has the cure, has had it for decades, and now Roger wants King Mob's cell to re-infiltrate the base with her and make off with it. What follows is enough gory action, cross-dimensional warring, masturbation-induced spells, mind control, kinky sex, and redneck-baiting to satisfy even the most jaded of readers. Did I mention the gore? King Mob goes on a kill spree in this book; Morrison claimed he was approaching this "new look" for the Invisibles like a big-budget Hollywood action movie, and he delivers. But beyond the mayhem, there's also some great character development, particularly for Ragged Robin, previously a blank slate. Here we learn that there's more to her than meets the eye: born in 1988 (the story takes pla

This short but sweet trade paperback colects the OTT beginings of the 2nd Volume of this wonderfull series.This is a good introduction to the Invisibles, as this story reads like a highly entertaining, psychadelic blockbuster, making it more acessible than most of the other stories in this series, which can (at times) redifine the word "odd"...Read it and, if you like it, check out the other trades... the series is really varied and is, literally, about EVERYTHING!Sex, love, gnosticism, rebellion, music, art, death, friendship, drugs, science, magic, literature, meta-physics, ... its all in there somewhere...Stories about sexy Anarchists dont get any better than this...

IF you dont want violence or object to a little bad language or drug use, DONT READ THIS BOOK. If you want what is a great jumping on point to one of the best series comics has to offer, then put your petty language concerns away and read a book that may even change the way you think about the workd around you.

This collection is meant as a jumping-on point for new readers, and considering how esoteric, deep, and complex 'The Invisibles' usually is, this book is a nice change of pace. The amazing thing is that Morrison slows down the merry-go-round without derailing it. He *wants* you to get on, but he also wants people who've been on it for a while to stay -- no mean feat. He pulls is off very well, somehow. Check this out, then dive in to the rest of this amazing, brilliant series.

Somewhere along the line in "Bloody Hell in America," you realize you're in over your head, that whatever well-worn turns you may have been used to in comic book storytelling have been turned completely around, and this ride is jumping the tracks.How writer Grant Morrison manages to spin the end of time, the crash at Roswell, the Hindu god Ganesh, Aztec magic, and Quentin Tarantino movies into one story is a secret he'll probably take to his grave. But it all works, and the threads crackle and hum so intensely with pop-zeitgeist electricity you'll love getting sucked into the web.Translation: It's really, REALLY cool. And one hell of a mind ride.And honestly, if you can't get past the "swearing and blood," you should stick to the JLA. Or Bil Keane's Family Circus.