MORNING GLORIES - Volume One review

For me, Morning Glories has sort of been that special Christmas present. You know the one. The gift with the awesome shape that you're saving for last because you know, when you open it, it's going to be fantastic. See, I bought the first volume of Morning Glories after having heard a bunch of hype about it, but it was reading Nick Spencer's other work that got me excited for the series. I'm talking about the Jimmy Olsen one-shot (review here). If you haven't read that yet, minimize this review and get your ass to the comic shop, because that is one hell of a book. Cleverly written, wonderfully plotted, and gorgeously pencilled, that's the comic that made me turn back to the credits and realize that this Nick Spencer guy is someone to notice.

And then, Cloak and Dagger. I've been on the "give these characters a goddamn book" team since Brian K. Vaughan used them as guest stars in Runaways. Nick Spencer is writing a C&D miniseries as a tie-in to Dan Slott's Spider Island event, and goddamn... those comics are so good (reviews here: #1, #2). At this point, I'd only read three issues by Spencer, but I was sure that this dude had become of of my favorite writers in comics. Hence the awesome-present-on-Christmas status of Morning Glories.

I read the first volume last night. The book collects six issues (the first of which is 44 pages long! and the rest of which are a still thick 32), and these are six issues of pure, unadulterated intrigue captured on paper. The characters are great, and truly Runaways-esque in feel. The mystery, as Spencer described, takes the best elements of Lost, managing to walk the line between mind-fucking the readers while making them still want to come back for more. The stakes are incredibly high, especially for the first six issues of a series that Spencer has described as having a 100 issue (!) plan. But here's the thing. After reading this, I don't give a shit when we get our answers to these mysteries. I'm in for the ride, because it's the best goddamn first volume I've read in a while. I said the same about iZombie a while ago, and I love iZombie like Gwen loves brains, but Morning Glories just delivers in every way possible.

The dialogue has a distinct Whedonesque feel, but (Joss forgive me) the wittiness and wordplay feels even more natural here, because there are characters that are supposed to be extremely intelligent. And the concept... heh. Some have argued that it has been done before. I'd argue that that argument is bullshit, because the "mysterious prep school" idea isn't the concept, in the same way that Lost isn't "people living on an island." It's the mystery, the characters, and the (it seems) building mythology that makes this book one of the most wholly original comics on the market today.

I'm buying Volume Two at NYCC. From then on, I'll be picking up this series monthly, because this is a book that I want to see succeed. If there is a 100 issue plan, then hell, it's 100 issues of awesomely-shaped Christmas gifts. And I'm through waiting.