Pick of the Week

story NICK SPENCER
art JOE EISMA
cover RODIN ESQUEJO

Size: 48 pages
Price: 3.99

In this age where just about everyone knows everything that is going to happen in the pages of their comic books three months in advance, surprises are rare. No, I personally don’t look at advanced solicitations so I don’t know what’s coming but it’s rare to know nothing about a book before I sit down and open it.

I knew nothing about Morning Glories #1 before I read it.

I didn’t read any of the advanced press releases. I didn’t listen to the Don’t Miss show we did with Nick Spencer. I didn’t do any research whatsoever. I checked out Morning Glories #1 because I like Nick Spencer’s track record and because both the teaser art and the cover are very striking. Those things taken together were enough to get me to at least check out the first issue.

And I’m glad I did.

It all starts innocently enough. We open on Morning Glories Academy as a teacher, Miss Daramount, talks to her class about the up-coming annual science fair. The kids in the back of the class pass notes until Miss Daramount busts them and Akiko, the student left holding the note like a hot potato, gets called up to the front of the class to explain her science project. And there’s where things take a left turn. Akiko’s experiment involves a highly volatile substance that reacts to even the slightest bit of pressure. A substance that, when dried, would be invisible on a dark surface. Like, say, a chalkboard. Miss Daramount makes the connection just a bit too late – as she applies chalk to board, the entire thing explodes. In the confusion, two students — Vanessa and Brendan — make a break for it and try to escape the school. Brendan manages to bust through a window and lands… not outside on a finely manicured lawn but in a cold, metallic warehouse. He is quickly and brutally subdued and we are left to wonder…

… just what kind of school is this?  

I love me a good mystery. And Morning Glories #1 is all about mystery. We are introduced to a bunch of characters and a strange and seemingly nefarious private boarding school and we are given no answers. We are only left to wonder about who these people are and why they are where they are and just what the heck is going on here?

Getting handed lots of questions without even the vaguest hint of any answers can be frustrating in the hands of lesser talents, but writer Nick Spencer balances everything just right. After the opening scene I described above we are introduced to six students in the new class at Morning Glories Academy. They all come from different worlds and have different backgrounds, but they’re all extremely smart or talented or gifted in some way, and they, and their families, all believe that they are headed off to one of the most prestigious boarding schools in North America, and the subsequent life of wealth and privilege that usually follows.

Where they actually ended up, what Morning Glories Academy actually is, is anyone’s guess.

Nick Spencer is a writer to watch out for and he could be the next big rising star. He hit last year with a flurry of books out of Image Comics — Existence 2.0/3.0, Forgetless, Shuddertown, and now Morning Glories — each new book different from the last. In an industry that often thrives on stagnation, it’s nice to see such versatility on display.

What really impressed me with Morning Glories #1 was Spencer’s ability to convey a lot of information, and introduce a lot of characters, in an elegant way that never felt over burdened. I can tell you who each main character is and what they’re about and I can already see the possible interpersonal conflicts ahead. What I can’t tell you is why they were picked for this school or even just what the heck this school is or why all the new students have the same birthday. That’s exciting.

One thing that Morning Glories has that Spencer’s other books have lacked up until now is a really solid regular artist. Joe Eisma handles both the pencils and the inks here and he handles really dynamic action sequences just as deftly as he does character work. All six main characters have their own distinct looks and personalities that are conveyed through the art as much as the dialogue. When you’re dealing with a story that doesn’t feature anyone wearing a costume, the ability to portray distinct characters is an important, and often underrated ability.

I read many fine books this week, but none excited me the way that Morning Glories #1 did. There was dynamic action and there was intriguing mystery. There were scenes that were laugh out loud funny right alongside scenes that were deeply disturbing. When I finished Morning Glories #1 I wanted, more than with any other comic book that I read this week, to know what happened next.

And that’s the sign of a great comic book.

Conor Kilpatrick
This is how I imagine all boarding schools are.
conor@ifanboy.com