By: Nick Spencer (writer), Joe Eisma (art), Alex Sollazzo (colors), Johnny Lowe (letters) & Jade Dodge (editor)
The Story: More mysteries, Zoe and Hunter have a few “moments” and we learn more about Woodrun.
Five Things:
1. Lots of teases. This issue had a lot of scenes where if you joined the scene a panel sooner OR if you were allowed to linger for a panel more OR if you were just permitted to change your visual perspective …..you would have learned something important. That’s the tease of Morning Glories and it’s either your kind of thing or it isn’t. I work professionally with legal contracts and reading Morning Glories sometimes reminds me of reading an except from a contract without any of the definitions of terms: Sometimes you think you might know what the characters are talking about, but you almost never know for sure. This is obviously what Spencer and Eisma are going for and they do it very well.
2. Nice coloring. My ability to comment technically on coloring is weak, but I really do like what Sollazzo does in MG month-after-month. Eisma’s art is very clean. There aren’t many stray lines, spot blacks, crosshatching or anything else that would add a lot of depth to a page. So, a lot of that work is on Sollazzo’s plate and he really does a nice job. I usually say that I’m not a fan of such highlighted color art, but this works for me because he isn’t cutting corners. Lots of color artists will do things like highlight a head like it is a sphere when we all know that heads are NOT spheres. Sollazzo really seems to understand and care about contouring. It kinda goes without saying at this point that Eisma’s characters are really “acting” well, but Sollazzo adds that extra touch without ever screwing up the line art.
3. Different point of view. Some of the scenes in this issue were lifted straight out of last issue. I wouldn’t want that every month, but it is a neat literary tick when it is used effectively. It’s neat to see how a scene unfolds from multiple angles. That month we followed one group of characters and here we get to see what happened to the people who got “left behind”. Man….Zoe….what a B!$%#.
4. Nice rhythm to this comic. I spent a good bit of time early in the run of this comic worrying about the ANSWERS. Why wouldn’t Spencer just tell us what is going on!?! I’ve kinda let that go. I know there are fans out there who want the story to move on faster, but that’s just missing the point with this series where it very much isn’t about “the answer” but about the storytelling experience. Once I put away that “need for answers”, I’ve enjoyed the storytelling immensely and found that is has a very compelling rhythm.
5. Neat covers. I’m not usually one to comment on covers because Marvel/DC have trained us that covers suck and have nothing to do with the interior of the book. With titles like MG where there is a consistent cover artist, you start to appreciate after a while the great stuff they’re doing. What a good image showing these kids lost in the woods, which is both a figurative and literal statement on the contents of the issue.
Conclusion: Another strong issue. With Morning Glories you just have to understand that it is a long-haul title where the answers aren’t going to come right away (or maybe ever). That’s a shock to the system in this era of 6-issue superhero stories, but it’s rewarding to read something that is so different.
Jumping on point: I guess you could jump in here. On one hand, you’ll be confused. But people who have read since the beginning are confused too. You could probably read this issue and see if you like the narrative structure and art. If so, pick up the trades for find it digitally.
Grade: B
– Dean Stell
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