By: Nick Spencer (writer), Joe Eisma (art), Alex Sollazzo (colors), Johnny Lowe (letters)
The Story: Hunter goes on a hike with the new kids.
Review: We’re now 22 issues and about two years into Morning Glories. At this point, it’s safe to say that there are two basic types of MG issues. In one type, questions are resolved. They may not always be the questions you wanted resolved and the resolutions may raise even more questions, but in those issues the creators are shoveling some scraps of red meat to the fans who are demanding answers. The other type of issue just stirs the waters and confuses/intrigues us even more. These aren’t “bad” issues…..they’re just very different in flavor.
This issue #22 is more of the latter. Nothing really big gets explained to us and there are a few scenes that beg a lot more questions. In a way, it all makes sense given that the upcoming issue #25 is the end of “Season One”.
The central action in this issue revolves around this new batch of slightly older kids. What I find most interesting about these kids is that they seem to have experienced a “similar but different” Morning Glories Academy. Through flashbacks, we see that they were placed in similar situations to our familiar characters and we see that the MGA staff is largely the same, but something about their program seems more hostile. It makes one wonder if the MGA isn’t some type of experiment where the staff are repeatedly trying to produce a certain type of graduate, but they keep missing the target. And these older children represent a failed experiment. Maybe they’re kinda like the MGA’s version of Frankenstein’s monster?
Of the new kids, I really enjoy the Irina character. She’s just kinda cool, capable and has an edge of danger about her. The other new kids are honestly just kind of a jumble for me at this point. Hopefully, Spencer will keep using their names in the dialog (or add them to the line-up in the beginning) so I can learn who they are.
But, the classic puzzle of MG rears its head with Irina and her gang too. These kids clearly know how to work all the “equipment” and what the MGA is all about….only they’re not going to do anything as simple as tell Hunter what the hell is going on. It’s funny….how I feel about these moments where characters are being intentionally vague in MG depends on my mood. You’ll probably find the same thing. But, the only way I’ll ultimately be angry about this sort of thing is if the story ends up just imploding into a morass of confusion. Right now…..I trust that Spencer and Eisma have a solid roadmap and just being selective about what they choose to show us…..as if the characters are more tour guides than characters in the story.
Since most of this issue is people talking to each other, Joe Eisma has to do a lot of heavy lifting. True to form, he keeps it fresh with his great use of body language and facial expression. He should really just make “body language” his middle name. This comic could get frustrating if the art was stiff….imagine if Greg Land drew it and we had a bunch of panels of people making highly inappropriate facial expressions because that was all he had photo reference for…..or if some artist used Poser for most of the images. Eisma really is great.
Conclusion: A good, solid and pretty standard issue of Morning Glories. Lots of opaque allusions to time-travel and things like that. At this point, you either like the series or you don’t and aren’t surprised when you don’t get all the answers in a single issue.
Grade: B
– Dean Stell
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Conclusion