Fun fact: this isn’t the first time I’ve chosen to review “Morning Glories” — this is just the first time I’ve stuck with it. What, it’s a hard book to review! With the second season starting, surely now would be an easier time to critically review the book without resorting to “it’s your thing or it isn’t…”
…right?
Written by Nick Spencer
Illustrated by Joe Eisma“THE WAITING GAME”
Season 2 of the smash hit series begins here, with a special, full-sized, impossibly priced $1 prelude – the perfect jumping-on point for collection readers looking to move to single issues!
The problem with both slow burn comics and television is that sometimes the creators can get too wrapped up in their big plans and thus lose sight of what makes for solid execution. It would be a lie to say this has never happened with Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma’s “Morning Glories,” but it has certainly gotten better in recent issues. This prologue issue for the second “season” of the ongoing is a strong return the form, wherein Spencer delicately balances the tying and untying of threads that “Morning Glories” is known for with the sculpting of an exciting and interesting narrative. It helps that the issue is, for all intents and purposes, a one-off, and thus adheres more to a standard story trajectory. After establishing the current time and location, the issue follows a steady cadence of story beats, gradually building to a revelatory climax (or two). Theres a rhythm to this issue that has been lacking in “Morning Glories,” and if Spencer can show the same care for the next few arcs that he shows this issue, the series will be in a great place. Following the first reveal, Spencer falls into the easy trap of “See! It all makes sense! — which does kill some of the momentum and lead to some yes-we-get-it eye rolling — but between the otherwise sturdy issue building and the tip-top dialogue that Spencer has become known for, and you have a well written issue all around.
Joe Eisma is a comic book artist’s artist (I say as someone who doesn’t have the most fundamental basics of drawing down). His grasp on storytelling is outstanding; few published comic artists can do action and character acting as clearly as Eisma can. Each page is carefully crafted without relying on gimmicky layouts, each panel given careful attention in terms of framing and composition in order to achieve the smoothest read possible. For all of this talent, though, he has one significant flaw: as has been pointed out by others, Eisma’s characters can often look distractingly alike. It’s a shame, because in many situations, this would only be a cosmetic detail — in comics, clarity is key, and Eisma has clarity in spades. However, as the cast of “Morning Glories” expands, this normally minor flaw has become particularly hampering, with pivotal moments being weakened by an unexpected game of who’s who. The climax of this issue is, unfortunately, an instance of this, giving readers pause as they ask uncertainly themselves “Wait, is that..?” The trait of clarity is more essential to comics than it is traditional art, and in the comic sense, almost no one is as clear as Eisma, but his similar looking characters impair that clarity. Once Eisma refines this aspect of his art, he will be nothing short of unstoppable.
Perhaps the biggest mark against this issue has nothing to do with the actual contents of the comic and more to do with its context as the first issue of “season two” (though, in my defense, it does use that term within the issue itself). Even in slow burn series like this, the term season, especially with the word “new” placed in front or “premiere” placed afterward, carries certain implications of acessibility: even if you might not know exactly who is who and what is what, the season premiere should be accessible enough to energize the new reader into seeking out every trade before the next issue comes out. Instead, this feels more like a coda to season one; we see what Casey has been up to since “P.E.” — though chronological prepositions should probably be avoided at this point — and are given a little bit more pieces to the time loop puzzle. That’s all well and good, but unless the second season is set outside of the academy, this issue fails to give the season a grounded plot direction. Thematic? Sure. Conceptual? Maybe. But in terms of the primary, academy-based plot, we aren’t given the slightest hint. For longtime readers, it’s an annoyance; for those hoping to spend only a dollar to see if this talked-about ongoing is worth checking out, it’s a roadblock.
This issue of “Morning Glories” isn’t so much dollar-priced for the sake of new readers as it is for the sake of getting trade readers to switch to monthly, and that’s fine. For the most part, this issue is interesting due to fine-tuned construction, and though both Spencer and Eisma bring some of their common missteps to the book, it’s nothing fans of the book aren’t already used to. Still, between that and the issue’s rather inaccessible nature, don’t expect this to win over many newbies or naysayers.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – Buy it!
