About bloody time, too. After a bit of kerfuffle with the British Customs and some idiot MP, the debut issue of Grant Morrison's first monthly comic book since the ending of his glorious Doom Patrol is here, and at a perfect time, as well. Just as Gaiman seems to be tripping over his loose plot threads in The Sandman, just as Dave Sim seems to be having a fit of megalomania in Cerebus, along comes Mr. Morrison, with a guaranteed plot for around 70 issues, or to put it another way, a reason to live into the next millenium. And what a reason; "action, philosophy, paranoia, sex, magic, biography, travel, drugs, religion, UFOs...", all leading to Grant revealing "who runs the world, why our lives are the way they are and exactly what happens to us when we die."
Hmmnh? Oh no, that's the letter column, of course. The actual first issue isn't up to much; scenes get set, some characters get introduced, buildings are blown up and three or four people get shot in the face. The main character is disaffected teenager Dane McGowan, who sets fire to his school, and is sent to one of the new correctional facilities. The facility, Harmony House, is in fact a front for the forces of, um, badness in some form, and later that night, as Dane is about to be operated on and turned into one of the faceless masses, he's sprung by one of the Invisibles. (This is where people get shot in the face. Could you tell?) There's also some nonsense involving the dead beatles of the title, but the relevance of this to the story at large may have to wait 70 issues.
It's not the most impressive first issue I've ever seen, but the art is very nice, and the letter column/On The Ledge is at least worth the price. And what the hell: Grant Morrison has a steady job at last, and the bits of the world where he isn't can sleep soundly again.
Art:4 Story:4
Andrew These reviews are copyright the authors