A is for.... (31 Days of Halloween, Oct 1)

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Apocalipstick!

I can't even begin to write what I want to about The Invisibles, Grant Morrison's epic comic book series. I also can't begin to describe it.
The best I can do is this: (Biography/What if it was all true/Abductions/Sex/Shame/Control v. Freedom/Anarchy/Britpop/Time Travel/Parallel Worlds/Radicalism/Chaos Magick/Extended Sigil/Punk/William S. Burroughs/Reichian Therapy/The End of the World).
Got that? The Invisibles is a heady inchoate counterculture trip, and in many ways it deals with The Apocalypse, much like Morrison's bitter comics writer sorcerer rival Alan Moore did in his own series Promethea.
I'm attempting a reread of the whole series now, just in time for December 2012 (which is where the final panel of the series is set, December 22nd). I read The Invisibles when it first came out in 1994 when I just moved to New York City and I was thirsty for big ideas, occult knowledge and the libertine freedoms the series appeared to extoll on the surface.
What I ended up actually running into was a near decade long depression. But I digress. December 2012 doesn't matter so much as a date, because as Invisibles member Lord Fanny discovers, time is not linear, and every moment in time is now.

Lord Fanny! The fabulous drag queen shaman ("sheman") is the star of "Apocalipstick", the second collection of The Invisibles. She's a Brazilian-Mexican transvestite, latest in a long line of witches. In this story arc, we witness her surreal, non-linear initiation into Mesoamerican magic, as she confronts dangerous Aztec gods, her tragic life as a prostitute, and her capture by an agent of The Enemy. It's a fascinating but incredibly disturbing story, and artist Jill Thompson's pencils and Daniel Vozzo's colors contrast this horror with a lot of beauty.
Think Carlos Castañeda with makeup and a fabulous dress.

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Never knew anything about this. Interesting.

SheilaTGTG55

October 01, 2012 03:38 PM

Re: everything in that second paragraph -- what's not to like!

Sadly, the cover illustration of Lord Fanny reminds me of a couple of ladies who live on my street (yeah, it's quite the 'hood).