Invisibles 2,6
From Barbelith
| Table of contents |
Credits
Grant Morrison (Writer) Phil Jiminez (Pencils) Keith Aiken (Inker) Michael Lark (Pencils) Marc Hempel (Inker) Rick Taylor (Colors) Heroic Age (Separations) Todd Klein (Letters) Shelly Roeburg (Editor)
The Invisibles created by Grant Morrison
Summary
King Mob and Robin have escaped the explosion into the Invisible College, which exists on the borders of the healthy metaverse. Robin is healed by antibodies, and reveals that she has been sent back from 2012 by the Invisibles. In a flashback she relives being sent into her past just as the Archons attack the rest of her future team.
Characters
Boy King Mob Ragged Robin Lord Fanny Takashi Jack Frost
Analysis
Universe as Phase Boundary
Annotations
Title: "The girl most likely to" reminds me of a Morrissey's b-side song :"the girl least likely to" [CI]
PAGE 2-3
The celestial traffic signal. First seen in Invisibles 1,2, page 18 [RD/JB]
PAGE 3
Panel 5 "Salomon's House": According to my Wordsworth Dictionary of the Occult, Sir Francis Bacon wrote The New Atlantis which has, as its central theme the house of Solomon, a multidisciplinary laboratory [L] Benet's describes The New Atlantis as "a Utopian fable published [in 1627] in an unfinished state after his death. It is an account of a voyage to the island 'Bensalem' and of the government and manners of its people. Of particular interest is the Bensalem institution for scientific study, 'Solomon's House,' which provided inspiration for the founding of the Royal Society [JB]
PAGE 4
Note the zeppelin in the background. Similar to those in Invisibles 1,1, page 19 [JB] "The Invisible College" is a non-fiction book by Jacques Vallee, in which he proposes the theory (novel for its time) that UFOs are a manifestation of a phenomenon that has accompanied humanity throughout its history; that UFOs are not physical alien starships, but non-physical entities that have taken on the "mask" of alien ships beacuse it is appropriate to this day and age. The "Invisible College" is also one of the ways in which Rosicrucian-influenced mystical/magical groups refer to the "Secret Masters" of their traditions... [HE] Frances Huxley wrote a book entitled "The Invisibles." It's a study of life amongst voodoo practitioners in Haiti. It sounds very influential, if not inspirational, to say the least [ANC]
PAGE 5
Panel 1 Is KM's dialogue some kind of Clockwork Orange ref? "O my brothers"? [RD] Panel 4 Is that young KM and Jacqui? [RD] I think it's actually Sex Pistols "bassist" Sid Vicious and his girlfriend Nancy [JB] That Saturn-thing is Barbelith, at least according to Dane in Invisibles 2,2, page 7 [RD]
PAGE 6
Panel 1 Notice the blind chessman from "Arcadia" in the righthand side of this panel [GG]
PAGES 8-9
Look carefully at Toby's t-shirt... [CI]
PAGE 12
Panel 2 Is Takashi *supposed* to look like Hadji from Johnny Quest? Sure does.. [RD]
PAGE 13
Panel 1 Look closely at what Fanny's painting on hir fingernails. "TV in a bottle." It looks like a newscast. Behind the newswoman's head it looks like a giant eye shooting out energy at earth. This is very similar to a story from Grant's run on Doom Patrol, Issue 33, second page. While battling the Cult of the Unwritten Book the 'Patrol encounters what Willougby Kipling calls "the Antigod. The Unmaker. Decreator" and, "The Egyptians called it the Eye Of Horus, Lord of Force and Fire. For thousands of years, the Hindus have known it as the annihilating Eye of Shiva." By the end of the issue the Cult has been beaten but they couldn't stop the Decreator. They merely slowed it down, to quote, "Objects and people will continue to vanish mysteriously. But it'll all happen so slowly that no one need ever know the old place is coming undone." The image on Fanny's fingernails could be the Invisibles' universe "Decreator", come to destroy earth. Robin went back in time at 7:45 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2012 and Jack's cradling someone in his arms fifteen minutes later (see Invisibles 1,23) where he says, "That's it starting." Since it appears this is the day 'it' happens (the Eschaton, the leap into hyperspace, the apocalypse, the end of time and history???) it could also mean that the "Eye of Horus" is descending upon the planet to destroy it. Like with the Ragged Robin/Crazy Jane theory, or Prometheus' house appearing in the Invisibles or the Worlogog (Philosopher's stone) being linked to the Hand of Glory, Grant can't come out and say it's the Decreator because of copyright and work-for-hire laws, but it's basically the same theme [FF] Panel 2 Let me finish Dane's sentence. When you meet the Buddha on the road, you're supposed to kill him (in case you're wondering why, this is from Zen Buddhism, which regards the enlightenment experience as being superior to any religious literature or imagery, which can only distract at best. If the very Buddha himself distracts you from enlightenment by limiting you to his image, ignore him). But, Dane's the Buddha, right? So what's he going to do... [RD] Jack's mention of "meeting the Buddha on the road" could refer to the appearance of the future Jack in Invisibles 1,23. It's the only apparition that isn't established to be one of the King of All Tears' tricks, so I'm inclined to believe that it isn't one [CM]
PAGE 15
Panel 1 Whoever the new person is in the cell, she seems to have access to some sort of 4-D armor like Miss Dwyer's or Col. Friday [CG] Both Fanny and the Unknown Member of the future Invisibles cell is manifesting something similar to the opposition's armor: I'd be given to believe she, Fanny and others have learned how to utilize the 'magic matter' in the same manner as the enemy, as a defensive weapon (as most body armor initially is) [JBA]
PAGE 16
Panel 3 The King of all Tears first appeared in Invisibles 1,17, page 13 [RD/JB]
PAGE 17
This is evocative of the cover of Flex Mentallo #4, as well as page 6 of the same issue. It was used for Flex's trip through a "teleport tube," though given the nature of the series he might have been travelling through time and/or dimensions at the same time [CE]
PAGE 21
This dimensional theory crops up, almost exactly the same, in Philip K. Dick's VALIS. I strongly recommend reading it to get the full impact of this and the god-as-liquid- information ideas; Dick can spend a lot more time explicating it in a novel than Grant can in 24 pages a month... [RD] Panel 2 Bootsy Collins (a famous, and famously bizarre funk bassist, often spotted in the company of George Clinton)! He always did say he was from another planet...[RD] Panel 5 Note the visual similarity here to Invisibles 2,2, page 2, panel 2. Here King Mob reaches into the "large-scale universe" between the sick and healthy universes -- there, Mason imitates Oppenheimer casting a spell [JWB]
PAGE 22
Panel 1 Grant did some similar weird stuff with the borders of comics and reality back in Animal Man [BSI] The numbers on the bottom of the page are mirror images of each other [SW]
PAGE 23
Panel 2 Gideon mentions wanting to be Jerry Cornelius [BSI]
Back to The Bomb
Back to index for Volume Two
![[Main Page]](/faq/stylesheets/images/wiki.png)