Invisibles 3,1
From Barbelith
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Credits
Grant Morrison (Writer) Frank Quitely (Pencils) John Stokes (Inks) Daniel Vozzo (Colors and Seps) Todd Klein (Letters) Shelly Roeberg (Editor)
The Invisibles created by Grant Morrison
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Summary
Years have passed since the incident at Westminster Abbey and Jack is breaking into a skyscraper to find out about a new Invisibles game. He is astonished to find out that King Mob is in charge. Jack starts to play the game. Meanwhile King Mob picks up a gun. Around him, the world is being gradually assimilated into the Supercontext, as the burgeoning larval life form that is the universe begins to wake up. He moves through the collapsed portions of time, experiencing moments of his past, which collide with him. Arriving at the laboratory where they await Ragged Robin's return, an Archon manifests in her place. A symbolic gesture later and it too is absorbed into the supercontext. And from behind it comes Robin, speaking in emotional aggregates - something larger than human. And we are left with Jack, watching as the world emerges. And he looks at us and says: OUR SENTENCE IS UP.
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Characters
Reynard Jack Frost Gaz Lord Fanny Ragged Robin King Mob Boy Lady Edith Manning Takashi Quimper
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Analysis
Eclipses Time & Time Travel
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Annotations
Cover: If you look REEEEALLLLY closely at the cover, in the rightmost section, there are teeny words faintly written on the two blades of grass that point to Barbelith. They read, as far as I can make out: "bowling ball" "it's a cat on a" Reverse the order and you get "It's a cat on a bowling ball." [Cameron Stewart]
This is from an issue of wizard where they made fake covers in their price guide section. the cover is actually a cat on a bowling ball, licking it's paw. the caption reads "Invisibles (vol. 3) # [asterisk] The quote from wizard was "The end of the world or just a cat on a bowling ball." Bolland says it was a cat on a bowling ball because it wasn't the end of the world. [Captain Zoom]
More cover madness: I count at least 4, mabye 5 faces on the left half of the cover, hidden in the grass. One is visibly Grant's. [Ramiel]
They're easier to see if you turn the comic so the spine is at the bottom, gun pointing left. Teeny-tiny and hidden in the dark spaces between the grass. I see Grant, but I can't make out who the others are, but I'd reckon Quitely's there, as is Shelly, probably. [Cameron Stewart]
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PAGE 1
Panel 1 The written narration throughout this issue is by Reynard, the Fuck U Girl from the last issue [Cameron Stewart] I'm assuming this is the Technoccult building, and that they've monopolized the "Non" as their corporate image [Antlerhead] Is there a link between Reynard and Shae Fox? Before she was referred to as Reynard I thought Dane's collegue was Shae, the way she refers to her porn on page 5. The Reynard-The Fox thing has already been discussed so do I take it they are one and the same? In this case she is ascending the face of her own image in this panel [Twig the Wonder Kid]
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PAGE 2
Panel 2 Tum-Mo? Is this another magick word from the city? [Antlerhead] tibetan yogi trick that keeps you warmwhile meditating in the himalayas. seems to up the body temp or some such .... jack's prolly radiating heat to keep gaz from freezing, enlightened bastard that he is [joe crow] Panel 3 One of the shoes says "lemming" (or at least I think that's what it says. Lemming are those cute little furry things that all run off cliffs after their done doing their thing. Like in that ducktales episode. I have no idea what this means, probably nothing, maybe something [Lemming]
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PAGE 3
Panel 1 Gideon's shirt on p.3 is the Mod target, twisted into a Moebius strip [Cameron Stewart] Silver balloons=Magic mirror=White snow [Antlerhead]
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PAGE 4
Panel 1 For anyone who wants to read more about Susan Blackmore' meme theories there's a first chapter and synopsis of 'The Meme Machine' available online: [1] (http://www.memes.org.uk/extracts/SBOct1998Ch1.html) [Betty Woo] Panel 2 If you look carefully at the bottom of the panel, it looks as if the probing of barbelith is being broadcast on national television [TEC] There's also a MacDonald's logo on the moon at the top of the panel [numbernun]
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PAGE 5
Panel 4 This looks like the Technoccult logo [Antlerhead] Panel 5 That would be Jim Crow they're talking about [Antlerhead]
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Panel 1 The Hand of Glory is in a box on the right side of the panel [Antlerhead] AND, although it's difficult to see, there's a wee butterfly powering the quantum computer with the flapping of its wings. It looks like it's been covered up in panel 2, but the shadow is still visible [Cameron Stewart] Panels 4-5 Each panel represents KM's look during each consecutive volume of the Invisibles [Antlerhead]
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PAGE 7
Panel 3 Before anyone else says it, the "Invisibles" in a spray can is like "Ubik" in a spray can from PKD's novel of the same name. Ubik is salvation for people who are living in a entropic universe. In PKD's book, Ubik appears as different objects the farther back in time the characters go (the more history regresses towards some primal, more authentic (less mediated by spectacle) state) [Todd] Invisibles" is misspelled! [Antlerhead] Panel 5 "Extreme Impact Environmental Immersion Option" - Ee I Ee I Oh [swell41]
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Panel 4 "If you don't get [the game] the first time, you have to keep running it. It's different every time." Means: Re-read the series. Panel 5 "I use the en-eh-mee..." Another Sex Pistols reference, from Anarchy In The UK [Cameron Stewart]
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PAGE 10
Panel 3 what's up with the naked geisha and fat Takashi on page 10? Is she another aspect of the Harlequinade/ King In Yellow? [Cameron Stewart]
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PAGE 11
Robin's voweless dialogue: "Alphabet fish and spelling sharks in the deep neon fathoms of meaning. On Sky in Deep Therapy tanks in the basement at Berkely.", "Kerry's in love with a Straight Edger boy. Says I'm sick behind the eyes and doesn't believe she's part of the story too.". "Am I sick?", "I think I'm going mad, but feels like the best thing that ever happened to to to...". "...happened to to to WE." [Cameron Stewart] Panel 4 Note that the panel is in the shape of The Invisibles logo [Cameron Stewart] Quimper is Robin and King Mob's baby, which parallels Grant Morrison's story about Quimper being an abortion his girlfriend had [Antlerhead]
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PAGE 12
Panel 2 The Christopher Lee reference isn't to _The Wicker Man_, it's to _Man With the Golden Gun_. The one where James Bond has the duel in the mirror maze, Christopher Lee only uses one shot to dispatch his targets on his own private "Most Dangerous Game" island. He's the deadliest assassin in the world - half villain, half ally. Details: [2] (http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0071807/) [grant]
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Panel 1 LOCATION: King Mob's Old House [macavity] Panel 2 LOCATION: St Dunstans in the East [macavity] Panel 3 LOCATION: Paris and India? [macavity] Panel 3,4,5 This is the Harlequin talking - Robin has become part of it now [TEC] Panel 4 This is Edith's miscarriage in Harrods [Cameron Stewart] Panel 5 Dane seems to be talking about the Hand of Glory, but his words appear out of order due to the Hand's effects. Read it as: "It's a fucking CURSOR man! It moves around in time. Makes your hand look like a dead claw." [LeKookAmongUs] "Edith, tell robin to call on Buddha. Namu Amida Butsu." In Invisibles 2,22, pages 3-5, jack, returned from his first trip outside of time, says, "And then edith said to call on Buddha, but he didn't hear her properly, and now it's a rescue mission." So somewhere outside of time, Jack hears edith tell robin to call on buddha (and both edith and robin are the harliquinade). and in Invisibles 2,22 page 21, robin is calling on buddha. But i'm not sure I get who "he" is, in "he didn't hear her properly." Buddha himself? [Mystery Gypt] Panel 4 Didn't notice it the first time through, but that's Jack in the background while Edith is having her miscarriage. It's all happening at once [Liquid] Why is Jack boiling that glove? To make it sterile? To help in the birth/miscarriage be sterile? I have a theory. I'm not telling [TEC] Panel 5 It's a fucking cursor, man! Moves in time around it. Makes your hand look like a dead claw. [Lionheart]
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PAGE 15
Panel 5, 6 These are from the "She-Man" story arc [Cameron Stewart]
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PAGE 16
Panel 1 The King is the timesuit. They summoned it (but didn't Jack already "eat" it? I'm still unclear on this) and now King Mob is neutralizing it [Antlerhead]
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PAGE 17
Panel 1 The flag on KM's gun couldn't have said anything but "pop". Go back to Invisibles 2,12, page 10: KM runs into an older Dane in that dream-like place outside of normal time featured throughout this final issue. Dane says to KM: "Better watch out; they'll ask you for a word, right? But the word's not a word. It's one of their words, man. If our words are circles, theirs are bubbles." And how do you burst a bubble? You POP it [LeKookAmongUs] Panel 3 Note that the usually-flat Barbelith now seems like a 3-D object; the stripe down the middle has rotated. Circles vs. bubbles [Cameron Stewart] Panel 5 And of course, here we have another bubble bursting. The placenta has done its job, and now that the baby is ready to be born, it can die in peace. Where we are heading next, the Barbelith is no longer needed. [TTA]
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PAGE 18
Panel 3 Does anybody know morse code? On page 18 panel 3 check out the skyscraper in the background and then again on page 21 panel one. There might be something there, I don't know [Logos728]
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PAGE 22
The white clouds are fractals AND thought balloons; the new aeon emerging from the old (Barbelith), covering up the past-- including Jack -- and giving us a blank slate to make what we will of. The language/imprisonment relation of "sentence" is fucking brilliant. It's like the end of Alan Moore's _The Birth Caul_: the sentence is unwriting itself, back to the light [Antlerhead] Panel 4 Our sentence is up. Sentence in the context as prison sentence. Our conciousness is freed. Also in the context as writing a sentence. Language is blunt and therefore obsolete in the supercontext. Reminds me of the 'aliens' communicating in emotional aggregates to Mason during his abduction [zerone] Morrison's Final Crisis ends in a similar way. Ink/picture/language gradually fades away, leaving us with blank paper, onto which we are free to project whatever we want to. Imagination wins, potentiality of the blank space triumphs over restriction of the ink. [TTA]
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