The Invisibles: The Deluxe Edition Book 3 by Grant Morrison and Phil Jimenez (graphic novel review).
In many respects, the third volume of ‘The Invisibles’ has had a serious makeover. Phil Jimenez, a new artist, has been instrumental in addressing all issues. The third volume of ‘The Invisibles’ boasts a clean style, design, and consistency. In many respects, for the opening story, the Invisibles act like any other super-team, albeit with more swearing as they go to Area 51 on some sort of mission. There are a few revelations suggesting that their roles as elements can be interchanged. Also King Mob is back, having apparently been shot to death in the previous volume, but we have not seen how, although they all appear to be able to transcend death.
I did think I missed some issues there. It’s problematic with writers who verge on fantasy not to explain or to become contradictory to bypass things they can’t explain. Something SF writers tend to avoid, and why we rarely have freefall plots. Oh, Mob also turns out to be the long hair and gas mask. He finally gets two other names, ‘Roger’ and ‘Gideon’.
These Invisibles are hardly beasts. As I pointed out above, they can get a bullet in the head and survive with their brains blown out, and we’re still no wiser about what exactly they are. I often think Morrison was writing in a state of consciousness rather than with a definite plan.
A third of the book is down to one story about the Hand of Glory, losing it and having the Invisibles locate it again. King Mob uses his ability to transport his ghostly essence back into the 1920s to do this. Even he admits he’s a ghost there, but that doesn’t explain how he can get wet in the rain or can’t walk through things if he’s immaterial.
A lot of this is obviously a spoiler but ends up being a continual read simply because of the pace of the story and joining up the ends. That is generally Morrison’s skill as a writer, even if he is playing the Invisibles’ main team as ordinary people with extraordinary abilities. They are also TV conversant, but you do have to wonder where they find the time to watch telly long enough to absorb it all. This is a common problem, not just here, mostly because any story focuses more on where the action is than the down moments when characters have downtime. Even so, you do have to wonder where any character has such downtime and does not miss it when they are so much into action and travelling.
Grant Morrison’s three-page afterword reveals a few things I wasn’t aware of, basically because I wanted to read this series on its own terms rather than making any prejudgements about it by looking it up on the Net. The first 26 issues didn’t sell particularly well.
Morrison wasn’t sure if it was having different art teams for different plots or having the setting in the UK, which was less familiar to the American audience. Both of these were changed with the issues that made up this volume. Certainly, there was a cleaner approach to the plotting and activities, and I was slowly learning their names, even if some of them had several. The lady with the clown face is Robin, or Rags, for instance.
I’ve pulled the last four volumes just in case any of you reading this are now also picking them up and there aren’t enough to go around. If anything, I’m surprised DC hasn’t done another reprint yet. My continued interest now is in where it is going and whether my questions will be resolved.
GF Willmetts
October 2025
(pub: DC Comics/Vertigo, 2015. 336 page graphic novel. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-40124-951-9).
check out website: www.dc.com
