Why you should be reading "Morning Glories"

Hey Todd Squad, yours truly here but not for what you think. As of late, all my posts have been about Ratings and Rantings, and reviewing my monthly comics, so you can imagine my surprise when I picked up six issues of a relatively new ongoing series called "Morning Glories", and enjoyed it more than most of the current ongoing comics on my pull list. In fact, besides all the critical acclaim that Morning Glories has gotten so far, many people can't get a chance to read it since it continues to sell so many issues that it has to go to reprint, and has done so every month since it's inception! So, instead of reviewing all six issues so far, which I doubt I could do well enough to convey them, I decided I'd do my best to convince my readers to give Morning Glories a try. So, here are five reasons why you should pick up Morning Glories.

1.) The Story - Morning Glories is a very interesting comic, in the since that you never really know the full story. Many people have compared it to the ABC television show Lost, in the sense that you learn a little bit here and there, and eventually may or may not get answers, but you still have enough to piece it together. I'd say this is a valid comparison, and a damn good one. Our story starts off as we see six teenagers, all sixteen years old as they prepare to embark on their journey to a prep school called Morning Glory. Morning Glory is a very prestigious school so when our characters find out about their acceptance we see how each of them deal with it. From there our students get to the school and everything changes. They can't call home, their families claim to not remember them, and things seem to be very different from how they imagined. From there, things get more and more weird, as our main characters find out they have eerie coincidences, like all sharing the same birthday. So in a world where you can't trust your teachers, can't reach your parents, and can only trust strangers you just met, there's bound to be very interesting results. If you ask me, I'd kind of like Lost mixed in with the classic movie, The Breakfast Club.

2.) The Characters - Morning Glories chronicles six main characters, and each are different, yet oddly similar in the sense that they were each "special" enough to be accepted to Morning Glory academy. Each of our characters has a quirk, we have the dedicated, smart and spunky Casey, the mysterious and quiet Jun, the Emo and possibly unstable Jade, former cheerleader and token "bitch" Zoe, the rich, preppy problem child Ike, and my personal favorite, the comic-loving, video game playing average (or so it seems) Hunter. Over the course of one issue, I became emotionally attached in some way or another to all six of these characters, to which I commend the writing of Nick Spencer. Each character, in their own way is guaranteed to remind you of someone in your life, whether it;s yourself, a friend or family member, or even your ex-girlfriend. (Zoe, anyone?) Add in the homicidal teachers and you've got a cast that makes the current cast of the JLA look even worse.

3.) The Mystery - One of the best, if not the best things about this comic, is the air of mystery about everything. Whether it's wondering why our characters share the same birthday or wondering what the Morning Glory faculty is actually looking for in their ever-expanding (and dwindling) body of students, it's one of those things that keeps you guessing, searching and re-reading for any extra clues you can find. Another thing is the mystery of who you can trust, and who you can't. Are our characters all secretly linked with one another? These are the things that make an interesting story even more interesting.

4.) The Art - I'd say I'm the average comic fan in the sense that I don't have any art training, I'm not an art student or anything of that nature, I'm just a guy who barely notices art unless it's really bad or it's really good, and Morning Glories definitely falls into the latter. Joe Eisma's artwork in Morning Glories is greatly done, from the action of seeing an explosion to the subtle look of heartbreak on a character's face. In Morning Glories six issues I've seen someone glow as they looked forward to the future and I've also seen some of the more brutal things I've seen in a comic book. The colors are vibrant when they need to be, but also project a dark and gloomy tone as well, which makes for a very interesting viewpoint. The art, able to change on the fly, blends well with the "anything can happen at any turn" type story that Spencer has crafted, and Eisma's work definitely plays off of that well.

5.) It's Just Started - Morning Glories has been raved about, and I'm just one of many people that seems to agree that this comic is one of the better new series in recent years. As a guy that mainly reads DC and Marvel superhero comics, Morning Glories is a welcome change of pace. And the fact that this comic has cause so much good press after only six issues shows that it may be as good as everyone says it is. The top draw to me was, the fact that this series is still new, there's still time to catch up without having to rely on trades or a wikipedia page to catch up. If you want a good, interesting read that will keep you interested for a time to come, I'd highly recommend you treat yourself and pick up Morning Glories.

And there you go, just five small reasons why I think you should be reading Morning Glories if you aren't. I'm also contemplating reviewing Morning Glories here at JTCS, starting with issue seven which comes out later this month. Here's hoping you guys enjoyed my hype session for Morning Glories and you at least think about giving it a chance. But that's all for me, I'll be back this weekend with my Ratings and Rantings post. Until then, this is Jason Todd, signing off.