Morning Glories #1

Writer:  Nick Spencer
Pencils:  Joe Eisma
Colors: Alex Sollazzo
Publisher:  Image
Price:  $3.99

I am so happy my comic shop saved a copy of this for me.  I forgot to put it on my pull list until Monday and they had to  hold the last copy for me.  And I’m also glad I decided to give Nick Spencer another shot.  I read the first issues of both Forgetless and Shuddertown and wasn’t that impressed.  I just wasn’t in the mood for the types of stories he wanted to tell.  But this title clicked right away and I will not miss the next issue.

The story takes place over several events.  A man waiting to meet with someone at Morning Glory Academy.  Students seeming hatch an escape plan from the school.  An introduction to new students on the eve of their enrollment at the school.  And them moving in and meeting one other.  I don’t really know for sure about specifics of each scene because while we’re given some information or back story, it’s not elaborate and it’s left open.  It seems that all of this new class of students share the same birthday, and now their parents don’t remember raising them.  Hate it when that happens.

Oh yeah, did I mention there’s a ghost in the halls also?

This was a perfect first issue that doesn’t give anything away that it doesn’t want to, makes you want to buy issue two, and has a fresh feeling about it.  Even though early promos were saying it’s a mixture of Runaways and Lost it doesn’t feel like it’s ripping them off.  It feels like this title is going to go off on its own path.  If it was just going to be like another popular title, there’d be no reason to continue.  It would seem Spencer has things set up for a long time and wouldn’t want to tread on someone else’s territory too much.

I’ve never seen Eisma before and for the most part I liked him.  I was confused at one point because one guy looked a lot like another guy and gave the ending a completely different feel.  But after going over it again, it made more sense.  It’s a pretty simple style that reminds me of Ottley or Campbell without the same detail in each panel.  He’s good with staging characters and keeping the dialog popping.  It gets the story across with nothing flashy.  And he’s also good with some easter eggs added in to a few panels.

Like I said before, I’m not really sure where Spencer is heading with this thing.  It’s a hard thing to keep a large cast of characters and a complicated plot in sync and if it doesn’t ship on time, I could see myself losing interest.  I think that is going to be the biggest hurdle for this title.  I like the monthly issue format and this will read great if it’s on time each month.  The last page of this issue alone makes me wish it was already September.

I haven’t been this intrigued with a first issue since Y:The Last Man.  If this has half of the story that Y did, I’ll be with it for awhile.  Here’s to hoping that your comic shop was nice enough to hold a copy for you.