Morning Glories Vol. 1: For A Better Future TP

Morning Glories vol. 1: For A Better Future
Writer: Nick Spencer
Pencils/Ink: Joe Eisma
Covers: Rodin Esquejo
Colors: Alex Solazzo
Letters: Johnny Lowe
Publisher: Image Comics
Collects Morning Glories #1-#6
Price: $9.99

Story/Concept: (8/10) Six students from different corners of North America receive invitations to attend Morning Glory Academy, a highly-reputable (albeit comparatively new) institution for gifted high school-aged students. When they all arrive, they soon find themselves in a school that has bloody secrets behind closed doors, a sadistic staff, a creepy student population and a poltergeist.

Writing: (9/10) Whenever a writer tries to do the “Hell is high school” story, I can’t help but compare it to my favorite TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spencer’s story can go toe-to-toe with BTVS and give it a run for its money. Spencer has a fresh take that combines the Hell aspect with a very 1984 vibe. The idea is great and chilling to the core once you start to read it. Each character has a unique and distinct voice even though the three boys and three girls are meant to be parallels of each other. Spencer’s greatest triumph in this book is writing so there is a distinct difference between the adults’ dialogue and the students’ dialogue. When the adults speak, you feel the authority, conviction and manipulative quality of their tone. The students have the teenage headstrong attitude and polarized emotions in their voices. I think Spencer could have given us a tiny bit more detail to elucidate some of the story moments that felt out of place, but otherwise I have no problems with how the mystery is playing out.

Art: (8/10) I’ve never heard of Joe Eisma before this, but his art shines throughout and adds to the creepiness of the whole book. Eisma’s greatest triumph is usage of white space between panels to enhance the reading experience. Modern superhero comics today leave very little to the imagination during fight scenes; they’re all highly choreographed and the reader can usually tell where the fight will go from panel to panel. In one panel, Eisma has a school security guard charging a student and in the next panel, she’s breaking the guard’s neck. The space Eisma leaves for readers to imagine how that intervening five seconds went down is breathtaking. Eisma reminds me of Adrian Alphona’s art in the beginning of his tenure on Runaways, so I think there is a lot of room to grow into a great artist. The colors are also pretty brilliant and provide a sharp contrast between the bright, happy coloring of the school and the dark, bloody reality of the situation. Pencils could be sharper, but character design (including the females’ body structure), scene layout and facial expressions/body language all are on target.

Cover: (5/10) Covers were done by Rodin Esquejo. The characters on the cover look like they’re posing for Calvin Klein or H&M. Esquejo made a great choice in putting the characters against a white space background, but this cover does practically nothing for me. The colors and character poses are fine and there is no real problem with the quality of the cover, but when I look at the cover, I think it belongs to a comic book adaptation of Gossip Girl or Beverly Hills 90210 and that’s part of the reason that I initially passed on it. Do not let the cover fool you: this book is far from a teenage high-school drama. Read the first four pages and you’ll forget the cover exists.

Overall: (7.5/10) The non-relevant cover is the weakest part of this book and that’s certainly a forgivable sin. Writing, art, colors and story all blend very well in this trade. There’s a lot that it does right and the storytelling is very compelling. I’m very glad the book has some minority characters in it, but for those who care (like me), there are no other minorities besides persons of Asian descent. The trade doesn’t include the issue covers within the story, which works better for this trade anyway, but doesn’t even include them in a cover gallery at the back of the book. Granted, I didn’t like the cover to the trade itself, but I’d have liked to see the covers of the other issues.

Bottom Line: It’s a definite “Buy” for me. For a creative team that’s largely unknown (save for Nick Spencer), this book delivers the punch that you’d expect from hotshots like Jason Aaron, Ed Brubaker, Stuart Immonen and Alex Maleev. It’s Lost meets Buffy and a great read for fans of thrillers, suspense and indie comics.

Written By: Dante Buccieri

Comic Book Savant