Morning Glories vol. 1: For a Better Future

It has been remarked elsewhere that this new hit series from Image, by writer Nick Spencer and artist Joe Eisma, owes a storytelling debt to “Lost.”  While that series focused on a group of castaways stranded on an island, and this one introduces us to a group of new students at the Morning Glory Academy the selling point for both is how the mysteries at their core are unraveled.  Admittedly, “Morning Glories” requires more suspension of disbelief  than the former because its protagonists have to contend with their parents not remembering who they are, an intangible killer roaming the halls, a mysterious spinning cylindrical device on campus, and the attempts by the teachers and staff to bring them in line — usually involving life-threatening situations.

At this point, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief because Spencer does a good job of making this world intentionally surreal which leads me to believe that he does have a plan to sort out all this craziness.  He also does a good job making the teenage protagonists likeable and interesting as they each have distinct connections to the mystery at the Academy.  The man also knows not to take things too seriously as there are some genuinely funny moments in the book that poke fun at the setup and the conventions of the genre.

Eisma also does a “good enough” job with the characters and surroundings.  The main problem with his art is that character expression and body language is a big part of the visual experience here, and his characters have an occasionally stiff appearances and odd facial expressions.  He does get better at these things as the volume goes on so I’m optimistic that subsequent volumes will be a more effective showcase for his work.

Ultimately, the first volume of a series like this succeeds or fails on the basis of whether or not you give a damn about the mystery — and start to theorize about it.  “Morning Glories” succeeds in both respects as I am curious about the Academy’s ultimate purpose and am convinced that time travel has to be a part of it.  I’m willing to bet that this volume’s subtitle is directly relevant to the series’ ultimate goals, and it would also explain the “ends justify the means” approach to teaching on display here.  The teacher are just trying to toughen the kids up to make the hard choices required of them in the future.  Hopefully it won’t fall into the trap “Lost” did where it put its characters above its mysteries instead of developing them hand in hand.  It’s a good start, and I look forward to seeing how it unfolds.