Morning Glories vol. 10: Expulsion

What the hell happened to the art in this volume!?  I’ve warmed up to Joe Eisma’s work on this series considerably since it began, but he really drops the ball here from the first page.  All of the characters have weird-looking googly eyes, awkward facial expressions, and misshapen noses.  It’s insanely distracting to look at and a major step down just from the previous volume in the series.  I understand he’s also working on other projects like the “Archie” reboot with Mark Waid, yet that’s no excuse for the substandard work Eisma delivers here.

Worse still is that the quality of the art also saps the wit and drama I’ve come to expect from Nick Spencer’s writing on this title.  This is especially bad because vol. 10 isn’t one of the “Morning Glories” volumes which offers a nice self-contained experience that shows the writer has his crazy train of a narrative on track.  Things start out fun enough with a secret party that segues into Casey’s debate with her rival Isabel for student council president.  It all culminates with Casey having a long meeting with a very important person while several plot threads culminate in violent, destructive, and deadly fashion.

The back of this volume promises that one of the biggest mysteries of the series will be revealed, but after finishing vol. 10 I feel just as confused as ever.  Essentially, this is another volume where I feel compelled to warn off new readers from starting “Morning Glories” until we see if Spencer and Eisma can stick the landing.  Not only does this volume not inspire confidence about that, but now I’m wondering when (or even “if”) we’ll see the finale to this series.  I’ve mentioned Eisma’s other work, and Spencer is currently writing both “Captain America” titles at Marvel while also masterminding their upcoming “Secret Empire” event.  Spencer has said in the past that “Morning Glories” was planned for a sixty-issue run, so there should only be ten issues left to go once he and Eisma get their act together.  Sooner, rather than later, to make sure that there’s still an audience around for the finale.