The Invisibles Vol. 3 #6: 'Karmageddon: Part 3: Six Minus Six'

‘Karmageddon’ rocks on with issue six, ‘Six Minus Six.’ Isn’t that zero? This issue has another slick cover, with a stylish image of Mister Six, but it doesn’t quite live up to the previous two issues. The stuff with Edith is quite emotional, but the issue feels a bit light, not quite as much material as in your average Invisibles. Still, I guess Grant wanted to concentrate on Edith’s farewell, and that’s well done.

Now, the Key 23 alien language experiment isn’t anywhere near as bad as other recent Helga stuff. It’s actually pretty interesting. The experiment is narrated by excerpts from her recordings. She talks about how using Key 23 to create bliss can be just as dangerous sas using it for violence. I didn’t consciously remember this part of the book, but that notion is quite similar to what happens in my own Key 23 film. There’s an interesting bit where she talks about “authors we read because they make us comfortable and always give us more just what we want.” This ties in with Grant’s idea of the lazy acceptance of everything around us, not challenging ourselves. I think it’s also a meta comment on harsh reaction to the third volume, to readers who were annoyed that he wasn’t giving them the same team based adventure of the second Volume. That certainly frustrated me the first time through, I wanted more of the same, but in retrospect, it was smart to push the boundaries. Particularly with Robin gone, we couldn’t do more of what Volume II did. That team does not exist anymore....

I've taken down my posts on The Invisibles because they're all coming out in book form. The book, Our Sentence is Up, features revised and expanded versions of each blog post, covering every issue of The Invisibles, plus an extensive interview with Morrison himself. Visit your local comic store and order a copy now!