Morning Glories

The first thing I ever heard of Morning Glories was that it was the comic equivalent of the TV series Lost. A comparison that it richly deserves, plot threads are introduced every episode often very surreal plot points. However while I've criticized Lost in the past for doing this, it was mostly because they were never connected and were never properly resolved. Morning Glories however has been acting in a far more cohesive way, it's released monthly and only up to issue 11 but so far feels as though everything is leading up to one final unified conclusion.

The series beings straight away with an escape attempt and graphic death, setting the oppressive tone that is kept through the entire series. There is a very brief lead up where we see the main characters at home with their families; the back story of the characters is something that I think is mostly meant to be released in the actual episodes as flash backs, for instance issue 10 has a lot of history on the character of Jun done very well. The problem with most of the back story being released in later issues is that this is a monthly release and as such we often have a lack of care about these characters and as such a lot of the oppressive atmosphere is lost.

The characters so far are the strongest thing about the writing in this series, you want to know more about them from the small hints that are given and most of them seem to be more then a little unhinged. Unstable characters are often the most interesting and finding out their motivation is enough to keep you coming back. So far I would give Morning Glories a tentative recommendation, teasing plot threads only work so long as you continue the feeling that it will all come together and that as new ideas are introduced the old ones are either tied in or explained. If you enjoy mysteries and the tension created by an oppressive environment then the characters are solid and the art work is impressive.

6/10