Morning Glories

• Title: Morning Glories #33
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Nick Spencer
• Artist: Joe Eisma

And here I thought the Jun/Hisao storyline couldn’t get any more complicated. Nick Spencer, you proved me wrong. Morning Glories #33 centers around Guillaume‘s attempts to reconnect with the boy he loves. He takes the standoffishness of Hisao (who everyone knows as Jun) to be the result of loosing his brother. The truth, however, is far more complicated.

The issue also gives us flashbacks of Hisao’s meeting with Hodge to try and earn his brother’s release from Morning Glories Academy after Jun took his spot. Although he earns his own ticket, Hisao isn’t able to get his brother released. It’s not until the sacrifice where we learn how Hisao was able to make up for his brother’s sacrifice with one of his own.

The result of Jun and Hisao switching bodies means the core group of students is left with a stranger in their midst with the face of a friend, and Jun and Guillame are both left to suffer the loss of their loved one. As to what this means for the future, and how/if Jun can successfully take his brother’s place (again), we’ll just have to wait and see. Worth a look.

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• Title: Morning Glories #32
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Nick Spencer
• Artist: Joe Eisma

The fallout from Irina’s failed coup continues as the series loops back around to focus on the imprisoned Vanessa who is paid a visit by Hodge and offered a moment of closure with the boy she loved and lost.

Morning Glories #32 is an interesting issue because of what Hodge shows the young woman to try and repair their damaged relationship and what the comic hides from the character but shows us giving the audience a much clearer understanding of both Hodge’s motivations and Vanessa’s troubled future. Despite helping both Casey and now Vanessa, the latest issue implies Hodge may actually be the worst of the faculty in terms of manipulation.

We discover the Morning Glories Academy campus has another holy or mystical site which can be used to travel through time such as the cave and the tower. Hodge’s use of Zhuang Zhou‘s famous quote about about the loss of perception and understanding is a reminder that everything both the characters and audience experience in this world has far more facets than may be initially realized. Worth a look.

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• Title: Morning Glories #30
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Nick Spencer
• Artist: Joe Eisma

Although the character has been around for months causing trouble for the Morning Glories Academy, Morning Glories #30 gives us our first real glimpse into who Irina is and how her past shaped her into the soldier that almost destroyed everything. Captured after her failed coup, Irina doesn’t find herself in one of the Academy’s prisons but in the comfortable home of Mr. N. whose job it is to try and turn the wayward’s soldier back to allegiances more in tune with those of the Headmaster.

Much of the comic is set in flashbacks showcasing Irina’s Hanna-ish upbringing in the woods with a harsh mother who trained her from childhood to be a soldier and killer (even going so far as hiring grown men to attempt to rape and kill Irina to further her training).

Aside from the violence of her past we also learn two important pieces of information about Irina’s past. 1) Irina is related to members of the Academy’s faculty, and 2) Casey Blevins (in the role of Danielle Clarkson) is responsible for finding Irina.

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Morning Glories #30Read More »

• Title: Morning Glories #29
• Comic Vine: link
• Writer: Nick Spencer
• Artist: Joe Eisma

Reset. Early in Season Two the events begun in Season One come to a tipping point as Irina‘s coup, Hunter‘s time travel, and Casey‘s past adventures all bring the Morning Glories students to a single event and sacrifice. This really, really isn’t a good issue to jump in on for new readers, but this issue closes the door on several ongoing arcs allowing for a fresh start, and the fallout of the events covered in the last few issues, to begin next month.

Even as the issue wraps up Casey’s story, and steals her memories of her life in the past, we get a few more glimpses of that lost life including the comic’s ominous theme written out by our protagonist and a revelation of who David really is (although we don’t know how he became the academy’s weird ghostly figure).

Although Irina is stopped, Jun (really Hisao) much deal with the death of his brother, Jade is no mood to forgive Ike for threatening her life, and Hunter’s weird time reset (and meeting the future Jade) leaves him with several questions, none of which have easy answers. Worth a look.

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