"He Would Appreciate The Reference"
I have a real affection for serious references in comics. Not just the pop culture ones. Those are fun, of course, but they are instantly dated. No, I'm talking about the serious stuff. Biblical, philosophical, literary. It can be a cheap way to add "depth" or gravity to your book or it can be subtle and done artfully.
Morning Glories definitely did the subtle thing once (arguably twice) with its time travel mechanism. It's entirely fitting that the Morning Glory academy, with its obsession with knowledge, learning, and philosophy, would use the Allegory of the Cave as a transportation method. It's brilliant in execution, really, for it illustrates what we know and how we don't know how much we don't know. As readers, we definitely don't know how much we don't know yet. As students seeking to broaden their minds, the Glories are seeking to get further and further out of the cave. Furthermore, before Casey and Miss Hodge step down into the seats, they notice that the shadows of Jade, Ike, etc. are operating independently of their owners. Since the shadows are meant to illustrate the closest approximation that our eyes can fathom to the Platonic Ideal, are we meant to infer that Jade, Ike, et al. don't even know themselves since the shadows they cast are not the forms they shape?
Most of the book functions as an exposition dump to get us to the Cave. Spencer repeats some scenes from earlier issues to bring us up to speed on the relevant relationships and then our principals are all split up again. Thanks to a tease by older Jade in earlier issues, I wonder if this exercise in learning and education will start to open up her relationship with Ike (Older Jade hinted that they were quite the item).
The other big reference was more explicitly stated, what with the quotation of a Biblical verse before "the event". Psalm 116:3 is not a happy reference. It spells a lot of trouble for Casey and Miss Hodge...I still feel like this reference was well-done, what with the not citing it as a Bible verse (and it being a fairly obscure one, at that), so I liked it too.
On the pop culture side, Nick Spencer made me smile with Back to the Future and Star Wars references. Can't go wrong there, guys.
So we know I love the writing, but what about the art? I normally love Joe Eisma, but I felt like he was a little off in this issue. I think that his cartoony style suits the book well (it would be less disturbing if it were more realistic, if that makes any sense), but I don't feel like he had the nuance of expression nailed down in this issue as much as he normally does. I still like it, but this is not a standout issue. It felt thick, to me, so maybe he was a little rushed to get all the pages done before deadline (or maybe that Xenoholics preview is longer than I thought it was).
This comic gets compared to Lost a lot and I think this book really earns that distinction. Calling out old philosophers. Making Biblical references. These are hardcore Lost tropes. Thankfully this character drama is more than just a mere echo or a imitative shadow cast on the walls of a cave (if you will) of the show. I dig where this book is going and it's among my favorites this month.
