[BOOK REVIEW] Morning Glories: For a Better Future Volume 1 by Nick Spencer

Title:  Morning Glories:  For a Better Future Volume 1

Author:  Nick Spencer

Artist: Joe Eisma

Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy

Year Published: 2011

Year Read: 2013

Series: Morning Glories #1

Publisher: Image Comics

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Language and Gory Violence)



Introduction:

I have read so many comics from Image Comics and I have been enjoying many of them so far!  So, I stumbled upon this new series written by Nick Spencer called “Morning Glories Volume One: For a Better Future” and this is honestly my first comic book that I had read by Nick Spencer.  Now, when I first saw this comic book, I actually thought that this series was something similar to the premise of “X-Men” where the main characters have special powers and learn how to control them.  However, I was quite surprised to see a different set up in this comic than what I would normally expect from a comic book that has high school aged teenagers attending a special school!

What is this story about?

Morning Glory Academy is known as one of the most prestigious prep schools in the country and six students are chosen to attend the academy which includes Casey Blevins, Fukayama Jun, Hunter, Jade, Ike, and Zoe.  Unfortunately, the six students will soon discover that there is a dark secret lurking around the school and they must find a way to escape the school before it is too late!

What I loved about this story:

Nick Spencer’s writing: Nick Spencer did a great job at providing us a story that dealt with six students trying to find out the dark secrets of Morning Glory Academy and how they will escape their torturous sessions (it is practically “Lost” a la mode, since it focuses on the mystery segments and the constant use of flashbacks). I really liked the way that Nick Spencer built up the mystery surrounding Morning Glory Academy and I was wondering about what the staff wanted from the six students and what their ultimate plan for the students is. I also really loved the character Casey Blevins of this story as she is a strong female protagonist who is willing to help out the other students escape the academy and I loved the way she used her intelligence to trick the school system into not figuring out her plans.

Joe Eisma’s artwork:  Joe Eisma’s artwork is just fantastic in this graphic novel as the characters look truly realistic (kind of reminded me of the characters from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”).  The colorings really glowed off the pages and it made the characters look so fluid. I really loved the school uniforms that the students had to wear as it really brought out a unique spin on academy focused stories and it brought a more authoritative air to the story.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

One of the main problems I had with this graphic novel was that the pacing for the second half of the story started slowing down as some of the heavy dialogues started becoming more apparent.  I often found myself getting bored with the heavy dialogues of the teachers as it really slowed the pace down and it threw the story into another direction that was different from the main story.  Another problem I had with the story was that the plot tended to jump all over the place such as one moment, we are in the present day and then the next moment, we have a flashback from one of the characters. It made me wonder sometimes about what was really happening in the story and what did the flashbacks have to do with the main story at hand.  Also, for anyone who does not like strong language or violence, this volume has plenty of language and scenes of characters getting murdered in bloody and graphic ways, so it might be best to skim over these scenes if they are too squeamish for you.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Morning Glories Volume One:  For a Better Future” is a great introductory volume into Nick Spencer’s “Morning Glories” series and I will try to check out the rest of this series to find out more about the mysterious and frightening Morning Glory Academy!