I Want The Common Knowledge

I want the common knowledge,
To know what those who know, know.
Impressively conversant with the thing
That is the thing. 

I want the common knowledge,
The conventional wisdom which
All who speak with authority, speak.
To never need to say

I want the common knowledge,
To live life in the know.  To mouth
The easy expertise of those who know they know,
Whose speech betrays possession of

The common knowledge I want,
And needed last Thursday, when I bought the first volume of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles.  How was I supposed to know many consider it the most unjustly hyped of all the Vertigo books?  A séance with John Lennon to find the meaning of a scarab?  (Get it?)  A series of break-on-throughs-to-the-other-sides seemingly facilitated by   fungi of unusual potency?  Now it may be more interesting than that.  I should read the second volume before I kick it through the curb, but I would rather have the common knowledge.  Rather know that it improves before I invest more time in it, or anything for that matter.  I tire of wasting time when I could easily know better, if only I had the common knowledge.

All of it. 

Comments

[Rich Puchalsky]

Which Vertigo series should you read?

Canonical:

The Sandman
Doom Patrol (Morrison run only)
Swamp Thing (Moore/Veitch only)
Animal Man (Morrison run only)

Unexpectedly fairly good:

Gaiman's Death spinoffs of Sandman
Sandman Mystery Theatre
Chiaroscuro: the Private Lives of Leonardo da Vinci

And if you still want more:

Transmetropolitan
Hellblazer
House of Secrets
Lucifer
Flex Mentallo
The Filth
Black Orchid
The Books of Magic
Names of Magic
Hunter, the Age of Magic
Enigma
Mobfire
Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hardboiled Shaman
The Trenchcoat Brigade

That is all.

[Chance]

This is exactly how I felt after reading Morrison's Seaguy.

[Tom Hitchner]

It does get a lot better, especially around Vol. 3 or so...but you know, a good substitute for common knowledge is to try before you buy. (Of course, there's still the time involved, but then comics are quick reads.) I'll lend you the couple I have if you want, or Alakazam also does rentals.

And, more generally, reading/experiencing a bad book (or whatever) isn't the worst that could happen; it's through occasionally questionable works that one sharpens and develops one's tastes (a lifelong process).

[Rob]

It improves, but not in the second volume. Unfortunately, the very best way to read The Invisibles is to read it in the late 1990s.

[Scott Eric Kaufman]

Rich, I'm not going to listen to you until you put it in verse. That said, I've read most of what you've put there, and I'm reading Transmetropolitan right now. I like Ellis, but I'm a fan of angry pithiness, so that's not surprising.

Chance, Seaguy sounds too much like a terrible joke for me to take seriously without some hefty recommendations from well-respected folks.

Tom, That's a damn fine idea. I'll hit you up for them pronto. And, of coure, you're correct. I spent yesterday afternoon delineating exactly what bugged me about The Invisibles, and came to some fairly predictable conclusions: the hippie wishy-washiness and liberatory rhetoric foremost among them. The thing is, I caught glimmers of criticism--such as when they informed Jack that the blue mold wasn't hallucinogenic--of a kind of internal critique I could dig. I also thumbed through me copy of Blake's "Marriage of Heaven and Hell" to see whether that final scene with the John the Baptist's glossolalia had visual as well as philosophical echoes. (The answer: No.) So no, it wasn't a complete waste of time, merely a disappointment, one which I could avoided had I an official arbiter of taste who could inform me, ahead of time, what I will and will not like.

Rob, That's not encouraging. I'll borrow Tom's copies and see whether I agree with you about that one. (I'm partial to the late '90s myself, and could easily thrust myself into that headspace if necessary.)

[Rich Puchalsky]

"I've read most of what you've put there"

But have you read Muktuk Wolfsbreath, Hardboiled Shaman? It's the best noir comic about a Siberian shaman that I've ever read. (Really, it isn't bad.)

I do have a strange liking for the obscure limited series like that one, or Mobfire. The best idea from some less-well-known person trying out Vertigo is often better than Morrison being given yet another vehicle that he doesn't quite know what to do with (Sebastian O, anyone?), or yet another attempt to stretch out a secondary character created by a really good writer into an ongoing series started by a middling good writer and eventually dumped to whoever wants to take over (Hellblazer, Lucifer, Hunter, the Age of Magic, etc.). Vertigo is always trying to turn an individual vision into an ongoing franchise.

As for verse, no dice. Unless when you said that you wanted to find verse dealing with turn-of-the century evolutionary theory, you didn't mean that it had to be *from* the turn of the century. I could probably whip up some doggerel by July 1 to meet your self-set requirement.

[Josh]

Morrison told an interviewer something along the lines of "The Invisibles is an optimistic book for children; The Filth is a pessimistic book for adults." Most of what I found interesting or intelligible in the former was done better, IMO, in the latter. "Hippy wishy-washiness" is a great characterization of what I've seen a number of people describe as the source of their disappointment in The Invisibles.

Having been moved by Seaguy, I'd say it would appear as a terrible joke to readers who'd characterize, say, Brazil in that way. I think my regard for it was influenced by bloggers like Marc Singer and Dave Fiore. And the messageboards complaining, "This is weird."

Rich --good list. How about Kill Your Boyfriend? And more Milligan! (Animal Man, Face, The Eaters, The Extremist, Egypt, girl . . . Shade, the Changing Man probably doesn't hold up as well as one might hope a dozen years later)

Hope these opinions are of value as data points.

[Rich Puchalsky]

Josh, I think that I missed the various miniseries that you added. I should try more of the Milligan ones, you're right.