Morning Glories has a story line that is both compelling but also equally hard to figure out exactly what is going on.  There is time travel and there is a cult, and a lot of gruesome murders which have also been undone.  Beneath this there has been the grounds for discussion on a lot of subjects, often covered at the back of the book in a discussion from the writers.  What is often overlooked in this series is that there are a lot of singular issues which are able to capture a singular theme.  While a lot of other issues have been explored, a common enough one that of love, either that of the nervous love of two teenagers on a first date, or of the love among friends.  This issue also uses love as its dominant theme, but does so in an unexpected way.

The story relied on Casey as the main protagonist, still trying to run for class president, but focuses instead on Ike. He disparages her campaign, but then volunteers in the library, where he discovers that certain books contain certain powers of complete recollection for him, for even a time before when he was aware of his own life.  What follows is an interesting and compelling mini-drama within the entire narrative of the series which takes on a quasi-Christmas Tale presentation looking at past and future in a quick progression of sad events.

While the series will be judged only in its finality by what it manages to accomplish and for what eventual conclusion that it comes to, it is still nice to have issues such as this in the interim.  There are the issues which focus less on the obscure and abstract and instead focus on the strength of the characters which have built such a following for this series.  Fans of this series need barely any extra incentive to read this issue, but the non-readers of the series would be better off for checking out issues like this one.  The series after all depends on its characters over its stories, and this is evident here, by acting as a flashpoint within this small story arc for some bigger things to come, but without losing sight of what got them there to begin with.

Story: Nick Spencer Art: Joe Eisma
Story: 8.4 Art: 8.4 Overall: 8.4 Recommendation: Buy

Image provided Graphic Policy with a free copy for review