THE FILTH

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This is what I am reading now. I would like opinions from actual comic book experts on The Filth, written by Grant Morrison and with lovely scary artwork.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 4 November 2004 17:29 (twenty years ago)

Experts to thread!

My 2 cents: I read it as it came out, so I didn't get much of a sense of how the series worked as a whole, but I did like it. On a superficial level, the shit-talking Russian monkey was great, and the sex imagery (especially the flying sperm) was properly disquieting.

― David R. (popshots75`), Thursday, 4 November 2004 17:36 (twenty years ago)

I also read it as it came out, and liked it. Month-by-month it was hard to keep some of the plot threads straight in my head and it seemed like they didn't all quite resolve, but I like it much better in retrospect. It's Grant being Grant and getting free reign to play with his pet ideas (most of which show up in some fashion in the Invisibles and New X-Men).

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 4 November 2004 17:50 (twenty years ago)

I'm about halfway through the collection. It's kind of scattered and the stories don't really seem to have any connection to each other at all, but I'm enjoying the all-out WTF-ness of it. There's a whole scenario where these dudes invade a comic book and mess with the plot line and then "escape" from the page, which apparently has nothing to do with anything as far as I can tell but was very impressive both in terms of the meta and how they conveyed what was happening with the artwork. And the art throughout, both the penciling and the inking (as I understand the difference) is pretty incredible.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 4 November 2004 18:12 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I hoped that the meta-comic would play a more important role in the overall plot. I think they DO briefly return to it, but I can't really remember what happens. It was a brilliant issue though.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 4 November 2004 18:17 (twenty years ago)

I like how when they get in their monster-car and get up to "9th gear," the pictures get all fuzzy and distorted.

― n/a (Nick A.), Thursday, 4 November 2004 18:22 (twenty years ago)

Is it better, worse, or different than The Invisibles? I looked at it at the library last night, but I am halfway through Teh Invisibles and I thought it may be too similar.

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Thursday, 4 November 2004 19:06 (twenty years ago)

It is similar and yet different (ha). I started reading it right after finishing the Invisibles because I needed a Morrison fix, but it might be a bit much to read them both simultaneously.

It's at least as epic in scope as the Invisibles, but is way shorter (12 issues) and has a bit more fun.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 4 November 2004 19:10 (twenty years ago)

Some website or other described it as the comedy equivalent of the Invisibles, which is pretty near the mark. I liked it. Like the best of Morrison's work the strength is in the details and the atmosphere rather than the overall plot, which makes little to no sense. Weston's layouts are often inspired.

― Wooden (Wooden), Thursday, 4 November 2004 19:56 (twenty years ago)

The Filth is The Invisibles inside-out. Discuss.

It really makes more sense as a whole, but you still need to do a little work because a) it's not entirely linear and b) it's told by a narrator who pretty much defines "untrustworthy narrator" because he may or may not be totally crackers at all times.

Art is beautiful, just beautiful. Comic-meta-narrative is mostly wasted, but quite funny in light of Big DC Comics 2004.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Thursday, 4 November 2004 20:33 (twenty years ago)

It kind've sucks, but it is about the most Morrison-y thing imaginable.

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Friday, 5 November 2004 02:50 (twenty years ago)

See, you're not even making sense there.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 5 November 2004 02:56 (twenty years ago)

Finished it last night, it kind of starts to make more sense afer a while, starts to connect various threads, but then the ending is so open-ended that are like ten different possibilities of what could have been happening all along. Which is kind of cool, I guess. I'm going to need to read it again to see if it makes any more sense the second time around.
So would "The Invisibles" be a logical place to go from here?

― n/a (Nick A.), Friday, 5 November 2004 16:10 (twenty years ago)

Yep!

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 5 November 2004 16:17 (twenty years ago)

And Flex Mentallo, if you can find it. Try 50u1233k if you can't find it in the real world.

― Matt Maxwell (Matt M.), Friday, 5 November 2004 18:45 (twenty years ago)

I have never read this (despite being a big Morrison fan) and have no real desire to (despite etc.) - the it's-like-the-invisibles-but-madder reputation puts me off quite a lot.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 5 November 2004 20:24 (twenty years ago)

It's actually more focused than The Invisibles, if you can believe that (or give a stink). & not just because it's only 13 parts.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 5 November 2004 21:23 (twenty years ago)

& it's really worth just LOOKING at for all of the sexualized hyper-colored Kirbytech running around.

― David R. (popshots75`), Friday, 5 November 2004 21:24 (twenty years ago)

I have a .t0rr#nt file for downloading Flex Mentallo in .cbr if anyone wants it and can make use of it -- the individual issues are too large to Gmail, by just a hair (I tried this morning, coincidentally enough).

― Tep (ktepi), Friday, 5 November 2004 22:17 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

i like the early overheard conversation on a bus -- "what's so good about james bond anyway?" -- see what he did there?

i started reading this back when i Took Things Seriously in the floppies and thought it was alright -- at the time i didn't think the shopkeeper's conversation with feely was funny at all, whereas now i found "best of both worlds, some say" etc. pointlessly hilarious.

two questions for those what have read this (which i thought i had answers to but wasn't sure:)

i) is there any significance to the subway feely's heading into at the end?
ii) who wrote HELP US on the tampon?

― thomp, Monday, 1 September 2008 21:57 (sixteen years ago)

Read it twice; first time I tried to understand and didn't really like it, second time I didn't and thought it was a blast.

― chap, Monday, 1 September 2008 22:19 (sixteen years ago)

understand IT.

― chap, Monday, 1 September 2008 22:20 (sixteen years ago)

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