Back
Grant Morrison: The Filth (Paperback, 2004, Vertigo) 3 stars

"This imaginative series by award-winning creator Grant Morrison brings readers heady brew of big ideas, …

Review of 'The Filth' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Just awful. I admire some of Morrison's other work (e.g. All-Star Superman), but this reads like the hangover dream of a freshman frat-boy who read only the sex parts of Illuminatus and Cosmic Trigger, but thought all the more thoughtful sections were "ghey." There's no coherent story here, and the occasionally striking images (the art is sometimes very good) are plopped onto the page with no thought of tying them in to whatever is happening to either side of them.

Morrison clearly realizes something is wrong, and spends the first two pages of this collected edition apologizing for what you are about to read. His apology takes the form of a "doctor's warning" telling you that if you don't get it, you must have a problem with metaphor. I'm fine with metaphor, Mr. Morrison. It just has to be in the service of some kind of story, or insight, or even an experimental non-narrative vision. There's none of that here. A lazy Grand Guignol.