List of The Invisibles characters

The Invisibles is a comic book created by Grant Morrison for the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics. This page is a list of all characters in the series. Please see The Invisibles for the main article.

The Invisibles

The Invisibles are a freedom fighters at war with the oppressive Outer Church. Many members are psychic or possess some kind of supernatural ability.

Main cast

Cover to (vol. 2) #1. Art by Brian Bolland.
Clockwise from top left: Jack Frost, Lord Fanny, Boy, King Mob, Ragged Robin.

Jack Frost

Jack Frost is the alias of Dane McGowan, a rebellious teenager from Liverpool, England. Early in his childhood, Dane McGowan affects the cold, violently rebellious persona of "Jack Frost" in order to cope with his shattered home life. After trying to burn down his school, Dane is sent to Harmony House, a reeducation facility for young boys run by the Outer Church, the villains of the series. The Invisibles free Dane from Harmony House and arrange for him to be mentored by Tom O'Bedlam, an experienced Invisible. Under Tom O’Bedlam’s guidance, Dane realizes that the "Jack Frost" persona is restricting his growth, a realization that allows a softer, more compassionate Dane to emerge. Dane is contacted by Barbelith, a mysterious sentient satellite featured in the series, during this time, though his memories of contact are repressed until he is ready to access them.

After being injured on a mission, Dane abandons his teammates and wanders through London, eventually returning home to Liverpool. While on the run, his hidden memories are triggered and he learns that he is a messiah. At first he rejects this responsibility, but he soon finds that he cannot ignore the empathy he now feels for the rest of the world. Later on, he remembers that during his first contact with Barbelith he was forced to endure the collective suffering of humanity throughout time. This memory spurs him to return to the Invisibles so that he may set things right. While Dane rejects their violent methods and their dualistic perception of the world, which he finds just as flawed as that of the Outer Church, he stays with them because they are his friends. Over the course of their adventures together, he is revealed the truth behind time, the creation of the universe, and his place in it. When he is ready, Dane starts his own Invisibles cell and, in 2012, oversees the end of the physical world as foreseen.

Dane is a powerful psychic and has many other undefined supernatural abilities.

King Mob

Main article: King Mob (comics)

Once a horror writer named Gideon Starorzewski, King Mob is the leader of the cell of the Invisibles. He is the agent who recruited Jack Frost, and he's the lover of Ragged Robin.

Ragged Robin

Main article: Ragged Robin (comics)

Ragged Robin is the Invisibles' psychic operative, sent back from the future to bring the science of time travel to the Invisibles. She later becomes the group's leader when they (randomly) reassign their elemental roles.

Boy

"Boy" is Lucille Butler, an officer of the New York Police Department. Her brother Martin, also a police officer, was working for The Conspiracy, a fact known to a third brother, a gang member named "Eezy D", but not to Lucille. In a battle against the Outer Church, Eezy D is killed and Martin is taken prisoner. Lucille's life is saved by her partner, although he cautions her that the Invisibles will be looking for her. Hoping they will help her rescue her brother Martin, Lucille allows herself to be recruited by the Invisibles, who give her the code name "Boy". Boy becomes somewhat of a mentor to Jack Frost, and their relationship eventually develops into a romantic one. Boy later steals an artifact known as the "Hand of Glory" and goes searching for the secret prison camp in which she believes Martin to be detained. Boy is abducted by the Outer Church and informed that her identities as "Boy" and "Lucille Butler", among others, were entirely fabricated, and that she was secretly an operative sent to retrieve the Hand of Glory for the "Lost Ones", who plan to use its power to destroy the sun. However, Boy still refuses to kill King Mob. Following this, it is revealed that the ostensible agents of the Outer Church are in fact members of Invisibles Cell #23, who have been deprogramming Boy to defuse a previous hypnotic suggestion from the real Outer Church. When she realizes that there is no way to save Martin, and there never had been, Boy quits the Invisibles forever, and she starts a new life in New York, where she later has a child.[1]

Lord Fanny

Main article: Lord Fanny

Lord Fanny is a trans woman sorceress who was recruited into the Invisibles by John-a-Dream. She is shown to be quite powerful, destroying Mr. Quimper and banishing the demon Orlando.

Most frequent allies

In addition to the cell of five first led by King Mob, then Ragged Robin, there are other Invisibles (from other cells) who frequently work together with the main characters.

The 1920s' Cell

Division X

Division X are a small band of police officers who investigate bizarre and inexplicable crimes and phenomena. Although out of commission when The Invisibles starts, they are brought back together at the end of volume one and soon find themselves on the trail of The Outer Church. Division X itself is based on the TV show Department S, and each of the officers resembles a famous TV detective character, as seen below. An explanation for this is given in volume 3.

The 2000s

Many characters from earlier in the series are obviously present in the part of the series set in the years between 1998 and 2012. Some very few characters are, however, era-specific.

Other allies

These are other notable Invisibles or pro-Invisible actors that the series brings up from time to time.

The Outer Church

The Outer Church exists in the "unhealthy" universe, where conformity and hierarchy consume individuality and free will. The demon-like Archons of the Outer Church wish to enslave humanity and rob them of everything that cannot be measured, weighed and counted. The Outer Church's representatives on Earth are politicians, policemen, royalty and other representatives of control and order. They run the secret conspiracies that attempt to keep all of humanity docile and malleable.

Allegiances Unclear

There are several characters in The Invisibles who appear to take no side in the struggle between the Invisibles and the Outer Church - sometimes helping one, sometimes the other. They reflect the message that the struggle is, at some level, a false construct - something entirely else is going on behind the scenes.

References

  1. Irvine, Alex (2008), "The Invisibles", in Dougall, Alastair, The Vertigo Encyclopedia, New York: Dorling Kindersley, pp. 92–97, ISBN 0-7566-4122-5, OCLC 213309015
  2. Anarchy for the Masses: The Disinformation Guide to the Invisibles at Google Books

External links