The Filth

I’m a latecomer to the Grant Morrison oeuvre. I enjoyed Arkham Asylum when it came out. However, I didn’t get around to reading The Invisibles until last year. That one blew my mind apart. Today I read through his latest The Filth and what a hoot. The opening pages of the book start out with a sort of Patient Information warning like you see on medicine.

What is The Filth? The Filth contains the active ingredient metaphor. The rectangular, multicolored comic books marked “The Filth” contain 500 mg of active visual and thematic metaphor per issue. Comic books also contain the inactive ingredients paper and ink.

From there the book goes ten different directions at once. You have the story of one sad and lonely guy who likes his porn and his cat. Although he may or may not be the parapersona of a special agent working for a secret society that maintains the Status: Q. The authorship of the book comes into question many times as different characters write their own sections, or leave the confines of 2-d space entirely. One character develops “A consciousness so focused and disciplined, it can actually manifest words in a cloud above my head.” These words appear as thought bubbles above his head in the panels. Which gets back to the bigger theme of the struggle between the self and society for control of one’s life.

The playful meta-narrative and traditional plot lines would have left me amused but ultimately empty if I didn’t dig out a deeper meaning that made it relevant to my life. I really came away touched by this guys love for his pet cat, and his struggle to find meaning in loving and taking care of his cat. I’ve had that crappy job. I’ve had those moments of wondering why am I here? I never had a communist chimpanzee assassin, bio-engineered porn stars with black semen, person/anti-person complexes, pissed off robo-dolphins, superheros like ultra humanitarian, or i-life to help explain it though.

My touchy-feely reading about “meaning” is a bit misleading. The book is infused with a great deal of violence and bizarre sex. The pages fly by at a hectic pace. There is also a near constant need to reorient yourself between realties as you try to keep your head wrapped around the Filth. This is definitely one I’ll have to read a few times. That’s one thing I really like about Grant Morrison’s work. It promises and then delivers layers of meaning and humor.

I’ll mention one more patient warning:

When must The Filth not be used?If your doctor has advised you to avoid the use of metaphor.If you refuse to acknowledge the mocking laughter of the Abyss.If you cannot face the fact that your entire immediate environment is a seething battlefield of microscopic predators, prey and excreta and, simultaneously, a rich and complex metaphor.If, without understanding how it happened, you have found yourself in a dark room breastfeeding two elderly men you hardly know.If you are taking certain “dumb” antibiotics present in most media.if you are allergic to comic books or any of the ingredients they contain.If you take high-dose vitamin A supplements or have high levels of cholesterol or triglycerides (a fat-like substance) in your blood.