Morning Glories Deluxe Edition

Owing debts to television shows like Lost and The Prisoner, as well as The X-Men, this tale is much more than the sum of its parts. The list of influences hints at what’s to come, but Spencer manages to put it together in unexpected ways. A group of teens are hand-picked for an elite private boarding school that turns out to be more of a nightmare, with a mysterious agenda, a sinister faculty, unexplained deaths, and other scattered weirdness. Each character is fleshed out through flashbacks—the Lost influence is strong here—that also examine motivations and mysteries. The one challenge to enjoyment is the constant stream of crass sexual barbs spewing out of Ike, the sociopathic rich brat. Disruptive to the flow and tone of the story, this onslaught of sexual harassment feels overdone and eventually becomes a burden. If its point is to provide female characters with an object of retaliation to prove their strengths, it’s unnecessary given events in the actual plot that are more than suited for the purpose. Eisma’s art functions mainly as a stand-in for television cameras and living actors. (Dec.)