…this image, and a few others like in, within the first volume of Grant Morrison’s brilliant The Invisibles, entitled “Say You Want A Revolution,” further revealing my love for esoteric comic pastiches about the eschaton and anarchist terrorist groups who live well, travel through time, and have lots of really exciting, really dirty sex.
A brief synopsis: Prior to the scene upon, the main character, this shitty little wanker named Dane, an English hooligan, is going around, terrorizing and rebelling, not knowing and certainly not caring that to some, he may be the second coming of a buddha, or some kind of messianic figure with a perfect soul that can be harnessed into a bomb. It all plays out a little more interesting than it sounds, I promise. But anyway, a few pages prior to this bit, Dane is traveling around with his mates, taking his anger out on the world when time breaks down for a moment and he catches a glimpse back to a moment on the same street where that he’s standing on, seeing a young Stu Sutcliffe talking to a young John Lennon.
Stu is agonizing over his decision to leave the Beatles and John’s taken him out for a few pints to discuss it. They’re young and they’re alive and they’re just having fun, John assures Stu. “You’re just quitting a band, Stu,” John tells him. “It’s not the end of the world.”
Only later, of course, the end of the world comes into play.
The scene above depicts a character seeking out Dane, lurking into drugs and meditation and evoking the spirit of John Lennon, his music so loved and appreciated, basically showing all the attributes of a god, a godhead of living music. There’s talk of revolving doors and revolutions and beetles (which tend to symbolize rebirth) and golden apples, much like the one that Eric gave to cause a riot amongst the other gods, dedicated to kallisti, or “for/to the most beautiful.”
