The Invisibles #1 is an issue of the series The Invisibles (Volume 1) with a cover date of September, 1994.
Synopsis for "Dead Beatle$"
In Egypt, King Mob meets with his old friend Elfayed, who gives him a mummified scarab. He then travels to Paris, where he meets an old friend with psychic powers who is dying and asks her to use them one last time to contact Tom. King Mob engages in an LSD-induced trance and asks Ragged Robin to read the tarot to him to ensure that his belief is correct: McGowan will be the new recruit for The Invisibles. His vision uses magic to invoke the spirit of John Lennon for guidance.
In Liverpool, Dane McGowan and his friends blow up the school library for fun. The next day, his mother kicks him out of their apartment so she can have sex and he idly sits by a river when he sees Stuart Sutcliffe tell Lennon that he's leaving The Beatles: an event that happened 30 years prior. He tries to talk to the musicians but they walk away without acknowledging him and a demon appears in their place, threatening the boy.
Hanging out with his mates that night, he steals a car to go joyriding. They drive to their school and McGowan insists on burning down the entire building. One of his teachers is there and begs him to stop but the boy brutally attacks him as the school burns. He is sentenced to probation at Harmony House, a brutal conformity center that is secretly an institution for the Archons of Outer Church. Headmaster Mr. Gelt has a brief chat with Dane and then kneels before his master, The King-in-Chains.
When he tries to sleep, Dane is awakened by a horrible nightmare and a faulty alarm goes off, causing some panic. In the confusion, Dane goes to see his mate Gaz, who is mumbling nonsense and unresponsive. He finds a room filled with canisters that contain the extracted souls of young boys. Gelt appears behind him and confesses that they strip the personality of individuals at Harmony House before returning them to society. As he and a lackey approach Dane, they are shot in the head by King Mob.
They blow up Harmony House and as they are walking from the ruins, King Mob tells him that The Invisibles want him to join them. Gelt is reincarnated into a beetle that Dane squishes while walking. King Mob drives to London and as he and Dane are talking, he vanishes into thin air.
Appearing in "Dead Beatle$"
Featured Characters:
- Invisibles (First appearance)
- Boy (Mentioned only)
- John-A-Dreams (Behind the scenes) (First appearance)
- King Mob (First appearance)
- Lord Fanny (Mentioned only)
- Ragged Robin (First appearance)
Supporting Characters:
- ElFayed (First appearance)
- Edith Manning (First appearance)
- Dane McGowan (First appearance)
Antagonists:
- Archons of Outer Church (First appearance)
- Archie (First appearance)
- Miss Dwyer (First appearance)
- Mister Gelt (First appearance) (Dies)
- The King-in-Chains (First appearance)
- Bobby Murray (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Brigitte Bardot (Mentioned only)
- Billy (First appearance)
- Gotama Buddha (Mentioned only)
- James Dean (Mentioned only)
- Aunt Diane (Mentioned only)
- Eve (Mentioned only)
- Gary (First appearance)
- Gaz (First appearance)
- Gopher (Mentioned only)
- Jesus Christ (Mentioned only)
- Astrid Kirchherr (Mentioned only)
- John Lennon
- Mad Tom (Mentioned only)
- Mister Malkie (First appearance)
- Paul McCartney
- Misses McGowan (First appearance)
- Peter (Mentioned only)
- The Presence (Mentioned only)
- Mister Six (First appearance)
- Stuart Sutcliffe
Locations:
- Egypt
- Giza
- France
- Germany
- Hamburg (Mentioned only)
- United Kingdom
- United States of America
- New York
- New York City (Mentioned only)
- New York City (Mentioned only)
- New York
Notes
- This issue is reprinted in The Invisibles Volume 01: Say You Want a Revolution, Invisibles Deluxe Edition: Book One, The Invisibles Omnibus, and Vertigo: First Offenses.
Trivia
- "Erdische methode gut" translates from German as "good Earth method" and "starker besitscher" is a misspelling of "starker Besitzer", meaning "powerful owner". Finally, "Seelisches land" is "psychic land".