Cover to The Filth trade paperback.

The Filth is a comic book series, written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Chris Weston and Gary Erskine. It was published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics in 2002. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (513x800, 88 KB) Summary scan Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high resolution version (513x800, 88 KB) Summary scan Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... Grant Morrison (January 31, 1960 - ) is a comic book writer and artist born in Glasgow, Scotland. ... Chris Western is a British comicbook artist who has worked bith in the US and UK comics industries. ... Gary Erskine is a British comic book artist based in Glasgow, Scotland. ... Vertigo is an imprint of comic book and graphic novel publisher DC Comics. ... The current DC Comics logo, adopted in May 2005. ...

Publishing history

The Filth was Grant Morrison's second major creator owned series for Vertigo after The Invisibles. Initially starting as a Nick Fury proposal for Marvel Comics, Morrison adapted it as a 13 part series for Vertigo. The series was influenced by Brass Eye, a Channel 4 television series created by Chris Morris.[1] Cover to The Invisibles (v2) #1. ... Nicholas Joseph Nick Fury is a fictional army hero and spy, featured in Marvel Comics. ... It has been suggested that Felicia (pseudonym) be merged into this article or section. ... The Brass Eye logo. ... Channel 4 is a public service television broadcaster in the United Kingdom (see British television). ... Chris Morris in Brass Eye Chris Morris (born June 15, 1962) is an English comedy writer, satirist and radio DJ. Morris was born in Cambridgeshire; both his parents were doctors. ...

The series tells the story of Greg Feely, a bachelor whose main interests are his cat and masturbating to pornography, the series tells how Feely is actually a member of a shadowy organisation called The Hand and their attempts to keep society on the path to the 'Status Q'. A bachelor is an unmarried but marriageable man; some restrict the usage to men who have never been married. ... Masturbation is the manual excitation of the sexual organs, most often to the point of orgasm. ... Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφία pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) (also informally referred to as porn, porno, and more recently, pr0n) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ...

The Filth can be seen partly as companion piece to The Invisibles in that it touches upon similar themes and concepts such as fractal realities, art affecting life, postmodern blurring of the fourth wall and the world as a single, living organism with humans as the cells that compose it. Cover to The Invisibles (v2) #1. ...

The series was highly praised for it's unique covers designed by Carlos Segura, (the covers were initially planned to be traditional comic book covers with art by Chris Weston) however many found the series sometimes confusing due to it's non-linear storytelling techniques. Morrison never suffered from the censorship that he suffered in The Invisibles, but in issues five and six Tex Porneau's erect penis was heavily digitised, otherwise everything was as Morrison planned in his scripts. A trade paperback of all 13 issues was released in 2004 The word linear comes from the Latin word linearis, which means created by lines. ... In comics, a trade paperback (TPB) specifically refers to the periodic collections, published in book format, of stories published in comic books, usually capturing one story arc in the series. ...

Synopsis

The Filth # 5

The story begins with Greg Feely, a "dodgy bachelor" living in London alone but for his cat. We first see him buying cat litter and a pornographic magazine from a newsagents. On the way home he starts to hear voices telling him "not to fuck with The Filth". He continues his routine of caring for his sick cat and masturbating to pornography, and the next day goes about his normal routine at work before being told "The Hand never lets go" by an unknown woman. Returning home he finds himself being confronted by a strange woman who informs him that "Greg Feely" is actually a 'para-personality', in effect a secret identity, and he is in fact Ned Slade, the top agent for an organisation called The Hand, a group of extra dimensional agents or garbage collectors attempting to keep society on the path to 'StatusQ'(status quo). Image File history File linksMetadata Filth5. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Filth5. ... Part of the London skyline viewed from the South Bank London is the most populous city in the European Union, with an estimated population on 1 January 2005 of 7,500,000 and a metropolitan area population of between 12 and 14 million. ... Pornography (from Greek πορνογραφια pornographia — literally writing about or drawings of harlots) is the representation of the human body or human sexual behaviour with the goal of sexual arousal, similar to, but (according to some) distinct from, erotica. ... A typical newsstand in New York City. ... Look up Status quo in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Status quo is a Latin term meaning the present current, existing state of affairs. ...

After telling his 'replacement' to take care of Feely's cat, Slade and the woman, a Hand agent called Miami, travel to The Hand's headquarters to be told why Slade has been brought back to active service. Slade is told by his superior officer, (who is called Mother Dirt) that he has been brought back to help maintain 'Status Q' , and to ensure that Slades friend and former agent Spartacus Hughes fails in his attempts to disrupt the 'Status Q'.

Slade sets out to stop Hughes from helping a perveted billionaire control a new form of life called I-Life ( created to become a new immune system for humans) and from blackmailing the world. With the aid of Miami and Comrade-9, a Russian chimpanzee assassin, Slade Confronts Hughes and manages to distract him so that Comrade-9 can shoot him. Jack Ruby murdered the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, in a very public manner. ...

Slade returns to The Hand headquarters to find answers to what is going on. After recieving no answers to who he was before joining The Hand, Slade quits to become Greg Feely again and take care of his sick cat. However The Hand sends Comrade-9 to bring Feely/Slade back and after telling Feely's replacement to make sure he cares for Feely's sick cat, Slade meets up with Doctor Arno Von Vermin, another officer of The Hand.

While travelling in another dimension Slade and Von Vermin's vehicle crashes and the pair are forced to walk across a bizarre landscape to find a way to Hand headquarters. Slade discovers Von Vermin to be an 'anti-person', a person who can endanger the Status Q. Slade leaves Von Vermin to die and sets out to reach Hand headquarters on foot, which he eventually does.

Slade's next mission involves Anders Klimakks, a porn star who is found by Los Angeles police wandering naked with a bag containing fifty pornographics mgazines and DVD's. The police call in The Hand to question Klimakks to find out who and what he is. While being asked for a sperm sample by Officer Jones, (The Hand officer questioning Klimakks) Kilmakks reveals he started out as a porn star in his native Amsterdam before coming to Los Angeles to star in one of porn film director Tex Porneau (based upon real life porn director Max Hardcore) films. Klimakks informs Jones that Porneau was after his semen, and after being seduced by Klimakks Jones informs Hand headquarters that Kilmakks is an anti-person and Slade and his team are called in to investigate. Upon arriving, Slade is confronted with the giant mutant sperm which Porneau has created as a weapon to kill any woman with a fertile womb. Slade's team managed to stop Porneau but not before hundreds are killed, including Officer Jones of The Hand. Klimakks is killed for being an anti-person but Kilmakks lives on in the children of the 824 women he has had sex with. A pornographic actor or a porn star is somebody who appears in pornographic movies, live sex shows or peep shows. ... This article is about the largest city in California. ... Amsterdam Location Country The Netherlands Province North Holland Population 739,295 (1 January 2005) Coordinates 4°54′E 52°22′N Website www. ... Max Hardcore Max Hardcore (born Paul Little on August 10, 1956 in Racine, Wisconsin, USA) is a controversial and unique male porn star and producer whose films usually feature him engaging in variety of sexual encounters with young women who dress and act like prepubescent girls. ... Semen or sperm is a fluid that contains spermatozoa. ... Female internal reproductive anatomy The uterus or womb is the major female reproductive organ of most mammals, including humans. ...

Slade decides to return to being Greg Feely just in time to find his cat, Tony, becoming worse, but before he can call the vet, he is arrested by the police who suspect him of being a paedophile due to pictures found in his garbage by local youths. Slade is questioned by the police but denies he is a paedophile, saying that the pictures are just him experimenting with photoshop. Slade/Feely escapes the police after killing his police interregators thanks to his Hand training. While escaping the police Slade/Feely finds a tampon in a puddle with the words "help us" written in blood on it. After being arrested again Slade is released after his team from The Hand appear and tell the police to release him. Look up veterinarian in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Pedophilia (American English) or paedophilia / pædophilia (British English), from the Greek παιδοφιλια (paidophilia) < παις (pais) boy, child and φιλια (philia) friendship, (ICD-10 F65. ... Adobe Photoshop is a bitmap graphics editor (with some text and vector graphics capabilities) published by Adobe Systems. ... A tampon is a (usually disposable) plug that a woman inserts into her vagina during her menstrual period to absorb the flow of blood. ...

The Filth # 13

His team informs him that Spartacus Hughes is back and has declared war on the USA after kidnapping the President who is onboard a gigantic city ship called the Libertania. Slade and his team board the ship and find the people on board have become anti-people. Slade confronts Hughes who has had the President surgically altered to have breasts. While being told by Hughes that he decided to become an anti-person after seeing "too much dirt" during his days with The Hand, The President and Hughes are killed by Comrade-9. Slade and his team then escape from the sinking Libertania. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (400x614, 110 KB)Cover of the 13th and last issue of The Filth comic series, created by Grant Morrison and Chris Weston, and published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (400x614, 110 KB)Cover of the 13th and last issue of The Filth comic series, created by Grant Morrison and Chris Weston, and published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics. ...

Slade returns to being Greg Feely again but finds his replacement has not given his cat the drugs he needed to live and that his cat has died. Feely returns to being Slade and is taken on a tour of The Hand by Officer Spector in order for Slade to find some answers to his questions. After a confrontation with Max Thunderstone, the worlds first super hero, Slade returns to being Feely and beats his replacement for letting his cat die. Here Feely finds out that it's Slade who is the fake personality and has been all along. Now he is classed as an anti-person and Comrade-9 is sent to kill Feely but he kills Feely's replacement by mistake and the real Feely attacks Comrade-9. As he is being attacked Feely's neighbours storm his home and Comrade-9 escapes into the street, however Comrade-9 is beaten and thrown onto some train tracks by a mob and is killed by a train. A superhero is a fictional character who is noted for feats of courage and nobility and who usually has a colorful name and costume and abilities beyond those of normal human beings. ...

Feely returns to The Hand and tells Officer Spector that their Hand personas are false and sets out to confront Mother Dirt. However he is stopped by Spartacus Hughes who is now in the body of Max Thunderstone who nearly kills him before Spector saves Feely's life. Feely and Spector escape and Thunderstone dies by dropping into the polluted sea surrounding The Hand's headquarters.

Feely finally confronts Mother Dirt, the leader of The Hand, and she tells him that the selection process for her agents is ruthless but neccessary to maintain the Status Q. He was always meant to have a special role within The Hand, just not what he had been led to believe at first.

Feely returns home and refuses offers to rejoin a revamped version of The Hand. However Feely continues to work for the Hand as the carrier for I-Life, a role he uses to heal people he comes into contact with. This ties into the series overall message: that no matter how trivial one's life may seem, they can still be a hero when the opportunity presents itself.

See also

• The Invisibles

Cover to The Invisibles (v2) #1. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations by or about:

The Filth

• Grant Morrison homepage
• Crack Comics-companion site to Morrison's homepage
• The Filth discussed at ninthart.com
• Grant Morrison interview at popthought.com