Pick of the Week
What did the
iFanboy
community think?
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Price: 2.99
Okay, right off, if you’re reading this in trade, there’s no way I’m going to get around some of what’s been happening in this book, so if you’re determined to stay 100% spoiler free, I’m going to suggest you back away now. However, I will also say that I hopped on to issue #50 from the end of the last trade, in which I missed issues #48 and #49, and I’m doing just fine. I’ve made the jump to issues, and wasn’t sure about it until this one, and now I’m glad I did, because I would have had to wait way too long to read this issue, which was everything I love about this title, a whopping 52 issues in. I’m saying it’s still that good.
The long awaited issue #50 a couple months back, changed the paradigm in this book. The covers pretty much said it all, but the short recap is that Invincible got mad at his government handler Cecil, and left that whole organization. He got himself a new suit, and outfitted his half-brother Oliver, half-Viltrumite, half-purple, fast-aging, bug alien, with a costume of his own, and started training him to use his powers. He left the one girl, and got with the right girl, and basically, it’s a new day, with new problems, proving to be the opposite of the Biggie Smalls theorem, which is something I disprove my every breathing moment. This is all relevant to why this issue was particularly good because of the tone set in the last 2 issues. The interactions with Oliver, who named himself, in goofy kid fashion, Kid Omni-Man, which makes no sense, were all light hearted and fun. There was some friction between the two, but it seemed mostly based on impetuous childhood rebellion. But the fact is, as we learned in this issue, Kirkman was expertly sowing the seeds of what we saw in the second half of issue 52, when Robert Kirkman does what he does best, and shit goes totally off the rails. It turns out that perhaps Mark (Invincible) and his mother, had been a bit premature in giving young Oliver (who you just know was named after the Brady Bunch kid who threw that show out of whack) the benefit of the doubt, and assuming he was just a normal kid. Yet we learn in this issue that there are some problems under the happy surface.
We learn this when Oliver eviscerates a bad guy, and then, just to ram the point home, he does it again. It was one of those moments that made me literally chortle out loud, and then when he got the second guy, I realized what was happening. However, the final scene in the book, where Mark learns about the real cultural rift he has to deal with. Basically, Oliver did it, and he doesn’t really regret it, and what was so bad about Omni-Man (mass murdering, conquering alien) in the first place? This turn of events had exactly the same punch as it did when we found out the secret of Mark’s father. I didn’t see either coming, and this one was perhaps more of a surprise, because I didn’t see it happening again. But it makes perfect sense after the fact.
Oh my…
So that’s the moral and cultural conundrum Mark is left facing, just when that part of his life seemed to be okay. So let’s go over what Kirkman has done to poor Invincible. His father is literally the exact opposite of everything he thought he father was. His boss turned out to be a dick, so he lost his job, and has no income, plus he left college. His mother is dating a new guy, which usually just sucks no matter what. And now his brother, one of the few joys in his life, turns out to be kind of a dick… who has superpowers, and isn’t against killing bad guys, or really anyone. Just like in his Walking Dead series, Kirkman is taking every single thing he can away from the main character, and really testing him to find a breaking point, and as a reader, I really believe that a breaking point isn’t so off for Mark. How much can one guy take? Between him and Tim Drake, I don’t know how much more loss I can handle for my young heroes.
Ryan Ottley is a guy who can do no wrong to me. I’m glad I finally got a chance to make this a Pick of the Week, because I haven’t had a chance to write about Ottley enough, but he might be my favorite superhero artist. I’ve come to the conclusion that if there were anyone I could realistically purchase art from, it would be Ryan Ottley. I love that his work looks so very simple at first, but then, when you back up and really look at it, you see how he’s masked the details of the work with sheer elegance. If you’re ever around one of the trades, or collected editions, take a look at Ottley’s pencils before inking. They’re gorgeous. His layouts and pages are so dynamic. They’re the best of Jack Kirby, in that the characters are jumping out at you, flying off the page. But they’re also the best of modern comics, in that it’s been stripped down of all that excessive nonsense that clutters too many pages, we’re just left with beautiful, exciting comic book pages. Of course, the other side of things is that an artist must make the characters act out their parts, and a huge part of this book is the emotional relationships between the characters. Look at Oliver’s face as he threatens the second twin. There is cold unfeeling emotion there, but he still looks like a kid. Look at the anger, sadness, and disappointment on Mark’s face on the last few pages, and you’re right there, in his head, and you know exactly what he’s feeling, without reading a single word. I am starting to desire seeing Ottley do other work, just to see it, but seriously, I can’t imagine him not drawing this book, a book I don’t ever want to see end.
There is no superhero book that’s ever been more readily recommended by iFanboy. I am so excited and pleased that 52 issues later, Invincible is still riding at the crest of a seemingly endless wave. I hope this might be enough to get some of you straggling fence sitters to finally check this Invincible book out, and no matter what side of the whole Kirkman debate you ended up on, the thing is, Kirkman’s doing his part just by putting this book out, and I’m doing my part by making sure people know about it.
Josh Flanagan
The sound effect used was SKRA-GOOM!
josh@ifanboy.com
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Cool pick. I read this in Hardcover, so it’s going to be awhile before I get to it, but It’s comforting to know that it’s still good.
Nice pick. I chose it as well. Those pages where the villians got theirs were awesome. Kirkman you are a sick, sick man.
And thanks ifanboy for introducing me to this book, I might have never read it if it were’nt for you guys.
I’m actually a newcomer to the series, so I’m like on the first trade….But hey it’s fine reading this cause my memory shorts out on me. So the stuff on this post was confusing Josh, but it’ll make much more sense when I eventually come across it….Plus I’ll forget everything you stated so it’ll feel fresh to me. 🙂
But yeah great review man, I can totally tell you love Kirkman, I mean his books. How fitting is it that the #150 milestone is a Kirkman book? Let me just ask something though cause I dont know much about this universe. Does it tie-in to a lot of the other Image books right now? Like is Savage Dragon, Spawn, or anyone else gonna just pop up for no reason? It’s not a problem if it’s written well….I just hope there isnt a lot of crossovers in this series.
Hooray! I wasn’t sure if you had jumped to issues on this, but I’m really glad I made the jump with issue #48. This comic was pure joy, and I knew instantly when I’d finished it that it was going ot be the bet book of the month. Fairly simple plot, but it was done SO WELL. And I swear Ottley gets better every single issue. The guy is amazing. Sometime I’d love to see wht he could do on Spider-Man or a Batman & Robin book, but then I realize how perfect he is on Invincible, and really don’t want to see him leave. The themes Kirkman has been throwing around these last few issues have elevated what could be a really simple book to greater heights.
Big props to another fantastic issue of Criminal this week, but Invincible just completely blew me away.
This book rocked. I honestly had never read any Invincible before issue 49 and I am totally on board. Kirkman is such a great story teller and even though I don’t know every single thing that has happened before he makes it a joy to read.
Yeah this is one of my favorites, but read WAY better in trades. Can’t wait to hear about this one though. Some really fun stuff. Good pick, but the Stand was pretty good too.
@TheNextChampion – I might be wrong about this, but I believe that while this book takes place in some sort of semi-cohesive Imageverse, it doesn’t actually cross over within the title. I think that there might be some Image minis that Mark pops up in, but his book is self contained.
What I do know is that this is the only Image book that I read, and I have never come across any character or plot point that confused me.
Yay Issues! This book rocks. And I probably never would have picked it up had I not heard about it here.
my pick too, and you’re right about how TOTALLY FREAKING SHOCKING oliver’s turn was.
here’s my one pseudo-complaint – didn’t it, um, sort of happen fast? like, shouldn’t we have noticed the oliver was an amoral alien with no value of human life before today? i mean, that would have taken away some of the shock, and i know he’s a super fast developing alien, but i still had a little voice in my head crying foul on this.
I think the superfast development is your answer there.
Kirkman’s always about the hard turn. He’s more a story writer than a character writer, from what I’ve read. So the plus side is great hooks and surprises. The possible downside, depending on your view, is that characters are unpredictable and maybe a little out of reach. We’re not invited in. That’s not a good or bad thing, just a thing.
I’m still way behind on ‘Invincible,’ so I’m skipping the review, but glad to know it’s still going strong.
I haven’t read everything yet (still need to get to ‘Criminal’) but I think ‘Batman Confidential’ is going to be hard to beat. I’m going to start lobbying for Fabian to write ‘Birds of Prey’.
I had all but decided to simply drop this book, after the last ten or so issues. The book really seemed to drag through the 40s– and the big issue 50 milestone seemed fairly pedestrian for me. I picked up #51, but can’t for the life of me remember anything about it.
BUT, if you’re telling me something happened in this issue where things picked up (I did skip over the review above to avoid any spoilers), I’ll go pick up #52 later today.
I’m going back to my LCS, anyway, to pick up a copy of that Magneto: Testament book, which I heard was very, very good.
Other than that, I only picked up 3 books from the LCS this week– I’m in the process of phasing over to DCBS (I just can’t afford NOT to take advantage of the 40%+ discounts anymore), and my DCBS books don’t come until tomorrow. The three I read– Criminal, Secret Invasion, and Ultimate Origins— were good, but not great, and none really Pick of the Week worthy.
I’ve only read this title intermittently but am glad to hear you mention Mark reaching a breaking point soon. I was always kind of baffled by how much he seemsed to be taking everything in stride, much like Tim Drake, but this review makes me excited to pick the series back up. Maybe Kid Omni-Man=Kid Miracleman?
Per issue, Invincible seems like the fastest-moving book I read. Entire storylines seem to pass within the span of panels; characters appear and leave the stage while I’m still going, "Wait, has he been in the book before? Do we know him?"
It’s like Kirkman goes, "Okay, Ottley, look: we’re only gonna put out three issues of this book this year, so we gotta crowbar in as much as we possibly can before the readers get wise."
This is not a complaint! Many other books I read could stand to take a page from this playbook.
@Kwertee: I thought I saw a cover or covers that had people like Savage Dragon and The Brit in a cameo or something like that….I’m not sure again, but judging from other reviews on this site and comments, it looks like this tries to stay in it’s own pocket universe from the Imageverse.
Oh and my POTW was Deadpool…..Great humor, cartoonish art, and another good Secret Invasion tie-in (very few in that department). I cant wait to see where that series will go once this crappy event is over.
Did Ottley have a new Colourist on this issue? Because thems shits pop!
Although I loved this issue, I gotta go with Magneto: Testament. There was something about that book that just got me. It might be that I’m auditioning for Cabaret today so I’m kinda thinking about the holocaust alot. It was an interesting take on Pre Holocaust Germany. It was nice to finally get Magneto’s birth name, even though I’m not sure if it’s considered canon or not since this is a Marvel Knights title.
@jimmydelicious – Bill Crabtree left the book with issue #50 and was replaced with FCO Plansencia.
Thanks to the Magneto mini and the House of M mini that came out, two separate superhero books opened in Nazi Germany this week. Not bad, but… a bit much.
@Jimski Also two different versions of Magneto backstory, right? You’d think they could time these releases better.
Several gazillion books also contained super powers. And we’ve been in the Savage Land for months. Nazi Germany was sort of refreshing.
Have ALL the Fanboys switched back over to issues now? If not, it’s going to be a pretty quiet podcast with you not being able to talk about the book and all.
I’m just put out because Oliver killed the Mauler Twins! I loved those guys.
Pushing spolier off main page. Be mindful of that if you can. Thanks.
Great pick Josh. Mine too. Loved it when Oliver just kind of shrugged off the fact that he killed them by saying "I didn’t mean to, it was an accident"…
…also loved the scene where Cecil approaches Oli, much to Invincibles dismay.
@cateyedfox – I know! Kirkman has to bring those guys back, I can’t imagine its too difficult to figure it out
There has to be more Mauler clones. There has to be please.
That’s the thing about clones. There are always more!
nice pick. i just jumped on this book with trades and started issues with 51. i love this book
I really enjoy invincible, but this issue didn’t wow me the way it usually does. I hope its not because of some subconscious reaction to Kirkman’s video diatribe, I’m really trying not to let that influence my opinion of his work.
I dropped off this book somewhere in the 20’s (and I don’t even remember why) I came back at issue 50 and loved it. I had no trouble picking it up. Very glad I did.
I started picking up the series with the new status quo and was totally taken by suprise when I read Omni-Kid going Mortal Kombat on the bad guys. And I was also laughing my ass off. Great Issue!
Best comic decision I have made. After the last trade I went and pick up the back issues 48, 49 and stated getting this book monthly with issue 50. Great book, great issue.
wow! ooooh man! omg! … just a few things I said out loud while reading this issue. Loved it! My pick of the week as well. Kirkman, this book is awesome. Keep it up!
I jumped on at issue 50. Man, I love this book. I am mad at myself for not reading it sooner. I will be going back and catching up on the trades though.