Comic Review: Invincible Compendiums Two and Three Review

Hello readers, I apologize for being MIA with my blog posts for a couple of weeks, but we are back again, this time with a combined review of the last 2/3rds of the Invincible comic series, written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Ryan Ottley and Cory Walker.

Now that I have finished Invincible in its 144 issue entirety, I can confidently say that Invincible is one of the finest comics I have ever read. Rarely do you ever see a writer and artist stay on one comic series as Kirkman and Ottley did on Invincible, and usually for good reason. A creative team at the Big Two companies is lucky to be able to create even 20 or 30 consistently good comics. However, Kirkman, Ottley, and occasionally Walker, were able to create a series where not a single issue was bad or subpar.

This impressive feat of keeping Invincible fresh and surprising is achieved through the creative team’s commitment to creating lasting changes to the comic’s status quo. When characters die, they stay dead unless there is a real good reason for them to be resurrected. When characters lose arms or have their jaws punched out, they have to live with these injuries. Throughout the last 2/3rds of Invincible, former friends become enemies, former enemies become friends, and even who is wearing the Invincible costume sometimes changes. The biggest change in the status quo comes during the last 40-30 issues, where the entire genre of the comic moves away from super-heroics and into just straight-up science fiction.

These status quo changes are complemented by plenty of “meta” moments. Before this massive genre switch, there is a great moment where Mark Grayson meets the creator (a not-so-subtle stand-in for Kirkman) of his favorite comic, Science Dog, and Mark asks the creator about the massive status quo change coming to Science Dog. The creator simply answers saying that even though the change might alienate fans, the change is something only independent comics have the balls to try. And this funny, metatextual reassurance is correct. Characters like Batman or Spider-Man may change massively once every 20 to 30 years, but the characters of Invincible change every 5 or 6 issues.

Mark Grayson’s definition of heroism is constantly being shifted and altered throughout the series, so much so that Mark at the beginning of the series would not only not recognize the person he becomes, but would probably try to fight the person he becomes. The most interesting part of these shifts in the definition of heroism is that they are almost always so convincing. Mark’s moral code is shifted in interesting ways, and with few exceptions, my feelings towards the conflicts were changing with Mark’s. There was a stretch of issues towards the end of the book however where Mark felt like he had drifted too far away from his sense of duty and selflessness for me to be completely comfortable with. I didn’t find myself rooting for Mark nearly as much during those issues even though it was clear the comic wanted me to do so.

There are so many laugh-out-loud moments that manage to compliment the brutal and gore-filled moments. On one page, the comic may be hilarious and heartwarming, while on the next it’s breaking your heart. Seriously, there are just some deaths and fight scenes that are so nasty that I wanted to gag, which is a great compliment to the great artwork from Ottley and Walker. As for heartfelt moments, I don’t think any moment completely measures up to “I’d have you dad” from the comic’s twelfth issue, there are several moments throughout that do come close to that emotional poignancy. While some may complain Invincible just feels like a soap opera with superpowers, that’s exactly what superhero comics are, at least over the last few decades, and I think they are better for it.

I must also pay respect to the amazing artwork throughout Invincible. Ottley only gets better and better as the comic progresses. He can produce so many unique and fun character designs that complement the design work by Walker so well. There are many, many alternate Invincible costumes that Ottley created, worn both by the prime Mark as well as other characters and even other Mark Graysons. And while the series eventually returns to the original costume that Walker designed, these alternate designs are great because they iterate upon the original costume just enough to be different without losing any of the character’s core. Ottley is a master of dynamic poses and lively facial expressions. It is no wonder why he was such a good fit for Spider-Man.

Cory Walker returns to Invincible periodically, filling in for Ottley in different arcs before doing the epilogue of the final issue. Walker’s art was always great, but the work he does in the latter half of Invincible is stunning. His lines are so clean and soft which juxtaposes nicely with Ottley’s rather brutal and sharp line work. Walker’s work in these collections is filled with so much love and expression. I love how he differentiates body types between characters like Nolan and Mark and Oliver.

These Compendiums collected many of the biggest arcs in the entire Invincible series: The Invincible War, Conquest, The Viltrumite War, The Death of Everyone, and The End of All Things. Each of these events was able to subvert the expectations readers hold over traditional comic book arcs. The Invincible War manages to fit an entire summer-long crossover, a crossover filled with plenty of guest characters and major character deaths, in one satisfying issue. And Conquest comes right on the heels of this event and turns one fight into four or five issues without losing interest between these issues. I love how Kirkman successfully subverted expectations by having a massive crossover event only last one issue while one battle is stretched across several issues.

While I like nearly everything about these Compendiums, there were a couple of issues that stuck out to me. There is a character named Anissa in Invincible who commits probably one of the worst, if not the worst, acts of violence in the entire comic, which is saying something. What Anissa does, in my opinion, is unforgivable. However, the comic tries so hard to redeem Anissa and it didn’t land with me. Anissa sexually assaults a character and the comic shows this moment to us and I just didn’t think the comic could redeem her after painting her in such awful light. Another much smaller issue is that I would’ve liked to have seen the Viltrumites use a bit more variety in the way they killed people. If I had a penny for every splash page where a Viltrumite just puts their karate chop right through someone’s chest, I would maybe only have a dime’s worth of pennies, but still.

Invincible manages to stick the landing when it comes to a close as well. While it may be a surprise, the comic has a very happy ending. While the comic could in theory have continued indefinitely, the comic’s ending shows the end to the journey Mark Grayson embarks upon from the very first issue, a journey that Mark didn’t even know he was on until the last few issues. I apologize for being vague but this reveal is better when experienced yourself. The final page is one of the best final sentences of any fiction I’ve ever experienced. It’s simple and it calls back to my favorite moment of the entire series, the “What would you have after 500 years?” line from Nolan. The series could be resurrected or continued in the future but I don’t think it should be. It COULD be, but it’s better left at its close. Mark Grayson’s story ended and it ended beautifully.

-- Logan M. Cole

Invincible: Compendium Two is available from Amazon.

Invincible: Compendium Three is available from Amazon.