Invincible, Volume 1

INVINCIBLE: ULTIMATE COLLECTION, VOL. 1 by ROBERT KIRKMAN ★★★★½Nowadays, it can be a bit scary to jump into superhero comics. There's Marvel and DC, of course, but with so many titles and crossovers and tie-ins, you'd wonder where you should start. If you'd rather start somewhere that's not heavily loaded in an already-established universe, and if you want to read a comic that doesn't really take itself seriously (and even pokes fun at the superhero genre), then definitely check out Invincible. Robert Kirkman, the creator of The Walking Dead, has created what many consider to be “the best superhero comic out there right now.” And in some sense, I have to agree. Invincible is a superhero title unlike any other superhero story. You don't have to worry about having to find another series to read to fill in gaps or find the latest issue in a crossover series to deepen your knowledge about Invincible. Everything you need to know will be in this book. Full of great characters, a relatable protagonist, and a story that starts off a bit slowly but then grabs hold of you and takes off. The last four issues in this ultimate collection really make you question the characters and story you know, but once you're hooked, you're hooked. I don't want to spoil much. Just go out and read this book!

A few years back, I picked up Invincible even knowing the caveat of how slow this started. But I dropped it even without completing it due to how frustrated I got and now, re-reading this after watching through the amazing first season of the show, I still see why I dropped it and I don't blame myself for doing so.

But only if I got to issues 10-13, where things got to pick up, and then I would have at least mustered the interest to continue because this book starts off rough: Mark Grayson begins to get his powers and thus is now lectured by his father - the most powerful superhero in the world, the famed Viltrumite: Omni-Man.

It is an all too familiar set-up because it is. For a superhero deconstruction, it leans heavily on the tropes of a young superhero getting their powers for much too long without varying it up. It sacrifices what little amount of pages it has for dry humor instead of developing the plot, almost as if it doesn't take itself too seriously. We've seen this done ad infinitum in Spider-Man: it wasn't new then and certainly it has played out now to the point that I dropped it.

It also rushes by the plot too fast. When the big moment happens, it almost doesn't seem like it makes much of an impact due to how fast it goes. Whether that is due to the strength of the writing or the constraints of the pages it all feels rushed. It doesn't seem like Kirkman knows what to do with it because things continue as normal, maintaining the campy tone of coming of age superhero despite something sinister going on. It could have leaned into this factor (like the show does) but it seemingly ignores and downplays the impact, even rushing past moments that I expected to have longer impact but it just doesn't. So many opportunities to build the world and explore the character's emotions - but it just doesn't. The story lacks the emotional depth it has become known for.


Reading this again, it becomes clear to me that the show is the superior version of this story: making changes that improve upon how the horror is, shuffling the order of events to play up the horror and drama, and giving depth to characters that were barely mentioned in the story. As I was reading it, I could not help but unfavorably compare it to the adaption that does nearly every single aspect better, brought to tenfold with the brilliant voice work and animation from the crew. It elevates the story that I once dismissed as being standard fare into something else entirely.


To conclude, this story is fine. It is all too familiar until the very end where it all makes sense, but takes all too long to get there without much substance leading to it. So much of it feels dated, following trends in humor that feel dated. However, I'm reading through the second ultimate collection and it seems that Kirkman acknowledges his mistakes and improves upon everything. So let's hope that things get better.