If every superhero comic book looked like Invincible , we’d get a synthetically white, modern and wonderful world… or at least that’s what the written version of this meme looks like. Why is it worth reading the work of Robert Kirman, Ryan Ottley and Cory Walker and why is it, in my opinion, the best superhero story? You will find out below.
Attention! This article, especially the last paragraphs, has spoilers for the entire Invincible run . If you haven’t read it yet… what are you waiting for? The series is probably encouraging enough, right?
Historical view
The first issue of Invinciblewas published by Image Comics on January 22, 2003, and the entire series includes 144 issues. The bittersweet end of the Mark Grayson story happened on February 14, 2018. Exactly, the end of the superhero story. Doesn’t that sound quite abstract when you look at DC or Marvel brands? Can you imagine that Peter Parker would suddenly stop appearing in the next notebooks every month, or Logan, killed for centuries, ended his existence and no cartoonist or screenwriter would have the right to continue his series? Moreover, suppose we are scriptwriters who receive catalogs to start their work, in some cases containing information about 60 years of adventures of a given character. They have to adapt, can sometimes relate to certain events and steer the series towards a possible crossover. It has nothing to do with freedom, while Image Comics offered the aforementioned creators a lot of slack. It’s their brand and they can do whatever they want with it. You can even quote Garth Ennis, who in one of the interviews mentions his first conversation with Alan Moore: “Own what you create.”
What Ennis says in an interview for PREVIEWSworld could be devoted to a separate publication, but we were to focus on Invincible . Well, I mentioned earlier that the makers of the new DC or Marvel lines have to adapt to existing relationships, most likely ending their stories with what the simplest superhero can do – keeping the status quo. Knowing a lot of stories in which comic heroes die or a situation leaves trauma behind, I am not able to take subsequent deaths seriously. In Invincibleit is not there. If a character dies, he does not come back due to some strange coincidence, extraordinary endurance, regeneration, the appearance of his copy from another universe. No, he is dying and it has a significant impact on the world around Marek. Therefore, such events make the reader live what he is reading. He doesn’t expect a return to normal, or fellow superheroes slapping the back with their recently “deceased” buddy. The videothai draws attention to this in their video essay “Invincible – Doing What Marvel and DC Won’t”. He calls it “the button that erases previous events” and refers to the story of Spider-Man, when, for example, he revealed his identity to the public, which in the broader perspective did not matter. I heartily recommend this video because it was what prompted me to write this article.
Nothing but particulars
Attention! Spoilers start here!
Have you ever read a dark DC comic, for example by James Tynion IV, and did you get the impression that any patience pouring out of the frames is terribly boring? If so, I am already answering the question why this is so. Well, dialogues are usually highly expository or have no real influence on the further course of events. The heroes do not listen to each other and do not draw conclusions from conversations with other team members. Once again – in Invincibleit is not there. Every moment of intimacy, following Marek’s or other heroes’ friendly, family or love relationships, perfectly explains why a given character acts in one way or another. Indeed, it very often happens that by listening to the advice of others, they improve their skills, make wiser decisions, correct mistakes, become better heroes or simply people. The whole Omni-Man fight with Mark and their points of view is fully understandable. We may not agree with Nolan, but he is not an empty shell intended to shock the audience and be outright brutal. He is a real threat and has a rational offensive motive.
Reasons to love Invinciblethere is a whole lot. However, the most appealing to me is what the main character realizes at the end of the series, and at the same time is a breakthrough in the entire superhero narrative. This is where the serious spoilers start, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. At some point, while searching with his brother Olivier, the whereabouts of Thragg, the great Viltrumian, building a powerful army, Mark finds himself in a mysterious grotto. There, he loses consciousness, watching strange, bright figures transport him back to the beginning of his story. Again we see the main character on the toilet reading comics. He is fully aware of the events to come. He is not pressed into the reboot as an unconscious figure. She perfectly remembers what has happened so far and it is by the way a brilliant deconstruction of this magic “button, erasing previous events ”. What is the hero supposed to do when the world around him returns to normal, and he remembers everything that happened before? It adapts, making everyone around you happy. Mark gets to know Atom Eve faster, anticipates every trick of the villain, while having in the back of his head that somewhere in another world, his wife, child, brother and friends are waiting for him. The world is safe, he becomes the greatest superhero in history and it is everyone’s dream, right? Well, not really. After a few weeks, Invincible is again confronted with mysterious beings giving him a choice. Would he like to focus on saving the individual, i.e. his family, or would he like to maintain peace in the world in which he is located? Mark announces he’s not a superhero which he was aware of before and wants to return to his universe. He’s not perfect, but he has everything he loves the most there. He doesn’t care if things are perfect on Earth, but at the same time renounces the status quo. This, and the ending of the series, which I chose not to reveal, is the perfection of writing comics as a commentary on the genre.
The most important point
The spoilers can be considered complete!
All the above-mentioned issues come down to one, perhaps the most important feature of Invincible – the comfort of the reader. If you had to make up for the adventures of the X-Men or the Justice League that have been created for many years, without knowing a comic series too much, would you not feel, even subcutaneously, that you are missing something? That one speech bubble showed something you don’t quite understand? Sure, you can make up for it, but it makes enjoying the story a bit more complicated. Once again and for the last time – Invincible does not. We don’t have to go back decades to read an average-quality, hard-to-reach 6-issue series. We start Kirkman’s work with the first issue / volume and we enjoy the superhero masterpiece.
Hope this has encouraged you enough to turn to Mark Grayson’s original adventures. Seriously, you won’t get a better superhero and don’t even argue with it. No, discuss it, I’m very curious about your opinion and probably like you, I’m looking forward to the second season of the series!