Ten years after Deathmate, the core Image brand was in a rut. Some of its component studios were doing well for themselves, such as Top Cow’s successes both on the page and on television with Witchblade. But other parts were spinning off into their own companies, notably Dreamwave and Devil’s Due, following in Wildstorm’s footsteps. Image’s flagship title Spawn was far past its heyday of film and anime tie-ins; McFarlane Toys was on the downward spiral into making statues over toys. Still, Image had enough pull to get some creators to launch a group of titles featuring teenage superheroes. Firebreather by Phil Hester was great, but its animated adaptation entered development hell and killed much of its momentum. Jay Faerber seemed to be the next big thing thanks to Noble Causes until a disastrous run on DC's The Titans arguably tarnished his career.
And then there was Invincible. Robert Kirkman had made his Image debut with the Guyver-esque romp Tech Jacket, but his new book, about the son of Superman pastiche Omni-Man Nolan Grayson, seemed destined to not go far. Co-creator and artist Cory Walker kept the title delayed frequently, and his somewhat odd-looking artwork, including a tendency to draw eyes as just dots, was a bit off-putting. But then issue #8 happened and introduced two major turning points: the massacre of the Guardians of the Globe (a Justice League parody) and the arrival of new artist Ryan Ottley. Not only could Ottley stay on schedule, but his sharp, detailed artwork was like nothing Image had published in years. The switchover was also very amicable, which prevented background drama.
[Review contains spoilers]
The aforementioned massacre led into one of the greatest twists in comics. Because the twist happens late in the title’s first year, I recommend Invincible: Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 as the best way to start reading Invincible. The trades are fine, but it really takes until the end of the second trade for the true greatness of the book to emerge. I would also warn against getting the massive “Compendium” versions; not only are they unwieldy, but the track record on their binding is very spotty. If you’re aware of Invincible at all, then you know what the secret is, but like the original Thunderbolts, it’s a swerve that still works all these years later: Nolan is actually an advance scout from an alien race and is on Earth to conquer it.
Much of the reveal’s success is based on the lengthy set-up of the immediate issues. In the second issue, there’s a long flashback sequence as Nolan Grayson recounts his origin story to his son, Mark. In issue #11, when it’s revealed that Nolan killed the Guardians of the Globe, Ryan Ottley redraws and manipulates Cory Walker’s panels from issue #2 to show the truth and demonstrate that many of Nolan’s lies were just semantics in his mind. Sandwiched between those sequences are numerous occasions to see how Mark and Nolan get along both as superheroes and as father and son. One issue tracks the angst felt by a superhero’s family when said hero is abducted by aliens. Another shows the dangers of accidentally revealing your superhero father’s name in public, especially if you’re an up-and-coming hero yourself. The divide between wanting to conquer the world and wanting to stay Mark’s father clearly tore Nolan apart.
Mark, dubbed Invincible, became the icon of the new version of Image Comics both because of his success and because of his costume; the “I” in the center of his costume is the Image logo. With Spawn played out, Invincible was a perfect title for Image to throw their support behind. The founders of Image left to tell the superhero stories that they felt they couldn’t tell at Marvel and DC due to editorial influence and character ownership issues. The problem was that, apart from Erik Larsen and arguably Jim Valentino, those founders weren’t very good storytellers, relying on just their artwork to sell comics. Many of those movie and cartoon deals didn’t work out because they didn’t have anything to say; even the most successful, WildC.A.T.s, barely made it to a full season.
At its core, Invincible truly is a story that Marvel or DC couldn’t do with their characters, even in an Elseworlds or What If title. Superman just couldn’t slaughter the Justice League and then fight with Superboy in public before apparently dying while flying away from Earth. Even in Red Son, perhaps the darkest Superman story held in high regard, he’s still the hero. Omni-Man is just enough like Superman that we get the concept behind him . . . and then the rug is brutally pulled out from under the reader. At the same time, Kirkman sets up a new, if very loose, Image shared continuity by having Savage Dragon, Superpatriot, and other heroes show up at the Guardians’ funeral. Mark would even form a team, The Pact, with other teenage superheroes, a rarity when most Image team books debut with a fully-intact roster.
Kirkman has since replaced Jim Lee as an Image “founder," having both secured Image’s viability as a superhero publisher with Invincible and then created a perpetual success for it with The Walking Dead. I’ll admit that Invincible isn’t a perfect title. It occasionally gets way too bloody, the Viltrumites all having mustaches is kind of silly, and Kirkman really loves his puns; Mark’s friends on the Teen Team are named Dupli-Kate, Rex Splode and Atom Eve. But said pun-based characters have gotten heavily fleshed-out as Invincible raced past one hundred issues -- a miracle for any comic these days, much less one from Image -- with no sign of stopping. Having lost my father a few years before picking up Invincible: Ultimate Collection Vol. 1 makes my connection to it that much stronger. Even with a bit of a rough start, it’s a title that deserves your attention.
I agree. Tried one, then immediately needed more! - steve
ReplyDeleteI have the 8 hardcovers and I just end up reading the first one yesterday.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun and the characters matter. So far so good.
I have both Compendiums, and they have held up fine. I also had no problem physically reading them. I'd recommend them, as Invincible moves very quickly and is totally fun to just read in massive chunks. I think I read an average of 10 or 12 issues a night.
ReplyDeleteMy only complaint about Invincible is the dialogue. Every character speaks exactly the same. There is absolutely no nuance in anyone's personality, they all speak very plainly, and directly say how they're feeling. It is kind of bizarre writing. Everyone is like "Well, OK, that makes me angry, but I'll just deal with it."
Compared to some other writers, like say Gaiman on Sandman, or Alan Moore with, well, anything, where the characters have such distinct voices and the way they use words (even the font sometimes changes.)
I've heard that the binding has gotten better, but I'm personally not a fan of really huge collections. I like to read on the go and I just can't lug a phone book-sized comic with me; the hardcovers are just the right size.
ReplyDeleteAs for the dialogue, I agree that Kirkman has some issues with that and with writing long, unbroken speeches. For one example (relatively minor spoiler): when Atom Eve explains why she's retiring to Africa, she gives a great explanation, but it's done over a couple enormous word balloons that don't take advantage of the space on the page.
I wonder if Kirkman writes in that style because he sometimes works with artists who don't have a good track record for drawing facial expressions. He's gotten better at it, mostly because he can trust Ryan Ottley at this point.
Yup, Invincible is a great book. It's a long wait between Ultimate Collections, but then that just gives me an excuse to re-read the previous collection or two to refresh the memory.
ReplyDeleteI find its relatively self-contained, though I was wondering with the last couple of collections whether I should also be reading the "Guarding the Globe" series...?