Invicible: Ultimate Collection Volume 1

Invincible: Ultimate Collection 1
by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley
Image Comics
ISBN 9781582405001

Up until this past week, it had been months since I’d read a superhero comic. Actually, the last one was DC’s New Frontier. I hadn’t been avoiding them. I’d just found myself in the mood for other things. Then I found the Invincible Ultimate Collection 1.

I wasn’t previously all that familiar with the Invincible series but I do like to read new stuff. I had heard of it. In fact, I had heard very, very good things about the series. I’d even flipped through a couple issues at the comic shop and I remember thinking it looked pretty cool. Unfortunately, my comic-buying budget was already maxed out and the series was already several issues along. Those things discouraged me and I didn't buy it. That’s a shame because this is a book that really did live up to the hype.

Without giving too much away, here’s the rundown on the story. It follows a high school student named Mark Grayson, a normal high school guy with homework, college prep, a job at a burger joint, and the typical adolescent awkwardness. Ok, so he’s not so normal. And, no, this isn’t Spider-man. He’s known for a long time that his dad is the world renown superhero, Omni-Man. He also knows that, eventually, it’s very likely he’ll develop the superpowers of his father. And, no, this isn’t Son of Superman. A lot of things happen to Mark. He does get his superpowers, he joins his first Super Team, he fights alongside his Dad, and he faces terrible, terrible tragedy. The story arc is well paced over the 13 issues and we see Mark really grow as he faces numerous challenges both as a hero and as a kid. You can read vast amounts about the series on Wikipedia Invincible entry but be forewarned that there are spoilers aplenty.

The writer, Robert Kirkman, is someone I’m familiar with from his work on The Walking Dead series (another book I sadly didn’t discover until well after it began). I really enjoyed The Walking Dead and Kirkman’s work on Invincible is no less appealing. It’s concise. It’s clear. And, even while creating a new universe of characters, you feel like you know each of them quite well in a very short time. Yyou get a real feel for the heroes as both heroes and as people. You know them as both the costumed figure and the alter-ago…and they’re the same person. That is, it’s the same personality in both. You don’t read them and think “there’s no way these are the same people”. That’s a good thing.

The artwork is equally impressive. While the characters do lean toward some of the typical over-buff superhero physique, it’s not outlandish. It does a good job blending realism and stylization and, most importantly, the artwork is believable (to the extent that a superhero comic can be believable). Proportion is terrific. The surrounding details are amazing and add a great deal to the atmosphere.

The book doesn’t try to be anything other than what it is. Does that make sense? It’s not forcing itself to follow any sort of trend. It doesn’t try to be a gritty drama. I don’t get that it has any sort of big political agenda like so many other books. It doesn't have any big summer movie blockbuster tied to it (though it looks like it may eventually be a movie). It’s a very good, very well-developed story that’s fun to read (and re-read, if you're like me).

Some of the issues have some pretty violent and even gory images but the language and story are generally family friendly.

I’ll be looking for more.