Okay. I hadn't intended to ever talk about a superhero book here. Really. But I was at my friendly neighborhood comic store the other day and picked up a bunch of back issues of this book. And I have to say, it deserves mention. Bearing the byline "probably the best superhero comic book in the universe!" Invincible is certainly one of the best out there.
I started reading this book back when it first hit the shelves because of the art. Period. I like the stylized, clean lines, the primary colors, the fresh approach to the character's costume designs, the dynamic page layout. And then I started reading.
This is classic comic-book stuff. This is so classic, you already know the story. Young kid finds out he's in fact the bearer of great power. The moral struggle not to be tempted or corrupted by that power. All the secret identity gags. The monsters and robots and aliens and mad scientists bent on world domination or destruction (take your pick). The tangled love interest or interests. The nursery of supporting superheroes all waiting in the wings for their big chance. The drama between the hero and his non-super-hero-ing friends. I mean, all of it. And it's fucking GREAT!
Created by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker and published by Image Comics, this book is definitely an illustration of the importance of craft. Taking on so many over-used and stale conventions of a spun-out genre and bringing new life and importance to that same genre, without coming across as spoof or copy-cat takes an immeasurable amount of skill. To make it relevant to both readers inside and outside the genre is just plain awesome. And that's precisely what Kirkman and Walker, and now Ryan Ottley having taken over permanently on pencils, have done here.
Whereas I wouldn't call it "the best...in the universe", I would rank it up there as one of the best superhero comics out there right now for a couple of reasons. First, and probably foremost, this book takes what made the superhero genre the mainstay of comics (that is to say everything good about them) and crams it all into one, slick, shiny, easy to swallow, great-tasting monthly pill. Invincible tackles all (and I do mean all...) the conventions of the superhero comic and not only doesn't get bogged down in them, it brings them new life and reminds us why we read them in the first place!
The character Invincible has powers reminiscent of Superman, personality close to Spiderman, and friends that would at turns feel at home in the pages of the X-Men, the Avengers, the Justice League of America, the Teen Titans or the Superfriends. The books' pacing and action and humor and, most importantly, humanity is reminicient of Jack Kirby and Will Eisner and Stan Lee and all the other legendary creators that made this medium worthwhile in the first place. Kirkman has managed to infuse his writing with a reality and three dimensional quality that seems lacking in many modern "realistic" books that confuse graphic violonce and overall moroseness with actual feeling. And the book gives us all this in a post-postmodern package that is hip and un-embarassing.
While Invincible may take everything good about superhero comics and mold it together, it also strips away much of the bad. For instance, there is no uncontrollable spin-off of titles. One of the things that makes mainstream comics so inane and inaccessible is that you need a frigging TomTom to navigate a given title. I mean how many X-titles and Bat-books can you really have? When I pick up a comic, I don't want to get half-way through and be told that in order to get the full story, I have to go back to the store and hunt down six other issues of six other titles. It's bullshit. Plain and simple. And it pisses people off. If I were new to this medium and I encountered that, I can tell you one thing: I would not only not buy the other six issues, I would never go back. Invincible is one title, one story and though many characters from other titles show up in its pages, it seems usually to be only for a short while to say "hi" and move on.
One of the reasons I stopped reading this back when and have now had to go back and catch up on what's been going on is that early on there were problems (to put it mildly) in getting issues to print. Although billed as a monthly book, I was finding myself waiting for the next issue for months at a time (another thing that would prevent me from ever picking up another comic book if I were a newbie and that I now just accept as part of the business). Thankfully, these timing issues seem to be largely a thing of the past and the back issues are blissfully packaged for you in trades (all named after sitcom titles, interestingly) and can be found at your local comic store http://www.comicbookresources.com/resources/locator/ as found with this trusty little tool.
In summation: for the unitiated among you, especially those of you who just don't get why a thirty-year old will still shell out hard-earned moolah for a flimsy, overpriced pamphlet of pictures about spandex-wearing fantasy-beings, check this out. This book is a reminder of how it once was and why comics, specifically superhero comics, are still around today. For those of you who still shell out that hard earned and know why, check it out, if you haven't already. You'll be surprised to remember just how good a superhero comic can be. I was.
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