Chris Giarrusso always brings an amazing amount of detail to his cartoon-style work, but this recreation of the first issue of Invincible is a personal favorite of mine.
Source. Character owned by Kirkman and Walker.
To be perfectly honest, Invincible 88 is probably the worst comic I have ever read. For the reasons, please follow below.
This comic starts off with an interesting showdown between Allen and Thragg and Oliver and a one eyed alien guy. However, then the randomness of this comic occurs. A bunch of people show up, fight, and two people are fighting on some place that seems to be earth. This issue was not easy to follow in many spots beyond the fact there was a showdown between two groups of people, and then an entire other group of heroes (or villains) show up. In its 88th issue, I am amazed it has lasted that long.
Robert Kirkman does a terrible job of writing this comic. As a reader, his constant use of word balloons is anything but cute, and causes the reader to become bogged down with too much information. Beyond that, it is very difficult to follow the storyline when a bunch of new characters are introduced. A writer should not introduce characters unnecessary to the plot, and he definitely does that here.
Ryan Ottley’s art is great. It keeps the reader on their feet, and constantly surprised me with his dynamism. He is able to deliver great depth of action but also keep the moments of the story important. However, due to Kirkman’s script, there is little of that.
All in all, I am disappointed by this comic. Named Invincible, you would think it would be something great. However, this is an example of a comic that is over-plotted way too much, and needs to scale back its scope quite a lot which is ironic since most comics need to extend their scope. Not this one however…
MAIN STORY: D-.
Once there was a time when comic book information wasn’t readily available on the net. You had to go for news through magazines, and mine was Wizard.
Growing up I lived on the Oregon coast, a very beautiful place to live though it was more than lacking in the comic shop department. The last one in my area also sold pogs so it had been awhile since we had seen one. So to find any information I had one option and that was Wizard magazine, which I came to in 1999.
The only place that sold any comics in the area was the Tillamook Fred Meyer department store, and their selection was limited to a couple of flagship titles from DC and Marvel and a very large grouping of Archie comics. The only way that I was even able to keep up with the happenings of the industry was through Wizard magazine that I could also buy at Fred Meyer. Through Wizard I could find books that I couldn’t get and see about ordering them online (if I had the money that was).
At that time Wizard opened up an entire new world that I didn’t know existed, books like Authority, Ultimate Spider-man, and Invincible was first shown to me in the pages of Wizard and left me wanting to experience them.
New creator names were opened up to me like Bendis, Millar, Johns and Ellis that I continue to follow to this day. Each month I greatly throw down my money to get these hundred plus pages of new information for a novice comic reader such as myself at that time. It even gave tastes of what was to come, I still remember how excited the one page teaser of The Dark Knight Strikes Again (though that was a bust in the end) was when it first came out, or the first announcement of JLA/Avengers I first witnessed in the pages of the magazine.
What I loved about Wizard was it was a mix of new, a bit of history given for upcoming events, and a humor a teen like myself found funny at the time. I loved interviews with creators, histories of the industry and the articles of breaking into the comic field. I continued to read the magazine and the family of titles that spun-off from it into the time I moved out to the Portland area and had a box, by that time comic websites had really started to come onto their own and were really rivaling what Wizard could do and they had no monthly time limit.
It was a shift in their focus that finally killed the title for me as they tried to rebrand themselves a “men’s magazine,” now I never read Wizard for movie news. I had a mix of sites that gave me all the information that I required for that, as well as any comic article they did became a list, which wasn’t why I bought it, I wanted something that the medium of magazine could do best and that to me was long in-depth articles about comics. I started to find these articles through other medium and so I finally dropped the magazine and wished for it’s best.
Today Wizard is all but gone; it lost its presence and has become a relic, as the webs comic news is not limited to monthly deadlines, yet I can’t stop to think about it each time I’m in a store looking at a magazine rack. Wizard was help when I was just returning to the world of comics and I don’t know without it I would be where I am today. So thank you Wizard I hope you work out your kinks and return to the comic world stronger than you were before.
Another year is almost over and I thought I would take a moment to reflect on some of the things that I felt were very good in the world comics.
The new costume isn't perfect, but it's the only flaw to the new Wonder Woman.
Marvel: This year many of the flagship titles didn’t peak my interest like years past, but the secondary titles (or ones that seem to be left on their own) like Daredevil, Venom, and Thunderbolts have been very stellar. Sadly a lot of other great books got cancelled though this should lead to Marvel refocusing and creating some new more interesting books for this next year.
Indie books: No I’m not talking about Indiana Jones (I know, cheap joke); I’m talking about the smaller publisher books that have done very well and that I’ve enjoyed this year. Invincible from Image has been in a bit of a rebuilding mode from their last big event, yet should see big things from it in the upcoming monthes as the last issue shows it going to be exciting.
Another book that was amazing this year was IDW’s Rocketeer Adventures, an anthology book that was so great with works by a wide range of creators: Darwyn Cooke, Mark Waid, Gene Ha, and a list of greats that I could go on all day. Even though we have lost the late Dave Stevens it was nice to see his greatest creation treated so well by IDW and all the creators involved. I hope that they will do another run someday, but for now you can pick up the trade and be very happy.
Film: I was very impressed with Marvel’s film line-up this year especially X-Men: First Class and Captain America: The First Avenger. After Captain America it was hard not to be more hopeful for the upcoming Avengers movie (man to think they are making an Avengers movie is so weird from what they were ten years ago). With Batman as well coming next year it should be an entertaining summer.
Video Games: While we have to wait a year for Batman’s next theatrical adventure, this year saw his return to video game consoles, and man was it worth the wait. Batman Arkham City was more than just a great superhero video game, but was one of the best video games this year period. Every aspect of it was everything that this character should be, and expanded upon Arkham Asylum in everyway. The only thing that I think could match it in the upcoming year is if we see Amazing Spider-man return to the greatness that we haven’t seen since Ultimate Spider-man in 2005.
Television- sadly we lost one comic based tv show with the loss of Human Target, which I found to be pretty entertaining, but Walking Dead is showing that a comic based show could be done well. This next year hopefully we’ll see Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Oeming’s Powers premiere on FX as well as see some progress on a Jessica Jones and Hulk shows through Marvel.
Now don’t read too much into this list, just because something wasn’t mentioned doesn’t mean that I didn’t like it, I just didn’t write it down. Now everyone has opinions so write some down in the comment section and tell us at super powered fiction what you enjoyed this year. May your Holiday season be comic filled and fun.
Kyle Steele is an aspiring comic writer/artist who is currently started working on a new creator owned book that will see publication through some medium in the upcoming year. You can follow him at twitter.com/kylesteele43 and talk about your favorite comic moments from this past year.
I spend a lot of time here focused on Marvel and DC heroes, because well, they are the easiest to find people in great costumes. It is always a pleasant surprise to find a character from another book I enjoy…
Atom Eve is a great character from the pages of Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley’s Invincible for anyone that doesn’t recognize her. This photo originally ran on Comics Alliance, but I was happy to find it on the excellent Women of Comic Book Cosplay tumblr.
Here is more on Atom Eve (via Wikipedia):
Atom Eve was created by the government to be a weapon. At birth, she was switched with a stillborn, and sent home with her birth-parents so as to avoid the government’s seizing of her. She was a prodigy in science and received a scholarship to a prestigious school. Her scientific ability turned out to be an early manifestation of her powers. A man approached her one day, warning Eve that her powers may be her downfall and encouraged her to never to use them again.
Prior to the first issue of Invincible, Atom Eve joins the Teen Team as an after-school superhero. She soon starts a friendship with Invincible after the two meet saving a shipment of video game consoles from a Mauler twin. Eve and Mark are thought by many to be in a romantic relationship, despite their protests that they are “just friends”. After discovering that Rex Splode, her boyfriend, is cheating on her with Dupli-Kate, she resigns from the Teen Team.
As always, all images featured in Cosplay Friday are copyright their respective owners.
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Kindle
(Conceived by; Editor)
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(Story: "Dracula: Half-Life", Editor)
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(Story: "Palladium")
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Kindle
(Story: "Domino Reborn", Editor)
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Kindle
(Story: "Island of Deceit")
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DriveThru $2.99
(Full length novel)
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(Story: "The Invisible Pirates")
Lulu -$12.76 | Amazon -$15.95
Kindle | Smashwords
(Full length novel)
