Invincible #101-109

There is pretty much no way I will ever drop this title. Maybe there is something Robert Kirkman could do to get me to drop it, but I can’t think of what that might be. Heck, I would have been OK if Bulletproof had taken over as Invincible permanently. After getting a few issues of his subplots, I’m still bummed that we aren’t seeing much of that guy anymore. (Maybe I need to pick up Invincible Universe? Is it any good?)

Part of what makes this book so fascinating is Kirkman’s willingness to shatter the status quo every few issues. After months of foreshadowing, Kirkman finally pulled the trigger on Robot’s turn two months ago. Robot had been my favorite supporting character for a long time, so I basically kept forgiving him each of the suspicious, dangerous decisions that he kept making. I figured he had it covered. That lasted until two months ago when Robot stranded Invincible in an alternate reality. What’s especially nice about this setup is that Kirkman has been very liberal in his use of alternate realities and dimensions. They’ve been appearing in the title since the single digits, and we’ve even seen multiple Invincible’s before, so this is right in line with the established “world” of the book.

Robot was cool about it, at least, leaving Invincible in charge and explaining why he was stranding his friend in a hostile world. I always say that Kirkman has the most reasonable characters in comics, and once again, I totally get why Robot thinks his actions are necessary. The though process turns Robot into an antagonist instead of an ally, but I can see how he got there. I’ll probably still be rooting for the guy in the upcoming face off.

I appreciate Kirman’s use of time too. Invincible spent a year trying to figure out how to get home. A year! Want to know how many comics that year took up? One. Marvel would have done a 10-issue maxi-series and tie ins to tell the story Kirkman knocked out in one month. I appreciate the heck out of that type of economical storytelling. Now we get to see the stuff we WANT to see in the very next issue. Why waste the reader’s time doing anything else? (The answer, of course, is selling more individual issues that accomplish no plot movement.)

Ryan Ottley. That guy is a machine. He has been delivering whatever is asked for years now. Ultra-violence, strong acting, and pin-up shots, he can do it all. His character designs are new, but feel classic even on a first appearance. He is also the ONLY artist in comics that draws super-women with different body shapes. Atom Eve’s zaftig look would never appear in a comic from Marvel or DC.

This would be one of the last comics I would ever drop. Heck, I might like it more than Walking Dead.

SAFE