Invincible Re-read - Let's Discuss the Early Issues

Quest Mar-Vell · **Posted:** Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:08 pm

capuga wrote:

impulse wrote:

You know, I never really bought Mark and Amber as genuine or authentic. I went along with it because that's the story we got, but I never some it as truly genuine coupling, like they were both forcing it, you know?

I think the thing for me was that I felt pretty sure from issue 2 onwards that Mark and Eve were going to end up together (and they were much more interesting and had better chemistry as well) so it was hard to really get invested in Amber. Not to mention now that I'm actually commenting on these issues I'm very aware of how little time Mark and Amber actually spend together and how bad and absent of a boyfriend Mark is to her because of his super hero life. They have very little heat or chemistry and I just find their whole relationship kinda forced and awkward. I always felt that Kirkman just threw Amber in as an obstacle to delay the inevitable between Mark and Eve and never really tried to make us care about her and Mark together.

+1

And they mustve changed it for the Collected editions... I re-read the singles

capuga · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 7:59 pm

Issue 19:
- The issue starts out with the short lived relationship between William and Eve coming to an end. It never made a whole lot of sense.
- And then moves quickly into another scene of Mark having to blow off Amber again. Though I’ll never really care about the character, I do find myself feeling bad for her in these issues. Mark pretty much comes off as the worst boyfriend ever for a long stretch of issues.
- Mark teams up with Titan to take on Machine Head. Titan actually makes some good points about how much more dangerous being a hero is than being a villain since the superheroes don’t usually try to kill anybody.
- We’re also introduced to some more recurring villains, the most notable of which is Battle Beast. Machine Head’s introduction of them is amusing but it’s hard to see anyone in a real situation like this taking time out to give introductory background on his team.
- It’s impressive how easily Battle Beast takes out Mark and later Bulletproof and Black Samson. He’s the first non-Viltrumite we see that is at that power level. It’s also funny that he’s just pissed that nobody can offer him a good enough challenge. “Today is not a good day.”
- And we find out that Titan is smarter than we thought as his plan to take over Machine Head’s territory works perfectly.

Thoughts after reading issue 20:
- First page is almost a full page splash of Eve. I think this is the issue that Ryan really starts to nail down her look.
- She tells Mark she’s moving to Africa to use her powers in a more useful way but she chickens out on telling him that she has feelings for him.
- Angstrom tells the Maulers that he’s discovered a dimension where there are no men and he’s going to have some fun. I wonder if this was a little wink to Y the Last Man?
- We get another shot of the running London gag as Mark’s graduation cap finally lands. I wonder if these scenes are as funny when you’re reading in singles and it’s harder to remember where things like the cap came from.
- I love the scene where Mark quickly moves his stuff into the dorm while William’s nagging him. That’s the kind of thing that would make superpowers really nice. Man I hate moving.
- The first appearance of DA Sinclair who will be an important character. We also get another appearance by one of his creations. And Mark “abandons” Amber when the Reaniman attacks. Seriously, from her point of view how does she not dump him?

Beatlover · **Joined:** Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:49 pm **Posts:** 3708

I find Battle Beast really lame and irritating.

Quest Mar-Vell · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 9:18 pm

Beatlover wrote:

I find Battle Beast really lame and irritating.

capuga · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:17 pm

Beatlover wrote:

I find Battle Beast really lame and irritating.

He's definitely a bit one note but he's fun in small doses.

Quest Mar-Vell · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:22 pm

capuga wrote:

Issue 19:
- The issue starts out with the short lived relationship between William and Eve coming to an end. It never made a whole lot of sense.
- And then moves quickly into another scene of Mark having to blow off Amber again. Though I’ll never really care about the character, I do find myself feeling bad for her in these issues. Mark pretty much comes off as the worst boyfriend ever for a long stretch of issues.
- Mark teams up with Titan to take on Machine Head. Titan actually makes some good points about how much more dangerous being a hero is than being a villain since the superheroes don’t usually try to kill anybody.
- We’re also introduced to some more recurring villains, the most notable of which is Battle Beast. Machine Head’s introduction of them is amusing but it’s hard to see anyone in a real situation like this taking time out to give introductory background on his team.
- It’s impressive how easily Battle Beast takes out Mark and later Bulletproof and Black Samson. He’s the first non-Viltrumite we see that is at that power level. It’s also funny that he’s just pissed that nobody can offer him a good enough challenge. “Today is not a good day.”
- And we find out that Titan is smarter than we thought as his plan to take over Machine Head’s territory works perfectly.

I wanna know the back story of Titan and Black Samson... This issue makes me think he may have tried the hero game with Samson and some point.

Quote:

Thoughts after reading issue 20:
- First page is almost a full page splash of Eve. I think this is the issue that Ryan really starts to nail down her look.
- She tells Mark she’s moving to Africa to use her powers in a more useful way but she chickens out on telling him that she has feelings for him.
- Angstrom tells the Maulers that he’s discovered a dimension where there are no men and he’s going to have some fun. I wonder if this was a little wink to Y the Last Man?
- We get another shot of the running London gag as Mark’s graduation cap finally lands. I wonder if these scenes are as funny when you’re reading in singles and it’s harder to remember where things like the cap came from.
- I love the scene where Mark quickly moves his stuff into the dorm while William’s nagging him. That’s the kind of thing that would make superpowers really nice. Man I hate moving.
- The first appearance of DA Sinclair who will be an important character. We also get another appearance by one of his creations. And Mark “abandons” Amber when the Reaniman attacks. Seriously, from her point of view how does she not dump him?

It was mos def a nod to Y: The Last Man... I thought that right away.
And the Sky God's Chosen One is a subplot I still wonder about...

capuga · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:51 pm

Quest Mar-Vell wrote:

I wanna know the back story of Titan and Black Samson... This issue makes me think he may have tried the hero game with Samson and some point.

I'd like to know more about this also. I just re-read the GtG mini last night and Titan calls Samson "old friend". Would love to get more of that story. Maybe they'll touch on it in the new GtG ongoing. Kirkman says the point of having that series is to give these characters more screen time and characterization than they can fit into Invincible. This would be the perfect kind of story to tell in that book.

Quest Mar-Vell · **Posted:** Fri Apr 27, 2012 10:55 pm

capuga wrote:

Quest Mar-Vell wrote:

I wanna know the back story of Titan and Black Samson... This issue makes me think he may have tried the hero game with Samson and some point.

I'd like to know more about this also. I just re-read the GtG mini last night and Titan calls Samson "old friend". Would love to get more of that story. Maybe they'll touch on it in the new GtG ongoing. Kirkman says the point of having that series is to give these characters more screen time and characterization than they can fit into Invincible. This would be the perfect kind of story to tell in that book.

Agreed... hopefully the GTG ongoing lasts

idontshiv · **Posted:** Sat Apr 28, 2012 1:08 am

word!

capuga · **Posted:** Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:37 pm

Thoughts after re-reading issue 21:
- We get the first appearance of the new Darkwing in this issue. I’ve never been able to figure out what the chick on the first page does to get herself killed. She looks kinda like a hooker so I guess that’s it but Darkwing would be even crazier than he seems if that’s enough to kill someone over.
- Bulletproof wakes up and tells Robot that he’s a better leader than the Immortal. I’d have to agree. I’ve never seen anything from Immortal that justifies Cecil thinking he’s so great. He always comes across as a bit of a thoughtless attack dog to me.
- I like Mark giving Darkwing a hard time when he pulls him into the shadow dimension. These flashes of his sense of humor help build up his character more.
- The issue ends with Robot kneeling before a creepy, seemingly evil looking guy. I loved this little twist the first time through. Without knowing what’s going on it makes it seem like Robot might actually be a bad guy. And Kirkman lets this run for awhile and keeps you guessing. A very effective cliffhanger.

Issue 22 thoughts:
- This issue opens with Rick accompanying Mark and William to the movies. Starting to really work him into the supporting cast. I wonder if Kirkman was already planning to make Rick and William a couple by this point.
- And Mark decides to tell Amber the truth but has to jump out the window before he can. I’m actually a bit impressed that she’s able to work the truth out for herself. Sure it seems obvious to us because we see everything unfold, but just looking at things from the knowledge she has, she does a good job at stringing the clues together.
- We get our first look at Eve doing good deeds in Africa. She actually makes a good point. There is plenty of good that you could do with superpowers other than just punching people. And her’s in particular seem better suited to this type of work than combat situations.
- I love how Shapesmith is so scared because he doesn’t have his NASA report done. I guess penalties on Mars are much worse for doing a bad job than just getting fired.
- This issue’s cliffhanger is Rick getting cut up as the first live Reaniman. Kirkman’s got us to care just enough about him at this point to make this a pretty shocking scene.

Thoughts on issue #0:
- The big jumping on point slash recap issue. Very dialogue and exposition heavy. But even though I’ve just re-read all of this stuff I still find that’s it done in an interesting way. It helps to have visuals drawn by Ryan. He and Crabtree have both really hit their stride by this book and the book looks great.
- I wonder if Ryan had to redraw all the old scenes or if he was able to paste in some of the old panels?
- Mark and Amber tell each other “I love you” for the first time. I have to say that that moment feels really unearned. And not just because I’m not a fan of their relationship. It just wasn’t developed that deeply. It started off without much happening and then Mark quickly has his drama with his dad (and he avoids Amber after this for a long time rather than reaching out to her for comfort and support). This is followed almost exclusively by a lot of moments of Mark blowing Amber off because of his superhero duties. The only nice moment in their relationship up till this point is one nice movie date. So I just don’t really feel it or believe it that these two characters actually care that much about each other.
- Issue ends with Mark finally getting some action. Good for him. And I’m sure that he’s glad it wasn’t with the fish queen.

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