When it comes to comics, everyone has different series or creators that they consider the best. Whether or not people agree is simply a matter of preference. For example, I’ve said here before that Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is my favorite comic series of all time, and to lots of people that seems childish. But every once in a while, a series will come by and unanimously be agreed upon as a top tier comic book, whether that’s Ultimate Spider-Man by Brian Michael Bendis, Geoff John’s Green Lantern saga, or even more recently, Scott Snyder’s Absolute Batman, everyone can find something to like in these stories. So with the return of Amazon Prime’s season 4 of Invincible, I decided to go back and read through the original comic series again to remind myself why this book was so monumental.
The obvious thing that stands out about Invincible is the big twist early on, Omni-Man (this world’s Superman clone) is not here to help people, he’s here to conquer once his son develops his powers. Right away that hook can sell just about anyone on the book, there’s a reason it was moved to the first episode in the show rather than kept on the backburner. This seemingly simple idea then blossoms in to something much more complex. Can people change? Are we more nature or nurture? Can we fight against someone we worshipped? All of this is good stuff to me, and that’s because the core two characters, Nolan and Mark Grayson, are both extremely compelling. As the reader, we’re shown Nolan’s savage actions to destabilize Earth, but at the same time, we saw him being a good father to Mark. We know that somewhere in there, is a Viltrumite who’s more human than alien. On the other side of the coin, Mark Grayson is your typical big dreamer teen superhero, so his perspective having been raised completely human rather than as a Viltrumite gives the reader a strong mirror to see themselves in. Mark believes his father can change, we believe Nolan can change, whether or not he can is something that we can’t actually know until one of the last pages of this 144* issue epic.
To me, one thing that really sets Invincible apart from stories by DC or Marvel is that it has no status quo to return to. In a Spider-Man book, we can reasonably assume that Peter will always end up winning, and happy with Mary Jane and Aunt May, be it in 1 issue or 50. But for Invincible, there is no safety net to revert to, if a war kills off dozens of characters, they don’t come back. The heroes don’t have to always win, in fact the culmination of the entire series is that heroes rarely ever actually win. There’s always a price that’s paid, be it thousands of casualties, or sacrificing what makes you good, every character loses, it’s just a matter of who can lose the least. I think this point is highlighted the most in the last 12 issues of the series in the arc dubbed “The End of All Things”. This last 12 issue arc is phenomenal through and through, with it all hinging on taking out former Grand Regent Thragg and his new army of half-breed Viltrumites. Mark has a family now, he’s not simply fighting for himself, and to win he will need to compromise on the standards he once kept as a hero of Earth. He will kill if he needs to, and to quote him: “Being a hero is bullshit”. This arc takes everything from Mark, he loses his brother, he loses his dad, and he loses the Earth. All of this just to show that the world isn’t as black and white as most media tends to portray. Rex Robot conquered Earth, sure, but he objectively made it a better place. Yes people had to die, but that’s the sacrifice you have to make sometimes, sometimes the needs of many outweigh the needs of the few. Mark can’t make that choice, his family matters too much to him, which is why he can’t be a hero.
So what’s the point? Is Invincible just some edgy story that tries to say no one can be good? No, at least I don’t think so. I think the book isn’t trying to take a stand on what’s right or wrong. At the end of the day, Rex Robot was taken out, the war was won. So okay, if it’s not about how the world is all doom and gloom, then really, what’s the point? To me the point of Invincible is simple. Life is beautiful. Growing old is a gift, treasure it and don’t look back on your failures. You’re still here, I’m still here, don’t waste the life you were given because you never know what could happen next.
Have you read Invincible? If so, what was your takeaway?
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