Invincible

Hey folks,

I wanted to get some posts going under the subject of what I am currently reading. Since I am reading a lot both American comic and manga wise, I thought this would be a good idea to let people see what I am checking out right now and even throw in my two cents on what it is I am reading at the moment. These posts will come at a pretty good rate since I am usually reading something new every few days or so depending on what comes out.

First up though is the American comic series from Image Comics, Invincible. The series is written/created by Walking Dead writer Robert Kirkman and since issue #8, has been drawn by artist Ryan Ottley.

The series is a good mix of action, comedy, and a decent amount of teen angst and drama oddly enough.

Story wise, the series starts of pretty basic with main character, Mark Grayson, finally getting superhero powers in his mid-teens. Mark is the son of the worlds most famous superhero, Omni-Man, so he has been waiting for these powers for some time. After finally getting them, the story really picks up as we see Mark learn how to use his powers, find out where to get a superhero costume, fight some zany badguys, deal with friends who wonder where he keeps going as well as deal with other superheros he runs into.

I don't wanna go into full detail of the story so far since there are a lot of twists and turns that people should read about and not be spoiled to. Kirkman does a great job even setting up side stories that don't come into full effect until many issues later on. Overall though, the writing for the series is very good and despite a few corny moments and some weird heroes and villains. There are some very deep moments in the series as well and things do get a little depressing and sad later on. So despite mainly being a bit of fun and adventurous series, there are some really good serious moments as well that pop up a lot more as the series continues on. But those moments are done with a light hand, so you don't feel totally weighted down when reading them.

In general though, this is just a great series for pretty much any comic book fan out there who loves the idea of superheroes and wants something solid to read that has lots of good humor, some real life issues, as well as a few dark moments. Since Kirkman is going full steam with Walking Dead at the moment, Invincible has been slowing down a bit lately release wise. Thankfully the first 9 books are out right now and easily buyable at any bookstore. So give the series a chance I would say since it will definitely grow on you.

-P. Knight