Thursday, December 20, 2012

Comic Review: Invincible Volume 4


    Man, this series just keeps getting better.  Mark has been having a rough time of it.  School isn’t going well, his girlfriend is drifting away, his dad is probably dead (and that may be a good thing), he keeps getting sent into space, and ultra-powerful forces keep threatening to kill him or the ones he loves.  And maybe I’m just reading into things, but I think Mark is starting to crack, to show more signs of his father’s side than just the super powers.  I think he’s building to a rage explosion, but I’ll have to wait for further volumes to find out.


    I was very happy to see Allen the Alien get some more time in this issue.  I have a feeling he’ll be playing a bigger part in the days to come.  Something crazy is going on with him, and he’s learning some deeper truths about the organization he works for.  Whatever is going on out in space is clearly building to something, with the Viltrumites and…other things.  There’s also that pesky Martian parasite thing.  And it will take key members of the Guardians of the Glob working together to stop their invasion.  And those idiots of the Lizard League are up to no good.  And what about Mark’s new brother and his cute tutor?  Trouble ahead, no doubt.


    Each volume makes me feel more and more bad for Atom Eve.  She may have tremendous power (seriously, her superpowers are amazing), but she just can’t catch a break on the relationship side of things.  It seems like every time she shows up, she gets emotionally traumatized.  Brutal.  One of these days, she’ll find love.  I have a bad feeling it might be with Invincible, and I have a bad feeling Invincible’s loved ones aren’t going to have a good time of it.

Octoboss!...(?)

    I feel like Ryan Ottley’s art has improved over the volumes.  He’s got a good handle on all the characters and along with Kirkman’s scripts seems to be reaching out creatively and exploring new ground, be that with people and environments, or with panel design.  And as always, there’s quite a bit of art in the back of the book, showing different takes on images, con sketches, etc.  Now I kind of want to get an Ottley sketch.



Invincible Ultimate Collection Volume 4
Author: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Ryan Ottley (with coloring by Bill Crabtree)
Publisher: Image Comics
ISBN: 978-1-58240-989-4

-Matt

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