Meanwhile, the Image superhero line produces another debut issue with Invincible.

Teenager Mark Grayson is the son of Omni-Man, Defender of Democracy, the world's leading Superman analogue.  Now Grayson is developing powers of his own and wants to follow in dad's footsteps.  The twist - or at least, the unique selling point - is that while dad has a secret identity, his family know about it, and dad's very enthusiastic about his son going into the family business.  So none of that old "concealing my secret identity" from the family stuff.

The good news is that Mark and his father are both properly fleshed out as characters, and therefore they do qualify as archetypes rather than stereotypes.  As with Robert Kirkman's previous Image superhero work, the book has a clear sense of its own absurdity, and works with it without letting it take over.  Mark has a great costume design - simple, straightforward, and perfectly suited to artist Cory Walker's stark, geometric lines.  He certainly looks the part. 

This entire line has suffered from surprisingly poor orders for the debut issues, particularly considering that the launch got a cover in Previews.  As with Firebreather, this is a very pleasant read, comfortably above average, attractive to look at, with likeable characters.  But it's also located firmly in very familiar territory.  Another scene about a vaguely geekish teenager having to avoid using his powers to fight back at school?  I know it's a classic, but really.

For all its strengths, Invincible isn't all that distinctive - rather, it's a fairly stock idea done quite well.  As was Firebreather.  This line needs something which is going to reach out and grab people, and thus far it hasn't produced one.  Which is a shame, because it looks like being a line of good books, just not ones that stand out enough from the crowd.

Rating: B+

back | continue