Scott's Take: Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 4 by Robert Kirkman

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 4 the mission to Mars complete in Volume 2 has ramifications and consequences in this book. Additionally, humanity continues to prepare for the Viltrumite invasion while Mark's half-brother Oliver continues to grow at an accelerate rate. Mark also has girl problems, decisions to make in his regular life, and more villains to face. Building off of the previous volume, Mark has to decide what he wants and what is priorities are.

 

Action packed and interesting, the read suffers a little bit due to the fact that the focus is so much on Mark. The supporting cast continues to not get as much development as they should due to the Mark heavy focus. That means that some moments are not as intense or as strong as they should be. Also, a couple of Mark's insults do not age well now here in the real world. Asking an alien that can not speak English well “if he is retarded” or calling someone else “gay” for what he wears is not really appropriate.   

 

Once again, some future plot points are seeded in this volume in order to set up things in the future. One character in particular makes an incredibly stupid decision that is out of character for him. A decision so monumentally out of character and stupid so the reader knows that it will backfire.

 

Despite the flaws in the read, I still recommend Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 4 as well as the series. As always, these books need to be read in order as they build on each other.

 

My reviews of the first volume, the second, and the third in this very entertaining series. Looking forward to the future volumes in the series. 

 

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 3

Robert Kirkman

https://imagecomics.com/creators/robert-kirkman

Image Comics

https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/invincible

April 2009

ISBN#: 978-1-58240-989-4

Hardback

336 Pages 

 

My reading copy came from the Lochwood Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

  

Scott A. Tipple ©2021

Scott's Take: Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 3 by Robert Kirkman

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 3 by Robert Kirkman signals the return of Omni Man and ultimately leads to events that will dramatically shape Mark. His father is back, but what does he want? The threats in this volume are the aftereffects of events in the previous volumes. Mark is forced to understand that being strong on the Earth does not mean as much off world with stronger beings. Mark needs to be better if he is going to face the new challenges in his life.

 

If you enjoyed the previous volumes, you would love this volume. I like that they ramped up the pace from the previous volume. What Mark does in this book will affect his life forever. It will be exciting to see where life goes from here for Mark. A book of change that continues the tradition of plenty of action, great writing, and interesting villains. 

 

My review of the first volume and the second in this very entertaining series.

 

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 3

Robert Kirkman

https://imagecomics.com/creators/robert-kirkman

Image Comics

https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/invincible

August 2007

ISBN#: 978-1-58240-783-0

Hardback

336 Pages 

 

My reading copy came from the Lochwood Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.

  

Scott A. Tipple ©2021

Scott's Take: Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 2 by Robert Kirkman

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 2 by Robert Kirkman is the second volume in the series collecting 14-24 plus a couple of extra treats. This is the second volume in the series that began with Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 1.  After the events of the first book, Invincible is trying to collect the pieces of his life as he transitions in this volume from his last year in high school to his first year in college among other major life changes. This means that Invincible had to cope with major changes in his personal life as well as facing various threats such as different super villains and nasty alien invaders. He teams up with various heroes and continues to grow as a person. Several future villains are developed to cause him problems in the future.

 

His supporting cast has to deal with the changes in their lives as well as the world adjusts to the loss of the various heroes in the first book. The younger heroes have to step up and fill the shoes of legends and take the heavy mantle of protecting our planet. Most of them are not ready for such responsibility, but none of them have an actual choice in the matter. They are not really ready to protect the earth in so many ways as becomes clear, but they are who is left.

 

This volume is basically a transition tale about adjusting and dealing with change. Growing into your new role and becoming an adult is a theme throughout the book.

 

As was the first book, the overall read is violent and action packed at points, but there also a lot of character development since mist of the characters that return in the second book are going through a lot of personal change. This series remains a read that is not for children as addiction and alcoholism is present as well as the fact that several characters suffer gruesome injuries such as disembowelment, eye damage, and other things. Many folks die in this book and those deaths often do not happen off the page.  If you read and enjoyed the first volume, you will probably also enjoy this read.

 

This volume is a slower paced read that is more focused on character growth and setup for the future, but there is plenty of action at various points. This volume also includes plenty of extras where the writer and illustrators show off parts of their work and other treats that make the read well worth your time.

 

  

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 2

Robert Kirkman

https://imagecomics.com/creators/robert-kirkman

Image Comics

https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/invincible

April 2017

ISBN#: 978-1-58240-594-0

Hardback

352 Pages 

 

My reading copy came from the Lochwood of the Dallas Public Library System.

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2021

Scott's Take: Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 1 by Robert Kirkman

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 1 by Robert Kirkman collects the first 13 issues along with extra from this series which is being adapted for release on Amazon as an animated series later this year. The series has also been purchased by Amazon to adapt as a live action movie separate from the animated television series. Robert Kirkman who is most famous for creating the comic book horror series The Walking Dead launched the TV show. Instead of writing another horror series, he created his own Superhero Universe through 144 issues and numerous tie in titles. It was one of their most successful titles published by Image.

 

Being an Image Comic allows more leeway than a DC title or a Marvel title would allow. A typical DC or Marvel comic expects more than one writer to write the character over time. Therefore, major changes are not allowed to happen that unravel or break the status quo of the universe. Often a writer with those publishers comments about “putting the toys back in the toy box” for the next writer. Meaning, for example, that characters can’t stay dead or if a bad guy becomes good he has to eventually return back to evil. It is expected that the character will be used again and therefore had to be returned to the original status quo. 

Since this is Robert Kirkman’s creation, if he kills off a character, they stay dead. Changes can and often are permanent and there are definite end points. This also means the writer working in this universe can just tell the story in their vision and not have to set up any return to the status quo. For example, in this universe, a character stays dead unlike elsewhere that the reader knows the death of Batman is temporary. This can be used by a good writer to make things more interesting.

 

This book collects the comics that covered the origin of Mark Grayson who is the hero known as Invincible. He is a typical teenager except for his major secret. His Dad is Omni-Man. Omni-Man is the most powerful hero in this universe and considered the paragon of what a hero should be. Mark Grayson is developing powers of his own and wishes to become a hero in his own right. He is still in high school but thinks he can find a balance between being a hero and a teenager.

 

While this does not sound like the most interesting storyline ever, there is a major twist that makes the story very different than what many readers expected and caused the series to be incredibly so successful. That twist is one of the main reasons that Amazon bought the rights to this series. That twist also comes to play in the last few issues and turns things far more violent and more of an adult story. In the comic book community, it is widely accepted that this is a series that gets better as it goes. That was also my experience here with Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 1 by Robert Kirkman.

 

The sequel, Invincible: Ultimate Collection, Volume 2, is here in my TBR pile from the library.

 

 

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection, Volume 1

Robert Kirkman

https://imagecomics.com/creators/robert-kirkman

Image Comics

https://store.skybound.com/products/invincible-ultimate-hardcover-vol-1-invincible-issues-1-12

2008

ISBN#: 978-1582405001

Hardback

400 Pages  

 

My reading copy came from the Hampton-Illinois Branch of the Dallas Public Library System. 

 

Scott A. Tipple ©2021