Customer Reviews

Invincible: The Ultimate Collection Volume 1

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Invincible is a fun, clever comic that follows the adventures of the titular character as he comes into his own - finally gaining the same powers that his father has had all his life. Imagine if Superman had a kid who at 17 suddenly developed his powers? How would he react? What would he do? How would it affect his dating life? Following this pretty simple premise in an interesting and somewhat wacky universe is what Invincible is all about. Invincible for me is having the same kind of impact that Buffy did when I first started watching the TV Show - it takes a familiar genre and makes it fun and personal. Highly recommended.

If you are looking for a review of the books contents you can look up my other reviews on the first three invincible trades. This review is based on the construction and extras that this hardcover comes with.

Overall the hardcover is well constructed. It is oversize, and makes the splash pages and fights in these first 13 issues all the more epic. However, the paper isn't the highest quality, but it isn't horrible my only gripe was on a couple of pages the ink was smudged but it was barely noticeable. There is no gutterloss, so you don't have to worry about 2 page spreads or dialogue missing.

The hardcover also contains many pages of sketches, promotional art, covers, unused covers, and a script of the first issue.

If you haven't read invincible I would recommend getting the hardcover over the trades. It is worth your money, and actually you get far more value and bang for your buck. In fact its cheaper to get this hardcover then it is to get the first 3 trades (unless you are buying used). However, if you can get the trades for cheap then you aren't missing much.

Overall I rate this 4 stars.

The past few years of DC and Marvel have been filled with reboots and long, drawn-out, multi-title plots in order to keep readers interested. Image comics has figured out that having a great writer write a great story, and have great artists produce great art is the key to keeping readers engaged.

This is the story of a boy who discovers that he has super powers, but his approach to this discovery is startlingly realistic. I found myself deeply, deeply interested and engaged by the art, plot and the characters. They felt real. How would a high school kid deal with the fact that he is basically a super-man? How would he deal with the fact that his father is too? How would he deal with friends, enemies, love, and betrayal on a super-human level? Kirkman has put a lot of thought into these aspects, and expertly weaves a truly gripping story about this boy, his family and friends.. and enemies. He also cleverly slips in a lot of tongue in cheek jabs at comic cliches, which bring a certain comedic flavour to the story and characters that simply adds more punch to this already fragrant dish of amazing story telling.

The art is fantastic. It's no feat for most modern comic book artists to draw ripped muscles, explosions, spaceships, and the like... But can you portray a face filled with sorrow or confusion? Can you imply artistically the intimate and subtle interactions between people? Can you draw a killer mustache? In the Invincible series, the answer is very clearly YES. Usually when I read a comic book, I tackle the dialogue, then peruse the art for a few seconds, then off to the next page. I frequently found myself flipping back to previous pages to further examine what was going on, not because I was confused or unsure, but because my brain wanted more. Each page turn brings you one step closer to the end... So I would occasionally go back a page or two to extend this amazing artistic experience.

I've bought all the "Invincible: The Ultimate Collection" hardcovers (up to volume 6 as of the writing of this review), and will be buying every single one that comes out in the future.

This is comic book writing and art at its apex. Take notes, future writers and artists! This is how it's done!