Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable in /home/explor30/public_html/wp-content/plugins/microkids-related-posts/microkids-related-posts.php on line 645
Hello everybody!
This is an intro post to what I hope will be a series of posts related to one of my favourite superhero books around: Invincible!
Invincible TPB #1 Cover
If the only superhero comics you follow are those published by Marvel or DC, there is a big universe of very high quality comics out there. Some of them gained “prime time” exposure with great writing and superb imagery, mainly from the hands of publishers Dark Horse (Sin City, 300, Usagi Yojimbo, Hellboy, among others) and Image Comics (Spawn, Witchblade, The Walking Dead, The Darkness, Invincible… and more).
Invincible is an intense comic superheroic series written by Robert Kirkman (who you may have heard of, since he is also the creator and writer of The Walking Dead, which I also recommend you to read). It has been illustrated mainly by Cory Walker (co-creator) and the great Ryan Ottley.
The first issue of his own series was published in January 2003, and is going strong with issue #95 published just last week. It started about a teenage boy getting superpowers and having to deal with school and responsibility, and has grown into a full-blown universe with lots of supporting characters, mind-shattering plots and twists, drama and action.
Oh, the action. When a super-strong dude (or girl) punches someone in Invincible, bones break and blood is everywhere. Being “heroic” is not an easy thing here. It takes guts, and suddenly dying is very, very possible… as Kirkman shows us with each issue. Here, people can die. Loved ones can die, can be hurt, and sometimes being “invincible” is no help at all…
But also a high selling point (for me at least) is that Kirkman started it and is still the writer. The series has a strong feeling of continuity, of going somewhere (in contrast with other comics where writers stay for half a dozen issues, or a couple years at most). Dead characters help move the plot forward (and stay dead!); and when you recognize a background costume in a newly introduced hero you get a very strong feeling that there is much more going on than the main storyline.
Intrigued? I hope so. Go and get the first TPB; you will not regret it (though your wallet might when you feel the urge to get every issue up to the most recent one).
In this series of posts, I intend to move forward from Issue #1 giving you a synopsis of the issues reviewed. I will also provide datafiles for all the mayor characters involved, at that time of publication, along for ideas for Scenes based on those issues. Since the series tries to continually move forward it sometimes does so in leaps of time and so it is very easy to ask yourself: “What would Atom Eve have been doing all those weeks?” I will present to you ideas about exploring that down time, along with suggestions for running the issues as presented.
So stay tuned… next week: House Rules for running Marvel Heroic Roleplaying in the Invincible Universe!
Disclaimer on images
Images used herein are from the cover or interior of a comic book published by Image Comics. The copyright for this image is most likely owned by either the publisher of the comic or the writer(s) and/or artist(s) which produced the comic Invincible. It is believed that
- the use of low-resolution imagesof the cover of a comic book to illustrate:
- the issue of the comic book in question; or
- the copyrighted comic book character(s) or group(s) on the cover of the issue in question;
- or the use of low-resolution images of a single panel from a comic strip or an interior page of a comic book to illustrate the copyrighted character(s) or group(s) depicted on the excerpted panel in question;
- where no free alternative exists or can be created,
qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law.
Leave a Reply