Back Issues: "Invincible" #14-24Hey there, Trash Muties! Not too long ago, I talked about the first 13 issues of the creator-owned superhero comic book series Invincible, from Image Comics, written by Robert Kirkman, and drawn by Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley. Today, I’ll be talking about another huge chunk of the series, issues 14-24, and the Free Comic Book Day issue of 2004, all collected in the second Ultimate Collection. These issues are still written by Kirkman, with art chores by Ottley.
But then when it got past issue 13, Kirkman says he felt confident that the series would last as long as he wanted it to (and since the series is still going on as of me writing this thing, I think it’s safe to say he was right). So Kirkman got comfortable and started introducing more subplots that he wanted to pay off waaaaaaaaaayyyyy down the line. Introducing so many plot lines, combined with the slow pace of the series, really didn’t do this chunk of issues any favors. Now in the first 13 issues, I said that the slow pace wasn’t a problem, because it allowed us to get to know the cast, become comfortable with the status quo, and be effectively surprised when everything hits the fan. But by this point, that is no longer an excuse for such glacial pacing. In the span of these 11 issues, we get a prolonged origin story for Angstrom Levy, a dude who can teleport to other dimensions, and wants to combine his intelligence with his alternate reality counterparts, and things go wrong, turning him into a supervillain by the end of this run of issues. This subplot is introduced in issue 16 and is concluded in issue 24. That’s a lot of issues for a dude to become a mutated brain monster and want to swear revenge. It takes roughly 1 and a half issues for Mark to graduate, which is really tedious, because Mark’s non-superhero stuff really shouldn’t take up more screen time than his superhero stuff. Issue 18 sets up some stuff with the Martian species which won’t even be followed up on until issues 38 and 39. Issue 19 sets up a new super-powered mobster who won’t show up at all until issue 47. Issue 20 is about 80 percent Mark’s personal life stuff, and then he fights a robot, which is a subplot that gets resolved in issues 36 and 37. Issue 21, Mark fights a sidekick to one of the Justice League knock-offs who were killed off in issue 7, and that doesn’t become important until issue 49. Issue 23 is actually the most important issue in this collection, because it follows up on the Viltrumites, the alien species that Mark’s dad is a part of, who are still planning to come to Earth eventually. 
While I do realize that most of the subplots introduced in this chunk of issues are important, it certainly doesn’t feel that way when you’re reading them. Kirkman went from a series that was very easy to keep up with, with a manageable cast of characters, to suddenly juggling so many characters and subplots, that any one of the subplots he introduced would take a minimum of 8 issues to resolve. This is like going from learning to ride a bicycle to riding a unicycle and juggling 8 balls within the span of a week. Imagine watching the first half hour of the Lord of the Rings, and then the rest of the movie is the Fellowship fighting monsters that have nothing to do with Sauron and his plot to destroy the world. The stories the Fellowship are part of might be fun and enjoyable, but when you tease this huge evil threat and then you don’t do anything with that evil threat, it can get tedious. That’s where I was with these issues. Even though many of these subplots do come back into play and are not just fat that needs to be trimmed, going through so many subplots that all take forever to pay off is not enjoyable. And I’m a huge fan of Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men run. Claremont built his 16 year tenure on that title on long-running subplots. But the key was that he would keep it manageable. Introduce a new subplot as he tidied up an old one. Some might take longer than others, but as long as it’s not 5 or 6 subplots that all take 20 issues to finish up, then things were good. Overall, this volume is a huge step down from volume 1. But if you liked volume 1, and you had a desire to keep reading this series, don’t let this get you down. Even though I really don’t recommend these issues, at the same time, I can’t recommend that you don’t read them if you are wanting to proceed with the rest of the series. It’s an uncomfortable phase this book had to go through, I guess, if it wanted to get to a place where it started doing what Kirkman wanted it to do. So soldier on, Trash Muties, and if you dug what I had to say here, look out for another Back Issue installment in a few weeks, when I’ll talk about the next group of issues from Invincible! In the meantime, keep it trashy! 
|
|
|
Social Trash Mutant |
|
Friendly & associated sites
|
© 2012-2020 TRASH MUTANT. All rights reserved. Some materials used are © their respective copyright owners.
