Invincible Vol. 1 Review

 

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis: The first volume of Robert Kirkman’s superhero series focuses on teen Mark Grayson who is just discovering his superpowers and learning to exert them while balancing everyday life.

 

My Thoughts: Judging from my description of the plot alone might make one wheeze at all the cliché cylinders fired. A hormonal adolescent with cool abilities? Check. Parent of alien origins. Check. Random villains appearing to wreak havoc just because – duality? You’ve guessed it folks, double-check!  

 

This should be the point where I usually dispel your preconceptions to show you how this is all a facade for a grander epic that goes against the grain in nearly every other department. However, there isn’t much for me to dispel that would outweigh the derivative aspects of this comic. The volume was entertaining enough to keep me reading through as I did find the backstory behind Mark’s dad (who was supposedly sent from a utopian planet as a protector of the Earth) intriguing in concept and Mark’s quotidian trials were somewhat down-to-earth and believable. Alas, even those qualities felt tropey to some extent and have been dealt with in other works in far superior ways. All that being said, I’ll still continue reading the series since I’ve heard it becomes notoriously dark and deconstructive in later issues. If that is the case, I might reevaluate the volume as some sort of clever backdrop to whatever supposed mindfuckery coming forward.

 

Final Thoughts: Invincible Vol. 1 is a pretty generic beginning aggregating most of the tropes you would expect of a superhero comic. I can’t say whether I’d recommend it until I finish enough issues to give a fairer appraisal.