Invincible #87 Review
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, 10 January 2012 10:33
- Written by Andrenn
Invincible continues to ride high on a seemingly never-ending success streak. The previous arc was a nice continuation of Nolan and Allen's story and it left off with a huge cliff-hanger. Now we are back to Earth and Kirkman has to continue from there with a huge threat on the way. With Invincible going rogue, can this issue continue the series' winning streak or is this a turn for the worst? Let's find out.
Also, before we start the review I would like to take a moment to say goodbye to the amazingly talented FCO Plascencia. I have praised his coloring plenty times before and sadly last issue was his final one for Invincible as Kirkman made everyone aware in the colors. The talented John Rauch is taking over and he is doing great things. But I just wanted to thank FCO for doing such an amazing job at helping Invincible be one of the best looking comics out there with his amazing colors.
Creative Team
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Ryan Ottley
Inker: Cliff Rathburn
Colors: John Rauch
Story Rating: 9 Outlaws out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Outlaws out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 Outlaws out of 10
Synopsis: Omnipotus returns and threatens Earth again. Meanwhile Mark has to deal with the ramifications of freeing Dinosaurus and making himself a wanted man from Cecil and his Guardians of the Globe. As Mark has to deal with all of that, a threat is arrives on Earth that could wipe out every human on the planet.
Commentary
The Good: Invincible #87 is as near perfection as a comic can get without actually being perfect. It is an excellent read and without hiccup. There is never a point where the story weakens or the artwork has a goof. It may be the best issue of the series since it hit this stride last year. It also is only of the few times a final page hit me that hard.
I know its not the typical thing to do, but I have to talk about that final page first. Without giving it away: HOLY CRAP. Ho. Lee. Crap. Comics rarely shock me nowadays. When there is a big character reveal or death I often shrug my shoulders and am not as blown away as the writer wants me to be. But that final page...it did everything and more that it set out to do.
I can only describe my total reaction as a “geek out.” moment. Where something is so cool or shocking that my inner geek shouts at the top of his lungs with joy that he just saw that. It is a page that even if I could spoil, I would not want to. You just have to see it for yourself and when you do I am certain that you will feel the same amount of weight smack you in the head that I did. This final page could literally change everything we know about the series and who are the good guys and who are the bad guys.
The opening pages with Omnipotus were a fun callback to his character. I had just recently been wondering to myself if Kirkman would ever bring that villain back and do something with him. The issue he was in is one of my favorites so seeing him finally return, despite it being brief, was a nice callback to the long time readers who may be wondering what he was up to.
What Mark has to deal with after he released Dinosaurus is what I was most curious about. How would people close to him react? Would they instantly treat him like a villain now? Is he now just a villain? Kirkman addresses it and he makes sure to keep the characters realistic in how they would react to something like that. It makes for excellent character work and shows that Kirkman is taking these characters places no one else could.
You are really not sure how Invincible is going to deal with the ramifications of what he has done and Kirkman shows that maybe he is not so sure either. Invincible makes a good case for why he did what he did. However, others make a good case that what he did was wrong regardless of how he justifies it. Kirkman is not preaching to the reader and telling who is right in this situation, leaving it to us to decide by the way the characters both make their argument.
Ryan Ottley is back to his A game nowadays with Invincible. There is not a misstep to spot on these pages and the way he captures both the big action and the high tension emotions is done excellently. He does not fail to really make sure that the dialogue matches perfectly with the emotion that he draws the characters with.
John Rauch did some really great coloring on his first couple of issues on Invincible and when I heard he was going to be the new series colorist I got excited. Rauch is a fantastic fit with Ottley's artwork and while his style is different from what FCO brought to the table it still looks great. Invincible continues to have a streak of great colorists.
The Bad: Invincible #87 is not the most new reader friendly issue. While Kirkman does sum up the whole issue with Dinosaurus, you are going to be scratching your head at other things if you are new. Like who Omnipotus is and why the final page is so jaw-droppingly amazing. So it is not the best issue to start reading.
Overall: Invincible #87 is another excellent entry in a series that just gets better with every issue. Whenever I think “That's as good as it gets, there's no way he can top this issue.” Kirkman is quick to prove me wrong and top whatever huge twist or big moment he just did. So while this issue's final page had my jaw on the floor I am not going to be surprised if next month I am telling you all Kirkman somehow outdid himself again.
This issue is a must read that has to be seen to be believed. I can praise it all day but until you read it and see how great the characters are and how huge the final page is, it is just not enough. Invincible is still the best super hero title out there. Doing things that you cannot get from any other comic book. This issue absolutely must have by any long time readers of Invincible.
Invincible