Here is the latest in our year-long look at one cool comic (whether it be a self-contained work, an ongoing comic or a run on a long-running title that featured multiple creative teams on it over the years) a day (in no particular order whatsoever)! Here's the archive of the moments posted so far!
Today we take a look at an odd series of Invincible issues, in that it is a six-issue arc, but it takes place in two separate trades, so it is Invincible Vol. 2: Eight is Enough AND Invincible Vol. 3: Perfect Strangers, but not all of both of those trades - so we're looking at Invincible #7-12, with art by Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley and a whole mess of guest artists on one of the issues - all written by Robert Kirkman.
Enjoy!
Okay, so Invincible #1-6 told the story of Mark Grayson, a teenager who discovers that he has inherited superpowers from his father, who is Omni-Man, likely the most famous and most powerful superhero on Earth (think Superman). So Mark gets a costume and a codename (Invincible, natch) and fights crime for the next few issues.
It was a strong comic book - interesting supporting characters (the other young heroes that Mark ends up teaming up with, including Atom Eve and Rex Splode) and fun superhero adventure stories with awesome artwork by Cory Walker.
Well, with issue #7, Cory Walker was on his way out and Ryan Ottley was stepping into the role of the book's artist (and Ottley is still there years later, doing an awesome job himself) and the issue was a spotlight on the Guardians of the Globe, the premier superhero team in the Invincible universe.
A series of guest-artists accompanied Walker on his final issue, introducing us to the members of the Guardians, who were mostly Justice League riffs, like Batman...
Wonder Woman....
Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern...
plus an original character that Kirkman and Walker had featured in Invincible before - the Immortal. But when they all gathered together at their headquarters, they learned that it was a trap and, well, the following happened...
and yep, that is Omni-man, Invincible's father!!
What a twist to send Walker out on!
The next few issues had that scene hovering over the book like a dangling scythe, as Omni-Man kept trying to find the right time to tell his son something (what, we didn't know)...like in #9...
and early in issue #10...
but finally, when the Immortal was revived in Invincible #10 (he IS Immortal, after all), he sought his revenge and the time to talk was sort of forced on Omni-Man...
The next issue had Omni-Man explain to Mark that he was sent by his alien planet to prime Earth for invasion by his race of conquering aliens. He said that Mark, as his half-alien son, should join him. Mark differed on this position...
This set up the brilliant Invincible #12, where the two have a fight that goes about as well as you would imagine, say, Superboy taking on Superman.
But I won't spoil it for you here (although, yes, alert fans can find the fight elsewhere on this here blog) - go get these stories! There is a hardcover collecting the first 12 issues. Go get it!