My apologies to anyone I picked up as a reader thanks to the link from comicbookconventions.com. I’ve had a rather rough week and a half since I posted that painfully long post, and I hadn’t been able to really read anything, watch anything, or post.
Hopefully that will change this weekend, as I’m staying home for the first time in weeks, and relaxing.
Today I went and bought comics at the shop where I do such things (Big Planet Comics in Vienna, Va, if you’re curious, which I wouldn’t be if I weren’t me), and picked up Invincible #43 by Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead) and Ryan Ottley (the artist on “Invincible”… I should do more research). I love this series. I’m not sure what made me pick it up to begin with, but I started reading the trades a while back, and didn’t catch up with the regular book until after the 7th compilation.
Invincible’s the sort of book that you could give to almost anyone, if they were willing to read comics, and they would probably enjoy it if they gave it enough time. At first glance, it’s not really one of those ingenious works like “Watchmen,” which you can use to force anyone to take comics serious. It’s a book that doesn’t seem serious — just fun. A book that lulls you into believe it’s nothing more than a gleeful coming of age story following Superman, written by a Spider-man writer.
And then, out of no where, it hits you across the jaw, and you see that it’s not that. It’s far more complex. Our hero is the teenaged son of a man who has been sent to Earth to take it over, and is posing as the world’s greatest hero. Abraham Lincoln was actually one alias taken up by a Vandal Savage type character who now serves as the world’s second greatest hero. The government is neither evil nor benevolent, just self-serving.
[NOTE: I have become a huge fan of anything that focuses on Abraham Lincoln for no obvious reason. This stems from an episode of the original "Star Trek" I caught for the first time a couple of years ago, which began with "Captain, we're being hailed, by.... Abraham Lincoln." And there he was. I'm sketchy on the details, but I think he ended up fighting Kahless the Klingon Messiah, and Genghis Khan, and winning. This struck me as odd, given that the symptoms of Marfan syndrome, would likely prevent him from engaging in direct physical combat. All the same, at least he wasn't forced to tell them "Party on, dudes!"]
At any rate, last month’s issue of Invincible was a very good jumping on point, and except for the fact that we learned Invincible’s purple half brother is now capable of flying, it wasn’t really that useful of an issue. This issue was clearly a continuation of dealing with the past, and a set up for the future.
I won’t give away the ending, but I will say it made me smile.
Beyond this, I will say that I do not trust Thaddeus, the leader whom Allen the Alien reports to. It’s been revealed in an earlier issue that he is a Viltrumite (the race of conquerors who Invincible’s father comes from), and he’s only willing to share this information with Allen. He’s also now trying to get Invincible to come to see him. It seems suspicious. I’m pretty sure, though, that Kirkman must have something unexpected up his sleeve.