REVIEW: Invincible #107

Invincible is going to be a father, while Monster Girl tries to come to terms with the years she spent in an alternate dimension and what they’ve done to her relationship.  Will an old foe make both their worries moot?  Your Major Spoilers review awaits!

INVINCIBLE #107
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Ryan Ottley
Colorist: John Rauch
Letterer: Rus Wooton
Editor: Sean Mackiewicz
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99

Previously in Invincible: Mark Grayson is Invincible, a former teen hero trying to regain respect as a grown man.  Seeing as how he teamed up with a super-villain in recent months and was partially responsible for the deaths of millions, and that his father is Omni-Man, the villain who was sent to claim Earth for the alien Viltrumites, it’s an uphill climb.  Now, Mark faces impending fatherhood, as well as growing dangers, and a mysterious Viltrumite has been shadowing him…  All in a day’s work for Invincible!

SO ARE THE DAYS OF OUR LIVES…

Last issue, Doc Seismic (a minor villain with tectonic powers) was captured by persons unknown and shoved into a pool of white-hot magma, seemingly to his death.  This, however, is ‘Invincible’, and things are never that simple, as Seismic rises from the flames as a creature of living volcanic rock (and one with a pretty striking design, at that.  His assault on the world begins now!  Meanwhile, Monster Girl slips into The Pentagon, with a little help from cyborg Donald, to meet her son from the strange compressed timeline she experienced with Robot in the alternate dimension.  Their conversation takes place over nearly four pages, and brings things to a halt as we focus on whether or not the actions Robot took during that centuries-long war have left him irreversibly changed.  Kirkman, as a writer, has a great many strengths, and making these scenes work over the long haul is one of them.  Unfortunately, it can also have the result of making an individual issue feel like a half-heard joke, until the punchline comes three issues down the line.

NOTHING GETS RESOLVED HERE.

Seismic and his would-be suitor Volcanikka, attack the surface world, right on cue, and Robot marshals the Guardians of the Globe to take him out, leading to another big fighty-fighty sequence.  Since this is Invincible’s book, it’s incumbent upon him to take down the rock-monster plaguing New York (which is one of the weaknesses of the plotting of the Kirkman-verse, as the GotG always looks ineffectual in this title.)  Interestingly, before he can strike, another super-type kills the creature without hesitation, leading to the reveal that the Viltrumite woman from last issue wasn’t watching Omni-Man, but Invincible himself.  After the battle, Invincible reveals to his fiancee that he has been preoccupied with the matter of Angstrom Levy, interdimensional nutbar and murderous butt-face, who has a grudge against Mark and his family.  As the issue ends, Mark receives a phone call from Robot, informing him that Levy has been found, and that he can finally take care of him for good.

THE BOTTOM LINE: A BIT LIKE 70’s MARVEL COMICS, FOR GOOD AND FOR ILL…

It seems a bit naive to complain about long-term plotting and character build-up in a Robert Kirkman title, as his books thrive on the building of tension until the necessary massive explosion of violence, but ‘Invincible’ has been on a very odd schedule of late, emphasizing the fact that issue after issue can take place without a lot of overt drama.  This issue picks up on three of our ongoing plotlines, giving us a little bit on each, without wrapping any of them or bringing their drama to a head, which leaves me a bit nonplussed by the end.  Invincible #107 is a nicely crafted run-of-the-mill issue, furthering the ongoing storylines, but feeling like we’re covering the same territory over and over, earning a better-than-average 3 out of 5 stars overall.  Hopefully, a big dramatic story beat is coming that will make the wait worth it, but right now it feels like we’ve been in limbo for a bit too long…