Review: Invincible #54

It’s your kids, Marty!  Something has to be done about your kids!

If you’ve been following my reviews for a while, you know I love stories involving time travel.  There’s something about being in time well past your years and seeing how far we, as a society, have come.  Jumping on a cosmic treadmill, hopping in a DeLorean, tripping around in a time sphere, or using a time jumping scooter would be the ultimate in doing what you want, when you want.  But what of those other time travelers?  Those that don’t jump in time, but live through it, would that be the life you would want to lead?

I have often wondered about the Immortal.  As someone who’s been the President of the United States, a Knight of the Round Table, a discoverer of North America, and a super hero, you’d think life would be pretty great.  Unless his dissected body parts were kept away from one another (locked in a box or something), he’ll always return from the dead to continue where he left off.

There’s probably a dark side to being immortal; the burden of seeing your loved ones die, having your wealth rise and fall, making sure your head doesn’t get chopped off, and potentially not caring about anyone anymore.  You might even want to end it all by instigating some kind of revolt to get the masses to rise up and end it for you once and for all.

That’s exactly what happens to the Immortal in the future, and it takes a time traveling Mark Grayson to fix the problem.  It’s a sad story when you think about it, begging someone to kill you just so you don’t have to live anymore.  As awesome as it might be to be someone who can’t die, I ended up feeling pity for the character as his life was taken from him for probably the last time (providing the Futurians can keep those body parts separated).

I have no idea how far in the future Robert Kirkman has plotted his story points, but if the hints and drops scattered throughout this issue are any indication, things for Mark will never get better, and he may end up turning into the very person he is trying so desperately not to become.  At least Kirkman gives the hero a happy-for-the-moment ending that is as sappy (in a good way) as time travel is trippy.

Invincible #54 is a done-in-one issue.  While this makes for a great story that anyone can pick up and enjoy, I kind of wish this had been a two or three issue story, giving Mark a chance to explore the future more.  Perhaps that is exactly what Kirkman is trying to avoid, as Grayson’s time traveling buddies point out it’s not good to know too much about your future.

Looking at the cover, you almost wouldn’t guess it’s Ryan Ottley doing the work.  There appears to be a flavor of John Bryne hanging about.  Other than that, the pencil work is as good as it always is.  However, I’m surprised FCO Plascencia didn’t do a little something different with the colors in this issue. The story starts in Paris full of red and golden hues, making for a romantic moment for Eve and Mark.  As bad as the Futurians (that’s the name I’m using) make the future out to be, I would have expected a color shift to the cooler palette, or at least had a darker feel to the future that could be.

Overall, another decent issue.  Invincible has become one of those titles that is on the top of my reading stack, and often pushes some of the other titles from my more well liked publishers aside.  I know Robert Kirkman is just one man, and I know readers dig his Walking Dead and Astounding Wolf-Man, but I would really love to see a solid Invincible story that was published as a weekly series.  Call me crazy, that’s just how I feel.  Invincible #54 is good enough to earn 3 out of 5 Stars.

Pencils via At Ryan Ottley

21/21