I’ve been reading Robert Kirkman’s Invincible for years, and I’ve come to prefer current artist Ryan Ottley more than series co-creator Cory Walker, but damn! You gotta show some respect when the guy can return to the book for two-issues and put out gorgeous art like this!
Now, this is awesome for a few reasons…
First, it features Allen the Alien, who is probably in my top five comic characters of all time. I don’t care if you’ve got 70 years of DC or Marvel comics history to back you up, something about a hulking, one-eyed, smiley alien is just pure and fun and epitomizes one of the reasons I still love superhero comics. So, yeah, he makes my top five (more on this later, maybe).
Second, while I’ve been a big fan of Invincible for a long while, the book hasn’t been grabbing me like it used to, save the last time I got extremely excited about this book with November’s Allen the Alien and Omni-Man-centric issue #55! As I said back in Wizard Universe’s Thursday Morning Quarterback review column that chilly, November week:
“When an issue kicks off with Mark Grayson (Invincible) and Atom Eve getting clothes-less and cuddly, you know what that means, right?! No, not sex! Well, yes…sex…but more importantly, an issue of Invincible starring the greatest comic character since sliced bread: Allen the Alien! As a diehard Invincible fan, I have to confess that little purple kids murdering people and lovey-dovey Mark and Eve haven’t held my interest much over the past couple issues. However, take me to space and show me my favorite character in the book (Allen the mutha-lovin’ alien!) teaming up with Omni-Man for an epic prison break story where the duo crushes a Viltrumite’s head like a mustachioed grape…yeah, I’m back in, big-time! Seriously, issues like this are why I fell in love with this book—this is Invincible at it’s best! Oh, and Battle Beast returns this ish! Battle Beast! Now, seriously, when do we get the Allen the Alien/Battle Beast Invincible Team-Up ongoing?”
So, rounding out that second point, I love this duo of Allen and Nolan (Omni-Man) and the promise of more is just f–king fantastic!
Thirdly, this book is at its best for me (of late, at least) when it is dropping tidbits or major points about the inevitable conflict with the Viltrumites, so a two-parter that sets the scene for that and features my main men…yeah, I am pretty excited for these two issue!
