Invincible #112
6/25/14
Written By: Robert Kirkman
Art By: Ryan Ottley
Grab a tight hold of your buttocks, cuz this here article has been hijacked! Through the much hallowed “Back Alley Shiv Fight” by which all Agents of GUARD disputes are settled, I, Agent Nate, have secured my domination of Agent Pat’s “UNvincible” unto the END of TIME! …which amounts to the rest of this Wednesday. Oh well, before Pat heals and seeks revenge, I’m going to muck up “UNvincible” by reviewing… Invincible #112! (Its kooky, backwards thinking, kids!)
Yes! A comic book that came out LAST month AND I’m one upping this come uppance by bringing up #111! By the time Pat returns, he won’t know what to do with my the mess I made except to Viking Funeral Pyre the whole debacle!
This pic was your last bastion of SPOILER free paragraphs, kids! From here on out stuff’s gonna get mentioned, things are gonna get said, and its No Blood, No Foul. Speaking of blood…
Yep. Yeti’s face is practially Hannibal Lecter’d right off. This is not even a ping on the WTF-o-meter that this issue throws at you. Kirkman is angry. About something. Probably got nothing to do with you. Or me. But there is some revenge dripping from his keyboard as he stabs us through the heart with cold-blooded awesomeness. This whole issue is a monument to the horrors of fantastic plotting and characterization.
What’s truly awe-inspiring, is that after reading this issue, I stopped and took a moment, much like this one:
Yeah, I had to take a sec to look around, because there ain’t one little glance of Invincible in this entire book. Buy it and look for yourself. Go on, I’ll wait… Crazy, right?! Invincible had his first bloody confrontation with Robot in #111, and some fecal matter hit the fan, I’ll tell you what. #112 is the all the crap that happens between Invincible and Robot’s first confrontation and their next showdown, and it is, all at once, riveting, heart-breaking, and inevitable. The funeral dirge of what was left of Robot’s humanity.
What’s so painful and brilliant is that all of these events were hinted at happening. Tiny, blazing road flares were trying to signal onslaught of pain, but we ignored them. Robot was always an overly logical type, wanting order and wavering over the cost. Apparently, spending thousands of years in a world where one is not just an emperor, but almost a god, really did not help one’s sense of morality. Add on top to that a tendency to justify vicious, emotional decisions with supposed cold logic, and you got a dude who sees people as chess pieces.
But hold on, lil’ doggies! Don’t go forgetting the art of Ryan Ottley. This is a man who just keeps getting better. Who else can depict such incredible violence, humor, emotion, and action all in one book? That is a short list of one person, and his name starts with “R” and ends with “yan Ottley.” This issue had, what seemed to me, more splash pages for him to show off in. And show off he did, because #112 ran the gamut of painful. Emotionally and physically. And Ottley handled it all with aplomb.
A great comparison to this issue to past issues of Invincible is the original betrayal of the Guardians of the Globe by Omni-Man. Systematically, and cold-heartedly, murdering each of his friends because of the threat they might pose to the eventual Viltrumite conquest is genius, logical, and absolutely unforgiveable. To this day, Omni-Man can’t even show his face on Earth, and was only redeemed by destroying Viltrum. And for crazy sticklers like me, who aren’t fans of murder by friend, even that redemption is totally debatable. But that’s one of the many strengths of Invincible is the growth and progression of characters. Choices and decisions that you either come back from, or at least pay for in some way.
And Robot has made a hell of a lot of terrible choices.
And god bless ol’ Kirkman for writing them! So not only is this book back at doing what it does best, but its also paving some new paths… of pain. And excellence.