Written by Guest Contributor: Jordan North The Grayson’s just can’t catch a break. How do you know something terrible is about to happen in “the greatest superhero comic in the universe?” Easy. Somebody is happy. That said it was a brilliant move to have a villain who takes such despicable actions later in the issue, be introduced in such a breezy and silly manner.
Angstrom Levy splashes into the picture spread across a few panels in which he simply takes a nice jog on a sunny day, greets his robot pals and just all around drinks in the sunshine. And then he... spends the rest of it plotting murder I guess, we don’t see that part, but he looks nice enough sipping his coffee in the living room. Yes everything, down to spitting that coffee out at the newspaper upon reading the revelation that his arch nemesis Invincible is alive, sets this character up as a mischievous albeit lovable tramp that just happens to square off with masked heroes sometimes. Until he, you know, strangles and drops his enemy’s pregnant girlfriend and sends him to an alternate dimension where he’s a cannibal. Man, hero work would be a real bitch.
We get a great moment in the car with Eve who, unable to use her powers for the baby’s sake must hunker into an old pickup and get from A to B in the old fashioned way which is funny. If you feel frustrated in the after work drag imagine how much worse that must be when there’s really nothing (well the baby) stopping you from up and flying to wherever in a minute or two. Frustrating indeed.
More highlights come from Nolan Grayson’s conversation with a now imprisoned General Kregg who insists that he be killed or released or the rest of The Vitramites would conspire a mutiny and Nolan`s kool-guy response that things are different now. There’s also an interesting bit where Rex, fresh off from saving the planet from Dinosaurus watches P.O.'ed as Invincible, the guy who brought the menace around the populace in the first place, takes all the credit.
Accenting everything is stellar art and color work by Ryan Ottley and John Raunch who really do their respective parts in making the characters and action look visceral and in your face as well as making the color stand out as if it was done by a demented ex-Pixar guy. Invincible, as always, looks great (particularly Eve who’s got curves for days. Shades of Topanga. Swoon). And Kirkman is Kirkman, you know the drill. Awesome stuff. As tongue and cheek as the header of best hero comic in the universe is, after reading a few issues of Invincible it`s hard to disagree, at the very least, that it`s up there.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Artist: Ryan Ottley
Publisher: Skybound and Image Comics
Price: $2.99
Release Date: 6/19/13