This selection of Issues covers the repercussions of Invincible’s departure from the ranks of the GDA after his altercation with director Cecil Stedman, and also marks a new perspective for Invincible comic-series, since now the young hero is no longer at the government and Global Defense services, here begins the free agent stage.
Also, a new companion, Kid Omni-man, and Invincible´s blue-dark suit are introduced here, so even more bloody and darkest momments of the comic-series are ahead.
I recommend sticking to the reading index that we are following, given that at this point in the core-comic Brit side-comic should have already finished, and this will have ties with the subsequent Issues of the core comics, either with Brit later resumed between the ranks from Guardians of the Globe, or with Mrs Poppers appearing in Issue #60.
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INDEX
- Part 1 covering Tech-Jacket Vol I
- Part 2 covering Invincible #1-#6
- Part X covering Savage Dragon #107 (Spin-off)
- Part 3 covering Brit vol. I & II.
- Part 4 covering Capes Inc.
- Part 5 covering Invincible #7 - #13
- Part 6 covering Tech-Jacket Vol II
- Part 7 covering Invincible #14-#17 & Brit Vol. III (Tie-ins)
- Part 7.5 covering Image Comics Summer Special (Summary)
- Part 8 covering Super-patriot: War on terror
- Part 9 covering Invincible #18-#22 & #0 (Origin) (Origin Issue)
- Part 10 covering Invincible #23 - #29
- Part 11 covering Invincible #30-#34 + Marvel Team Up #14. (Marvel crossover)
- Part 12 covering Invincible #35-#41
- Part 13 covering Savage Dragon #139-#141 (Spin-off)
- Part 14 covering The Astouding Wolf-man #1-#5
- Part 15 covering Brit (2007) #1-#4
- Part 16 covering Invincible #42 - #45
- Part 17 covering Brit #5 - # 6 & Invincible #46 - #47
- Part 18 covering The Astouding Wolf-man #6-#10
- Part 19 covering Brit #7 & Invincible #48-50.
- Part 20 covering Brit #8-#9.
- Part 21 covering Brit #10-#12.
__________Issue 51___________
Commemorating Issue 51 and entering a new stage of Invincible comic-series, the first thing we see is the young hero with Oliver as his partner, both go to Artie, who is making suits.After all, it wouldn’t be a change of tone if the hero didn’t change his outfit.
We see for the first time the blue and black suit, or as I like to call it The cursed suit.
Both brothers answer a call from their mother, who informs them that there is something important happening thay could concern them.
There is an attack coordinated by The Order, so the Titan keep working into assisting Multi-Paul´s jailbreak.
Although both brothers had already fought together a few Issues ago, this is the first time that Invincible & Kid Omni-man team up together suited, and with this we start get to see Oliver’s goal: clear his father’s name.
Although at the beginning of the fight Kursk electrocutes Kid Omni-man, Invincible defeats him and Furnace with a single blow.
Secret rocky mountains, hidden base of Guardians of the Globe.
The crisis of the Prime superheroes team continues, months after the murder of its original members, they still cannot reconcile a stable team.
Right in the middle of the discussion of the only two original members left, Cecil transports himself to the base to not only provide moral support, but also announces modifications to the team’s structure again, welcoming Darkwing II into the team.
Mean while, at Wyoming, one of the many USA Nuclear missile silos -same spot The Lizard League taken a month ago- is under siege, this time, the Mauler Twins assault this place.
Grayson Residence.
Upon arriving at her home, Mark & Oliver interrupt Debbie who was about to have sex on the couch with her boyfriend, who is not surprised by Oliver’s ability to fly or the outfits of both hybrids.
At that same moment, Mark and Oliver discover that they are on television, and that the press is confusing Invincible with a new hero inspired by him, nicknaming him “Invinciboy”.
At the end of the day, Mark and Eve catch up, what they don’t imagine is that some orbs are watching them, and that it is none other than Angstrom Levy, who has all to become Invincible’s first arch villain.
____________Issue 52_____________
Wyoming, USA nuclear missile silos.
The Mauler Twins plan to take over the entire communications infrastructure of the Earth, so they plan to fire one nuclear missile directly into sun in order to create a explosion capable of destroying all the satellites in outer space, and then lauching news reconfigured under their power.
Once they take control of the satellites, they could blackmail the most powerfull nations by paying tribute to themselves if they want to communicate with another nations. Also,they would be able to isolate entere countries or even manipulate and create a war.
When Invincible arrives at the scene, he finds the Guardians of the Globe defeated by some imposing Mauler Twins, which are somewhat reminiscent of those seen in episode 1 of the Amazon series, due to the weapons they use.
As it could not be otherwise, the Maulers do not even bother to fight, they instead proceed to launch the warhead, so Invincible immediately departs into outer space.
The worst happens meanwhile on the silo, since - like was foreshadowed for long time ago- Kid Omni-man does not hold back his strength and kills both Maulers with a single blow.
This is something unprecedented, even the Mauler already defenseless tried to surrended, kinda mocking the hegemonic heroes who usually spare villains lifes and put them in prison, instead of killing them. But Kid-Omniman just kill they both with no hesitation.
In outer space, unable to stop the missile, Invincible chooses to destroy it before it reaches the sun, also the hybrid is seen taking no damage in the impact.
Once Invincible returns to silo, he only spots director Stedman, his current ‘enemy’ talking to his little brother, a thing he warn him not to do.
As soon as he corners the oldman against a wall, soon notices the massacre: the Guardians of the Globe are completely shocked, the Maulers torn to pieces, both dead, the place destroyed and bathed in the villains blood…
Invincible decides to leave, so he orders Oliver to regroup in the sky, out of reach.
The worst part is that Oliver simply can’t get his head into what he just did, and he raises some very interesting questions.
Why do heroes allways spare the bad guys?
How many times had Invincible already fought these villains?
How many more times would he have done it?
What if Omni-man was simply right about the human condition?
Even Invincible sometimes thinks his father was right.
____________Issue 53______________
This Issue serves as bridge, so I will try to take as little as possible from it, which covers only two central aspects:
- Titan continuing his attempt to resolve the conflict of another leader of The Order demanding to release Multi-Paul from Stronghold Pennitentiary.
For his part, Titan fails to free Multi-Paul, just when he is about to try something Invincible intercepts him and they both begin to fight, and the person in charge of carrying out this task is Mister Liu, using the projection of his soul, which is a huge dragon.
This leads to Titan membership being revoked from The Order, so he orders Isotope to return Mr. Liu, his and Multi-Paul’s bodyguard, to his native country, marking the beginning of a major internal conflict leading into a war within The Order factions.
- The reconciliation of Mark and Oliver after the latter murdered the Mauler Twins and said horrible things about the meaning of life.
Things haven’t been going very well since Oliver ‘accidentally’ killed the villains and implied horrible things about what life means, causing frequent arguments with his older brother.
Fortunately, both brothers manage to put the grief behind, and after a little introspection they end up reconciling with a hug, while Levy continues spying on them.
Oliver’s grimace behind his older brother’s back is somewhat sinister. Let us remember that in later arcs this character will denote a certain ambivalence by ‘betraying’ his family, siding in the wrong side.
__________Issue 54______________
Paris, France.
Mark and Eve are dating in Paris, having a dinner away from any hero concern or stuff.Suddenly, the time travelers Fightmaster & Dropkick appear, both asking for the young hero’s help to save the universe.
‘The Future’.
Throughout the comic series, it was the subject of debate whether this is the continuity after the end of the comic, whether this is indeed the scenario where The Immortal breaks bad because of the advice that Rudy’s brain may have given him, but Kirkman confirmed that in the ending of Invincible this was solved.
In this future, a tyrant has lived so many thousands of years that his mind was atrophied and he has changed sides, becoming evil. Invincible asks if this guy is a Viltrumite, but to his surprise it’s something even worse, it’s The Immortal, King Immortal indeed, and it was Mark who left him in charge.
Although King Immortal claims to have done horrible things, such as killing children or innocent people, this does not seem to make Invincible angry enough, as he reacts only after hearing the comments that King Immortal makes about him, referring to eventually Mark He took over as Viltrumite Emperor and left him in charge of the land, but he later became ill.
This makes Mark sick with anger, and with this rage boost he takes the courage to rip off King Immortal’s head. After riping his head off, the hybrid tells the time travelers the correct way to kill The Immortal, so he can stay dead.
After this, the Time-Travelers return Mark instantly at the moment from where they pick him up, so the date with Eve continues uninterruptedly, except that everyone around detects an anomaly, since Mark disappeared and appeared again, from one second to the next, leading the couple to left the place.
They travel around the world in this date, and with a few flashback momments we get to see they confessing their love.
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Deaths:
- The Mauler Twins.
- Killed by: Kid Omni-bman.
In his first fight in a suit, Kid Omni-man does not hold back and ends up killing both villains with a single blow.
- King Immortal.
- Killed by: Invincible. Himself.
Time travelers takes Invincible in to the future. King Immortal himself ask the hybrid to kill him. In a rage fit, Invincible decapitates him and informs the time-travelers how to keep him dead.
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Next reads
- Part 23 covering Invincible #55 - #57 & The Astouding Wolfman #11 (Tie-ins).
- Part 24 covering Noble Causes #37 (Spin-off).
- Part 25 covering The Astouding Wolfman #12 - #15 & Invincible #58 & 59.
- Part 26 covering The Invincible War. #60 - The Astouding Wolfman #16 TechJacket TPB2 Vol III.
- Part 27 covering Invincible #61-#65
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Curiosities
- It seems that Mark likes more colorful outfits, for example at first he likes Oliver’s outfit more than his own.
- Kursk refers to Kid Omni-man as ‘Raining boy’.
- Invincible defeats two villains in a single blow, showing how much his strenght has increased.
- Eve moves back into her parents’ house.
- Mark is surprised by the pace at which Oliver is developing his super-powers; in less than a year he has developed and improved them substantially.
- The Mauler Twins, who are extremely intelligent, are reluctant to be compared to The Lizard Leauge, whom they consider to be Morons.
- The only cliché moment of the Maulers is when one wants to surrender in order not to be killed, completely mocking the goodness of superheroes.
- Oliver refers to Cecil as creepy scar guy.
- This is the second time we see Mark angry at Debbie 'cause she tells others about his alter-ego.
- Also Mark moves into his house again, and William moves in with Rick Shediran.
- First hints of Mark’s future as Emperor of the Viltrumite Empire.
I also thought of a great thing they could do with the title card when they get to this suit. Maybe it breaks and it rebrands itself like how the comic did with “The All All Awesome” at the top. Maybe a character could even say it before they say Invincible.
You know what? That sounds like a good idea, I like it. Good catch.