The "Invincible" Series is Here, Is It Unstoppable?
- Vega
- Mar 26, 2021
- 6 min read
Platform: Prime Video
Release Date: March 26, 2021
Considered by many to be the best non-Marvel/DC superhero comic series, Invincible #1 debuted in 2003 and was created by Robert Kirkman and Corey Walker under Image Comics. The series would carry on for 15 years before seeing its story end in 2018 with issue #144, of which I have read about 25 issues. In my experience with the comic, it is very good, and my favorite part about it is how easy of a read it is. For someone who has trouble reading (not with understanding words, but with attention span and passing out), what I read of the series was a breeze to get through. Also, the art is really clean and simple, almost feeling like it should be geared for a much younger audience, until you get to the bloody violence. Invincible really shed a light on how integral keeping the same writer can be for a story, with a flawless consistency in tone and writing, as well as in the overarching story. What I really enjoyed about what I had read up to was that the story never got to convoluted and was always easy to follow, even when returning to the story after weeks of not reading. Now, that brings us to the upcoming animated adaptation at Amazon Studios.
Upon watching the official trailer (above), it is clear how faithful this series will be to the source material. I have only read about 18% of the comic series and that was sometime last summer, yet I can distinctly remember much of the trailer happening in the comics, from visuals to dialogue. A direct adaptation will be good or bad depending on who you ask, but I think what stands out the most with this adaptation is the voice cast. As I scrolled down the list, I got 25 actors deep and was STILL recognizing people, and not from little known properties. Not surprising, with Robert Kirkman serving as an EP, there are a good handful of Walking Dead actors present in the cast. You will hear the likes Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, Mark Hamill, Seth Rogen, Gillian Jacobs, Zazie Beetz, Zachary Quinto, Lauren Cohan, Michael Cudlitz, Ross Marquand, Mahershala Ali, Ezra Miller, Jon Hamm, and many more. Equally as exciting as this animated series is the fact that the movie adaptation being headed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, with Robert Kirkman involved, is still being planned. So I really hope that this series impresses and gets a large enough positive response to help push along the film adaptation. The first three episodes are set to release on March 26, 2021 and the review will immediately follow below.
As great as the cliffhanger at the end of the first episode was, I am glad Amazon gifted us the first three episodes of the series on the first day. If you have read any of my other TV reviews, you know how much I live by the "3-episode rule", so I needed all of these episodes to formulate a well-rounded opinion. Overall, these were really good episodes that established the various roles of superheroes in this world, sets up the primary plot line and pseudo-mystery by the end of the first episode, and does a decent job at fleshing out Mark (Invincible) as the main character. I'll talk a little about the comic comparisons towards the end, but how consistent a show/movie stays with its source material has no bearing on its quality as an adaptation. What I really like about the show, thus far, is how clean of a storyline it follows. A great number of comic adaptations end up falling on the blade of trying to include too much plot and end up with convoluted and, sometimes, incoherent stories. Invincible keeps a lot centered on the pending family drama within the Grayson household, while still allowing time to develop a couple of side plots.
Graphically, I still feel like the word "clean" is the best way to describe the style in which the show presents. The colors are neither too dull nor overly vibrant, the lines are clean and while there is shading, it is not overwhelmingly trying to create a realistic appearance. It maintains that "pulled straight out of a comic panel" feel. Of course, as alluded to earlier, the voice cast has just been phenomenal, with Jason Mantzoukas' Rex Splode being an unexpected stand-out (his shifts in voice inflection bring a lot to his comedy). The show appears to be nearly as gratuitous with blood shed as the comic was, with some eyebrow raising graphic imagery that, if you were not already aware, moves this series far from child-friendly. Unless you are ready to have THE talk with your child, you know, the one where you have to explain beheadings and bulging eye-balls, than I'd wait till nap time to catch this one.
It is not difficult to see some of the parallels of this story with that of other established comic characters. Mark is a Spider-Man like character who is coming into his powers and is trying to learn how to balance his personal life with his hero life. His father, Omni-Man, has a Superman-like origin, coming from a different planet, calling Earth home, and acting as one of the planet's protectors. Of course, the main plot here is the slow burn of uncovering Omni-Man's true intentions and how his family will react that. The main sub-plot being Mark establishing himself as his own hero and while we are not at the point where we see how the revelation about his father will impact him, the show has set up Mark's personality to where a villainous father will clearly cause some identity issues.
It is inevitable that the series be compared to its source material, and based on following just the main plot, episode 3 takes us through the beginning of issue 10 out of 144. Needless to say, this 8 episodes season will NOT provide the entire story and will have room for future seasons should it be received well. No, the show does NOT directly follow the comic, in case you were oddly expecting something so unlikely. There are a lot of side plots and villain altercations that occur in the first 10 issues, most of which are cut out of the animated series. But the show keeps the most important aspects, which is one way for an adaptation to successfully keep itself from becoming overly convoluted. There is every difference imaginable between the two Invincible mediums: some things are more visually fleshed out, some aspects of the story occur sooner than normal, characters are not necessarily the same race/ethnicity, and absolutely none of this matters to enjoy the show. If you want the more fleshed out version of this story, the comics are readily available for your enjoyment. I will say, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the first interaction between Rex Splode and Monster Girl in the show much more than in the comic.
I think as with most book to screen adaptations, if you have read the source material, there is likely to be some resentment/disappointment knowing that there is a lot left out of the series. Again, that is not a mark against the show, just a praise for the comic. There is still a lot left to enjoy, regardless, especially when the character are given a voice that you do not have to make up in your head. For those that have not read the comics, you will also enjoy this more mature animated series for both the story and the graphics, but I would still recommend reading the comics after the season/series is over. Something I will likely do, since I've only read about 25 issues, is to try and keep up with the show in the comics at the end of each season. That is, of course, if they stay close enough to recognize where they are in the comics, which these first few episodes appear to indicate they will try to do. This is definitely a series worth keeping up with for the interesting characters, the mature (and immature) superhero drama, and for the violence it portrays without being a violent show (if that makes sense).
Comments