Written by Robert Kirkman
Illustrated by Ryan Ottley
THE VILTRUMITE WAR CONTINUES!
The dust is settling, the war is over… but nothing will ever be the same. Mark and Eve, Nolan and Debbie are reunited, but the Viltrumites have… well… you’ll just have to read the book to find out.
As the longest running arc in Invincible history comes to a close, the ending is not quite what you would expect from traditional super heroic fare, but works very well inside Kirkman’s bag of tricks. Click on down for some mostly coherent musings.
While this issue is being billed as a part of the ongoing saga of The Viltrumite War, it feels and reads a lot more like a post-game breakdown or epilogue rather than a major part of the tale. The story opens immediately following last issue’s mindblowing ending, as Nolan and Mark solidify their deal to allow the few remaining Viltrumite’s to live in hiding on Earth, slowly rebuilding their empire with the help of highly compatible human DNA. This is the part of the story that really veers away from the traditional super hero tropes as, yes, Invincible does save the day but does so in such a way that could, and most likely will, lead to genocide somewhere down the road. Not letting a crook get away to kill one person that happens to be your relative, allowing a super strong alien race who’s planet was just destroyed (by you) reproduce and rebuild their strength right under your nose. Needless to say, the stakes are a lot higher here than usual super-fans are used to seeing.
Following this, we get three essential reunion scenes. First happens to be between Nolan and his former wife, Invincible’s mother. While it’s obvious that Kirkman wants these two to enter back into some semblance of a relationship, he manages to set them down that path that not only acknowledges the horrors Nolan has committed, but actually shows BOTH characters to be weak and flawed in two different ways. A happy time “aww” moment it is not. Neither is Mark’s reunion with Eve, who is somewhat randomly fat now. I suspect there is some reasoning behind this including but not limited to the general malaise that overtook her with Mark gone that was mentioned. Frankly, if one of the reasons is the one I assume it is (the pregnancy is making her gain all that weight), then I commend Kirkman and Ottley for portraying a normal human change is such a real way. In fact, the only reunion that is even remotely heartwarming is Tech Jacket’s laugh out loud, two panel reunion with his father.
The issue closes with the revelation of Thadeus’ now unneeded final contingency plan: a hidden sample of a perfected Scourge virus, capable of wiping out every Viltrumite in the universe. The future of that particular plot thread is as yet unknown as the next few issues are solicited to be largely Viltrumite-less (protagonists and supporting cast excluded), but I think its safe to assume we haven’t seen the last of these bastard space warriors.
As far as visuals go, there is a very good reason Ryan Ottley was named one of 2010’s best illustrators on this very site. His work manages to retain his signature angled style and continuing his uncanny ability to capture facial expression with his work. However, and this may seem like a small detail to some, but the way in which is recreates the physical proportions of a human being (or, humanoid at least) hanging in mid-air makes him one of the best creators drawing characters with capes currently running.
Overall, this books has been one of the singularly fantastic super hero books being released by any company in recent memory, and it shows no signs of slowing down any time soon (despite the bit of supposed downtime coming next issue).
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy
