Book Review: Invincible Compendium One by R. Kirkman et al.

Invincible Compendium One written by Robert Kirkman and art by Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley

Mark Grayson is a high-school senior who has a mostly normal life. He works at a fast-food joint and wants to date girls, though he has not competence at either. Lucky for him, his dad is from another planet literally. His dad is Omni-Man, the most powerful superhero on Earth with powers that come from his original home planet, Viltrum. Mark's a little late to superhero puberty but it kicks in at the beginning of this comic series when he can suddenly fly and do a bunch of other things. He trains a bit with his dad and starts to explore the superhero world, including teaming up with fellow high-schooler Samantha Eve Wilkins, known as Atom Eve. While he has the standard Superman power set (flying, super strength, invulnerability), she can only rearrange atoms at will (which is powerful enough). Life gets even more complicated as he starts dating and his dad's superhero team gets slaughtered by an unknown assailant. There are plenty of super-villains to suspect and there's also the secret government agency monitoring and maintaining the group that seems suspicious too.

The series's initial tone is comedy-filled as the young man discovers his powers and the many complications that come with them, including the other superheroes who come off like a misfit bunch. The story then drifts into melodrama and a lot of romantic entanglements with a variety of characters, i.e. into a soap opera. While I enjoy the world-building and the interesting cast of characters, there's a bit too much unoriginality. It is very easy to line up characters in this book with characters from Marvel and DC. Also, a lot of the panels are reused, like they don't have enough time to do the art. The authors even hang a lantern on it but that only makes it more noticeable, because they keep doing it through the 48 issues in this compendium. I find it more lazy than endearing, especially in an emotional scene with the same images right next to each other. Otherwise, the art is standard super-hero fare with a lot more blood and gore in the fights (which again works against the comedic tone at the beginning). 

Mildly recommended--I can see why this is popular because it is entertaining, but it is not long-term satisfying.