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A review by crookedtreehouse
Invincible: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 4 by Robert Kirkman
3.0
A juggler juggling three objects for ten minutes is impressive. A juggler juggling ten chainsaws for ten minutes is even moreso. But while a juggler juggling thierty-two angry narwhals for three straight days is impressive in concept, you might find yourself bored after a while, and have the desire to watch something different.
There are many angry narwhals in the fourth Invincible Ultimate Collection.
"My Favorite Martian" is the weaker of the two portions. There's an alien invasion, an attack by an unimpressive, previously unheard of villain group that somewhat restructures and give plots for the minor characters, and yet more setup for future events. It's clear from this collection that Kirkman is at his best when focusing on a single story element or two, rather than trying to follow several characters at once. I'd read his Batman, but I wouldn't read his Justice League, and I certainly wouldn't read his Legion Of Superheroes. I just didn't care about any of the C and D level plots, and found myself scanning over the walls of dialog, instead of actually reading them. Ottley's fantastic art saves this from being a two star portion of the five star series.
***
"Out Of This World" is a little better, and a little more focused, but it's still zinging back and forth between storylines without hitting the character or plot beats as well as the first three Ultimate Collections. Whereas each of those volumes felt like they were telling a story where other events were being prepared for in the background, this volume feels like a series of events leading to something cool in the future, but not interesting enough to hold attention on their own.
I read the issues of this series when they came out and issue 60 (which I believe is in the next volume) was where I remember my interesting waning a bit, and I'm sad to see it is happening a little earlier than I anticipated. Still, even at its worst, this is still one of the overall best series in superhero comics. Its bad is still ten times better than DC or Marvel comics's average, and I say that as someone who still loves Marvel and DC comics. And it's waaaaay better than early Image superhero comics....which is going to come into play in this series, in the near future.
I recommend it for people who know that even the best superhero comics are rarely flawless, people who wish Martian Manhunter was a bit more nebbish, X-Men fans who love the Sh'iar sh'it, and people who enjoy poring through superhero mythos and trying to figure out what trope is looming on the horizon.
There are many angry narwhals in the fourth Invincible Ultimate Collection.
"My Favorite Martian" is the weaker of the two portions. There's an alien invasion, an attack by an unimpressive, previously unheard of villain group that somewhat restructures and give plots for the minor characters, and yet more setup for future events. It's clear from this collection that Kirkman is at his best when focusing on a single story element or two, rather than trying to follow several characters at once. I'd read his Batman, but I wouldn't read his Justice League, and I certainly wouldn't read his Legion Of Superheroes. I just didn't care about any of the C and D level plots, and found myself scanning over the walls of dialog, instead of actually reading them. Ottley's fantastic art saves this from being a two star portion of the five star series.
***
"Out Of This World" is a little better, and a little more focused, but it's still zinging back and forth between storylines without hitting the character or plot beats as well as the first three Ultimate Collections. Whereas each of those volumes felt like they were telling a story where other events were being prepared for in the background, this volume feels like a series of events leading to something cool in the future, but not interesting enough to hold attention on their own.
I read the issues of this series when they came out and issue 60 (which I believe is in the next volume) was where I remember my interesting waning a bit, and I'm sad to see it is happening a little earlier than I anticipated. Still, even at its worst, this is still one of the overall best series in superhero comics. Its bad is still ten times better than DC or Marvel comics's average, and I say that as someone who still loves Marvel and DC comics. And it's waaaaay better than early Image superhero comics....which is going to come into play in this series, in the near future.
I recommend it for people who know that even the best superhero comics are rarely flawless, people who wish Martian Manhunter was a bit more nebbish, X-Men fans who love the Sh'iar sh'it, and people who enjoy poring through superhero mythos and trying to figure out what trope is looming on the horizon.