Invincible Universe vol. 1: Battle Beast — Heart of Glory

Battle Beast:  He beat up Invincible and a bunch of his friends, then tried to kill Thragg and died in the process.  That was his story up until now, but what did he do in between these things?  Scour the galaxy for a way to end his life and therefore calm the never-ending rage that consumed him, that’s what!  Fortunately for him, the galaxy is a big place and filled with all kinds of threats big and small that are more than willing to try and end the life of Battle Beast.  Heck, it’s even big enough that the title character might even find an ally or two along the way that he won’t want to kill.

What do you do when the comic you’ve created has ended and then been adapted into a hit animated series?  One answer is to focus on a new fan-favorite character from the adaptation and show what they got up to when they weren’t on the page.  That’s what “Invincible” writer Robert Kirkman and longtime artist Ryan Ottley have decided to do with this new “Battle Beast” series to decidedly mixed effect so far.

Look, “Invincible” was a great comic throughout its run as it not only delighted in playing around with and subverting superhero tropes, but featured great art from beginning to end.  It also had a definitive end and I’m glad that its creators aren’t messing with the resolution they gave to Mark Grayson and his family.  I’ve also got plenty of time for Kirkman and Ottley working together again after all the good work they put into that series in the hope that they’ll deliver something within spitting distance of their previous work.

Vol. 1 of “Battle Beast” shows that this series isn’t quite there yet.  The character does represent a decent starting point for a new ongoing series as his quest for death is going to send him to lots of different places in the “Invincible Universe.”  Kirkman rightly notes the potential for all kinds of different stories in the volume’s backmatter conversation with Ottley (and let me just say that reading another one of these again reminded me of how much I missed it after the end of “Invincible” proper), but he only tells one story in this volume.

That would be the one where Battle Beast (angrily) shows up at a place, (angrily) makes his presence known, attracts the attention of some bad dude(s) (angrily), (angrily) murders them all, and then (angrily) takes off to the next place.  This goes on for six issues and then the volume ends with a tease for a bigger fight with another major character from the “Invincible Universe” who also met a violent end.  Don’t expect any real surprises here as I can only assume that such things would get in the way of Battle Beast murdering and/or eating every adversary who crosses his path.

While this would appear to make this first volume a slog more than anything else, it’s a credit to Kirkman and Ottley’s talents that it never gets that bad.  Battle Beast may be a purposefully one-note character and incredibly serious in his quest.  Fortunately the world around him is a lot more fun and self-aware about what’s going on.  You’ve got the ship A.I. who’s constantly trying to find new ways to kill this monster who murdered his crew.  There’s Prince Salakkar, who’s had a millennium to reflect on his failures after being chewed and digested.  You’ve also got colorful randos in each issue – some who are doomed, and some who are smart enough to not fight the Beast.  Even the knockoff “Star Trek:  The Next Generation” crew from the main series puts in a fun appearance here.

All of this looks INCREDIBLE with Ottley’s work.  The man was already one of the best superhero artists around after he finished “Invincible” and then went to work at Marvel for a bit.  This is his first gig since leaving the House of Ideas and it’s clear he was given all the time he needs to deliver some incredibly detailed and varied art.  Kirkman throws a lot of stuff at Ottley – desolate alien vistas, fantasy-based forests, dense space stations – and everything draws your eye in with how it’s presented.  What’s here is also ridiculously violent, which is par for the course in this particular universe, yet its sensationalist nature just adds to the appeal.  The violence is never real enough to be off-putting and that’s how it should be for a series like this.

Which ultimately feels like it’s being propped up by the talents of its creators.  I can’t begrudge Kirkman and Ottley for wanting to cash in on the popularity of the animated “Invincible” (issue #1 of this series sold a whopping 400K on release), even though I was really hoping this would be better than it is.  Kirkman also mentions in the backmatter that this series “will maybe never end.”  Personally, I hope that it ends sooner rather than later so that Kirkman and Ottley can do something that’s new and more interesting than what we got here, at least.