Invincible vol. 17: What’s Happening

The title character actually takes a backseat in this volume after the first issue due to… ah, “lingering” issues from his encounter with the scourge virus.  Instead, the focus here is on Robot and Monster Girl and what exactly happened to them during the time they were in the Flaxan dimension.  Though they told everyone that they were only gone for twelve years in relative time, it’s not the whole truth.  The duo were gone for much, much longer.  Long enough to destroy and rebuild the empire in the hope of ridding it of its warmongering ways and to fracture their relationship so much that the bitterness carries over the barrier between dimensions.  Furthermore, if they were successful in breaking the Flaxans of their dimension-conquering ways, then that can’t be them who have opened a portal in London and are wreaking havoc there right now.  As the title implies, just what the heck happened here?

In dishing out the story of Robot and Monster Girl’s time in the Flaxan dimension, Robert Kirkman employs a device that I’ve generally really liked when I’ve seen it used elsewhere in fiction.  Having the two live out a span in that world equal to several lifetimes gives their exploits an almost mythic feel as they take the reins of this empire and try to do some good with it.  That things eventually break down because they’re only human is inevitable, but there are a few parts here that strain the credibility of the story and keep me from fully buying into it.  

Part of it comes from the language barrier that exists between Monster Girl and the Flaxans as the excuse given for her not being able to learn it feels like handwaving.  As for the fact that certain Flaxans were able to learn English… when exactly did they have enough exposure to the language to learn it?  Then there’s the matter of the ongoing issues with the royal family in that dimension as A) I can’t belive that someone as smart as Robot didn’t find a better way to deal with them in the time he had and B) how was he not able to fundamentally change the people’s minds in that same time.  Again, the answers that “he lost himself in power” feel superficial at best.  The end result here is that we’ve got a large chunk of story and character development that I want to like, but can’t quite bring myself to fully embrace.

Fortunately the parts that take place in the present day are as solid as you’ve been led to expect from this title.  Mark’s issues through the volume are sold quite well and lead almost directly into the next volume as it’s implied that Dinosaurus never gets up to anything good without him around.  Zandale also makes a good substitute Invincible, while the struggles he has trying to balance his doubly-secret superhero identity with his personal life also make for some good drama.  I’m actually quite interested in seeing where things go with him after that final scene with his parents here.  The “Viltrumites on Earth” subplot also gets acknowledged here and takes a turn that I fully expected to see but is no less satisfying to actually see happen.  As for what happens to Robot and Monster Girl here… THAT’S certainly going to be a situation which is going to blow up in their faces at some point.

Original series artist Cory Walker returns to “Invincible” again here to illustrate the “Robot and Monster Girl in the Flaxan Dimension” scenes while regular artist Ryan Ottley handles the present day.  Ottly kills his scenes as usual as the level of detail he brings to the fight scenes in London is truly impressive, yet he also manages to sell the comparatively quiet scenes of Mark fuming at home about his inability to do anything about the conflict.  Walker does a good job with the Flaxan scenes and while he may not be as flashy an artist as his counterpart here, the man manages the arguably trickier task of getting the wide range of emotions of these scenes across quite well.

Even if this isn’t one of the title’s better efforts, it still manages to keep the momentum going and set up some potentially interesting plot points to be hit upon at a later date.  Next up though is the landmark 100th issue as part of “The Death of Everyone” storyline, and that should be a killer… pun intended.  My money’s still on Mark’s mom dying in this arc, despite all of the teaser images they’ve put out so far.