invincible - BGCP Comic Con

Invincible Episodes 1-3 Review

22nd December 2025

Invincible Episodes 1-3 ReviewDirected by – Robert Valley, Paul Furminger, Jeff AllenProduced by – Simon Racioppa, Robert Kirkman, David Alpert, Catherine Winder, Seth Rogen, Evan GoldbergWritten by – Robert Kirkman, Simon Racioppa, Chris BlackStarring – Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, J. K. SimmonsReleased March 26, 2021Based on the Image Comics series from Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, and Cory Walker This past Friday, Amazon Prime Video released the first three episodes of the animated adaptation to the celebrated Image comic Invincible. The series follows 17-year-old Mark Grayson (Steven Yeun) as he navigates the worlds of high school and superheroes after he gains superpowers from his father Omni-Man (J. K. Simmons), the world’s most popular superhero. This review will look at each of the three episodes released and will include spoilers. Episode One: “It’s About Time” The first episode began with an attack at the White House by two of the primary villains of the series, the Mauler Twins (Kevin Michael Richardson). The attack was thwarted by the Guardians of the Globe and Omni-Man. From there, the episode followed Mark Grayson as he went through a normal day for a high schooler dealing with bullies and a crappy fast food job until his powers finally kicked in. Omni-Man then tried to train his son in the basics of fighting and flying but it didn’t go terribly well. In an attempt to reconcile things, Omni-Man took Mark to a superhero tailor to get his official costume and Mark decided on the name of Invincible as his alias. At the end of the episode, Omni-Man tricked the Guardians of the Globe to their headquarters and slaughtered them all. Episode Two: “Here Goes Nothing” The Global Defense Agency found the murdered Guardians of the Globe and the injured Omni-Man. They took Omni-Man to their hospital but couldn’t save the Guardians. Meanwhile, Damien Darkblood (Clancy Brown), investigated the murders and became suspicious of Omni-Man. While Omni-Man was in the hospital, the GDA sent Mark to help fight off an interdimensional invasion of aliens called the Flaxons in the middle of the city with the Teen Team, a group of teenage superheroes led by Robot (Zachary Quinto). The Teen Team managed to repel the aliens and Mark recognized one of the members, Atom Eve (Gillian Jacobs), as a classmate. She offered him membership with the team right before the Flaxons attack again. The team nearly lost before Omni-Man returned to save them. After the attempted invasion, the world is informed of the Guardians’ murder. Mark also had a brief fight with Allen the Alien, who evaluates the defenses of planets, before they realized that Allen had visited the wrong planet. Episode Three: “Who You Calling Ugly?” After the Guardians’ funeral, Damien Darkblood interrogated Omni-Man concerning the murder. Robot was tapped by the head of the GDA, Cecil Stedman (Walton Goggins), to run the new Guardians of the Globe. Robot chose his fellow Teen Team members and Monster Girl (Grey Griffin), Black Samson (Khary Payton), and Shrinking Rae (Grey Griffin) for the roster, but the team quickly fell into disarray due to interteam drama. The Mauler Twins escaped from prison with help from Robot from the shadows. The episode ends with Darkblood interrogating Debbie Grayson (Sandra Oh), Omni-Man’s wife, about the murder. He found out that Omni-Man left out some details about the incident to her and left Debbie suspicious of Omni-Man. These three episodes are an excellent kick off for the show. They do a great job of drawing the viewer in, getting them to fall in love with the characters and world, and establishing the core relationships and themes of the series. The heart of the comic, being the relationship between the three Graysons and how superheroics affects their lives, is here in spades. While plenty changed from the comic, I don’t think anything is lost. The changes are often for the better. Invincible Episodes 1-3 Review continues below Check out our review of Invincible Volume 1 Acting The voice cast is stellar. You’d be hard pressed to find a more star studded cast for an animated project. Even the most minor of characters was given a top level voice actor, many of whom have worked with Kirkman in the past as The Walking Dead alum. Steven Yeun has a youthful excitement to his performance as Invincible that makes his character instantly likable. J. K. Simmons and Sandra Oh have a wonderful chemistry as Mark’s parents and Simmons is an instantly believable Superman allegory. Animation The animation, while slightly chunky at parts, has a simplistic charm to it that channels beloved superhero classics such as Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League Unlimited. For those that enjoyed the extreme violence of the comic, the series has it in spades and animated blood has never looked this good! The blend of traditional and computer animation takes a minute to get used to, but it does work well. Despite this being an animated series, it is definitely not for children. Summary All in all, the start of Invincible is a very promising beginning for the series. If you’re a fan of the comic, there’s plenty of new things here to keep you interested while keeping the original feel and point of the story. If you’ve never read the comic, the show is an excellent story about superheroes, the price of superpowers, and family. If you enjoyed our Invincible Episodes 1-3 Review then leave a comment or give it your own rating below.

Invincible Episodes 1-3 Review Read More »

Review – Invincible: Eight is Enough

23rd June 2021

Review – Invincible: Eight is Enough Written by: Robert Kirkman Pencils by: Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley, Matt Roberts, Mark Englert, Dave Johnson, Cliff Rathburn Inks by: Cory Walker, Ryan Ottley, Tony Moore, Erik Larsen, Dave Johnson, Cliff Rathburn Letters by: Robert Kirkman Colors by: Bill Crabtree Release Date: December 12, 2006 Check out our review of Invincible Vol 1 Family Matters here. Introduction If this is your first foray into Invincible, I do recommend going back and reading the first six issues found in Family Matters. It’s a solid origin story that lays the groundwork for the rest of the series. Invincible is a 144 issue long superhero comic series created by Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker, published by Image Comics. Amazon Prime has licensed the comic for an animated series adaptation. Kirkman does a really good job, with Invincible, of writing comics in a way that works not only as stand alone issues, smaller trade paperback chunks, but also as the story overall. He might be the very best at balancing consistent, long form storytelling in the comics medium. Volume 2, Eight is Enough continues the story of our titular hero, as the son of renowned superhero Omni-Man. While continuing with those characters, Eight is Enough begins to broaden the world with more characters and a broader scope. This volume introduces us to Allen the Alien and the Guardians of the Globe, both of which are important going forward. We’re also shown that the book exists in the larger Image Comics universe, with appearances from the likes of Super Patriot and Savage Dragon. Story This second volume is where you really start to see what makes Invincible special. The pacing is still a little slow and it doesn’t feel like a lot happens, just some big things. Even in the first issue though, you start with what seems like a standard slugfest until the characters start asking questions. These subversions of comic book tropes are a hallmark of the book. It ends up being painfully clever and I can’t not appreciate how much care went into writing these moments. Kirkman also starts to show off his skills at sprinkling in little moments that he plans on paying off later. There’s a grounded nature to the series, either in how they handle relationships or small things like not ignoring that a high school kid has homework. The conversations Mark has with his friends feel genuine for kids their age, where they’ll just have a rant about something like shortening names. Much like how in The Walking Dead Kirkman could sell you a zombie comic where you didn’t see zombies for multiple issues, I could read issues with these characters not throwing a single punch. Thankfully they don’t let up on the action that much though. The Guardians of the Globe are a great parody piece. The small little snippets we get into their lives are pretty entertaining and feel like just the right amount. The twist at the end of Chapter Three gives the book a serious dose of spice and gives the reader endless questions. It’s not that dissimilar from the twist Kirkman delivers in early Walking Dead and defines the book similarly. This is followed up by a lesser cliffhanger at the end of Chapter Four that’s still exciting enough to keep you wondering. Review – Invincible: Eight is Enough continues below Art If you read the intro in the book, Erik Larsen tells us that Cory Walker was having trouble keeping up with the pace of a monthly book. This leads to some friends coming in to do some guest spots on issue 3. After that Ryan Ottley comes on to do issue 4. So the book gets a decent variety of art to compare. We’re introduced to a lot of fabulous new character designs in this book, from the Guardians, to Allen, to Science Dog, and that’s one of the strongest aspects of the Invincible series, in my opinion. These designs carry into the rest of the series and they help define the world. Review – Invincible: Eight is Enough continues below The guest spots are primarily for The Guardians of the Globe slots and they’re pretty fun. It’s a nice change of pace and gives each of the characters a little extra personality. Cory’s work in the book is better here than in volume 1, particularly when it comes to facial detail. The fight with Allen is really pretty with the space contrast behind them. The design for the attacker from the college campus is inspired and creepy. There’s consistent elements throughout the book, but it’s all kind of average. Ultimately I think you can tell that the pace wasn’t working. The splash pages are great but the smaller panels and quieter moments in the first couple issues do struggle sometimes. All that said, when Ryan joins the book for Chapter Four, it clicks. The book takes on a personality that he will carry forward into the rest of the series. Cory’s designs are crucial for the start of this saga but Ryan’s art fits the book so well and looks so smooth. I think a lot of this goes back to Cory Walker’s comfort level with a monthly title. Ryan Ottley’s work on four comes across like more traditional superhero art. That style works so well for the universe Kirkman and Walker built. Overall Eight is Enough is another solid chunk of story in the Invincible universe. It’s an improvement on the first volume and better in many ways. It’s only four issues, though, and in that it does feel like it does less overall than the first version. It does meander a bit, especially as it stops to introduce us to the Guardians of the Globe. I would have preferred a bit more story in the volume, as far as progress, but the moments we do get are big enough to carry the volume forward. Out of the 144 issue run, Eight

Review – Invincible: Eight is Enough Read More »

Review – Invincible: Family Matters

18th May 2021

Review – Invincible: Family Matters Written by: Robert Kirkman Art by: Cory Walker Lettered by: Robert Kirkman Colors by: Bill Crabtree Release Date: December 12, 2006 Introduction Soon to be adapted into an animated series by Amazon Prime, Invincible was an ongoing superhero comic from Robert Kirkman and Cory Walker, published by Image Comics. Kirkman, more known for Walking Dead, actually started Invincible shortly before Walking Dead in 2003. The series ended its 144 issue run in 2017, wrapping up most of the main stories. The series follows our hero, Mark Grayson, the son of the powerful Omni-Man. When we meet Mark he’s an average teen, except his dad’s a superhero and he’s waiting on powers of his own. Family Matters is the first 6 issues of the run. Like many Image books, Invincible has been collected in smaller paperbacks, larger hardcovers, or the giant compendiums. The series is particularly well suited for the 6 issue format though because each volume feels like an episode of a great serialized story. I’ve read the entire story, multiple times, but we’re only looking at the first 6 issues collected in Family Matters. Still, Future Kenny will pop in to give a small review in the context of the larger run, because it’s a run worth reading. Story Family Matters lays the groundwork for the universe as we are introduced to the Grayson family and their supporting cast. From the start, it’s good superhero fodder. There’s dashes of sci-fi, a lived-in-world where superpowers are normalized, and an origin story that is unique while still feeling familiar. Our creators do a great job at making super-heroics and comic book tropes feel normal in this world. Even as Omni-Man dashes back to the dinner table after being kidnapped to an alternate dimension, there’s no hysterics about how crazy that may seem. The book is about the ordinary lives of super people. The characters are the best part of these issues. The Graysons are a lovable family. Omni-Man is a solid combination of Superman and a tv dad. Mark feels like a pretty average teenager and his origin feels organic and fun. He’s a less overwhelmed Peter Parker. Deborah is written as a mom that worries and cares about her family but has lived in a world of super heroics for years and isn’t shaken by it. Most of the supporting characters in friends or other teammates stand out as memorable when another writer might have used shells to move the plot along. The cast feels so varied and authentic, that they just inherently make the world feel more interesting. All that said, this first run just feels like pretty standard super hero fare. It’s a solid pilot. There’s a few small villains, taken down with minor struggles. It’s even an above average superhero book. There’s a few moments that stand out, like the folks from another dimension, but the book sort of tells its slice-of-life story and leaves. The world is interesting and the characters are charming, but nothing particularly bombastic or remarkable happens. It shares that in common with another Kirkman project, where the Walking Dead lulls you into false security before taking off. However, it is the pilot for a larger series so it works in that regard. Art The art in these issues is colorful, with an almost pastel or watercolor feature about it. It also feels anime inspired, at times, with some of the simpler designs and the less-than-realistic take on faces in some panels. These first issues of Invincible thread a needle between anime and traditional cartoon, so it adds to the excitement that it’s being adapted into a cartoon now. Cory Walker’s work here feels like a style that will lend itself well to animation. Through the book the character designs are clever and really stand out as unique. When I say the designs feel very Image-y, it’s a compliment. The action feels real and the layouts are easy to follow. Cory is able to take the more pedestrian moments and lay them out in clever ways to just feel normal. The use of repeat panels or similar panels says almost as much as the dialogue at times. It makes the lives of these characters feel more normal, as they sit around the table like us non-super folks. Review – Invincible: Family Matters continues below Overall In itself, Invincible Volume 1 is a fun read. It’s a new world of characters that are satisfying to explore and learn about. Kirkman hints at a broader universe throughout the book, but it’s a great origin story for a newly developed teenage superhero. The future seems bright for our teen lead and his family. It’s hard to judge by itself though, when even its creator knew it was the start of something much bigger. While the book is better as a jumping off point for an incredible series, you could read this on its own and still be satisfied with the read. In the overall context of the 144 issue run, Family Matters is perhaps the least exciting. This is true of a lot of pilots, of course. It’s slower in pacing and smaller in scope than the future of the series by far. This is likely by design, as a slow build to lure you in. You may finish these issues feeling like you’ve read another solid Image superhero book, not realizing the groundwork that has been laid. If you’ve ever seen art from the future of the series, you might even be surprised at how tame the story seems. Kirkman is good at surprises, and giving you unique twists you didn’t know you wanted. Future Kenny says it would be a mistake for you to stop reading this series here. If you enjoyed our review of Invincible: Family Matters then leave a comment or leave your own rating below. Join us on Twitter, IG, Discord etc –https://linktr.ee/BGCPComicCon [yasr_multiset setid=1] [yasr_visitor_multiset setid=1] Buy tickets for BGCP Comic Con in and

Review – Invincible: Family Matters Read More »