Kirkman Fills Our Lives With Love

Just when it was safe to think that Robert Kirkman had a nice, comfortable, coming of age superhero story in him with “Invincible,” he turns it into a dramatic, sometimes brutal tale that will forever change the father-son relationship between Omni-Man and Invincible.

Not that it’s a bad thing- quite the contrary actually. With the fruits of his labor set from the first trade, the second trade, “Eight is Enough” introduces The Guardians of the Globe, Kirkman’s Justice League-esque group into the fold and changes the dynamics of the trade entirely. In a shocking turn of events, the comic is forever changed.

Well not exactly. Sure, it’s a heart-breaking moment and one that will ultimately create a conflict later on that the reader will salivate about, but for the most part, Mark Grayson’s life pretty much stays the same. Because of this, the comic has a beautiful duality. Like a skittle, it’s got this cute, colorful outside that everyone can see, but once inside, it’s sour, sugary and action-packed. Because of this, anyone who enjoyed the first trade will totally be on-board for the second, eagerly ready for the next batch of issues.

While the writing in this trade is its strongest selling point, this trade is important because of the changes in the artistic team. Cory Walker, who helped create the series, was unable to keep up the pace on pencils and was replaced by Ryan Ottley, who in spite of being a relative newcomer at the time, turns in an effort that is completely comparable to Walker. At the same time, Walker is able to go out with a bang, penciling the most brutal scene the series has ever seen. This is the exact moment where the series goes from logical and warm to dramatic and bizarre.

It’s like watching an episode of the Brady Bunch and having the TV station accidentally splice in the last 20 minutes of Dexter.

What an amazing feeling.

Through this, “Invincible” essentially experiences no growing pains in its sophomore trade release and makes the transition from charming super hero tale to deep, thought-provoking comic book look relatively easy.

What else would you expect from Kirkman?

It’s crazy to think how many comic shops passed on these issues when they were first released and how many readers never gave them an opportunity because they wanted more of the same from Kirkman, which meant zombies and blood.

Through excellent writing, Kirkman proves once again that whatever he produces, whether it be tales of a small town sheriff fighting zombies or a coming of age story featuring a teenage super hero, it’ll be enjoyable and deep.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13819 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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