Invincible, vol. 8, “My Favorite Martian” (Image) [collects #36-41]
Invincible, vol. 9, “Out of This World” (Image) [collects #42-47]
Invincible, vol. 10, “Who’s the Boss?” (Image) [collects #48-53]
w. Robert Kirkman; a. Ryan Ottley
| Writing |  | New reader? |  |
| Art |  | Non-comics reader? |  |
Invincible remains a steady and powerful performer. While on one level Kirkman is producing a four-color Silver Age title, with wacky (if evil) super-villains and big fight scenes, part of what makes the book special are the pieces between the lines.
Mark’s struggles with his academic career harken back to Peter Parker, but ring more true vs the old 60s soap opera. Dealing with his mixed Viltrumite heritage — both in how much he’s (mis)trusted by some, as well as dealing with Viltrumite agents coming to Earth — remains a constant challenge (often associated with a fair amount of blood). Dealing with a girlfriend or two, with a corrupt government handler (or is he?), Martian invaders … it’s all a lot for a teenager to handle. Watching that all play out has been a joy, and kept Invincible at the bottom of my weekly read stack (saving the best for last) for quite some time.
JLA Confidential, Book 1: “Ultramarine Corps” (DC) [collects JLA Classified #1-3, JLA Secret Files #1, JLA/Wildcats #1]
w. Grant Morrison; a. Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines
| Writing | | New reader? |  |
| Art | | Non-comics reader? | |
Morrison can do much better than this rather muddled tale of the Ultramarine Corps, the JLA, Gorilla Grodd, Robot JLA substitutes, and an odd JLA/Wildcat backup story. McGuinness’ cartoony art doesn’t help. There are some interesting images and ideas here, but an overall disappointment.
JLA: Salvation Run (DC) [collects #1-7]
w. Matthew Sturges, Bill Willingham; a. Sean Chen, Joe Bennett
| Writing | | New reader? | |
| Art | | Non-comics reader? | |
This was one of the big Summer Events at DC last year — all the big villains shuffled off to a wilderness planet to survive or fall on their own. Arkham Asylum meets Lord of the Flies, but even the Joker-as-Chaos vs. Luthor-as-Order conflict never really gels, the deaths come across as gratuitous inventory cleaning, and in the end none of it ever seems to matter. Seriously disappointing.
Listening to: Gold, Murray, “The Cybermen” (Doctor Who – The New Series – Original Television Soundtrack))