The threat of the Scourge virus reaches Earth's shores (or rather, its orbit)- and it's up to Mark to convince Allen and Kid Omni-man to hold off their well-intentioned genocide.
"Have you lost your mind?"
The next crucial chapter of Invincible seems to be upon us, and this time, Kirkman and co. seem to be going for the philosophical ramifications rather than straight-up gory fisticuffs (though that's not entirely absent in this case). The charm of Invincible is that while it's a very simple, straight-to-the-point title, it has this earnestness in the way it goes about it and then all of a sudden brings a genuine surprise to hook the reader right in. How does Kirkman manage to hold up in this issue? Let's find out.
Plot:
There seems to have been a noticeable time gap since the last time we saw Earth, and right now it's already in dire straits, an extradimensional invader slash world ruler hopeful having already beaten the rest of the world's superheroes and well ahead in the process of the aforementioned world-conquering. And that's just the start!
There is a genuine aura in the Invincible-verse which outright states that anything can happen- and its validity has been proven over and over through the years. Right now, Invincible seems to walking a dangerous line in the morally grey area, and it's a credit to Kirkman's abilities that this doesn't come off as contrived or drama for the sake of drama. His latest alliance with Dinosaurus, for instance, puts him at conflict with all the usual suspects, and for once the shady government agent might actually be on the right side!
All earthly tensions have to be put aside, though, as the intergalactic fleet led by Allen appears above orbit. Invincible tries to reason with his former friend, but Allen has a few good points in the impromptu debate as well. What do you know- it all devolves into a brawl by the end. Thankfully, we have a welcome cliffhanger that ups the stakes by several degrees for the next issue.
