Dead
The Viltrumite War continues to get more awesome in Invincible 74. If you’ve been reading up to this point you know that the Coalition of Planets has been fighting back against the Viltrumite Empire with weapons gathered by Nolan and Allen the Alien. The Empire is not pleased with this so they launch a full-scale assault on the Coalition.
The fights in Invincible have always been one of my favorite parts of the series. Everybody is super pissed, blood is flying everywhere, shits exploding all over the place. The damage done each person is so brutal, I love it. In this issue though, there is not as much damage per person. The people who walk away from the fight still have everything where it’s supposed to be, and I was a little disappointed by that. But still, the damage done to the Coalition world and Viltrumite ship was pretty awesome.
Of course, this would not be Invincible without some mention of the Grayson family. Nolan, Oliver and Mark and are still on whatever planet they are on. Because they have been there for months now, each character has changed appearance a little. Nolan’s got a full beard, Oliver looks like a purple emo in tights, and Mark, even though he has been in a coma and not shaved in god knows how long, and all he’s got is a chinstrap and some lip whiskers. As a bearded man myself, I have an issue with that kind of facial hair. If you can’t grow a mustache in months, you should not have facial hair. It’s really not important or relevant to anything, it’s just something that gets me in a way I don’t like.
Anyway, Oliver is still on the fence about his thoughts on humans. He talks about his feelings towards woman and a weird moment he had with a lobster. It’s nice to show some character progression but Oliver’s is a little strange. One second he is protecting humans and the next he wants to destroy them, and that moment where he looks disgusted at Mark and then that just kind of drops off and isn’t really explored again. I hope something happens with that in the next few issues. I would really like it if Oliver became a bad guy.
This issue also shows the return of Grand Regent Thragg, featured prominently on the cover. I did not read Invincible Returns, but apparently he was in that. He is only shown a couple of times and each time he is talking to a skull. He is strangely attached to that skull which I guess is the skull of the Emperor of the Viltrumites (Maybe I should read Invincible Returns…).
There is also some weird one-off scene with Allen walking in on Tech Jacket. Again, I haven’t read any Tech Jacket, but this just feels tacked on.
Anyway, this issue was good. It amps up the War and makes things pretty intense. There are some weird parts with supporting characters and the fact that I hate Mark’s facial hair, but it was still good. I give this issue a 4/5.
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