'Invincible' Season One Review

 Amazon is now two for two in adapting a comic book to an R-rated TV series, first The Boys and now Invincible has surprised me again.  Invincible is a comic book series that was created by Robert Kirkman, Kirkman if you don't know also created the comic book series The Walking Dead.  Kirkman is obviously got a creative mind that is a little (maybe very) dark, in interviews Kirkman is also very funny.  This is an animated show, and it works so much better in animation than it would if the show was live-action.  There is a lot of bonkers action, gore, and characters in the first season, and I don't think you could film that in live-action.  I had heard of the comic book series the show is based on, but I have never read an issue of the comic book series (even though I want to).  The show is not gratuitous in its violence or other content, but when the show gets violent it does not hold back at all.  The show is for adults, but it does not glorify gore; the gore is often portrayed as horrific and scary.  The first season contained eight episodes, and to say they made the most of those eight episodes is an understatement.  The first season of Invincible introduced us to so many characters, but where most shows will give only a few characters depth, Invincible gives all the characters depth.  Another thing that season one of Invincible did so well was building the universe and introducing a lot of plot threads that will play out over the next few seasons.

Invincible the series follows Mark Grayson, who is a teenager that is starting to inherit superpowers from his father.  Mark's father is none other than Omni-Man, the world's most powerful superhero.  Omni-Man is an alien, he is from the planet Viltrumite, and he has come to earth to save it.  Omni-Man's identity on earth is Nolan Grayson, he met Mark's mother Debbie and settled down with her to raise Mark.  As the first episode begins, Mark has yet to show any powers, but during the episode his powers start to manifest.  Nolan seemed both excited and stressed by Mark's powers arriving, Nolan begins to train Mark to use his powers.  By the end of episode one Mark has taken the superhero moniker of Invincible.  The rest of the season follows Mark on his journey of being a superhero, while also balancing his life as a teenager.  Mark eventually gets a girlfriend who is an ordinary civilian, but he also finds out that one of his fellow classmates is also a superhero.  This other teenage superhero is Atom Eve, and it is obvious to me that there is chemistry between her and Mark.  Eve is a member of a group of young superheroes, Mark is asked to join but he declines.  Mark's father Nolan was asked to join the Guardians of the Globe (Justice League/Avengers of this universe), but he has always remained a solo hero.  

I do not want to spoil anything, if you have never read the comic then there will be some big surprises coming your way over the course of the first season.  Invincible is borrowing from a lot of comic book sources in the Marvel and DC universes, but the characters here are unique (not in powers, but in personality). What makes Invincible so entertaining is that the tone of the show is constantly in flux, it is fun, serious, and action-packed all in the same episode.  Invincible is a lot of fun, while also having moments that are incredibly moving.  It would be easy for the show to focus on our main character and not give the peripheral characters more development, but Invincible spends the time to give almost all of the characters depth.  The advantage to taking the time to give each character some depth is that now we understand each character a little better.  This will be key as the show goes on, there were so many plot threads and interesting characters introduced in season one that I feel the show has enough material to last several seasons.  If you are a fan of the superhero genre, an animation fan, and a fan of great storytelling then please watch season one of Invincible.  

I hope you enjoyed the article, and you give Invincible a watch, let me know your thoughts on season one.  I will definitely cover season two week to week when it arrives, take a look at my review for season two of The Boys.