Customer Reviews

The Complete Invincible Library, Vol. 1

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Luckily for all of us, Amazon offers this book for $75, not the incredibly steep $125 that it runs for in stores. While this is a pretty good series, I wouldn't justify paying $125 for it. Mathematically, it's a far worse deal than buying in single issue format, since your average single issue runs $2.99-$3.99, Trades run for $15 with 6 issues ($2.50 each), and this gives you 25 issues for $125 ($5 per issue!). The upside, however, is that the paper is nicer, the art is enlarged, and it is presented in a beautiful hardbound format.
Invincible, for those who haven't read it, is a teenage superhero comic that shows strong similarity to mainstream comics like Ultimate Spider-man or Ultimate X-men. It's superhero action with a little less violence and mature material so as to be popular with the under-18 crowd. It thrusts its hero into the classic (and sometimes cliche) situations common to this genre of comics. Our hero struggles to keep his job, schoolwork, social life, girlfriend, and superhero work separate with increasing difficulty, and this is for the most part the main focus of the book. There is far less super-action than fans of other series are used to.
One drawback to Invincible is that its writer, Robert Kirkman, struggles to convey plot through conversation. Too much of the author's speech and style shows through in every character's dialogue, making it hard to see them as different people. Those who have read his other work (the Walking Dead or Marvel Zombies) will recognize this. But overall, Invincible is a book that will give you a sort of fun, carefree read, and you'll find yourself finishing this book and wanting more far sooner than you think.

As others have pointed out, this volume is unbelievably overpriced and quite frankly not worth the extra money. For approximately the same amount, you could purchase the Ultimate Collections volumes 1-4. I highly recommend those volumes, and at 23.09 each, they are excellent value for money, and look great on the shelf. This series is absolutely fun, excellent reading and the stories in this volume are definitely worth getting, and quite frankly, if it were not for the fact that the regular HC weren't such high quality and excellent value, I would happily encourage anyone to buy this. However, when there's a much more accessible format of the same stories available, of comparable quality, a collection at this price point is pretty much a shameless money grab. It's essentially an author or publisher looking to extract every last bit of money from a good thing, and it isn't very smart. For the money involved here, you could easily get two different Absolute DC collections which would give many satisfying hours of reading.

A smarter thing for them to have done however, was to release volumes in oversized trade paperback formats. An 800 page paperback collection of volumes 1 and 2 of the HC for example, priced at just under the combined total of the two hardcovers, would have been an excellent way to get these stories out to a new audience while also providing an attractive and sensible alternative for the HC collections already released. Like I said, the Ultimate HC collections are excellent quality and well worth owning, and are also excellent value for money. I can't repeat that enough.

Definitely read these stories! But save your money on this one volume to buy all four HCs instead!!!!

i bought this with no knowledge of the character or comic, it just caught my interest one night. this is the 2nd greatest thing i've read this year, the first being the goon. issue #5 is one of the best stories i've read in 10 years. this comic keeps on coming up with new twists and turns and never comes off hokey. i hope volume 2 comes out soon.

I'm throughly in love with Invincible and have been reading it since about issue 19. The characters are solid and enjoyable, the humor is spot on, and the action is everything a capes book should be. I've been waiting idly for some time now to start actually buying the title as I have no desire to collect the individual issues but instead was looking for a good deal on collected volumes. Having great experience with Dark Horses' Hellboy Library volumes I bought this assuming a similar quality.

Physically this book is just not worth the money. The box it comes in is superfluous and easily damaged. (Mine was a little beat up in shipping despite excellent packaging.) The pages are so thin they are practically transparent and the physical dimensions of the book are just a centimeter too large for most of my shelves so it has to be stored with my over sized textbooks instead of the rest of my comic volumes. Worst of all there is almost no space between the binding and the start of the artwork so that many times I found I had to really pull at the pages to get at some bit of text or appreciate the art.

Unless you are getting it for almost nothing, this book is just not worth the money. Had I not purchased mine at a considerable discount I'd be rather displeased. I love the content, but the thing itself is just poor quality. I'll be purchasing the more reasonably priced Ultimate Hardcover editions when I continue my collection because, even though I am unaware of their quality, they can't be any worse then this.

Enough has been said about this series, so I am sure you are aware it is the best superhero book on the market today. Nothing else comes close. Nothing.

A lot has been said about the high retail price of this set and yes, it IS overpriced, but Marvel and DC have far more readers and buyers for their special hardcover sets. Therefore Image has to price the set for profitability. It is what it is, so with Amazon's 30 to 40 % discount, the price is perfectly acceptable.

The set is sewn and not glued, so it can be read again and again without fear of pages falling apart or the binding starting to split. My set has been read at least three times, not to mention all the skims I have made through it over the last few years.

Also of note is that this supersized set is actually larger than the 12 issue Hardcovers. It's gargantuan. My only problem is the agonizing wait for volume 2, aws I read this series in HC. Thank heavens the almost two year wait is finally going to be over. As of the writing of this review, Volume 2 is weeks away from being released. Thank heavens!

I'm 37 years old and I love INVINCIBLE.

This series is crack and like the drug you will want more. the good part is that each hit feels great.

i have a hard time NOT buying this series monthly but these large format books are just way too awesome.

i MAY switch the the editions that only have 12 issues but for now it is the omnibus/library editions for me

the story and art are top notch. the extras in the back are great and fun. why haven't you clicked the buy button already?

buying this book is the only sure fire way you will ever make any friends.

Well I recently started getting into comics alot, been searching for books like this that are collected in one massive book. Although its not as good as the uncanny x-men omnibus (which i loved). Its a great comic in its own right.

I knew almost nothing of the series or characters and just got it since i saw people recommending it and giving it decent reviews. First few issues were rather corny, which is probably why i didn't give it 5 stars. It starts to really pick up and get good after maybe issue 4-5. It started getting darker not batman dark, but less cornball like, which really turned things around and made things more enjoyable to read.

Price is well worth it, especially if you can pick it up before it starts selling for 50-100 % more than the cover price when they are sold out. Keep in mind they will not re-print this one, it is limited to so many copies. But i do hope they will come out with a vol.2 with issues 25-50 or something like that.

You won't be disappointed, if your a comic fan, you will enjoy this one, some flaws and lack of art detail, and some lame using the same panel cause your lazy to re-draw. But im glad to have put this one on my collection.

This "complete library" collects Ulttimate Collections vol. 1 & 2. Let's do the math. You can buy those ultimate collections for a combined price of $46 on amazon, and still get oversized pages and a hardcover. That means for the price of this waste of space, YOU COULD ALMOST BUY 4 ULTIMATE VOLUMES!!! This is the most overpriced collection i've ever seen. Not even DC's absolute volumes are this pricey per page. BUY THE ULTIMATE VOLUMES!

everybody says this book is overpriced. yes, it is true but i wanted my Invincible as big as possible.
even though it is one of my favorite comics i am not happy with the book.
it is big and the paper is high quality but the spine cracked when i opened the book for the first time.
with such high price i would like to have the book quality better.
it was money wasted.

This is a must for any fan of the Invincible series, as long as the have a couple of bucks to spare. This expansive collection includes every Invincible comic up until issue 24. It is also highly recommended for any new reader who wants to save a few dollars by buying it all together rather than the separate volumes. Plus you also get all of the origin comics, which are always interesting. So if you have a bit of money to put down, you may want to strongly consider this volume.