Customer Reviews

Invincible (Book 3): Perfect Strangers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think what I find most enjoyable about Robert Kirkman's work on Invincible is that he doesn't really serve up anything we haven't seen before-in some way or the other, it's all familiar fare-but he manages to take the all-too familiar and make it vibrant all over again. His characters feel like real people, with real emotions and real responses to the events that go on around them, taking "classic" events to heights we've never seen them taken before. In a nutshell, reading a Robert Kirkman super-hero book is like re-reading the stories of our youth with the exception that this time the stories actually HAVE the "punch" we only remember those old stories having.

Robert Kirkman has such a wicked sense of humor and this book is such the perfect vehicle for that. The ting about this book though is that panel to panel and page to page, this book changes completely. Humor, action, drama, & mystery can be found in each book. There are so many emotions in this volume particularly. The revelations revealed here were huge. It was hard to read, empathically. You actually could feel for these characters. The art by Ryan Ottley is extremely bloody and, pun intended, bloody beautiful! I really enjoyed it but still wish there was a little more detail in the backgrounds. Overall, an amazing collection. I can't wait to read the next one.

By the third volume I'm really starting to connect with the series. "Perfect Strangers" feels a little less like a parody and its growing into a real story. This collection really brings out the Kirkman suspense as we are revealed the mystery behind Mark's father. Since this shocking discovery I think all of us can say, "It's all uphill from here".

Compared to the first to, volume three is a much more entertaining read. It's a lot less silly and it's going to get serious. If you thought the first two were iffy and you're reading this to decide whether to continue, I urge you to. This round Kirkmans saying "I'm not screwin' around".

After a gentle beginning in the first two Invincible graphic novels, Robert Kirkman changes everything young Mark Grayson knows about himself and his world. When his father, the world's most powerful superhero, is revealed to be an alien invasion force of one, Mark's world crumbles.

I'd been enjoying the series through the first couple graphic novels, though the stunner of when Omni-Man (Mark's dad) flew in and laid waste to the Guardians of the Globe seriously rocked me. I just didn't see it coming. There was no foreshadowing and no clue. I'm sure that was set up that way so the reader could echo the same sense of betrayal Mark went through.

His dad seemed like such a guy's guy. Then, when he turned, the guy was like the Terminator on steroids. Before he finds out the truth, Mark is already dealing with a lot. Night patrols are eating up his time and his energy. Classes that he used to cruise through are now teetering toward the brink of chaos.

The fight scenes were really well done, and you can feel Mark's anguish as he watches his father reveal the real truth to him. I kept waiting for a shape-shifting alien to pop out and yell, "Gotcha!" Or to find out that Omni-Man was under the spell of some magical villain or a rock from his home planet.

What Kirkman really does, though, is set up the ultimate breakdown in father/son relationships. Anyone that's ever struggled to understand his dad is going to find something that echoes in the story. The dialogue between them at the end, when each of them tries desperately to reach the other and change the other's perspective is awesome. Even more indicative of Kirkman's keen insight as a writer is how Mark's mom actually creates the biggest separation between them.

Ryan Ottely and Bill Crabtree's art remains fantastic and delivers a lot of visual punch to this emotional story. The panels are broken down for maximum effect, and the bright colors really pop. There's still that cartoony feel to everything that makes the book all the more endearing.

Although not everyone I know understands the love I have for comics, it's stories like this that keep me coming back.

Although I would not put this book in the same category as I would Brubaker's Sleeper series, I still give this book a five star rating. This particular book is one of the best in the series.

What more can I say? After reading the first 2 volumes of this series, I just had to pick up the rest. Although it took me over a year to get this volume (I tried to get it through another source with no luck), Invincible is a great read.

Ever since i first picked up Invincible Vol. 1, i've been hooked on Robert Kirkman's new series. It has gone on to become my favorite comic of late. The characters are great and Robert's first story arc comes to a head in this latest volume. And it's a doozy. i won't spoil anything but let's just say Kirkman finshes it off with his usual touch of greatness. Pick this book up. In fact pick all of his Invincible books up if you haven't! Now i'm going to go order Tech Jacket and try to pass the time until Invincible Vol. 4 comes out:)