Yo... Livvie here.
Guys, I have many conflicting feelings about the Robert Kirkman's Invincible #118, out of Image (Skybound).
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| Super Sweet Cover That Grabs You By The Eyeballs |
Yay for a publisher executing a savvy marketing idea in a bombastic and fun way!
I love the soft but vibrant colors, the way the art is laid out (coming at ya!), and the "We really want you to try this comic. That's why it's only $.25." disclaimer running along the bottom made me laugh. Plus, I'm really cheap. How could I resist?
Such a deal!
I love, love, LOVE that, because this is an issue meant to draw in new readers, it has a six page set up with our hero and heroine's background, before the actual story starts. It's done very well, with action packed, fun panels and a concise summary that makes you want to go back and read the issues you missed. Except you don't HAVE to, because Kirkman manages to catch you up on 117 issues in six pages.
For those of you who aren't writers, let me say, that is a RARE talent. (Because, besides talking about ourselves, the thing we writers like best is talking about our stories. In GREAT DETAIL. For a reeeeeaally long time.) We who are about to read salute you, Mr. K. Thank you for saving us three months of catching up.
The summary drops us directly into the current story, and it's a fun one. Yes, I'm beating the word fun dead with a stick. But overall, that's the my main descriptive word for this issue. Until the last little bit, that is. HANG ON, HOLD UP, WE'LL GET THERE.
We're introduced to the main characters, Mark Grayson (Superhero hottie dude with a supe dad gone bad then good again, and a mom who's only mentioned once, sorry, you're just there, yanno?), his wife Atom Eve (Superheroine, mommy, hottie in her own right, and someone I want to be BFFs with), and their cute little baby Terra (adorable headband wearer, binky addict, alien eyeball puncher).
The Graysons are refugees from Earth, running from a former friend who was a robot, who became a clone, was lost in another dimension, then came back, but now he's gone all Benevolent Leader. Apparently Mark and Rex (yes, he's kinda sexy, in keeping with the name) had a throw down, but Rex kicked Mark's butt. So the Graysons said "To hell with this. I'm not raising my kid here." and moved to the planet Talescria.
Where their adorable baby starts things off on the right foot by punching their host, and president of the planet, right in his big shiny eye. (To be fair to Terra, the dude was ALL UP IN HER PERSONAL SPACE.) It's fine, though. The president (Allen the Alien) is an old friend of Mark and Eve's, and kind of admits he had it coming. Then Mark's half-brother Oliver (Kid Omni-Man) drops in (literally, from the sky, because this is a flying family of supes)! I guess Talescria is the place to be, because he's been living here a while and seems to love it.
Oliver makes plans with Eve and Mark to come by later with his girlfriend and cook dinner for them, in their new place. Clearly, OLIVER has never moved a long distance with a baby. If I were Eve, I would have smacked him into a new dimension for even suggesting bringing his girlfriend over on the night of a big move-in. But Eve is a better woman than me. She and Mark are thrilled, they agree, and then President Al (Imma call him Al) go check out the Graysons' new digs. Niiiiice place, all glass and swank views of the hustle and bustle. Al leaves them to rest (Mark protests, "We are seriously NOT TIRED at all. We're going to go out and see the city before Oliver comes over."), and the little family all falls dead asleep on the couch in the main living area.
Then something interesting happens. The first hint that maybe this perfect marriage, this perfect little family,and this perfect MAN, aren't exactly what we think.
Eve wakes up, realizes the baby is still napping, and transfers a still sleeping Terra (LIKE A BOSS) to her room. 'Cause, let's be honest, when you have a new baby, naptime is Mama and Daddy nookie time. Eve comes back in to where Mark is still out cold on the couch, slides on top of him, whispers things like hurry up the baby is sleeping let's do this thing in his ear... and he nearly blows her into the next solar system.
Naturally, she is pissed.
I mean, A) it's apparent from her words he's been ducking her booty calls for a while, and B) he could totally have woken the baby. WTH, Mark? Oliver, with impeccable timing, knocks on the apartment door just then, and Eve goes to answer it. But you can tell this conversation isn't over, and Mark knows it. He looks stressed.
Back to the fun stuff! Oliver's girl is a cockroach! Or something close to it. He makes a "mandibles" joke that echoes the "Did ya see the RACK on her?" joke closely enough that I less than delighted. But it was the only iffy joke so far, I let it pass with hardly a whaaaa moment. It's worth noting that while Oliver did mention earlier he AND his girlfriend were going to cook dinner, somehow it wound up just being Eve and Haluma in the kitchen.
Huh. Guess this part wasn't as fun for me as I first thought. I mean, Eve is a superhero and Haluma is a giant bug alien that could probably snap your puny human head from its neck with hardly a snick of her mandibles. But, yanno, into the kitchen with you, ladies! Make your menfolk some yummy eyeball soup!
Sigh.
What is funny, though, is that Mark decides to be brave and try the food. He LOVES IT. Sadly, he find out later, it does not love HIM. Heh. What follows is the freaking best married couple interaction in comics I think I've ever read. I literally snort-giggled. Eve is def the badass in that family.
ALSO! This was the first time I realized Eve has a prosthetic leg/foot. In bare feet, having just woken up, it's the first time you can see it. Now, I'm sure this was explained/happened in one of the 117 issues that came before, but I kind of love that it's no big deal. She's a mom, a wife, a sexy asskicker, and while she may be missing a foot/leg, we can already tell that it sure doesn't hold her back any. A positive message subtly conveyed, without words, that I really, really loved.
Other than the mandible joke/kitchen thing, I'm totally hooked on the comic at this point. I love the art, the colors, the warmth of their small family. The funny parts are HILARIOUS, and the story is compelling enough that I want to read on.
Which is why the next part is so confusing. I find it hard to describe, to even decipher, my feelings on this next/last passage.
Eve and Mark start making out again, and I thought whoo, here it comes, gimme the good stuff! But once again, Mark shoves away from Eve. This time, though, he's crying. He looks lost. Heartbroken. Eve was just as shocked as I was, and begs him to finally talk to her. When he does, he reveals that while they were broken up (gosh, I guess there WAS a lot of stuff covered in the previous 117 issues), a former flame of his came back into town.
And she raped him.
She. Raped. Him.
This reveal is HUGE.
First, it's huge because Mark is a man. We (society in general) don't like to think men are vulnerable enough to be raped, contrary to a multitude of evidence disputing that fact. But here is this superhero, who has been through a lot (he fought his former bestie for his home planet and lost, you guys), but he was raped. Not even by a man, which might make it justifiable in some people's minds, since men are so strong and, uhh, manly. But Mark was raped by a woman, someone he used to date... and he blames himself. Which brings me to the second thing.
Mark blames himself. He thinks, maybe he didn't fight hard enough, or say no loud enough. Maybe he could have stopped her. Maybe he wanted it, deep down inside. This pain and uncertainty is eating him up, and it's affecting everything in his life. He's very clear on the fact that she was the aggressor, that she attacked him, she forced herself on him. But he still blames himself.
Oh, Mark. I know your pain. So many woman I know, know your pain. And probably some men I know, even, who haven't spoken about it. We get it.
I hated seeing him go through this, to curl into a pain-filled ball and cry, and feel ashamed and dirty and guilty. Eve starts crying as well, and for one panel, I thought she was going to throw her arms around him and tell him not to blame himself. That this wasn't his fault, that it wasn't cheating. It was rape.
So it felt like a baseball bat to the stomach when she silently got up and walked out of the room, crying, and left him there on the floor.
I mean, Jesus, lady. This was probably the hardest, worst confession your husband has ever had to make but he did it, because he loves you and your kid, and your life together. In that moment all the gleeful, joyous love I'd felt for Eve shriveled into a tiny speck. It's still there. I hope the next issue explains that she wasn't walking out on him, but going to get their baby, and come have a family cuddle and cry. Unfortunately, the last page left us on a cliffhanger of Terra not breathing in her crib, so I don't know.
Kirkman pulled out the big guns on this ending. Not only did he give us a male rape victim, but in the next moment, he also possibly killed off their sweet, alien eye punching baby.
Despite these tragedies, I have a feeling this is only the beginning for the Grayson family. I don't think Terra is dead. Or if she is, not for long. I do hope Eve can pull her head out her ass long enough to really see how her husband is suffering from an actual sexual trauma. She's too amazing a character to act like this. And I definitely don't think this horrifying episode in Mark's life is going to hold him back any more than his wife's loss of a foot. I can already tell he's smart, sweet, and strong. He'll get through this. But hopefully, he won't have to do it alone.
Overall, I give Invincible #118 a HOLY CRAP I'M IN PLEASE AND THANK rating. I recommend you go out and get it immediately. A) it's only $.25 in print or FREEEE in digital, you cheap bastard, and 2) I cannot think of an ongoing comic that's done a better job of setting up a single issue to draw in new readers.
Bravo to the entire Invincible team, and to Robert Kirkman, for this fun, twisty, surprisingly touching, and definitely addictive, issue.
Livvie out.
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