Invincible (comics)

Invincible
Cover of Invincible 52. Art by Ryan Ottley.
Publication information
Publisher	Image Comics
First appearance	Tech Jacket #1 (November 2002)
Created by	Robert Kirkman Cory Walker
In-story information
Full name	Markus Sebastian "Mark" Grayson
Species	Half-Viltrumite/Half-Human
Place of origin	Earth
Team affiliations	The Pact Teen Team Guardians of the Globe
Abilities	Superhuman Strength, Speed, Extended life span, Endurance, Durability and Flight

Invincible (Mark Grayson) is a superhero in the Image Comics Universe. Created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Cory Walker, the character first appeared in Tech Jacket #1 (November 2002), before graduating to his own self-titled regular series in 2003, as a title in Image's then-new superhero line.

Invincible is the teenaged son of Omni-Man, an extraterrestrial superhero of the Viltrumite race. Invincible inherited his father’s superhuman strength and ability to fly and he has sworn to protect the Earth. He has had trouble adjusting to his newfound powers and coping with the reality of his origins.

Publication history

Creator Robert Kirkman signing an Invincible trade paperback at the 2011 New York Comic Con.

While Robert Kirkman has been the sole writer of the series, Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley have contributed the art. Cory Walker co-created the book and provided art from #1 to #7. Ryan Ottley assumed art duties with issue #8 and has been pencilling since. Kirkman has provided back-up space for a few aspiring comic creators, most notably Benito Cereno and Nate Bellegarde.

Character biography and synopsis

Mark Sebastian Grayson is the son of Nolan Grayson (Omni-Man) and Deborah Grayson. When Mark was seven years old, Nolan reveals that he is a Viltrumite, a race of peaceful explorers, and had come to Earth to help mankind and that one day Mark would develop super powers.^[1] Mark's powers eventually appear while he is working at his part time job. When Nolan finds Mark beating up some criminals wearing a homemade costume, he takes him to his superhero tailor.^[2]

Shortly after Mark meets a young superhero group, the Teen Team and realizes one of its members, Atom Eve, goes to school with him. Mark joins the Team to fight the villainous Mauler Twins.^[1] Mark and his dad decide to team up. Soon afterwards, Nolan is abducted by the same aliens they had been fighting earlier.^[3] It turns out that one of Mark's teachers has been turning students into bombs, and turns himself into a bomb, so Mark flies him to Antarctica before he detonates. Nolan then returns from the alternate dimension where he was imprisoned.^[4] He tells Mark to fight a superpowered alien who returns to Earth periodically. Mark talks to the alien, who is name is Allen. Allen assesses the strength of planets but had been coming to Earth by mistake for decades.^[5]

Mark and his friend William visit a university they would like to attend but it is attacked by a cyborg. William finds out that Mark has super powers.^[6] Shortly afterwards the Guardians of the Globe are attacked and killed.^[7] It is believed that Black Samson killed the Guardians, and the funeral for the Guardians is attacked by Samson's butler wearing a supersuit. Meanwhile, Eve tells Mark that she broke up with Rex Splode after she found him cheating on her.^[8]

A new Guardians of the Globe is formed, and most of the Teen Team join. Mark is offered a position but declines. Mark begins dating Amber Bennett. The Mauler Twins dig up and revive the Immortal.^[9] The Immortal and Omni-Man fight and Omni-Man kills him again with Mark watching.^[10] Omni-Man confesses that the Viltrumites are actually a warrior race who conquer planets for their Empire, killing anyone who refuses to join. Omni-Man was sent to Earth and after decades living among humans, began to ready for the invasion by killing off the Guardians of the Globe. Mark tries to fight his father,^[11] but Omni-Man almost kills him. Omni-Man, faced with the prospect of having to kill his son, flies off the planet.^[12] Mark is rescued by the U.S. government and introduced to Cecil Steadman, who is in charge of protecting the planet. Cecil previously used to inform Omni-Man of potential threats and offers Mark the same deal. Mark is sent into space to fight Allen, who has returned to Earth to tell Mark that Earth is going to be invaded by the Viltrumites.^[13]

Mark finds out that his mother blames him for driving his father away.^[14] She later apologizes and befriends the wife of SuperPatriot. Mark is sent under the ocean to marry the Queen of Atlantis, his father having killed the previous King. Mark manages to get another Atlantian to marry the queen.^[15] A man named Angstrom Levy has been traveling between dimensions finding his alternate dimension duplicates.^[16] Mark graduates from high school and Angstrom Levy breaks the Mauler twins out of jail.^[17] Mark goes to Mars with a group of Astronauts to keep them safe. On Mars they are captured and almost executed by native Martians. This is to keep a slave race of aliens called Sequids from rising up. The astronauts and Invincible escape, but it turns out one of the astronauts was left behind and replaced by a Martian shape-shifter.^[18]

Eve retires from being a superhero and moves to Africa to make better use her powers, while Mark starts taking University classes. The campus is attacked by another cyborg, which is under the command of a student named DA Sinclair.^[19] Mark is sent by Cecil to deal with the new Darkwing, who has gone insane. Mark arrests him.^[20] Mark tells Amber that he is Invincible. DA Sinclair has abducted a student to turn into a cyborg called a Reaniman.^[21] Amber and Mark have sex. Allen returns to the Coalition of Planets and tells them about Mark. Later, some Viltrumites attack and brutally maim him.^[22]

Angstrom Levy has built a machine to combine all of his alter selves' brains into his own. Mark comes to stop the machine. The Mauler Twins bring several of their alternate selves to the lab to fight Invincible. Angstrom Levy attempts to stop the machine to save Mark. This causes a huge explosion. Mark survives, but Angstrom Levy is left hideously deformed. Angstrom blames Invincible, and plans his revenge.^[23]

Mark fights an alien disguised as one of Mark's favorite comic book characters, Science Dog. The alien asks Mark to save his planet and Mark accepts. Once Mark gets to the planet he finds his father alive.^[24] Nolan introduces Mark to his half-brother that he had with one of the native species.^[25] Other Viltrumites attack the planet. Mark's father asks Mark to take his new family to caves that will protect them, but they meet a Viltrumite inside.^[26] Mark and his father fight the Viltrumites, who have already killed most of the population.^[27] Nolan is defeated and taken by the Viltrumites, sparing the planet. The Viltrumites put Mark in charge of readying Earth for invasion. Nolan tells Mark to read his novels.^[28] After Mark helps repair the cities of the planet, he heads back to Earth with his half-brother. Cecil reprimands Mark for leaving Earth, as there was a crisis while he was gone.^[29]

Mark's mother becomes attached to his new half-brother and agrees to raise him. Mark and Amber visit Eve in Africa.^[30] Mark and Eve catch up. But, Mark receives a phone call from a man warning that his mother is in danger. Mark flies home and sees his mother beaten, sitting next to Angstrom Levy.^[31] Angstrom attempts to weaken Invincible by dragging him through various dimensions.^[32] It is here Mark meets Spider-Man and the New Avengers. After beating Doc Ock,^[33] Invincible finds a portal that takes him to his home dimension and finds that Levy has beaten Mark's mother. Enraged, Invincible pulls Levy into an alternate dimension, where he beats Levy to death.^[32] Mark is rescued by a group of Guardians from 15 years in the future; the future Eve tells him that she loves him and to tell his Eve how he feels so she can move on.^[34] Mark's tailor informs him that Nolan had written science fiction books early in his career. These books have information on how to beat the Viltrumites.^[35]

Mark's roommate William tells him that their friend Rick has gone missing. Several homeless people have disappeared from a park, so William dresses up as a homeless person and sleeps on a bench, with Mark watching, hoping that this will lead them to Rick. A Reaniman comes to abduct William. Mark chases after them but is attacked by three other Reanimen. One of them is Rick.^[36] As Sinclair begins to operate on William, Mark bursts in to the room with the other Reanimen. William manages to get Rick to attack the other Reanimen. Mark breaks Sinclair's jaw, but then Cecil comes in and arrests them. Mark is called in by the Dean to talk about his poor attendance, and Mark thinks Amber is cheating on him. Cecil offers Sinclair a job with the government.^[37] Mark goes back to Africa to tell Eve how he feels, and then they kiss.^[38]

Mark is then called to help fight a Sequid invasion.^[39] The Robot builds a device to stun the Sequids.^[40] Invincible deploys it on their host and their invasion is stopped. Mark and Amber break up.^[41] Mark goes to press conference to talk about his father and his intentions. Mark discovers his half-brother, named Oliver, can fly.^[42] Mark considers quitting college and then meets up with Allen to show him his father's books. Eve finds out that Mark and Amber broke up and says they're dating now.^[43]

Mark tells Eve what her future self told him and that he doesn't feel that way about her. Eve storms off. While talking with his mother, a female Viltrumite shows up. She wants to know how far Mark has come in preparing Earth for invasion. She tries to show Mark how Earth may benefit from being part of the Viltrumite empire. After helping Mark save people on a sinking ship, she asks him if he is ready to work for the Viltrumites. He refuses and she attacks him.^[44] She informs him that a new replacement from the Viltrumite Empire will come soon to take over Earth and leaves.^[45] Mark begins preparing for the invasion. He then teams up with Rex-plode to defeat a pair of time travelers trying to steal the Declaration of Independence and then Multi-Paul, Dupli-Kate's brother, attacks them. But Dupli-Kate shows up to stop him.^[46] Invincible fights Magmaniac and Tether Tyrant and Oliver shows up to help him and asks to be his sidekick.^[47]

Mark goes looking for Atom Eve, who has been hiding in Africa. Cecil pages Mark, and tells him that Doc Seismic has captured all of the superheroes and is holding them underground. Mark destroys many of the monsters and Doc Seismic, despite passing out from exhaustion. Invincible finds out that Cecil has hired the evil creator of the Reanimen, and Darkwing II. He beats up Darkwing, and discovers that no one knows that he was actually a murderer. He talks with Atom Eve about making the biggest mistake of his life, and sees Cecil. Cecil uses the Reanimen to attack Mark, as he thinks that Mark is becoming evil. Mark defeats the Reanimen, only to discover that Cecil has placed something in him to upset his equilibrium. Mark flies to the New Guardians of the Globe, and Robot is able block the frequency. Mark destroys almost all of the Reanimen. Cecil tells Mark that he is fired, and Mark tells him to stay away from his family. Invincible goes back home, and tells the story to his mom, brother, and Eve. Eve and Mark go into the backyard, and he tells her all he could think of was her when he thought he was going to die, and they kiss.

Mark is now a free agent and tells Oliver that he needs to train him how to use his powers. The two get new costumes, with Oliver insisting on being called Kid Omni-Man. Mark and Oliver end up fighting two super villains, and Oliver makes many rookie mistakes, but Invincible forgives him. When Mark arrives home he hangs out with Eve, and they kiss again only to be watched by a floating camera sent by the presumed dead Angstrom Levy.

The Mauler Twins have a new weapon and appear to have taken out the Guardians of the Globe. Mark fights the Mauler Twins, who become frustrated and launch a nuclear missile. Oliver arrives, and Invincible takes off after the missile. While Mark is in space, Oliver kills the Mauler Twins. Mark and Oliver argue over the right to kill, with Mark trying to convince Oliver that human life is precious. Mark tells Oliver his is too much like their dad. Oliver asks Mark if he ever thought their father was right, Mark replies discreetly....sometimes.

Mark is disturbed at what Oliver has done and leaves his date with Eve early. He returns home and argues with Oliver. Mark goes patrolling and comes across Titan. Mark tells him that he has not forgiven him for taking over Machine Head's corporation and they fight, until a huge dragon attacks Mark. Titan escapes and we see that he is going to start a war with Mr. Liu and his team which also consists of Multi-Paul. He comes across Eve in the sky and tells her he will meet her later. He returns home to talk to Oliver, and he forgives him. Oliver notices an orb in the tree.

Mark and Eve realize they love each other, and sleep together for the first time. Meanwhile, Allen the Alien is in a Viltrumite prison, where Nolan is scheduled to be executed. Allen has become good friends with Nolan, and breaks the two of them out of their cells, along with Battlebeast. Allen, Nolan, and Battlebeast fight the Viltrumites and eventually escape after Nolan reveals that there are only 50 pure blooded Viltrumites left.

Mark receives a call from Amber and goes to see her. She tells Mark her father has died and her new boyfriend Gary has been abusing her physically. Meanwhile, Oliver is patrolling the city when he comes across a giant robot destroying the city. He is being followed by one of Angstrom Levy's floating orbs. Mark holds Gary over a building by his leg, and threatens to kill him if he hurts Amber again. Mark finds out where Oliver is and goes to help. Oliver says that the human inside the suit just wants to get out, and Mark says that they'll talk about it later. Mark sees Amber who is happy about what he did and tells him she is giving Gary another chance. Mark goes to Eve's house and tells her what happened and they cuddle for a while. Later, Mark see's Oliver and apologizes to him about not teaching him things. Oliver sees a reflection in the trees and Mark tries to get the orb but it blows up in his hand. He realizes someone was watching them. Invincible goes to Cecil to see if it is him. Cecil tells Mark that it is not him and if he can help track down a fugitive. The fugitive turns out to be Wolf-Man.

Angstrom Levy finally makes his move. Flashbacks show that Mark had not actually killed Angstrom. Levy had just enough energy to make one last portal, to a dimension where a group of aliens heal him of his wounds. After being healed, he travels to other dimensions and gathers over a dozen evil versions of Invincible. The evil Invincibles launch a massive assault on Earth with the intent on not just causing damage but also ruining Invincible's reputation. Many major cities are destroyed, and Rex-Splode dies when he explodes his own skeleton in order to defeat an evil Invincible. The surviving evil Invicibles revolt against Levy, who uses his power to strand them in another dimension. As he does this Mark and Oliver attack. An enraged Mark is ready to kill Angstrom, but Levy escapes with the loss his arm. He returns to the beings that had healed him but due to his failure they inform him he works for them now.

Invincible visits Eve in the hospital while the rest of the super powered community cleans up after the war. Invincible joins in but blames himself for much of the death and destruction. Much of humanity and some superheroes the cause of the chaos. Cecil invites Invincible, Robot, Brit, Black Samson and Donald to join the new Guardians of the Globe, with Invincible as the leader. Mark still does not trust Cecil and leaves. A Viltrumite named Conquest arrives to remind Invincible of his job of taking over earth. An angry Invincible refuses and the two of them engage in a vicious battle. Conquest is better trained and dominates the fight. Oliver tries to help but is nearly killed. A still recovering Eve wakes up and rushes to help Mark, but is killed by Conquest. Invincible continues to fight, but is badly injured. Eve's powers somehow restore her to life, and she burns the skin off Conquest. Invincible then repeatedly headbutts Conquest until he crushes the alien's skull, then collapses.

Invincible awakens in the Pentagon hospital some time later with Eve by his side. The two reconcile with Mark noticing that Eve's breasts have gotten larger, leading to an intimate moment between them. Invincible joins the other heroes at the funeral for Rex Splode, and afterwards visits Oliver in the hospital. Mark then reveals a shocking revelation he had during his fight with Conquest; in order to truly protect Earth, Invincible must kill every villain he encounters from now on.

Allen and Nolan, having escaped from the Viltrumite prison, travel to certain parts of the universe in search of things that can hurt the Viltrumites. It is revealed that a virus produced by rebels of the Viltrumite empire was successful in killing over 99.9% of the Viltrumites. The Viltrumites' reason for attempting to conquer Earth is that human DNA is compatible with Viltrumite; they want to use Earth as a breeding colony. A character from Nolan's novels, the Space Racer, is revealed to be alive. He has a special weapon that returns to him automatically when touched by another individual. Nolan and Allen find the Space Racer, and Nolan explains that he has switched sides. Allen reassures Space Racer he has a role to play in the upcoming war.

Back on Earth, Invincible and the rest of the superheroes finish reconstructing the cities of the world. Invincible is attacked by a new villain called Dinosaurus. After a quick fight Invincible is just about to kill Dinosaurus, but is interrupted by the Guardians. Later at Eve's house, Mark explains to Eve what happened. After an awkward dinner with Eve's parents, Mark and Eve talk about their new business providing superhero services to prisons. Oliver arrives in his new costume. Due to his rapid aging Oliver now looks like a teenager and calls himself Young Omni-Man. While this is happening Conquest, who was secretly kept alive by the government, escapes from imprisonment and flies into space. That night Eve finds out she is pregnant with Mark's child.

The Sequids, who have been hiding in the sewers, commence their attack led by Rus Livingston. At the same time a nuclear power plant is attacked by an alien woman named Universa. Mark answers the call from the nuclear plant before his mother can tell him about the Sequids. Universa tells Mark she is on Earth for the planet's energy and will not leave until she gets it. After a difficult fight, Invincible manages to get her staff, the source of her powers. Atom Eve sucker punches Universa. Cecil arrives and tells Invincible the Sequids are back. The battle against the Sequids seems hopeless, leaving Invincible with only one choice: to kill Rus. After Invincible kills Rus he quickly leaves, feeling guilt about what he has done. He returns to his house to tell Eve what he did and how bad he feels. Cecil arrives and asks Mark to come with him to the base. Cecil tell Mark how he feels about the situation at hand. Later, Invincible helps Titan battle his old master and Invincible almost kills Titan.

The Viltrumite War

Invincible visits Art and tells him about the things that happened recently in his life, like watching Eve die and being forced to kill. Invincible feels the black and blue costume is a curse and Art gives him an updated version of his old costume. Invincible then meets Eve at his house and asks her if she wants to go to have dinner. Invincible's father arrives with Allen the Alien and tells him that war is upon them. While Mark and Eve's relationship goes through an emotional rollercoaster, Mark is forced to leave with his father, Oliver and Tech Jacket to fight the Viltrumite Empire. During the first moments of the war, Invincible is nearly disemboweled by Conquest. Ultimately, Invincible chokes Conquest to death but is forced to an extended two month recovery. This gives the Viltrumite Empire time to regroup for their last stand. After a heated fight, in which Olivier is grievously injured and the Viltrumite home-planet destroyed, Mark falls into a two weeks coma, after which is informed that the surviving Viltrumites have completely disappeared. Mark deduces that they have gone to Earth. However, this time the Viltrumites, realizing that a direct conflict could potentially kill off their race, bargain a truce with Invincible and Omni-Man. Instead of fighting, they will hide on Earth as neutral observers, holding off any attempt at conquest and restoration of their Empire for at least a thousand years. During this time, they will breed with humans and raise the Human/Viltrumite hybrids in secret. Despite the danger this poses, Invincible and Omni-Man realize this is safer than fighting a bloody war on Earth and accept the truce, ending the Viltrumite War.

Post Viltrumite War

Omni-man and Mrs. Grasyson decide to visit Oliver and attempt to fix their broken marriage. They leave the house in Mark's hands for six months. After acquiring the house and having Eve move in, Mark returns to his superhero role after receiving a minor change to his suit. The couple seem to have a rift growing between them, which forces Mark to confront Eve. Eve reveals that she had an abortion while Mark was fighting off world.^[48] The two embrace, seemingly moving on with their lives. Soon, Dinosaurus emerges again, planting a bomb in Las Vegas. Invincible arrives to stop the villain but is overpowered. Invincible disables the bomb, but Dinosaurus reveals that there are multiple charges placed in the city. The bombs detonate, destroying the city, leaving it as a sheet of glass.^[49]

Supporting cast

Non-superpowered

• Debbie Grayson: Mark's mother, adopted mother of Oliver Grayson.
• Amber Justine Bennett: Mark's ex-girlfriend.
• William Francis Clockwell: Mark's roommate and best friend.
• Cecil Stedman: Government liaison and head of the clandestine Global Defense Agency.
• Donald Ferguson: Cecil's assistant, Guardians of the Globe contact, and android.
• Art Rosenbaum: Tailor of superhero costumes and family friend of the Graysons.
• Rick Sheridan: Mark and William's classmate at Upstate University, turned into one of the Reanimen.

Superheroes

• Omni-Man: Mark's father Nolan, formerly the greatest super-hero of Earth.
• Oliver Grayson: Mark's alien half-brother. The result of a relationship between Nolan and a member of an alien race who have short life spans, growing at a rapidly increased rate compared to humans. Taking first the sobriquet of Kid Omni-Man and then Young Omni-Man, he attempts to rehabilitate Omni-Man memories in the general public.
• Atom Eve: Former classmate of Mark's and member of the Teen Team. Eve was created as a result of a government experiment to create super-beings. Can manipulate all matter, although a mental block has previously stopped her from creating and manipulating living things. She is now dating Invincible.
• Allen the Alien: A Champion Evaluation Officer who works for the Coalition of Planets. He travels on a tight schedule and tests the skills of various powered heroes on each planet in order to determine if there is a suitable "champion" to defend that planet.
• The Guardians of the Globe
  • The Immortal: Apparently unkillable leader of the Guardians of the Globe. Currently is married to Dupli-Kate. Revealed to rule the world in the far future. Is finally killed by Invincible at his own behest. It's suggested in flashbacks that one of his past identities was in fact Abraham Lincoln. In the present storyline is alive.
  • Black Samson: Lost his powers (and with them, his Guardian status) for a while before recovering them very abruptly.
  • Robot: Former leader of the Teen Team and leader of the Guardians of the Globe until replaced by the Immortal. Not an actual robot, but a malformed human, living in life-support tank, he cloned a new human body for himself using Rex Splode's DNA with the help of the Mauler twins. Recently became romantically involved with Monster Girl.
  • Rex Splode: Former member of the Teen Team and the Guardians of the Globe. Sacrificed himself to kill a hostile alternate-dimension Invincible.
  • Dupli-Kate: Former Member of the Teen Team and the Guardians of the Globe.
  • Bulletproof: Initially turned down of membership in the Guardians of the Globe, Bulletproof did later join the team and is currently a member. (In a related note, Bulletproof was one of the proposed names for the title character before the series saw print.)
  • Shrinking Ray: Former member of the Guardians of the Globe, now dead.
  • Monster Girl: A girl who was cursed by a gypsy, now able to turn into a large troll like being with super-strength. A side effect is that with each change into Monster-girl, her normal self becomes younger physically. Her boyfriend, Robot, however found a cure for the curse, allowing her to develop normally.
  • The Shapesmith: A Martian, disguised as human Rus Livingston, who uses his metamorphic powers to change his shape. Currently a fugitive of Mars for allowing the Sequid fiasco to occur.
  • Darkwing: Formerly Night Boy, The Original Darkwing's sidekick. He continued Darkwing's legacy but snapped and started killing criminals until Invincible apprehended him. A reformed Darkwing joined the Guardians of the Globe. He can teleport himself and others via the Shadow-verse using any shadow large enough to envelop him. Dragged one of the extra-dimensional Invincibles into the Shadow-verse and his destiny is still unclear. Presumed dead.
• Fightmaster and Drop Kick: Two time-travelling martial arts masters who stole the Declaration of Independence. From the same era as the future insane Immortal.

Enemies

• Mauler Twins: An evil scientist and his clone, whom both continuously argue as to which is the original. After the original was definitely killed, making them both clones, they switched to arguing which is the original clone. Recently both Mauler twins were killed by Kid Omni-Man; with no one alive to clone them it is uncertain if they will come back.
• Angstrom Levy: A disfigured genius with the ability to leap across dimensions
• The Viltrumite Empire: Invincible and Omni-Man's people.
• Titan: Titan can encase his body in super-strong, nearly invulnerable rock. Titan first appeared in Capes. Titan was a member of the Order until Mister Liu revoked his membership.
• Battle Beast: One of Machine Head's several henchman. He is later released from imprisonment on the Viltrumite Prison Warship where Allen the Alien and Omni-Man were held, and Allen the Alien used his insatiable lust for battles to coax him into helping in their jailbreak.
• The Flaxians: Aliens from another dimension, in which time passes at a dramatically faster pace.
• Machine Head: A crime boss with a robotic head.
• D.A. Sinclair: A young and reclusive scientist at Upstate University, is the creator of the "Reanimen", robotic zombies intended to be "the soldiers of the future". Was last seen working on into building reanimen using the corpses of the extra-dimensional Invincibles.
• Doc Seismic: A villain with special gauntlets that enable him to induce earthquakes.
• Rus Livingston: An astronaut accidentally left on Mars, he's been attacked and made a host of the psychic Sequids.
• The Lizard League: A group of lizard-themed terrorists, they are parodies of fictional reptile based villain groups The Serpent Society, HYDRA and Cobra. The Lizard League consisted of King Lizard, Komodo Dragon, Salamander, and Iguana; their secret headquarters lies in the Florida Everglades and bears a striking resemblance to a Cobra Terrordrome. King Lizard is the only member of the Lizard League to currently be alive.
• Furnace: A villain with a massive steam-powered iron suit armed with dual flame-throwers and jets. He is actually a man made entirely of liquid heat from which the suit earns its power.
• Magnattack: A villain for hire with the ability to apparently push metal objects away from him, hence his massive armor plated suit.
• Kursk: A Russian villain for hire who can electrify single targets at a time. He was hired by Machine Head to deal with Titan, but was quickly defeated by the Guardians of the Globe.
• Tether Tyrant: A freelance villain with a vest which houses elastic appendages which can pull and throw victims around.
• Magmaniac: A freelance villain who is part lava.
• Master Mind: A criminal with the ability to mentally control the bodies of large groups of people. Previously seen in the pages of Brit.
• Bi-Plane: An age-old villain who believes in using old-fashioned technology for his attacks. Dead.
• The Elephant: A small-time supervillain that has been described as a "lame Rhino rip-off".
• Isotope: A character once thought to be modeled after real life comic book store owner James Sime of Isotope Comics in San Francisco, but as revealed by Robert Kirkman in the letter column of issue #67 - the resemblance "is a complete coincidence... James Sime is a friend of the book, but Ryan didn't even know what he looked like when he drew that issue."
• Giant: An eight-year-old boy who was pulled into another dimension where he transformed by a sorcerer into gigantic orange-red cyclops. He became a king in the other dimension until he was teleported back by one of his enemies.
• Multi-Paul: Dupli-Kate's Brother and a member of the criminal organization called the Order.
• Mister Liu: Mister Liu is an elderly Asian cyborg and high ranking member of the criminal organization called the Order. He can project his soul out of his body; which takes the form of giant oriental dragon.
• Conquest: An elderly, battle-scarred member of the Viltrumite Empire and Invincible's most powerful enemy.

Several of Kirkman's superheroes.
Cover art by Ryan Ottley.

In 2003 and 2004, Image and Robert Kirkman published several other superhero series: Tech Jacket pencilled in a manga style by E.J. Su (cancelled at #6), the 3-issue Capes Inc. series drawn by Mark Englert and three oneshots starring Brit, the first two with artwork from Tony Moore and the third with artwork by Cliff Rathburn.

In 2007, Brit was launched as an ongoing full-color series written by Bruce Brown, with artwork by Cliff Rathburn. The series is overseen and edited by Robert Kirkman. In late 2007, a two issue mini-series starring Atom Eve was released.

Tech Jacket was first collected as a digest-sized, black and white graphic novel and later reissued in regular sized, full color and a cover scheme similar to Kirkman's other trade paper backs. Capes was collected as a trade paperback in summer 2007, and the three Brit one-shots were colored by Val Staples and published as a collection in 2007, as well.

At first shown to barely coexist in the same universe, the characters have since been integrated into Invincible's book. Tech Jacket was an ongoing series that tied into Invincible #27, and the character has been seen in the background of various battles during the series. The characters from Capes have also been supporting characters seen mainly in large superhero battles Invincible participates in, and the series ran as a back-up in the Invincible book starting with #27. Brit has had an even less substantial role, appearing a couple of times in the aforementioned brawls (understandable considering that after the last book Brit was somewhat-retired). In The Astounding Wolf-Man, Art, Invincible's tailor, appeared, designing the title character's costume. Wolf-man has also appeared in Invincible #48 & 49.

Continuity

^{[clarification needed]}

Invincible, along with Firebreather and other new Image superhero characters, debuted in an issue of The Savage Dragon, and has since appeared with several of the characters in The Pact mini-series. Robert Kirkman wrote a miniseries, Savage Dragon: God War and two Superpatriot mini-series, establishing the friendship between Superpatriot's wife Claire and Invincible's mother in the pages of Invincible #13 and later. The Savage Dragon connection is mostly downplayed and Invincible follows its own continuity, tied mainly with previously mentioned satellite Kirkman characters. Invincible also appeared in the fourth issue of Jay Faerber's Noble Causes, and was seen at the funeral for Captain Dynamo, father of the characters in Faerber's Dynamo 5. Similarly, Invincible #48 features cameo appearances from several Savage Dragon characters, as well as both Dynamo 5, and many of Kirkman's own creations, while an earlier issue featured a funeral for the Guardians of the Globe, at which many Image characters, including Savage Dragon and Jack Staff, were in attendance.

Invincible #60 is a "done-in-one crossover event" with characters such as Spawn and Witchblade making appearances. During the invasion of Invincible's evil counterparts from alternate dimensions, the reader saw all Image heroes, like Spawn, Savage Dragon, Witchblade, Darkness, Firebreather, and Pitt fighting invaders alongside Invincible, the Guardians of the Globe, Brit, and Wolf-Man.^[50]

In December 2009, the Image website announced an Image United tie-in one-shot called Image United: Interlude. Shipping in March 2010, Invincible is prominently featured on the teaser cover of the first issue in front of a group of silhouetted characters covered in a classified information label. The website claims, "This March the effects of IMAGE UNITED go global with a glimpse of the crossover's impact on INVINCIBLE and many other Image Comics favorites..."^{[citation needed]}

Collected editions

Trade paperbacks

The first volumes of Invincible trade paperbacks are named after a classic sitcom.

Title	ISBN	Release Date	Collected Material
Invincible Vol. 1: Family Matters	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-320-1	11/2/03	Invincible #1-4
Invincible Vol. 2: Eight is Enough	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-347-3	4/28/04	Invincible #5-8
Invincible Vol. 3: Perfect Strangers	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-391-0	12/1/04	Invincible #9-13
Invincible Vol. 4: Head of the Class	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-440-2	4/20/05	Invincible #14-19; Image Comics Summer Special
Invincible Vol. 5: The Facts of Life	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-554-9	11/16/05	Invincible #0, 20-24, 25 (origin stories from the back only)
Invincible Vol. 6: A Different World	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-579-4	6/5/06	Invincible #25-30
Invincible Vol. 7: Three's Company	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-656-1	12/20/06	Invincible #31-35; The Pact (comics) #4
Invincible Vol. 8: My Favorite Martian	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-683-9	7/19/07	Invincible #36-41
Invincible Vol. 9: Out of This World	Paperback: ISBN 1-58240-827-0	6/18/08	Invincible #42-47
Invincible Vol. 10: Who's the Boss?	Paperback: ISBN 1-60706-013-2	5/20/09	Invincible #48-53
Invincible Vol. 11: Happy Days	Paperback: ISBN 1-60706-062-0	8/24/09	Invincible #54-59; The Astounding Wolf-Man #11
Invincible Vol. 12: Still Standing	Paperback: ISBN 1-60706-166-X	5/26/10	Invincible #60-65
Invincible Vol. 13: Growing Pains	Paperback: ISBN 1-60706-251-8	8/25/10	Invincible #66-70; Invincible Returns #1
Invincible Vol. 14: The Viltrumite War	Paperback: ISBN 1-60706-367-4	4/25/11	Invincible #71-78
Invincible Presents: Atom Eve & Rex Splode, Vol. 1	Paperback: ISBN 1-60706-255-0	6/14/10	Invincible Presents: Atom Eve #1-2; Invincible Presents: Atom Eve & Rex Splode #1-3

Hardcovers

Title	ISBN	Release Date	Collected Material
Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 1	ISBN 1-58240-500-X	8/3/05	Collects #1-13, plus extras
Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 2	ISBN 1-58240-594-8	6/20/06	Collects #14-24, #1/2, #0, parts of #25, plus extras
Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 3	ISBN 1-58240-763-0	11/7/07	Collects #25-35, The Pact #4, plus extras
Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 4	ISBN 1-58240-989-7	4/29/09	Collects #36-47, plus extras
Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 5	ISBN 1-60706-116-3	1/13/10	Collects #48-59, The Astounding Wolf-Man #11.
Invincible Ultimate Collection Hardcover Vol. 6	ISBN 1-60706-360-5	04/05/11	Collects #60-70, Invincible Returns #1
The Complete Invincible Library Vol.1	ISBN 1-58240-718-5	3/28/07	Collects #1-24, #1/2, #0, parts of #25, plus extras
The Complete Invincible Library Vol.2	ISBN 1-60706-112-0	11/25/09	Collects #25-47

Other collections

• Invincible also appeared in Marvel Team-Up Vol. 3 #14, which was collected in Marvel Team-Up Volume 3: League Of Losers ISBN 0-7851-1946-9. This story occurs "between the pages" of Invincible #33.
• In November 2006, the Official Handbook to the Invincible Universe was released. This two-issue series told the origins of all of the characters seen in the series so far, and was done in the style of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, including similar covers. The series was collected into a trade paperback in November, 2007.

Adaptations

The comic has been turned into a motion comic by Gain Enterprises using the Bomb-xx process, and is broadcast on MTV2^[51] and downloadable to mobile phones, from iTunes,^[52][53] and Amazon.^[54]

Cast

• Patrick Cavanaugh as Invincible
• Mark Fountain as Nolan Grayson
• Victoria Kelleher as Debbie Grayson
• Wendy Allyn as Atom Eve
• Stan Kirsch as Robot
• Jeff Shuter as William
• J. Anthony McCarthy as Criminal
• Tom Ohmer as Cecil Steadman
• Hosea Chanchez as Mauler Twins
• Daniel Kirschner as Criminals
• Eric Wolfgang Nelson as Rex Splode
• Keith Stone as Allen the Alien
• Mike Connel as Derek
• Bill Garnet as Art Rosenbaum
• Leslie-Anne Huff as Dupli-Kate
• Paul Kresge as Teen Bomb
• Cynthia Sophiea as Mrs. Thatcher

In popular culture

• In the King of the Hill episode "Behind Closed Doors", Bobby is seen reading a comic entitled Unvincible, whose title and cover art is similar to the first issue of Invincible. Also, in the 13th season episode "Earthly Girls Are Easy," Buck Strickland plays with an Invincible action figure when planning his entrance at the benefit concert.
• In the film Paul, Simon Pegg can be seen wearing an Invincible shirt, and issues of the comic appear in a comic book shop. According to Robert Kirkman, he, along with Invincible co-creator Cory Walker and current Invincible artist Ryan Ottley, had a cameo in the film as The Big Guy's henchmen.^[55]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Invincible #2
2. ^ Invincible #1
3. ^ Invincible #3
4. ^ Invincible #4
5. ^ Invincible #5
6. ^ Invincible #6
7. ^ Invincible #7
8. ^ Invincible #8
9. ^ Invincible #9
10. ^ Invincible #10
11. ^ Invincible #11
12. ^ Invincible #12
13. ^ Invincible #13
14. ^ Invincible #14
15. ^ Invincible #15
16. ^ Invincible #16
17. ^ Invincible #17
18. ^ Invincible #18
19. ^ Invincible #20
20. ^ Invincible #21
21. ^ Invincible #22
22. ^ Invincible #23
23. ^ Invincible #24
24. ^ Invincible #25
25. ^ Invincible #26
26. ^ Invincible #27
27. ^ Invincible #28
28. ^ Invincible #29
29. ^ Invincible #30
30. ^ Invincible #31
31. ^ Invincible #32
32. ^ ^{a b} Invincible #33
33. ^ Marvel Team-up #14
34. ^ Invincible #34
35. ^ Invincible #35
36. ^ Invincible #36
37. ^ Invincible #37
38. ^ Invincible #38
39. ^ Invincible #39
40. ^ Invincible #40
41. ^ Invincible #41
42. ^ Invincible #42
43. ^ Invincible #43
44. ^ Invincible #44
45. ^ Invincible #45
46. ^ Invincible #46
47. ^ Invincible #47
48. ^ Invincible #79
49. ^ Invincible #80
50. ^ Invincible's Done-in-One Crossover, Comic Book Resources, December 11, 2008
51. ^ Invincible - Episode 1
52. ^ A Comic Book Superhero Is Headed to Small Screens, New York Times, July 14, 2008
53. ^ Invincible, Season 1
54. ^ Invincible Season 1
55. ^ Kirkman, Robert (August 9, 2009). "Flying out tomorrow to New Mexico...". Twitter (via Echofon). http://twitter.com/RobertKirkman/status/3216236821. Retrieved 2010-07-25. 

External links

• Official Invincible Website
• Invincible at Comicvine
• Invincible Series web site