• Q: “Erik, what would happen, if say, you received a proposal where the art wasn’t good enough for it to be accepted but the pitch and story was extremely impressive and one of the best ideas you’d ever come across?”  A: “It would be rejected.”
• Q: “Would you consider publishing a story written by a 16-year-old? I’m talking about legal issues.” A: “What legal issues? If the work is exceptional–we’ll publish it. Most 16-year olds aren’t that good, however.”

The plotting is generally quite good. The plot progresses in a natural and even way, which is almost unheard-of for an ongoing series. Most ongoing series pace themselves something like this: plot point! Filler arc! Filler arc! Plot point!

There is filler material, but it’s generally well-integrated with the recurring threads. Although characters are interrupted frequently by random events, it rarely feels like a “creature of the week.”

The plot is planned carefully. Something will be hinted at 10 or 15 issues before it’s actually the center of attention. That makes the plot feel more coherent. Additionally, the plot very rarely hinges on stupidity. (With one main exception: when someone murders the Immortal, he doesn’t think to separate the body parts so that he can’t come back to life).

Many of the side-characters are excellent, but just the aliens. Allen, Shapeshift, the Mauler Twins, and (recently) Mark’s father are probably the standouts. The humans are regrettably lackluster, particularly the main cast. Except for his sense of humor, I can’t think of any reason I’d rather read about Invincible than any other superhero. He is a horrible Mary Sue and otherwise forgettable. The only two humans that I’d actually want to read about are the government agents, mainly Cecil and Donald. Unfortunately, the writer ruined Cecil (more on that next) and I think Donald got killed by the Lizard League.

Until issue #45 or so, Invincible had a fairly interesting and complex take on the US government’s role in a superhero story. But then Cecil became a cartoonish caricature that cheerfully hired supervillains. This is mitigated by the fact that an extremely dangerous alien fleet will arrive within 100 years. It’s still kind of an idiotic move because there are so many better alternatives. For example, maybe Invincible could give a sperm donation so that he will have adequate backup when the empire shows up?

Except for Gigantic, this is the only comic book series I’ve ever read that has likable aliens. I attribute this to the writer’s sense of humor and his approach to exotic civilizations. The end result is that the nonhumans tend to be likable and interesting, and that their plots create interesting and fresh situations for the humans.   For example, when Atlantis’ king dies, Atlantlean law requires that he be replaced by his killer.   That creates a tricky problem for Mark that cannot be resolved with violence.

Even the villainous aliens have some depth. The dystopian take on Krypton is particularly effective.

The action is not very good, but it’s an effective complement to the comedy (which is). But the writer has gotten better at weaving dialogue with action. In the early issues, characters would deliver painful paragraphs of exposition as they engaged in a chase scene. That’s unrealistic and jarring in an intense action sequence.

The dialogue is generally very well-executed. Good thing, too, because there is a ton of it.

]]> http://www.superheronation.com/2009/05/20/a-writers-review-of-invincible-what-went-right/feed/ 0 http://www.superheronation.com/2009/05/18/a-writers-guide-to-invincibles-flaws/ http://www.superheronation.com/2009/05/18/a-writers-guide-to-invincibles-flaws/#comments Tue, 19 May 2009 01:30:16 +0000 B. McKenzie http://www.superheronation.com/?p=3653 I’ve read the first thirty issues or so of Invincible.  A lot of it is awesome and a lot of it is an absolute trainwreck.  Here’s what I think went wrong.  (I’ve detailed its positives here).

Especially by issue 20, the story felt like it had ADD. The story flits around a lot; a character might be introduced for a few pages in issue 15 and he might make his next appearance a few issues later and actually matter a few issues after that.  This storytelling style is often effective, but it can get grating.  Let me demonstrate that by doing this review as a random series of paragraphs.  Take that, transitions!

For the first few issues, the art was noticeably bad. The good news is that it improves.  The bad news is… well, see for yourself.

The protagonist suffers from severe Mary Sue problems. Let’s ignore that he’s easily the most powerful being in the world–after all, we could probably say the same for Superman.  What really annoys me about Mark/Invincible is how much the story bends over backwards to avoid holding him accountable for his actions.

• He has a hissy-fit with his boss and quits in issue 3.  His next thought is that “Dad’s going to kill me.”  He sees his father in the next panel and claims that work is going well.  In the very next panel, his father asks him if he’d be OK with quitting his job so that he can have more time for superheroics.  Lucky break!
• Mark fights on behalf of another student in issue 1 and the principal shrugs it off.  “You’re a good kid, Mark.”  In issue 14, the principal gets really angry with another character that is attacked by a gang of kids.  I bet he wishes he got the Mark treatment.
• GIRLFRIEND:  “I was completely out of line.   You had every right to be pissed.”  Issue 14.  Darn, I wish I got the Mark treatment.
• GIRLFRIEND, whining:  “It’s been weeks since I was at your house.”  MARK:  “Feeling happy after everything that happened with my family just didn’t feel right.”  GIRLFRIEND:  “Oh, Mark.  I’m sorry.  You’ve been through so much, and now this.  I’m such an idiot.”

Other characters keep complimenting him. But he rarely does anything impressive.  He’s just superstrong, and not nearly as clever as his teammates.

• You’re a good kid, Mark.  Issue 1.
• “From all indications, you’re not doing too bad.  Especially for being as new to this as you are.”  Issue 3.
• “Damn, son.  I’m impressed.”  Issue 5.
• Onlookers break into applause.  Issue 10.
• “You did the right thing, son.”  Issue 15.
• “You did well, kid, as usual.”  Issue 21.
• He gets his own parade.
• “You did good, kid.”  Issue 31.
• “I remember when we met.  You were so unsure of yourself then.  You’ve come a long way.”  Issue 41.
• “That was some impressive work back there, kid.  Not just with the Martian ships, either.”  Issue 41.
• “You did a remarkable job out here, son.  You’ve really proven yourself.”  Issue 41.
• “You did some impressive work today.”  Issue 44.  Even his enemies are spellbound by his impressiveness!

Everyone that opposes or disagrees with Mark is meant to seem hysterical, paranoid or otherwise nasty. This is another sign that he is a Mary Sue.

• In a drunken rage, his mother blames him for a very difficult situation with his father.  There is no remotely logical way to blame this situation on Mark, and it is hard to dispute that the family is better with the father out of the picture.  This scene reads like bad fan-fiction.
• Mark quit his job because his manager said (correctly) that he wasn’t concentrating enough.  The manager shows up later just to show how nasty he is.  “I’ll show you a confrontation!”
• Mark automatically fails a class because he missed 80% of the classes.  That’s pretty reasonable, right?  (At Notre Dame, most teachers automatically fail students that miss 20% or more).  Mark gets really annoyed with the prof.  WTF? If you missed 80% of a professor’s classes without explaining why, of course he’s going to fail you.  That’s not the professor being nasty, that’s just Mark being stupid.  He doesn’t even try to concoct an explanation, even though he has a government handler that can forge documents.  (Maybe Mark’s National Guard unit got called up when the aliens invaded).

The pacing gets awkward when it tries to mix dialogue and action. Mixing an info-dump with a chase scene is very questionable.

Seriously… Who robs a joint in a suit and tie?

There’s a fair bit of creepiness. Horny twenty-somethings in twelve year-old bodies… Eww.  I could also have done without the aliens Frenching each other.