Comic-Caps: Invincible #9-13

8 Jun

Robert Kirkman – Writer, Letterer
Cory Walker – Penciler, Inker
Ryan Ottley – Penciler, Inker
Bill Crabtree – Colourist

Previously on Invincible
Since getting his powers Mark Grayson, better known as Invincible has been working with the Teen Team to keep the city safe. We met The Guardians of the Globe but they were soon butchered by Marks Father, Omni-Man.

Vol. 3: Perfect Strangers (#9-13)

Issue 9
The crew of the starship not Enterprise are heading straight into a sun only to be saved by Allen the Alien who tells them he can’t stay as he has to get to Earth.

Back on Earth Robot has a meeting at the Pentagon where Cecil Stedman explains that the GotG was privately funded by Darkwing and War Women but with their demise the US Government has been invited to take over the reins. Robot is told that he will be the new leader of the Guardians and that there will be a recruitment meeting for supers to come and try out for a place in the new Guardians.

At the try-out, Rex Splode is a patronising ass to a young girl who goes by the name of Monster Girl and wants her to show him her powers. She transforms into a giant green monster, not to dissimilar to Hulk and proceeds to beat the ever living hell out of Rex, much to everyone else’s enjoyment. After the trials are over, which Invincible declined to be part of, Robot announces the new team of Dupli-Kate, Shrinking Ray, Monster Girl, Black Samson and Rex Plode.

The Mauler Twins have recovered the body of Immortal, reattached his head and fitted him with a collar that will allow them to control him. They initiate the machine and it brings Immortal back from the dead, however he’s not under their control, he breaks free from the restraints and smashes his way out of their lair.

Issue 10
Invincible gets home late after defeating a villain who was trying to destroy Mount Rushmore, his Dad tries to talk to him but Mark blows him off as he thinks it’s the same talk about the birds and bee’s he keeps getting from his Mom since he started dating Amber.

As no one knows what he did, Omni-Man is still working for The Guardians and is battling a giant octopus type creature, after defeating it from out of nowhere The Immortal slams straight into Omni-Man and demands answers as to why he did what he did.

Mark see’s this on a TV News report and heads straight over there but arrives just in time to hear his Dad tell Immortal that he killed him once and he can do it again and just as Immortal tells him to try, Omni-Man punches a hole right through Immortal and then rips him in two.

Issue 11
Nolan has decided to tell his son the truth about why he’s on Earth and where he really comes from. He’s from the planet Viltrum but their planet was in disarray and they needed to weed out the weak so they had everyone fight to the death until only half of the population was left standing, the strongest of society making them an unbeatable warrior race.

They wanted to expand their empire so they created the World Conquering Committee whose job it was to locate other planets in a crucial stage of development, monitor the planet from orbit and then send a team of representatives to announce their takeover. Races who cooperated got technology, those who didn’t were exterminated.

As the Viltrumite empire grew, their forces were stretched too thin to carry on with the current plan so they decided to send just one representative to each planet to integrate themselves and learn as much about the planet as possible to make the takeover much more effective.

Nolan was chosen to come to Earth and became it’s protector so the Viltrumite empire could take it over. After a few months he met Debbie and fell in love. Nolan became friends with The Guardians of the Globe and had a child but still knew that tGotG would eventually need to be eliminated but he was conflicted with his love for Debbie and Mark and for Viltrum.

When Mark developed his powers Nolan had to make the decision to start weakening Earth defences which resulted in the slaughter of tGotG, now Nolan want’s his son to join him and help rule the planet until a time comes when it’s handed over to the Viltrumite Empire.

Mark refuses to help his father destroy his planet and enslave his friends and his Mom.

Issue 12
With Mark standing in his way, Nolan has no choice but to attack, they battle across the city leaving a pile of rubble in their wake. Nolan continues to tell Mark that these people are beneath them, that Debbie means nothing to him and that the planets inhabitants are nothing more than livestock.

Mark tries to reason with his Dad, telling him that he was happy living as a human once that he enjoyed living the lie as Earth’s protector. Nolan tells him he was happy but only for a time and that he knew it couldn’t last, he has a duty to eradicate the vermin.

Nolan tells Mark that he’s done playing, if Mark wants to stand against him then he will die with the rest of the planet and that he can always produce more offspring. Mark lands a punch on Nolan but he’s no match, Nolan attacks Mark and eventually drives him through a snow covered mountain and proceeds to land punch after punch after punch.

Mark continues to try to fight back, to reason with his Dad but he won’t listen and continues to pummel Mark. Nolan stands over his bloody, battered and broken son and flies away and off of Earth.

Issue 13
Two weeks after the attack Mark awakens in the secret base of the Guardians with Cecil Steadman standing by his bedside. Cecil wants to ask Mark some questions but when Mark starts to break down, Cecil apologises and leaves. Back in his office, Cecil is with Debbie informing her that they will do everything to help them both financially and otherwise as they deal with the recent events.

Cecil then meets with Robot to tell him that he’s disappointed with the new Guardians, that they’re not performing well enough. Cecil then later offers Mark his Fathers spot as the main go to guy for planetary distress, in return the government will provide financial support for his family. He also informs Mark that Nolan has left our solar system.

Not long after getting home for the first time since the attack Cecil calls and tells him the alien from space he defeated months ago has come back and to go intercept him. Mark heads into to space to meet with Allen who’s come back to Earth to warn us about a Viltrumite living amongst us. Mark tells him it’s too late and explains what has happened, Allen informs Mark that The Coalition of Planets he works for are trying to stop the Viltrumites from spreading across the galaxy by uniting enough worlds to have an army powerful enough to go up against the Viltumite Empire.

Final Thoughts
A lot of ground was covered in this arc, we found out why Nolan killed the Guardians and who the Coalition of Planets are. No doubt the Viltrum Empire and Coalition will be huge parts of the story going forward but a lot of other stuff is going on too.

The Guardians are under performing but we’ve not seen them in action yet so could one of them get killed off to help drive the point home that they’re out of their depth? Immortal is back in one piece at the Pentagon, will he be making a return again? How will Mark and Debbie cope with the recent events?

Next week I’ll be recapping Robert Kirkmans The Walking Dead comic, Chapter Three: Safety Behind Bars covering issues 13-18. I’ll be back with more Invincible the following week where I’ll be recapping the Head of the Class story arc covered in issues 14-19.