Invincible: An Adult Superhero Story Following A Teen

Image Comic’s teen superhero comic, the inspiration behind its cartoon TV series namesake, Invincible is an interesting tale about a teen Superhero. It follows the life of a young hero with Superman-like powers. Except his personal life follows a more Spidermanish theme. It’s also targeted at a more adult crowd.

First published in 2003, the comic book, now turned into a cartoon series, by the same comic book house that brought us titles like The Walking Dead, LightHouse, Sweet Paprika, and Killadelphia, Image Comics‘s adult theme Superhero title, Invincible. The story follows the growing pains of a teen who discovers that he has superpowers shortly after his 17th birthday.

Invincible Comic book

Mark Grayson, the protagonist, takes on the pseudonym Invincible and joins the ranks of Earth’s, and the galaxy’s superheroes following his discovery of the fact that he is the half-human son of the Earth’s most powerful superhero, Omni-Man. Going by the name Nolan Grayson, his father is from the planet Viltrum.

The Viltrumite are super-powered beings who are on a mission to guide the galaxy’s development, through benevolence, and enlightenment. Under the mentorship of Omni-Man, Invincible meets and joins forces with Atom Eve, Dupli-Kate, Rex Splode, and Robot as a member of the Teen Team.

The comic book series, although drawn and colored in a style that gives the impression of a lighthearted tale, is rather graphically violent. The Invincible comic book title was written by Robert Kirkman, and drawn by Robert Ottley, and Corey Walker.

Ottley provided the title’s art from issue 1 to 7 and from issue 117-132. Walker was responsible for the issues between Ottley’s run as the title’s artist, as well as later issues. The Invincible comic book series reached the end of its lifespan in February of 2018 with the double-sided final issue, having run since 2003.

The TV Series

Available for streaming over Amazon Prime Video, the animated television series, which is now in its second season, remains true, in terms of style and theme, to the original comic series. The 8 episode-long first season of the animated series covers Mark’s discovery of his powers under his father’s wing, as a crusader for good.

Though the television adaptation of the Invincible franchise is handled by Skybound, the title’s creator, Robert Kirkman is still involved as one of the executive producers of the animated adaptation of the story. Other notable names attached to the series are Sandra Oh, and Seth Rogan, among other stars.

Differences between the show and the comic book

As with any book-to-screen adaptation of a tale, there are some differences between how certain events and characters are depicted differently. Mark’s (Invincible’s) love interest, Amber, is depicted as a person of color in the animated adaptation, offering a more diverse set of characters.

Some gender-swapping also takes place, as Shrinking Rae, and Green Ghost, are of different genders, between the comic books, and animated shows. The funeral of Guardians is also carried out differently in the animated series, which alters chunks of the overall storylines. Only time will tell how the show’s developers aim to fill the plot holes that are created by the different takes on events.