Robert Kirkman's latest... Invincible 100 Chromium Edition

I've made this confession before, but I'll say it again... I'm a sucker for key issues... which include First Appearances, Death of Major and Minor Characters, Preview Issues, Return of, First Published work of Artist or Writer, First Issue, Last Issue, Historical Changes to the Character Mythology, and Anniversary issues included.

So, at my last visit to my LCS, I see Robert Kirkman's Invincible on the new arrivals shelves. There are a total of 8 variant covers, including a rare Black & White cover and a Chromium Edition. That last one sells at a whopping $9.99 cover price and has to be, in my opinion, the most expensive cover price to date. Now please correct me if I am wrong on this.

So I bought and read the issue, and it is a very quick read! I mean wow!... I read it in the space of five minutes or less. Either I'm so accustomed to reading classical works of literature that have more breadth and scale than modern comic books that I now have the ability to speed-read at a break-neck pace... or comics today have absolutely no meat and potatoes. Surfer99 said it best with his January 13th journal entry "Storytelling has Changed!" But for a "Special 100th Anniversary Issue" I expected heaping spoonfuls of page after page of story and action... like the good old days of anniversary issues. That's what I used to love about the old double-sized formats. You knew for the extra cover price you were in for a treat!

In regards to the bare-bones story, and I will admit, I just jumped into Invincible with this issue... so I have no frame of reference for this particular story arch which is the obvious climax from a rather epic-scale arch spanning several issues. Truth be told... the only other time I've even read Invincible was its first issue as a free download through ComiXology on my iPhone. You also may remember my journal post where I went after Savage Dragon 102 which has his Mark Grayson's first published appearance in a 5-page preview that predates both Tech Jacket #1 and Invincible #1.

But getting back to issue 100... I really hate to say this and to spoil the fun for anyone who's a fan or intending to read it... but quite frankly, it is a dissapointment. This one issue reads like a pedestrian or poor man's version of Alan Moore's classic Marvelman/Miracleman with shades of Watchmen... when you throw-in the mass casualties and conspiracy arch: "sacrifice millions in order to save the planet" wildly_fanciful_statement! Dear Lord! This nonesense has become so cliched that I'm starting to hate anything to do with End Times or The Apocalypse! However, in its defense, there is a slight twist that I have yet to see in those other tales... and I won't give that away... but honestly it comes across as so convulted and contrived as to be unbelievable. Perhaps that should be the more appropiate title: "Unbelievable #100!"

So... at $9.99... I think I should have spent my hard earned cash on other things.

Just an FYI... to save some bucks... you can buy the other variant covers at $3.99 cover price... so avoid the Chromium Edition unless you're a die-hard.

Anyway... thanks for reading... feedback and opinions always welcome!

SW3D

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