Written By: Joe Tweton
Amazon Original - Invincible Season 1: 2021
Director(s): Jeff Allen (8 Episodes), Paul Furminger (2 Episodes), Robert Valley (1 Episode)
Written and Created by: Robert Kirkman
Actors: Steven Yuen (Mark Grayson/Invincible ), Sandra Oh (Debbie Grayson), J.K. Simmons (Nolan Grayson/Omni-Man), Zazie Beetz (Amber Bennet), Walton Goggins (Cecil Stedman), Zachery Quinto (Robot), Mahershala Ali (Titan) and the list goes on…
Synopsis: An adult animated series based on the Skybound/Image comic about a teenager whose father is the most powerful superhero on the planet.
This 8 episode journey filled with incredible animation, Mortal Kombat level gore that would even make The Boys series, wince, (another dark super hero original series from Amazon) and filled to the brim with an all star cast led by the charming Steven Yuen, Invincible…
The show creatively and effortlessly adapts the source material keeping fantastic pacing with each character arc whilst not forsaking the unique perspective and cost of super powers.
Though nearly 45 minutes an episode, that’s equivalent to your common 1 hour shows with commercials, it never completely slowed down enough to ever feel like you needed a break. From connecting its audience with the growing pains of family drama…and additionally the literal growing pains of becoming an adult, to the loftier concepts of what it means to be responsible with your gifts. In this case, super powers.
Invincible has a decent amount of lighthearted moments but balances it out well with the dark humor and action. There’s also tender moments between lead Mark Grayson (Steven Yuen), 17 year old turning super and his mother Debbie, eloquently voiced by Sandra Oh.
J.K. Simmons played a force to be reckoned with as the most powerful man on earth. His calm and steady tone with training his teenage son the super hero “ropes,” only added to the bigger plot twists near the end.
The remaining cast is filled with a-listers. From 1 episode appearances from the likes of Seth Rogan, Jon Hamm, Mark Hamil, Michael Dorn, Ezra Miller, Justin Roiland to some familiar Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead Show cast, Khary Peyton, Ross Marquand, Lauren Cohan and Lennie James. More names than I’ve seen in any recent streaming tv show.
The show has quite a bit of language and an incredible amount of violence and gore, there is a point in the season where that slows down and you start asking yourself when’s the next creative death I get to see? I mean it becomes a little bit of a spectacle each time I saw a different way someone could die. But no worries they crank the violence near the end to 11!
There is actually quite a bit of nuanced meaning and really good writing here. This is Robert Kirkman at his best. Being the soul writer for the 8 episodes he was still able to place a pretty deep level of character development among some of the many character arcs and with that we get a lot of human level perspectives and super hero god complex perspectives.
This show wrapped up on April 30th and I ended up binging it over 2 nights. Like I said, it kept me on my toes and the end will shock you. While not a complete masterpiece, it’s hard to complain about much when the entertainment value was so truly enjoyed and the end leaves you with true interest in “what’s next?”
For that I give this a solid 9 out of 10! Spectacular!
Thanks for reading this review friends! We’ll see you, on the other side!
9/10
Spectacular!