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Invincible
Invincible, Vol. 5: The Facts of Life
After the hectic events of Invincible Vol. 4: Head of the Class, Mark -- a.k.a. Invincible -- while continuing to deal with the loss of his father, finds himself face to face with piles of villains ad the worst conflict of all: teenage love! Collects Invincible #20-24, plus Invincible #0.
176 pages, Paperback
First published November 15, 2005
About the author
Robert Kirkman
2,545 books7,031 followersRobert Kirkman is an American comic book writer best known for his work on The Walking Dead, Invincible for Image Comics, as well as Ultimate X-Men and Marvel Zombies for Marvel Comics. He has also collaborated with Image Comics co-founder Todd McFarlane on the series Haunt. He is one of the five partners of Image Comics, and the only one of the five who was not one of the original co-founders of that publisher.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.
In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
Robert Kirkman's first comic books were self-published under his own Funk-o-Tron label. Along with childhood friend Tony Moore, Kirkman created Battle Pope which was published in late 2001. Battle Pope ran for over 2 years along with other Funk-o-Tron published books such as InkPunks and Double Take.
In July of 2002, Robert's first work for another company began, with a 4-part SuperPatriot series for Image, along with Battle Pope backup story artist Cory Walker. Robert's creator-owned projects followed shortly thereafter, including Tech Jacket, Invincible and Walking Dead.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 213 reviews
August 26, 2023
Collects Invincible #0, #20–24. Mark has to come to terms with the fate of his father whilst battling numerous villains. He also reveals all to someone close to him. Meanwhile Angstrom Levy has been a busy bee. The series is slowly but surely getting to a laudable place as the themes become more adult, whilst the humour remains fresh. 7 out of 1, Three Star read.
2017 and 2011 read
2017 and 2011 read
August 17, 2019
I loved the issue with Amber. She finally gets some time to shine other than just to complain about Mark disappearing abruptly. Kirkman obviously has some larger plans with Angstrom Levy, with the potential to be Invincible's archenemy. Kirkman's laying a lot of groundwork that pays off dividends in the future. This series is about to get really good again.
May 23, 2021
It's a toss-up for what I loved more about this volume: reading about the Mauler Twins and multidimensional guy, or all the side stories for all the characters I've been loving to read about. All the secret origins were great, but I have a really soft spot in my heart for Allen the Alien.
I'm loving this. A lot. This is the kind of thing that keeps drawing me back to comics in general.
I'm loving this. A lot. This is the kind of thing that keeps drawing me back to comics in general.
May 8, 2022
The series is really starting to hit its stride. The artwork has improved and the stories are starting to feel like stories and not highlight reels. In this volume, we even got an issue that focused on Allen the alien and another on the origin stories of all of the Guardians of the Globe plus Atom Eve.
February 21, 2019
Another solid arc that moves the world forward, though the recap issue was a slog.
World: The art is good, it continues to subvert expectations and gives us a very grounded and dare I say mundane look at the genre and I am enjoying that. The world building is good, a continuation of Mark and his story which expands the world through him, it’s smaller and intimate and I like it.
Story: A good continuation of the school and life drama that is this series. Sure there are still components of the superhero stuff but the balance of the story leans on a lot of not in costume time and I feel that’s where this book is the best. The Amber situation was handled expectedly and well. I will say that the Allen story does give readers more of a taste of things to come and that’s a good tease.
Characters: Mark is good, he’s stable and his point of view is fun, his arc with Amber this time has been a long time coming. The rest of the cast is nice, they are done well, I miss Eve though but I know she’s gonna come back.
Solid in moving the world forward.
Onward to the next book!
World: The art is good, it continues to subvert expectations and gives us a very grounded and dare I say mundane look at the genre and I am enjoying that. The world building is good, a continuation of Mark and his story which expands the world through him, it’s smaller and intimate and I like it.
Story: A good continuation of the school and life drama that is this series. Sure there are still components of the superhero stuff but the balance of the story leans on a lot of not in costume time and I feel that’s where this book is the best. The Amber situation was handled expectedly and well. I will say that the Allen story does give readers more of a taste of things to come and that’s a good tease.
Characters: Mark is good, he’s stable and his point of view is fun, his arc with Amber this time has been a long time coming. The rest of the cast is nice, they are done well, I miss Eve though but I know she’s gonna come back.
Solid in moving the world forward.
Onward to the next book!
November 14, 2016
Another good volume about Mark growing and changing. I enjoyed this one a lot because Mark finally goes forward with his relationship. I also really enjoyed seeing more of Allen, even if it's sad what happens. I know the next volume is where I started falling in love with the series but this is a very solid volume of growing pains and learning how to live life.
3.5/5
3.5/5
September 22, 2021
Another solid arc, with the art just improving more and more as we move along.
March 28, 2023
It's so great to be back and reading about all these secondary characters that I know are the world of Mark and Invincible. Miss this series big time.
Original review:
3.5 Stars
Not a lot happened in this volume, but I'm still enjoying every moment of this series. Also, there's no way back, Mark Grayson is one of my favorite comic book characters.
This time the story focuses mainly on Mark's personal life. We have a pretty nice moment between Mark and Amber, which is great because we're finally getting to know her. It took its time, but finally Kirkman gives Amber some scenes and dialogues. What I liked about this was that issue #0 gave us a really emotional scene with Mark explaining his life story, from his childhood to being Invincible and we finally see Mark being affected and suffering the ''loss'' of his father. I'm glad we're seeing the human side of our hero. Also, we have really great scenes between Mark and his mom, it's nice to see her trying to get better and actually talking to Mark.
What I think is the most interesting storyline, is Levy's villain origin story. Mark has stated more than once that he doesn't have a nemesis, but maybe now he has found his supervillain. It was really interesting to see the progression of Levy's character, the guy who tried to save Invincible to the one who'll make his mission to bring him down. It was believable and promising.
And the issue that I liked the most was issue #23, which was a nice break from Mark's story(also, like Kirkman said, he deserved some privacy) The story follows Allen my personal favorite, after Mark of course, and it is narrated old style. We get to learn from his planet, the culture and traditions. We also learn more about the coalition and there's a shocking moment in this issue where I feared the worst.
Overall it was, as always, a nice and exciting read. It was a really nice surprise having the short origin stories of a few members of The Guardians of the Globe, I really liked them.
Five volumes in and I'm enjoying every part of the story. The artwork is so familiar now and Kirkman's sense of humor never disappoints.
Original review:
3.5 Stars
Not a lot happened in this volume, but I'm still enjoying every moment of this series. Also, there's no way back, Mark Grayson is one of my favorite comic book characters.
This time the story focuses mainly on Mark's personal life. We have a pretty nice moment between Mark and Amber, which is great because we're finally getting to know her. It took its time, but finally Kirkman gives Amber some scenes and dialogues. What I liked about this was that issue #0 gave us a really emotional scene with Mark explaining his life story, from his childhood to being Invincible and we finally see Mark being affected and suffering the ''loss'' of his father. I'm glad we're seeing the human side of our hero. Also, we have really great scenes between Mark and his mom, it's nice to see her trying to get better and actually talking to Mark.
What I think is the most interesting storyline, is Levy's villain origin story. Mark has stated more than once that he doesn't have a nemesis, but maybe now he has found his supervillain. It was really interesting to see the progression of Levy's character, the guy who tried to save Invincible to the one who'll make his mission to bring him down. It was believable and promising.
And the issue that I liked the most was issue #23, which was a nice break from Mark's story
Overall it was, as always, a nice and exciting read. It was a really nice surprise having the short origin stories of a few members of The Guardians of the Globe, I really liked them.
Five volumes in and I'm enjoying every part of the story. The artwork is so familiar now and Kirkman's sense of humor never disappoints.
August 17, 2017
What I liked :
- The Art is growing on me
- Still one of the most freshest take on the Superhero comic genre , filled with parody , and sarcastic humor
- Mark progresses in his relationship with his Girlfriend and his Mother .
- The story of Allen was interesting , and also mysteries about Robot were created
- New villains added into the Rogue Gallery of Invincible .
- Some funny moments
What I didn't Liked :
- very little happened in this volume .
- a lot of recaps for past stories .
- The identity of the infiltrator in the Allen story is pretty easy to detect .
- Feels like Mark is actually getting more and more lucky when fighting the villains , it feels like he isn't actually defeating any villains , he just keeps getting lucky .
Verdict:
Still pretty good , in fact I'll say this is one of the best superhero comics out there . Specially if you have become tired of reading the big duo (DC & Marvel) superhero comics . Recommended
- The Art is growing on me
- Still one of the most freshest take on the Superhero comic genre , filled with parody , and sarcastic humor
- Mark progresses in his relationship with his Girlfriend and his Mother .
- The story of Allen was interesting , and also mysteries about Robot were created
- New villains added into the Rogue Gallery of Invincible .
- Some funny moments
What I didn't Liked :
- very little happened in this volume .
- a lot of recaps for past stories .
- The identity of the infiltrator in the Allen story is pretty easy to detect .
- Feels like Mark is actually getting more and more lucky when fighting the villains , it feels like he isn't actually defeating any villains , he just keeps getting lucky .
Verdict:
Still pretty good , in fact I'll say this is one of the best superhero comics out there . Specially if you have become tired of reading the big duo (DC & Marvel) superhero comics . Recommended
October 9, 2020
A good comic series. Nice plot and art. The stories are a little more graphic and adult than the ones I started off reading in the 1960s but still not as bad as many of the ones that today's comics have turned into. The stories remind me of reading the good solid fun comic books of the older Marvel and DC era of the 1960's but undated to today's world. Recommended
February 12, 2018
Five volumes in now and this title still has a lot of pizzazz. The author invests some time fleshing out the Invincible universe, which was nice, and the art continues to be bubblegum pop amazing.
Note: How is it that only now do I realize each volume is named after a cheesy sitcom???
Note: How is it that only now do I realize each volume is named after a cheesy sitcom???
April 30, 2023
Der perfekte Weg einen Archvillain einzuführen.
Im laufe des Bandes wird immer wieder die Relevanz einer geheimen Identität in Verbindung mit der Gefahr für Marks Freunde und Familie in Frage gestellt. Es wird darauf angespielt dass er ja sowieso keinen Archvillain hat und somit keine Gefahr für Familie und Freunde besteht. Aber während Invincible sich diese Fragen stellt und auch einer weiteren Person seine Identität offenbart, sehen wir wie ein neuer vermeintlicher villain seine Pläne durchführt. Gegen Ende des Bandes durchkreuzt Invincible seine Pläne mehr oder weniger und sein Archvillain wird geboren,(BTW der beste villain des Comics den ich beim letzten Mal erwähnt habe) wovon Invincible allerdings noch nichts ahnt.
Zudem ist das Charakterdesign des villains superb und seine Origin Story ist noch besser als ich in Erinnerung hatte.
Naja neben des Archvillain setups haben wir noch einen story recap der zwar unnötig aber ziemlich gut eingebunden ist.
Und es gibt wieder eine Menge worldbuilding mit allen the Alien wo wir tatsächlich das erste mal andere viltrumites (invincibles spezies) sehen.
Der Art Style wird auch von Band zu Band solider und schon bald wird er perfektioniert sein.
Invincible is the best superhero comic in the universe.
Im laufe des Bandes wird immer wieder die Relevanz einer geheimen Identität in Verbindung mit der Gefahr für Marks Freunde und Familie in Frage gestellt. Es wird darauf angespielt dass er ja sowieso keinen Archvillain hat und somit keine Gefahr für Familie und Freunde besteht. Aber während Invincible sich diese Fragen stellt und auch einer weiteren Person seine Identität offenbart, sehen wir wie ein neuer vermeintlicher villain seine Pläne durchführt. Gegen Ende des Bandes durchkreuzt Invincible seine Pläne mehr oder weniger und sein Archvillain wird geboren,(BTW der beste villain des Comics den ich beim letzten Mal erwähnt habe) wovon Invincible allerdings noch nichts ahnt.
Zudem ist das Charakterdesign des villains superb und seine Origin Story ist noch besser als ich in Erinnerung hatte.
Naja neben des Archvillain setups haben wir noch einen story recap der zwar unnötig aber ziemlich gut eingebunden ist.
Und es gibt wieder eine Menge worldbuilding mit allen the Alien wo wir tatsächlich das erste mal andere viltrumites (invincibles spezies) sehen.
Der Art Style wird auch von Band zu Band solider und schon bald wird er perfektioniert sein.
Invincible is the best superhero comic in the universe.
January 26, 2025
My least favourite issue so far. Too much of the obviously red-herring romance, and the set-up for our new archnemesis felt pretty fabricated.
October 31, 2021
This is a build up volume for sure. Some of the main plot devices are continuing to grow but it seems almost a glacial pace. I might bail on this series if there isn't any pay off soon.
September 12, 2023
Kirkman le ha cogido completamente el pulso a esta suerte de recreación de los personajes superheróicos de las majors y sus respectivos universos realizada con la idea de crear algo totalmente distinto. En estos números es menos importante el superhéroe, trasunto de un joven Superman, que el Peter Parker que se oculta bajo su personalidad secreta. Son tebeos que profundizan en las relaciones entre personajes enriqueciéndolos, desarrollando amoríos y problemas adolescentes que imitan con gusto la época en la que Romita y Andru dibujaban al amistoso vecino lanzarredes. Las identificaciones van saltando a la vista (Gwen , M.J., incluso Víctor von Doom o un popular marciano) adquiriendo cada vez más interés.
El trasfondo cósmico comienza a adquirir más complejidad y a cobrar mayor importancia, y entre lo mundano y lo superheróico, el cómic empieza a enganchar cosa mala. Hay un capítulo 0 diseñado con ingenio en el que se hace un necesario repaso a la historia narrada en la colección hasta el momento.
Así pues, todo bien. Que siga la fiesta.
El trasfondo cósmico comienza a adquirir más complejidad y a cobrar mayor importancia, y entre lo mundano y lo superheróico, el cómic empieza a enganchar cosa mala. Hay un capítulo 0 diseñado con ingenio en el que se hace un necesario repaso a la historia narrada en la colección hasta el momento.
Así pues, todo bien. Que siga la fiesta.
January 28, 2021
Invincible Vol. 5 The Facts of Life collects issues 0 and 20-24 by Robert Kirkman with art by Ryan Ottley.
Mark is on his way to college and opens up to his girlfriend Amber all the while continuing to save the Earth as Invincible.
This arc slowed the story down, recapped Mark's adventure so far, and sets the groundwork for many upcoming story lines. There is a lot of good character development here and more Allen the Alien! Ryan Ottley is really knocking it out of the park with art and Bill Crabtree's color really pop and show a vibrant universe.
Mark is on his way to college and opens up to his girlfriend Amber all the while continuing to save the Earth as Invincible.
This arc slowed the story down, recapped Mark's adventure so far, and sets the groundwork for many upcoming story lines. There is a lot of good character development here and more Allen the Alien! Ryan Ottley is really knocking it out of the park with art and Bill Crabtree's color really pop and show a vibrant universe.
May 20, 2021
Upřímně tohle byla dost nuda. Po zvýšení počtu sešitů v jednom paperbacku začala kvalita uvadat. Má to moře svých skvělých a vtipných momentů ale nějak těžce se tím prokousávám. Předně mi dost vadí budování vedlejší linky se záporáky která je nudná a zatím nikam nevede. Potom postavy, je jich tu Kirkmanovsky požehnaně ale prostor jich dostává jen pár a je to škoda, chtěl bych v tomhle směru mnohem víc.
August 22, 2018
More bad guys try to stop Invincible yet again...but what I like about this character is that even though he is Invincible in every sense of the word/name he does get the crap kicked out of him. I love how he always gets back up (and to me) THAT’S being Invincible.
February 25, 2021
Mark is learning real quick how little he really knows. Not unlike anyone's freshman year in college, really.
Good luck to him.
Good luck to him.
March 21, 2026
Backstory yaaay
May 18, 2021
I'm starting to feel like the only reason I'm reading this series is so that the show gets spoiled on my own terms instead of by accident. I love Mark Grayson, but am consistently disappointed by the other characters in this book. Atom Eve's mission felt extremely white-saviouresque, and while I was equally naïve about helping people in "third-world" countries at 14 it felt a little tone deaf. Debbie is finally starting to get her life together but I still hate how Mark is expected to parent her when he has so much going on. William is not very likable at all. He's stubborn and immature and calls women sluts for not wanting to go out with him. I miss show William.
I liked how Mark was slowly starting to realize he wasn't in the ideal position he once thought as being an on demand superhero starts to interfere with his life. I also like how emotionally vulnerable he was able to be when recounting the story of his father for the first time since it happened. And he was so sweet in the scene after with Amber. I do really like Mark.
The highlight of this volume was the backstories of many of the other heroes. We learned about Allen the Alien's history with the viltrumites and the backstories of Monster Girl, Rex Splode, Duplikate, Atom Eve and Immortal. I hope we get to expand on the first three a little more because they were genuinely intriguing. The show provided us with a few hints that Rex had a tragic childhood and I hope it's explored in more detail, without excusing his asshole behaviour. And I'm very interested to see where MultiPaul ended up.
We also get a little more of the story that was adapted into Episode 6 (my personal favourite) and honestly, my heart broke a little for Rick. He doesn't seem to have any attachment to William in this series (and frankly, neither do I) so I'm not sure it'll carry emotional weight in the same way but it'll still be interesting to see how it plays out.
I do always love the forewords and sketches at the end of the issues. I'm not entirely sure what Kirkman asked people to write for the forewords but they are always entertaining and extremely flattering to Kirkman, Ottley and Crabtree. The sketches at the end of the issue were great and I enjoyed seeing them in a physical copy instead of on my little phone screen. The copic marker comissions were also fantastic and added an old school feel to the books.
I did borrow the next three volumes from the library already so I'll probably continue with the series, and it's obviously great source material but I'm definitely much more invested in the show and the changes they made to improve Invincible.
I liked how Mark was slowly starting to realize he wasn't in the ideal position he once thought as being an on demand superhero starts to interfere with his life. I also like how emotionally vulnerable he was able to be when recounting the story of his father for the first time since it happened. And he was so sweet in the scene after with Amber. I do really like Mark.
The highlight of this volume was the backstories of many of the other heroes. We learned about Allen the Alien's history with the viltrumites and the backstories of Monster Girl, Rex Splode, Duplikate, Atom Eve and Immortal. I hope we get to expand on the first three a little more because they were genuinely intriguing. The show provided us with a few hints that Rex had a tragic childhood and I hope it's explored in more detail, without excusing his asshole behaviour. And I'm very interested to see where MultiPaul ended up.
We also get a little more of the story that was adapted into Episode 6 (my personal favourite) and honestly, my heart broke a little for Rick. He doesn't seem to have any attachment to William in this series (and frankly, neither do I) so I'm not sure it'll carry emotional weight in the same way but it'll still be interesting to see how it plays out.
I do always love the forewords and sketches at the end of the issues. I'm not entirely sure what Kirkman asked people to write for the forewords but they are always entertaining and extremely flattering to Kirkman, Ottley and Crabtree. The sketches at the end of the issue were great and I enjoyed seeing them in a physical copy instead of on my little phone screen. The copic marker comissions were also fantastic and added an old school feel to the books.
I did borrow the next three volumes from the library already so I'll probably continue with the series, and it's obviously great source material but I'm definitely much more invested in the show and the changes they made to improve Invincible.
October 17, 2021
In which Mark gains some agency by spilling the beans to Amber.
One the one hand, we've got to survive one helluva info dump before he finishes, but on the other, we get an entire issue on Allen the Alien! Plus, lots of supervillain subplot development! A bunch of cast backstories! And more continuity than you can shake a Viltrumite at!
But WTF is up with Robot?!
One the one hand, we've got to survive one helluva info dump before he finishes, but on the other, we get an entire issue on Allen the Alien! Plus, lots of supervillain subplot development! A bunch of cast backstories! And more continuity than you can shake a Viltrumite at!
But WTF is up with Robot?!
April 30, 2021
Better
I liked this do much better than previous volumes but not enough for me to up the star rating. Maybe I enjoyed it so much because of how different TV Amber and comic Amber are... it's f TV Amber for life.
I liked this do much better than previous volumes but not enough for me to up the star rating. Maybe I enjoyed it so much because of how different TV Amber and comic Amber are... it's f TV Amber for life.
May 16, 2021
Still not blown away by the post season 1 stuff in the comic. Multi dimensional stuff seems to be where their going and tbh it’s interesting, I just can’t wait for them to go all out. C’mon Kirkman gimme something to latch onto
May 8, 2024
Allen is my favourite character rn. Also Dupli-kate and Mutli-Paul are such good names
August 1, 2025
sets up angstrom levy, besides that. pretty boring
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
January 7, 2024Lots of origins in this volume. It ends with little origin recaps of side characters, including Atom Eve and the Immortal. We also get an entire issue about Allen the Alien. Meanwhile, Mark has a serious talk with Amber, and Angstrom Levy’s experiment ends in chaos. I was thinking in the last volume that the story would become stagnant soon but Kirkman does a good job here keeping things interesting. Also: great supporting cast!
March 30, 2025
I don't know if I'm imagining things, but the art style has gotten MUCH better. It felt a bit too rough in the beginning and not in a charming way precisely.
As for the volume itself, it resolved things with Amber quite nicely and hey, all of the subplots are interesting! And that Allen issue? That ending? Great! What's not to love?
As for the volume itself, it resolved things with Amber quite nicely and hey, all of the subplots are interesting! And that Allen issue? That ending? Great! What's not to love?
March 20, 2018
Probably the weakest volume so far but I understand that not every issue can be filled with super exciting plots. This issue is about Mark and his life. I believe that it can even be skipped
June 11, 2021
this one was kinda hard to get through ???? but i got eve backstory, so i never lose :)
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