I didn’t realize how quickly I made it through this! I wrote something in my review of the first compendium about the interesting things that Kirkman can do without being bogged down by a broader continuity, and that certainly applies here. I appreciate the big swings he takes and his willingness to shake up the story and leave it shaken up rather than a creep back to the status quo.

For all of that, I thought for sure I wouldn’t like this compendium as much of the first based on the first few arcs. This series is bloody and violent, and I don’t like that—my stomach was queasy as I read the Viltrumite War arc. Yet, I can appreciate that it serves a place within interesting questions and stories that Kirkman is telling. He asks really interesting questions about power and ethics with these characters, and I don’t know that I could name another superhero story with an anti-hero(?) character who seems to be a committed, radical utilitarian. I still don’t love the blood and gore, but I can appreciate it for the role it plays.

And yet, this series also has fun with superhero tropes at the same time it takes some of them seriously to the point of discomfort. Recurring characters are interesting, and it holds onto the same genre it works to deconstruct. This won me over despite my hesitation.

• Robert Kirkman
• Ryan Ottley
• Cory Walker
• Invincible