Mark has had it rough lately. His good intentions almost destroyed the world in “The Death of Everyone”. Then, after revealing she was pregnant, his girlfriend was attacked by one of his oldest foes, who was subsequently dragged into another dimension by a crazy, alternate reality Invincible. Now he gets to take a breather, though I’m betting it won’t last. Here’s the official description of Invincible #105 from Image:

INVINCIBLE IS BACK!It’s a new day dawning for everyone’s favorite superhero. If you’ve ever wanted to jump onto INVINCIBLE without shelling out the money for 18 collected editions, this would be the perfect issue to start with.

It’s true that this issue is reasonably friendly for new readers, but it’s also one of those issues where Robert Kirkman reshuffles his characters but not much actually happens. Mark is worried about becoming a dad, while his own father copes with a new role as leader of the Viltrumites. There’s character development, certainly, but it’s a going-through-the-motions kind of character development.

Kirkman makes a fun reference to events in last month’s issue of Invincible Universe, which might raise some questions for continuity sticklers, but they —the questions and the sticklers— aren’t worth worrying about. The most interesting portion of the issue involves Robot’s dissatisfaction with life back on Earth. That plot thread could go in any number of directions in the future, but for now it’s undeveloped. Kirkman’s just planting a seed, but I choose to view it as a very foreboding one.

Ryan Ottley’s art is up to his usual standard. He doesn’t have many action scenes to draw, but the first, of Invincible stopping a van of bank robbers, is beautiful, with seemingly hundreds of glass fragments and bullet casings filling the air. When it comes to the talking heads, Ottley seems almost desperate to make the visuals more interesting, with the viewing angle changing drastically with almost every panel. I imagine the non-existent camera man getting whiplash.

Invincible #105 is new reader friendly — to the point that long time reader’s could almost skip it. Still, I’m interested to see if Robot turns into the series’ next supervillain.

 3/5