Invincible #139 Review

Invincible #139 Review

Invincible #139 Review

Robert Kirkman has not held back with Invincible’s final story arc, “The End Of All Things.” So far the arc has delivered on its promises as Invincible leads a rebellion against Thragg and his new Viltrum Empire. Things got more intense in the last issue as the Viltrumites living on Earth finally decided to get involved to stop Thragg’s madness. Though it seems like that was a tide turning decision Thragg did not go down quietly as he delivered a serious blow to Invincible by possibly killing Omni-Man. That would be a big loss for Invincible side and possibly lead to Thragg actually winning. Will that be the case? Let’s find out with Invincible #139.

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artist: Ryan Ottley

Inker: Mark Morales

Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn

Story Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: Held back by Thragg’s children Invincible can’t believe his dad is dead.

Invincible #139 Review
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Inside the Coalition’s ship one of the doctor’s tells Atom Eve that they can still detect a faint heartbeat from Omni-Man. Atom Eve decides to take off into the battle zone to save Omni-Man.

Back at the battle Invincible begins tearing through all of Thragg’s children that try to fight him.

Invincible finally gets his hands on Thragg and the two begin fight all over the battle zone. The two end up fighting evenly, though Thragg says he is taking his time to savor the moment.

Robot suddenly appears in a spaceship that he transforms into a large mech.

Meanwhile Allen and Ursaal continue fighting one another. Allen spots Omni-Man’s body and flies off to try and save his friend, leaving one of the Viltrumites to fight Ursaal.

Though Allen is stopped by some of Thragg’s children Atom Eve arrives and is able to create a bubble to shield Omni-Man’s body from further damage.

Rognarr tries to attack Atom Eve but before he can reach her Anissa grabs him. Atom Eve tries to assist Anissa but Anissa pushes her away so she can save Omni-Man.

Invincible #139 Review
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Rognarr severely damages Anissa but she is able to punch him away from her.

Atom Eve picks Anissa up and puts her in an energy bubble to save her. Anissa tells Atom Even that she wants Eve to tell Mark she does not regret what she did to him and he should understand that. Atom Eve tells Anissa to say that to Mark herself.

Elsewhere Thragg has taken Robot’s mech apart and is back to fighting Invincible one-on-one. Thragg calls his children to him and uses them as objects to throw in Invincible’s way.

With Invincible trying just to defend himself he decides to tackle Thragg and flies the two towards a nearby sun.

Seeing all the death going on around her Ursaal orders her brothers and sisters to stop fighting and to join her in surrendering.

Allen has the Coalition soldiers arrest Ursaal and the rest of Thragg’s children.

At the same time Invincible and Thragg continue to fight in extremely close proximity to the sun. End of issue.

Invincible #139 Review
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The Good: Invincible #139 is a non-stop rollercoaster of emotions and action. Robert Kirkman has gotten to the point with Invincible that everything that happens feels like that it could end in that moment.

Invincible #139 is a perfect example of how Kirkman is feeding on the fact that “End Of All Things” is the final arc to elevate the story. Kirkman understands how to tap into that fact that is in the back of every reader’s mind as we pick up each issue of Invincible. It is the right time to tap into that knowledge as we have seen characters in near-death states throughout the course of Invincible’s life. But now knowing that this is the final arc Kirkman is able to make us question if characters like Omni-Man and Anissa will actually die.

Questioning character fates made the emotions other characters felt as they had to deal with possible losses while fighting a war. Omni-Man floating with a major part of his body missing helped add a new wrinkle to seeing Thragg vs Invincible, a fight we has taken place several times already. Freshing up the stakes in this way made it so we clearly understand that both sides are going for broke. In Invincible’s case we see that to the extreme as he is willing to sacrifice himself to defeat Thragg by fighting as close as he can to the sun.

Invincible resorting to such tactics goes to show us how Thragg is the biggest threat to the universe. The uncaring way Thragg went about using his own children as bullets to slow Invincible down was incredible. It makes Thragg a villain that has absolutely no redeeming quality, something we don’t get often when it comes to story antagonist. Thragg resorting to these tactics made Invincible’s suicide attack something that felt like the only thing that could be done after Omni-Man was taken out.

Invincible #139 Review
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Though Invincible and Thragg were a big focus of this issue Kirkman made sure every character had something big to do. Atom Eve going out to try to save Omni-Man as he was in his near-death state was a good way to get her involved after she was left behind. Seeing Atom Eve on the battlefield added to the tension of everything going on.

Using this moment to have Atom Eve and Anissa get their big moment together was perfect timing. Kirkman has made it no secret that their has been a lot of tension between these two. Now Kirkman was able to help in finalizing Anissa’s redemption in how she saved Atom Eve from Rognarr. At the same time, it was a good character moment for Anissa that she said that Mark would understand what she did. Atom Eve firing back that Anissa needs to tell Mark that herself showed that there will always be tension between the two but that they can move forward and be adults about the matter, if they survive this.

The character that benefited the most from everything going on in Invincible #139 was Ursaal. Kirkman has done a great job in slowly building Ursaal’s character up since her introduction. Ursaal has had been going through a big character arc recently and seeing her witness how her father was using her brothers and sisters was a strong “final straw” moment. Seeing that along with all the death going on around her made her announcement of surrendering a powerful statement by Ursaal. With still several issues left in the story we are left to wonder what will happen to Ursaal after convincing her family to surrender to the Coalition.

Now with it seeming that the war with Thragg is coming to an end Kirkman smartly brought Robot back into the fold. With Invincible’s conflict with Robot still not over inserting the character back in with how he got involved in the fight was smart. It gave Robot a big return and reminded the reader that he recently took all the Viltrumite children as hostages. Now that Robot is with them makes it possible for this sub-plot to become the main plot of the remaining issues of “End Of All Things.”

Invincible #139 Review
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Ryan Ottley was once again the consistent force that Invincible #139 needs as Kirkman continues to ramp things up. Ottley is more than up for the occasion as he makes everything happening on each panel look important. Ottley especially shines in the pages where characters have big emotional moments, such as Atom Eve and Anissa’s interaction and Ursaal reaction to everything going on around her. Ottley is able to convey all the emotions each character is feeling, helping to make the fight against Thragg feel more important to the reader.

The Bad: Nothing.

Overall: There is no holding back anymore and Robert Kirkman does a fantastic job showing that to be the case with Invincible #139. The issue is a non-stop rollercoaster of action and emotion as Invincible, Atom Eve and everyone involved on both sides of the war with Thragg get big moments to shine. Having Ryan Ottley there to draw everything elevated Kirkman’s story to be something that is a can’t miss for any fan of Invincible.