Invincible #140 Review

Invincible #140 Review

Invincible #140 Review

Invincible continues to march on towards its endgame. So far,  “The End Of All Things” has deliver exactly what Invincible deserves for its final story arc. Last we left this series we saw Invincible make a major sacrifice as he flew himself and Thragg into a nearby star where their latest battle took place. Now with both rivals fighting in a setting that is sure to only leave one standing, if that, could Robert Kirkman be setting up for a major death to occur? That is something that we hope to see with Invincible #140. Let’s see if that is the case.

Writer: Robert Kirkman

Artist: Ryan Ottley

Inker: Mark Morales

Colorist: Nathan Fairbairn

Story Rating: 8 Night Girls out of 10

Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10

Overall Rating: 8.5 Night Girls out of 10

Synopsis: As they fight with the sun burning their bodies, Invincible questions Thragg on his motivation. Thragg says it is all about revenge for what Invincible’s bloodline did to stop him from claiming the empire he deserved to rule.

Invincible #140 Review
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An explosion causes the two to be separated. Thragg tries to get away but Invincible is quick to catch him.

Thragg turns around and quickly overpowers Invincible and throws him into the sun, burning the majority of Invincible’s back in the process.

Invincible fights back and is able to get behind Thragg. Invincible proceeds to tackle Thragg and himself into the sun.

They both rise from the sun in agony as their bodies become so burnt that they are barely recognizable.

As they continue to fight Robot suddenly sends his armor to Invincible, which Invincible uses to fight. With their fight getting more intense with more and more explosions from the sun the lava ends up melting the Robot armor Invincible is wearing.

They end up fighting inches away from the sun as their bodies become even more unrecognizable. Invincible is able to eventually overpower Thragg and bits him in the neck, ripping out Thragg’s lungs.

Thragg ends up falling and is consumed by the sun. Heavily injured, Invincible is about to join Thragg but is saved by Allen, who flies himself and Invincible to safety.

Invincible #140 Review
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Meanwhile Thragg is left helpless and completely disintegrates in the sun.

On the Coalition ship Allen turns Invincible over medical officials in order to treat his heavily burned body. Atom Eve is in tears as she follows Invincible’s doctors. Allen tells Eve that he is worried about Invincble too.

One of the Coalition’s officials tell Allen that their prisoner is ready to talk.

Allen meets Ursaal, who he orders not to be restrained. Ursaal is shocked by this move. Allen says that Ursaal is the one responsible for ending the fighting and he would like to begin the process of healing the divide between their sides.

Ursaal admits that after Invincible killed her brother that she attempted to kill Atom Eve. She goes on to say that she now wants to learn why everyone in the Coalition help each other out, even though she doubts there could be peace between their sides.

Allen asks Ursaal if Thragg ever taught her people the concept of forgiveness. End of issue.

The Good: Invincible #140 does not have as much going on as previous chapters of “The End Of All Things.” By going down this route Robert Kirkman puts an end to the rivalry between Invincible and Thragg. Given the intensity of the fight that was the right choice.

Invincible #140 Review
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Even though we did not see blood flying all over the place the fight between Invincible and Thragg matched the most brutal fights we have seen in the series. That is all thanks to the setting Kirkman provided the two characters as their battleground. Seeing how the sun kept exploding around them kept you guessing as to who was actually winning the fight. Every time we saw Invincible gain the upper hand they would get separate by all the explosions and the same was the case when Thragg was winning.

This setting was made even more dangerous by how we saw both Invincible and Thragg’s body’s continue to be burnt up into unrecognizable pieces of flesh. Seeing that progression of their bodies being melted away created a scenario where you become worried for both fighters. Just seeing the images of their burnt bodies wanted you to see it end because it became obvious that both were fighting through intense pain.

All the intense pain both characters suffered elevated how personal this fight was. There was absolutely no love loss between Invincible and Thragg. Both characters were fighting with pure rage, as each one stated their case why they hated one another. That rage from Invincible and Thragg further emphasized the point that only one of them would be walking out alive in this fight.

The fact that neither one gained the upper hand for a long period of timein the fight made Invincible gained Robot’s armor come off as a tide turning moment. The little period Invincible was able to gain protection from Robot’s armor felt like the advantage he needed at the most opportune time. It also made it believable that Invincible would be able to outlast Thragg, even though he was technically the less powerful of the two.

Invincible #140 Review
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This decision by Robot also help keep his sub-plot floating over this entire war between the Coalition and Thragg’s forces. We now have to wonder why Robot would do this. Was this a political decision to eliminate Thragg before he launched his own plan into action? Or was there another motivating factor? What exactly the nature was makes what happens next an even bigger mystery given that we still have four issues before the end of the Invincible series.

Adding to the mystery of how Invincible will end is where Kirkman plans to take Ursaal’s character moving forward. The ending of Invincible #140 created an opening for Ursaal to be the biggest wild card in these final four issues. This wild card nature is a great example of how Kirkman is able to quickly turn a one dimensional character into one of the most intriguing multi-layered characters in the series, something he has consistently done during his run.

With Invincible #140 being dominated by Invincible and Thragg’s fight Ryan Ottley’s artwork was the true star of the issue. Along with some fantastic inking by Mark Morales and coloring by Nathan Fairbairn, Ottley was able to get over the intensity of the fight. The unique setting also gave the artwork a fresh way to choreograph the fight to be different from what we have seen from Invincible before. The final moment with Thragg’s burning body left behind perfectly put a stamp on a memorable final fight.

The Bad: The one minor complaint that I have with Invincible #140 was the way it ended. As much as I like the direction where Kirkman is taking Ursaal it did feel like an odd way to end the issue. The issue just sort of ended without any real hook to what happens next. It was actually surprising to see the issue conclude with an ending that felt like a page or two was cut out at the end. It did not hurt the overall impact of the issue but did leave us with a head scratching ending because of how out of nowhere it came.

Invincible #140 Review
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Overall: Invincible #140 delivered an excellent conclusion to the fight between Invincible and Thragg. The setting helped get over how brutal Invincible and Thragg’s fight was, with it easily reaching the height of some of the best fights in this series. Now with the threat of Thragg over Kirkman can now move on to several other sub-plots that have been developing in the background. That creates further excitement for how these final four issues will go since we still don’t know how things will end for Invincible and his family.