Invincible: It’s About Time

March 26, 2021 8:45 PM - Season 1, Episode 1

Mark Grayson has been waiting his entire life to gain super powers, like his dad, Omni-Man. Today, his life changes in more ways than one.

Mark gets his powers. Mark learns to fly. Mark gets a new suit. Omni-Man is involved in a messy situation with the Guardians of the Globe.

Steven Yeun as Mark Grayson / Invincible, Sandra Oh as Debbie Grayson, J. K. Simmons as Nolan Grayson / Omni-Man

posted by Fleebnork (13 comments total)

As a long time fan of the comic series, I couldn’t be more thrilled. This series is extremely faithful, all the way down to the art style of the animation. The silliness of superheroes is embraced and at times tongue in cheek.

One of the small funny changes from the comic is Mark’s favorite comic book, Science Dog, has been altered to be Seance Dog for this series, I assume for copyright reasons.
posted by Fleebnork at 8:56 PM on March 26, 2021

I enjoyed this, as someone completely unfamiliar with the comic. The end reminded me a bit of The Boys, in a malevolent-Superman-causing-gory-death way.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 8:21 AM on March 27, 2021

It was rather more viscerally violent than I remember the comic being, though that may partially be the limitations of what the company allowed vs what the writer wanted.

Artistically, it's not bad. It reminds of Archer with better animation.
posted by happyroach at 10:58 AM on March 27, 2021

I liked it--very much like the comic. I didn't think it was more violent than the comic, but having the violence of the comic animated made it feel worse (to me, anyway).
posted by Anonymous at 11:40 AM on March 27, 2021

Fun cartoon. A couple of nitpicks though: I would have liked the Omniman reveal to happen a bit later like it did in the comics but I can understand that without it viewers might not stick around past the first episode. One of the things I thought was fun about the comic was that for the first couple of issues you thought you were getting one kind of story and then it all changes. Also something about the show makes it feel like there wants to be a laughtrack in it. Maybe it's the way it's animated, I don't know.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 10:55 AM on March 29, 2021 [1 favorite]

One of the things I thought was fun about the comic was that for the first couple of issues you thought you were getting one kind of story and then it all changes.

I don't disagree, but as you said, viewers might not stick around. One of my friends who hadn't previously read the comics specifically mentioned that twist as being something that grabbed his attention and had him wanting more. Without the Marvel goodwill to keep people watching, I think they need to grab viewers a little more quickly.
posted by Fleebnork at 11:00 AM on March 29, 2021

Plus I don't think they plan on running the show for 150-some-odd episodes so there'll be some amount of compression and removal of various storylines to fit whatever length they're planning for the series.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:06 AM on March 29, 2021

I would have liked the Omniman reveal to happen a bit later like it did in the comics but I can understand that without it viewers might not stick around past the first episode.

This is me. When we were getting capsule introductions to all the Guardians I was about ready to quit out of boredom. Then Omniman killed everybody and I was back on board!

It seems like they got a lot a ton of recognizable actors to do voices without it really paying off. J.K. Simmons in particular isn't really bringing anything interesting, which is unusual for him.

The animation seems pretty cheap too.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 12:18 PM on March 29, 2021

Turns out I am a sucker for Superman-gone-rogue-esque stories.
posted by hototogisu at 3:46 PM on March 29, 2021

Maybe it's just me, but in looking at the previews for this, Omni-Man's character design combined with J.K. Simmons' voice seems, at first glance, like they've somehow made J. Jonah Jameson into a costumed superhero, which is a notion that my brain totally rejects.

(I mean, look at this and then this - slightly different mustaches notwithstanding, it's basically the same guy!)
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 5:16 AM on March 30, 2021 [3 favorites]

Here you go, Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner
posted by Fleebnork at 10:17 AM on March 31, 2021 [3 favorites]

The animation seems pretty cheap too.

The only animation I've been watching recently are the anime One Piece and Attack on Titan and yeah the animation in those is so much better than Invincible. They're of course much more popular shows as well and have the resources to put into them.

I feel like the sound is lacking in the show as well. I had to re-watch one of the episodes to remember if they even had a soundtrack to speak of, whereas One Piece got its soundtrack down in the first couple of episodes and they've been using it now, with additions, for 20+ years. I think having actual opening and ending theme songs would help set the mood and expectations as well. The opening theme and animation for the first season of Attack on Titan was amazing. Even the most recent one seemed very strange for the first couple of episodes but its grown on me. For One Piece especially the theme songs have been hit or miss but the good ones are really good, and in fact my kids' favourite car playlist is 'One Piece Theme Songs'.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 1:01 PM on March 31, 2021

A friend watched this and told me "it's kinda dark." I was most of the way through the first ep thinking "wow, we have really different ideas about what constitutes dark." And then. "Oh, there it is."

I don't mind the animation. It's not stellar, it's not horrible. I can't really stand some newer cartoon character designs (e.g., "Rick & Morty") so at least this isn't that. The voice acting is superb.

More please.
posted by jzb at 6:28 AM on April 30, 2021 [1 favorite]