Invincible Season 3: As Close to a Meaty, Modern Comic Book Experience As It Gets

By John Kirk

Rating: B+
As comic book adaptations go, you can't go wrong with this reliable and fairly accurate series from Prime Video. Solid characters and engaging adventure, it's a resilient show that will go the distance for any lover of comics and superhero adventure.

Here’s the promotional plot bumpf: “Based on Robert Kirkman’s award-winning comic book series, Invincible follows 17-year-old Mark Grayson, as he inherits his father’s superpowers and sets out to become Earth’s greatest defender, only to discover the job is more challenging than he could have ever imagined. Everything changes as Mark is forced to face his past, and his future, while discovering how much further he'll need to go to protect the people he loves.”

Invincible is the Peter Parker-esque story of teen Mark Greyson (Steven Yeun), who discovers his father is not the superhero he thought he was, but the vanguard of a warlike alien conquering species known as the Viltrumites. Possessed of super strength and invulnerability, they either conquer a new world or destroy it.

When Mark's father found he couldn't bring himself to conquer Earth, he abandoned it, and Mark, with the powers he bequeathed to his son, who took up the mantle of responsibility to protect the Earth. Mark has already faced down one Viltrumite in the past season, the question is: what threats will he face in Season Three?
It's a fairly uncomplicated story, accounting for the genre. It's about making good decisions in the midst of disaster. Character-driven, it's a story that defies the imaginations of the creators to balance epic level threats against relatable heroes like Mark  who, despite his vaunted powers, is still a teen trying to wrestle with teen issues like romance, to go to college or family responsibilities.

The episodes are meaty. With a run time of about over an hour, there's a lot of action and exposition that allows for a good exploration of characters and their relationships with each other. Very little is left out of the original comic and while the pace is bit accelerated in the animated format, the attention to canonical detail is something to be appreciated.
Speaking of meat, there is a lot of gore in this story. The writers have no compunction against limb-ripping, flesh-rending or other catastrophic bodily damage. Also, if there’s a call to take a life to save a life, Invincible and the other heroes won't hesitate. There is no heroically idealistic code against killing. Again, fully in line with the source material, it's a distinction of this story that the heroes will not try to do the right thing but pretty much the expected thing as well.
One very apparent feature of the show is how closely it stays in line with the source material. There won't be too many surprises for fans of the comic as it follows the storyline for the first thirty or forty issues in a very boiler-plate manner. With little room for interpretation, if you're a fan of the book then you know what you are going to get, which can be both a plus and a negative. However, there fun will be in seeing the animation and enjoying the performances of the cast.
Which is the other major draw of this show. The cast is an amazing and surprising  ensemble of voice talent. With the likes of J.K. Simmons, Fred Tatasciore and even Mark Hamill, it's an added cornucopia of talent that adds a significant measure of quality.

For me? I just like seeing comics come to life. Mark is a likeable character, just trying to do the right thing. Applying a sense of humanity to whatever cosmic situation he's been thrown into, at heart he's still just a kid trying to measure up and do the right thing. That's a relatable trait - hell, after all, don't we all want to do that?

Invincible Season 3. Voice cast: Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, and J.K. Simmons, also includes Seth Rogen, Walton Goggins, Gillian Jacobs, Jason Mantzoukas, Zazie Beetz, Grey DeLisle, Zachary Quinto, Chris Diamantopoulos, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton, Andrew Rannells, Kevin Michael Richardson, Ben Schwartz, Clancy Brown, Jay Pharoah, Mark Hamill, and Melise Jow. Now streaming on Prime Video.