Invincible 107 and Saga 17 review

Invincible and Saga...they aren't much alike genre wise, (superhero and fantasy/ci-fi) but they both have three things in common: engrossing characters, realistic but unique worlds, and authors that are not afraid to kill off likable characters. These three qualities bring a lot of weight to both titles. The world and status quo change constantly. Spoilers will be unmarked because these are not easy to review without spoilers. I will not say anything about the big events from those issues, but be warned on the smaller stuff.

Monster Girl and her Son

 Invincible 107 dealt with the fallout over the last couple of issues, as well as reintroducing an old villain with some new tricks. The issue starts with the return of Doc Seismic as a volcanic monster human hybrid that has shacked up with another volcano monster called Volcanikka. Comics right? Personally, I always liked Doc Seismic. He was always one of Invincible's more entertaining but threatening minor villains. Now that he has a new body and partner in crime, I'm hoping we will get to see some more of him in the future. We then get to see the fallout of the recent Robot and Monster Girl story arc where we met Monster Girl's son from an alien dimension who invaded our world to get revenge on Robot for killing his family. Oh and Monster Girl is the father. God I love my job. We get to see a conversation between the two that plants the seed of doubt in Monster Girl's head over if Robot is really as trust worthy as he seems. Honestly, I've always felt Robot was emotionally ambiguous at times, and I'm sure hundred of years of being a leader for an alien empire has caused him to become much more morally ambiguous as he attempts to make the world a better place by controlling it.

I also like the idea of Monster Girl having to deal with the consequences of her actions, and I hope her son becomes a regular character. We get a bit of ship tease between Invincible and a female Viltrumite, but I  hope it doesn't come back to haunt Mark later, because I like his relationship with Eve. Finally, the last page sets up something awesome. Mark has to make a choice between security of his family and vengeance or making his wife happy and letting go of the past. It  really made me want to catch next issue. It is one of the best superhero titles out there. Awesome issue, enough action to be interesting, but as per Kirkman's usual story telling technique, he keeps enough interesting story lines in the air while not having them interfere with each other.

Prince Robot getting his funk on.

 Saga 17 was...interesting to say the least. We get to see more of Upshar and Doff while they are interrogated by The Brand, a female freelancer with a demon-eyed St. Bernard that can shoot poison darts out of his nose. I swear to God I am not on drugs this post. She poisons the pair with her demon dog and delivers an ultimatum: if they publish the story on Alana and Marko's child, they will die due to the magic in the darts. While brief, this intro was pretty awesome. The Freelancers are all Boba Fett-level bad asses, and it is cool to see another one, especially with a pet so...uniquely terrifying. Unfortunately, we cut back into Mr.Heist's interrogation by the hand...er blaster arm of Prince Robot. Heist reveals to Prince Robot a secret from his latest work, one that strikes Robot personally due to his intense case of PTSD. I don't want to spoil the secret but it was...out there to say the least. I'll just tell you that Heist claims that he has discovered the opposite of war isn't peace and leave it at that. We also get to see a heart rending scene between The Will and Sophie were he tries to part some wisdom to her in case he dies from the wounds he received two issues ago. I kind of wonder if Marko's ex is gonna take up the mantle of The Will and if she will have to continue pursuit of Marko by herself. I'm super nervous honestly. The last third of the issue deals with one massive cluster fuck as the the three parties (Prince Robot, Heist and Marko's Mother, and Marko's Ex) are all caught in a... confrontation. A confrontation that leads to the death of one of my favorite characters in the series. I'm super sad and pissed about this, and it kind of came out of nowhere. Hopefully, next issue will resolve most of these issues, but to quote Gwendolyn "Fuck".

The dog that will haunt your nightmares

The art for both issues was very awesome, but I don't feel much need to talk about it that much. Invincible's art is always solid, but Fiona Staples literally brings the world of Saga to life. It's always a treat to read an issue of Saga due to the unique way Staples can bring in such odd creatures like the demon dog that shoots blow darts from his nose (yes that still freaks me out), or such well drawn and beautiful characters like Marko, Gwendolyn, The Will, etc. She's just as important to giving this title life as Brian K. Vaughn's writing. Highly recommend and enjoyed both these titles as a series and these single issues in particular. Please, if you want something unique or different check these titles out. They are worth your time.