Advance Review — ‘Invincible Universe: Battle Beast’ #5 Provides Character Insights Both Necessary And Irrelevant
by Tom Smithyman
Generally speaking, the more we know about a comic book character, the better. Understanding major character motivations is essential to liking good guys and bad ones. It fleshes out the characters more and gives us some perspective in the process.
Invincible Universe: Battle Beast, though, spends half of this fifth issue on Prince Salaka’s origin story. It seems misplaced, especially for a character who seems to serve as little more than comic relief. And it doesn’t help that he was nearly dead when we first met him and is in even worse shape by the end of this chapter. Perhaps he’ll play a more significant role in the future, but it doesn’t seems likely.
On the other hand, writer Robert Kirkman drops a few tantalizing nuggets about the main character, the seemingly unstoppable Battle Beast. We already knew that the Beast seeks a glorious death at the hands (or paws or tentacles) of a ferocious enemy. To date though – and much to the detriment of the overall story – none of his foes have come close to harming him.
But this time Kirkman gives readers some new insight into BB and his quest. The Beast, it seems, lives with a constant fury that sends him on his rampages. It is only through sheer force of will that he doesn’t kill everything around him. And only death will release him from that torment. Longtime readers (those from the original Invincible series) will have largely guessed at that, but it’s still a nice, needed touch.
Artist Ryan Ottley provides his typically dynamic work when portraying Battle Beast. But the art in particular, suffers from the Beast’s absence in the first half. There are some interesting monsters, but Ottley’s BB is the highlight of every issue.
Throw out the first half of this issue, and the creative team is moving in the right direction. Hopefully they see that and move forward, not onto more meaningless tangents.
Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #5 will be available in comic book shops and on digital platforms Wednesday from Image Comics.
Overview
Learning about the motivations of our favorite characters is always great – assuming that background moves the story along. When it doesn’t, it feels like an unnecessary tangent. This issue provides both kinds, with way too much emphasis on a character no one much cares about. The entire issue suffers as a result.
