i-love-invincible

[i-love-invincible]

fatherly pity

[i-love-invincible]

I maintain that, ironically, one of Invincible’s missteps may have been to make Amber and William actually interesting. 

Amber’s narrative role in the comics was to demonstrate that being a superhero would be massively damaging to a relationship with a normal human, even if they were 100 percent informed of who they were dating, and she didn’t have much going on besides that. William was sort of just…. there, to demonstrate that Mark had friends, and he and Rick rode off into the sunset after around issue 50 because that’s just… what happens, you know? That’s what happens to your best friend from high school. They drift off to be the star of their own life.

That worked in both cases because the comic was really decompressed; a character can fade out like that without much closure and it isn’t a jarring transition. A big theme in the comic, too, is that Omni-Man had a point that a superhuman like Mark is inevitably going to outgrow normal human society, and it’s up to him to figure out how to make that transition productive and healthy instead of becoming a mad god. None of the tertiary cast from the start of the comic are still around by the end of it, and that happens so gradually it’s easy to miss. 

But season one of Invincible really heavily centers people who were just kind of…. there, in the comics. The D.A Sinclair arc got adapted faithfully, but they took it from a two issue subplot to an eighth of season one. It really gets  William and Amber down in the trenches with Mark and gives the guy an inner circle of civilian confidantes. There’s no way to remove them from the narrative that won’t feel like time and effort was wasted, and I’m not sure how you keep them in the narrative when you get to the point of Mark fighting in a space war for a year unless you start handing out superpowers to the supporting cast like candy.

(Which already happened to Rick, so, uh, maybe? It was definitely a good move to have Mark and Eve source some of their social conscientiousness from Amber, at any rate.)

[i-love-invincible]

Laundry Day by Gabriel Picolo

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Leaked scene from Invincible Season 2

[i-love-invincible]

BROS … hang on tight … PREMIERS BOUT TO LAUNCH

[i-love-invincible]

Flight in Invincible

[AS USUAL MAJOR SPOILERS INVINCIBLE SEASON 1]

The way that flying is portrayed, both thematically and stylistically, is really interesting. When Mark Grayson (soon to be hero, Invincible) is first presented with the idea of flight on-screen it is shown to him as an extreme convenience, and why wouldn't it be? Nolan and Debbie are FLYING to Berlin to get breakfast, and he just wants some sausages. That is this teenager's biggest worry right now.

Even when we see Mark get his powers for the first time (throwing a trash bag all the way to London) he isn't truly excited until he learns to fly for the first time, via jumping off the roof of his own house. This obviously ends badly when he doesn't know how to stop himself, floats out into space, passes out, and crash-lands into asphalt. It goes horribly, which alongside his terrible lesson with his dad, reinforces that he is going to put in a lot of work to live up to Omniman.

When he does get slightly more comfortable with flight he goes out to find a villain to beat up, and even just searching for the source of the crime he causes massive damage just flying into random bullshit. When he DOES fight Titan he flies through fences and signs, smashing into brick walls, before finally taking the guy down. He is literally unaware that just with his fast flight and invulnerability he can cause MASS property destruction. When his father catches him doing this he points this out, and Mark lashes out at him, saying that all he wants to do is be like him. He is using his powers to try, with all his might, to be like his dad.

The morning of his first lesson with his dad, we get the BAREST piece of insight into how Viltrumite flight works: telling him that Viltrumites don't need to pivot on their feet but can physically push off of anything, even empty air, and that Viltrumites can "freely move themselves through physical space." The way Mark moves in the air is also very interesting, he wobbles in the air, as if physically struggling to HOLD his position, as if he's like editing his X Y Z values in real time. This is in contrast to Omniman who can literally stand completely still in the air. There's a couple of other shots and animation moments of Omniman (especially in the last couple episodes) that really emphasize just how WEIRD and ALIEN he looks when he flies. It's unnerving, and that feeling really contributes to how scary he is.

When Mark meets another superhero his age, he is full of relief. They have a talk about what it's like to actually BE superheroes on the field and we have this brief flying montage with him and Atom Eve together. Where Mark actually has someone to RELATE to, someone to teach him more about superhero-ing (without also y'know... being his dad.)

I've seen someone talk about this comparison before (if someone can tell me who it was I will edit this to credit them) but look at the way that Eve flies. She propels herself using energy from her powers. She flies like a plane, literally burning fuel to push herself through the air. She flies like, well like a HUMAN would. While Mark just floats there like a freakin' alien.

But there's more to flight than demonstrating how weird Viltrumites are: there's also an emotional element. When Debbie finds her son, Mark, practicing his flight landings and repeatedly smashing into the ground they have a little emotional mom-and-son talk. She says to him that when he was young it was just the two of them together while Nolan went on all these crazy superhero adventures, but now that Mark has gotten his powers she is left completely alone. She says "I can't talk to you while we soar through the clouds, but I'm still here." Mark just got his powers and already there is an emotional barrier between them, demonstrated through the analogy of flight.

Later on when Debbie is pouring out her emotions to Nolan, telling him about all the stress she feels over the death of the Guardians, her son, and her husband she says: "I feel like we're standing on the edge of a cliff, and I'm the only one of us who can't fly." Flight represents an emotional separation. A layer of suppression between the superheroes and normal regular folk.

Even in the last battle between Nolan and Mark, Debbie is relegated to the sidelines, both physically and emotionally. She is forced to watch on a TV SCREEN as the two most important people in her life fight to the death. Forced to watch her husband dismiss her relevance, dismiss the life she spent with him, dismiss her as "a pet" due to her relatively short lifespan in comparison to him. It is absolutely devastating.

And in one of the last scenes of the whole show, when Mark returns to his home after TWO WEEKS in the hospital, the SECOND they have privacy Mark floats into the air and starts to hover. It's comfortable for him now, flying is his natural resting state, it's literally EASIER than standing. Not only does it serve to show us how much Mark has developed his control of his powers, but also as a reminder that he will NEVER be like a regular human. A reminder that he will always be like his father.

#invincible #invincible show #invincible spoilers #even more examples in the comic using mark and amber #just finished episode 2 in my weekly rewatch to prepare for november 3rd :)

[i-love-invincible]

Every once in a while I remember I have a Tumblr lol

Here is some of my work from the Atom Eve special. I did the revisions on the sequence.

Being a storyboard revisionist a lot of our job is to push the boards further/address notes from the director/creator/network. I eventually want to be a Director myself so I've been enjoying this position and learning every piece that you need to think of to make the episode the best it can be!

This was my first assignment on the show.

Explanation of what I did:

I was asked to add Eve's effects in the first shot

I drew out Eve slowly descending (I was given a lot of time on this so I lovingly posed out her skirt flowing it was fun!)

I posed out the third shot showing Eve being woosy from using her full powers.

I drew her seeing Brandyworth and her mom's bodies and the blood flowing out of Brandyworth

(I'm not sure who boarded this scene originally but someone else drew her crying. If I find out I'll share because I really love how they drew her emotions!)

6. I Drew her flying out of frame

7. Finally I drew Iverson waking up having lost his memory. This shot ended up being one-to-one what I drew in the final and it was pretty cool to see come to life!

This scene ended up being reworked by my director Haylee Herrick (@/just__haylee on instagram) for the final version and I think ultimately it ended up stronger! But I'm still proud of the work that I did and I wanted to share!

[i-love-invincible]

one of my favorite things about invincible is how strange, powerful, and god-like villains are just all over the place just mingled with the rest of them.

like oh yeah intergalactic space tyrant, conquerer of a thousand galaxies, battle beast? yeah he got hired by a mafia boss who just thought he was some random goon.

#invincible #invincible show

[i-love-invincible]

Ehi! I just wanted to say that I love your art! Have you ever drawn robot? Otherwise thragg or nolan pics are always appreciated 😌👌

rudy!

referencing this panel:

[i-love-invincible]

he uses emojis and yeah hes my little problematic meow meow

#invincible show #invincible

[i-love-invincible]

beautiful things happened in invincible #101

og post

[i-love-invincible]

Let's Talk About Atom Eve

Invincible Spoilers and Gore CW Abound! Please watch this incredible series... So who is ATOM EVE?

I would love to talk about this, but first we have to talk about character design in Invincible. The costumes, personalities, and heroes of Invincible are all self-referential. Take the Guardians of the Globe for instance, the first heroes we see on-screen.

We see these people, and IMMEDIATELY we get what they're about... even if these characters are new to us, we KNOW who they are. Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Martian Manhunter, Batman, Green Lantern, all obvious parodies and fun little characters.

I'm sure your eyes will start glazing over once I go "blah blah subverting tropes blah blah absolute genius." but one thing that Invincible does very well is destroying the audience's connections with established superhero tropes (See the one million white boy video essayists talking about why Evil Superman is awesome.) The reason why the slaughter of the Guardians of the Globe in that fucking THREE MINUTE LONG SCENE is so surprising is because THEY ARE THE FUCKING JUSTICE LEAGUE (while the fight scene also conveniently tosses some casual shade to DC Comics.) Not only is it stunning since we have some frame of reference for how powerful they are, but also stunning because we have ALREADY become attached to these characters.

What follows are a couple real quotes from people I've shown the first episode to: "Oh Batman + Silver Surfer that's awesome!" "OH DUDE! FISH AQUAMAN" "Wonder Woman but she's a lesbian.. as she should be..." .. and all these people, the ones with the most superhero experience, were the ones all most taken aback by the ending.

So let's look at Eve.

At first glance, we get the same impression as a lot of the heroes we meet in Invincible: knockoff. In the same way Omniman and the entirety of the Guardians of the Globe are made to resemble the Superman and the Justice League so to does Atom Eve's costume and powers SCREAM token. She is the first female hero we meet that is Mark's age and perhaps more importantly (and more evident to a first-time viewer) she has some very clear themes of femininity. Such as her costume, which Doc Seismic callously points out in Episode 3 (neglecting the fact she designed her own costume)...

... as well as her name. "Atom Eve" is a combination of her ability to influence atoms and her middle name, but it is also a reference to Adam and Eve (see the bible.) She even has a female symbol with two revolving electrons around it emblazoned right on her damn shirt. So just like the Guardians of the Globe, her design is meant to carry a lot of weight and immediacy to the viewer, you see them and you understand who they are and what they stand for (or at least you think you do.)

So we've seen the way that the Guardians subvert our expectations so how does Eve diverge from the audience's first-impressions? Well for the first couple episodes she doesn't. You might even suspect her of being some one-dimensional, neglected and under-characterized female character (and to be honest if you were reading the comics you wouldn't be too far off...) until you start to see her dissatisfied with being a superhero. Her boyfriend cheats on her, the Teen Team breaks up, her parents consistently disrespect and talk down to her, she's misunderstood by the naive and silly Mark Grayson, and she struggles to find connection with anyone outside of when she's "beating up bad guys." She even goes as far as to reject a position in the Guardians of the Globe just to avoid her ex-boyfriend, despite her killer tryout.

She's frustrated by the frame that's been left for her, and realizes her powers enable her to do much more than beat up random villains. Her powers BY THE WAY, which up until now anyone could have mistaken for "shooting pink stuff," is actually atomic manipulation. She can just fucking rearrange matter to make anything she wants. So instead of being a superhero she fucks off to do things that ACTUALLY help people. Like idk she could be irrigating rivers and feeding the starving or like manufacturing free medicine or something. Atom Eve is a hero who is chronically misunderstood by literally everyone around her, even in the final episode Mark is under the impression Eve just stopped being a superhero to get away from her ex, parents, and school. However with the earth-shattering familial trauma that Mark goes through in the Season 1 finale, maybe they will have more in-common than either of them think.

and NOW there's a surprise ATOM EVE SPECIAL EPISODE! it shows off her origin story which goes even more in-depth into her trauma, and her loss of the only people who even WOULD be capable of understanding her. It also has my FAVORITE FIGHT SCENE OF ALL TIME!!! It was absolutely incredible

ps: omg why tf did they make her far-shot model have an x over the female symbol instead of the detailed electrons (crying emoji) cool i didnt proofread this okay i might do more of these okay bye, i love this show okay

#invincible #invincible show #atom eve #invincible spoilers #cw: gore

[i-love-invincible]

a very good liar

[i-love-invincible]

spiderman meets invincible!

[i-love-invincible]

Genderbent Invincible of that scene for funsies,  I wanted Omni-man or Omni-woman in this case to have that army woman bun thing going on. She a MILF now. Tbh I’m kinda interested in drawing genderbend Debbie in this scene too but I dunno if I’ll do it