In a nutshell:
Omni-Man decides to tell Invincible the truth.
Synopsis:
Omni-Man is exhausted from filling in for the original Guardians of the Globe. While visiting a comic book shop, Invincible sees the newly-revived Immortal confronting Omni-Man. Mark flies to the scene as Invincible just in time to see Omni-Man split Immortal in half. Omni-Man sees Mark and tells him they need to talk.
Firsts:
Doc Seismic makes his first appearance, and he will go on to play a pretty significant role leading up to issue #50.
Notes:
Omni-Man tries again to talk to Mark about something, but Mark blows it off. Knowing what eventually happens, I wonder how that talk would’ve went in the kitchen dressed like this.
Recurring Gag:
Pointing out comic book tropes is one of the most charming aspects of this series. Funny that once they point out the repeating panels, you notice it ALL the time after. I love catching repeating panels done to save time on the art.
Review:
This issue starts out pretty normal (which helps set up the escalation at the end of the issue), with Invincible facing a new villain Doc Seismic. I like noting the villain appearances because the fun is in not knowing which villains are going to rise up and become a BIG problem for Invincible later on. I haven’t talked much about the villains, but Kirkman is slowly bringing them into the fold to present their personal conflicts later. But first we have to get the most personal of conflicts for Mark out of the way.
For now, we get the return of the Immortal, who prompts Omni-Man into action without realizing his son is nearby. And here I kept waiting for the series to start throwing cliches, for Omni-Man to start begging Mark that it’s not what it looks like or beg him to help get his psychosis under control. And again I was shocked. He didn’t do that. He didn’t deny what he’d just done, dismembering Immortal like that. No, even worse, he wants to talk to Mark about it. Anyone who’s ever dreaded a talk with their parents can imagine the fear of their world being rocked to its core. It’s just about to happen to Mark on a more literal level.