Invisible Republic #1
Writer: Corinna Bechko, Gabriel Hardman
Artist: Gabriel Hardman
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: March 18, 2015
Cover Price: $2.99
A gritty, interesting punch in the face that doesn’t show it’s true colors until about 2/3rds of the way in and is better because of it, Invisible Republic is a book that is made by its pace, not its world.
When I saw those first few pages, I audibly groaned. I was absolutely horrified that I was about to dive into another gritty, dark, sci-fi world where society has collapsed and the poor people are poor while the rich get richer (maybe there’s some children fighting in a tournament or something too for good measure).
The thing is, these creators have made a world that is dark and gritty but ultimately, interesting.
It’s near impossible to write about this issue without spoiling the twist at the end but I will say that everything leading into it is well written, dark, gratuitous and substantial. It’s a broken world where people act broken appropriately and it’s grounded in reality like any character, world building book should be.
The only problem right now is that it’s unclear whether or not the journalist story and the “hero” story are going to run parallel to each other or eventually intersect, a muddled approach to the narrative focus where the most interesting parts of the book are bookended by its least interesting but also a problem I’m sure the creators can easily navigate away from.
Invisible Republic is looking to be a story about the cost of self deluded heroism in the vein of The Road, Breaking Bad or Blade Runner and, I'm all for it.
Artist: Gabriel Hardman
Publisher: Image Comics
Release Date: March 18, 2015
Cover Price: $2.99
A gritty, interesting punch in the face that doesn’t show it’s true colors until about 2/3rds of the way in and is better because of it, Invisible Republic is a book that is made by its pace, not its world.
When I saw those first few pages, I audibly groaned. I was absolutely horrified that I was about to dive into another gritty, dark, sci-fi world where society has collapsed and the poor people are poor while the rich get richer (maybe there’s some children fighting in a tournament or something too for good measure).
The thing is, these creators have made a world that is dark and gritty but ultimately, interesting.
It’s near impossible to write about this issue without spoiling the twist at the end but I will say that everything leading into it is well written, dark, gratuitous and substantial. It’s a broken world where people act broken appropriately and it’s grounded in reality like any character, world building book should be.
The only problem right now is that it’s unclear whether or not the journalist story and the “hero” story are going to run parallel to each other or eventually intersect, a muddled approach to the narrative focus where the most interesting parts of the book are bookended by its least interesting but also a problem I’m sure the creators can easily navigate away from.
Invisible Republic is looking to be a story about the cost of self deluded heroism in the vein of The Road, Breaking Bad or Blade Runner and, I'm all for it.
A Look Inside
