100+ Definitions 38

Invincible #38

Low-Frequency Listener (L-FL):  Issue 38 of the comic book Invincible returns to Mars to pick up a storyline residing in a fictional coma like a slumbering John Carter. 

Invincible #38: (I#38):  The allusions to the princess and warlord of Mars don’t exist in the comic, but the red planet is filled with green shape-shifters that convey anything but a festive Christmas mood. 

L-FL: Cheer remains scarce in these pages as Allen the Alien recovers from the beating he received by three Viltrumites and discovers that the leader of the Coalition of Planets is a rebellious Viltrumite. 

I#38: A scene shift moves readers from deep space to the Pentagon where Rick Sheridan talks about his cybernetic implants with Donald Ferguson, a Pentagon employee who is also a cyborg. The two form a small support group for one another. 

L-FL: Another scene shift moves readers to the dorm of Invincible’s girlfriend Amber, who tries to defend Mark to her friends.  Mark arrives and the group goes out to dinner, a movie, and bowling as a way to get to know one another.  It seems successful, but the issue ends with Invincible and Atom Eve kissing

I#38: Before the closing kiss however, readers witness the reformed Lizard League, Oliver Grayson’s swift academic progress (the little curve buster progressed from ignorance to 4^th-grade math and 7^th grade reading level in less than a month), and the elopement of Dupli-Kate and the Immortal.  A giant Martian warship under the control of the Sequids (a slave race on Mars that now thirsts for revenge) moves to invade Earth. 

L-FL: So, we arrive at the question we always arrive at when looking at these issues of Invincible.  How is superhero defined by the contents of this issue?

I#38: The contrast between the Lizard League and the scenes with Rick Sheridan and Allen the Alien are the key events that comment on the nature of the superhero.  While the leader of the Lizard League assumed control through assassination of another Lizard League member, negotiations work differently between superheroes.  Superheroes work together in supportive, encouraging, and trustful ways that allow them to strengthen one another and achieve grand goals (like overthrow of the oppressive Viltrumite empire).

L-FL:  Sort of like the way the Low-Frequency Listener and these issues of Invincible work together to define “superhero”?

I#38: Uh…