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At a fragile time of waning interest for Hollywood superhero fare — after 15 years of continuous releases — it’s uplifting to see a comic-book-based animated series like Prime Video’s Invincible thrive as it surges into its sophomore season.
With 15 years of comic-book source material at its disposal, Invincible became a surprise hit series with its eight-episode debut back in 2021. Based on the Skybound/Image title written by Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and illustrated by Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, the comic book ran from 2003-18 over the course of 144 issues. It chronicled the turbulent lives of a dysfunctional family of superheroes dealing with severe growing pains and secret alien agendas.
The Plot Thickens
The second season of the show offers more alarming developments unfolding for the Grayson clan as Omni-Man tries to redeem himself after failing to enslave Earth for his home planet of Viltrum. He is also searching for another planet to conquer and contending with his conflicted son, Mark, whose powers are amplifying exponentially.
The show’s exceptional voice cast includes Steven Yeun (Mark Grayson/Invincible), J.K. Simmons (Nolan Grayson/Omni-Man), Sandra Oh (Debbie Grayson), Zazie Beetz (Amber Bennett), Gillian Jacobs (Atom Eve), Andrew Rannells (William Clockwell), Walton Goggins (Cecil Stedman), Jason Mantzoukas (Rex Splode), Mark Hamill (Art Rosenbaum), Khary Payton (Black Samson), Malese Jow (Dupli-Kate), Kevin Michael Richardson (The Mauler Twins), Seth Rogen (Allen the Alien), Mahershala Ali (Titan), Chris Diamantopoulos (Doc Seismic), Sterling K. Brown (Angstrom Levy) and the legendary Peter Cullen (Thaddeus).
‘It’s a bigger season, we’re definitely doubling down on a lot of the stuff we did in Season 1. There’s a quirkiness to things that I think is kind of fun. Invincible has the weirdest tone out of anything on TV, and I hope everybody’s on board for it.’
— Creator/showrunner Robert Kirkman
We caught up with the show’s iconic ringmaster, Robert Kirkman, in between tending to his multiple projects, and co-showrunner, Simon Racioppa. Together, these talented architects of this adults-only adaptation of the comic tell us what antics are in store for Mark Grayson and company.
“I’m most excited about being back,” Kirkman tells Animation Magazine. “The gap was no fun for anybody, especially us. It’s awesome to have new episodes out there, so I can’t wait to see what the reaction is. It’s a bigger season, we’re definitely doubling down on a lot of the stuff we did in Season One. There’s a quirkiness to things that I think is kind of fun. Invincible has the weirdest tone out of anything on TV, and I hope everybody’s on board for it.”
The Mauler Twins, perfectly voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson, have a greater role in the new season, and these fan favorites have been unleashed in myriad ways causing mucho mayhem.
“The Twins are a good example of the organic nature of how the Invincible series was created,” says Kirkman. “If you look at the back cover of Invincible #1, there’s an ad for #2 with one of the Mauler Twins that says, ‘Invincible faces the dreaded Ogre.’ I told Cory to draw some cool dude stealing video game systems that Invincible has to fight. When it came time to write the issue, I thought, ‘What if there’s two of them?’ and we came up with the Mauler Twins. They are characters that are much loved in the Invincible offices. We’ll be seeing lots of them.”
When mapping out a season, Racioppa (The Boys: Diabolical) tries to think about the overarching theme to give the project an anchor to build upon emotionally. “Early on, we came up with the idea that Season One was Mark basically wanting to become his dad and growing up in his dad’s shadow,” he explains. “Then obviously he discovers maybe that’s not who he wants to be. Season Two for us is, ‘What if I become my dad?’ because now he knows his dad is not a really great person. That was the glue that helped us hold the season together thematically, and [track whether we were] getting to a conclusion of that in the last episode.”
The show’s appealing tone harkens back to a gentler age of hand-drawn animation with bright primary colors and evocative painterly backgrounds that deliver a sense of nostalgia.
“We have a style established in the first season, and we were trying to break new ground and figure things out,” says Racioppa. “No one had done an hourlong animated series before. One of our lead designers is Cory Walker, a co-creator of the book who did a huge number of issues. It’s a refinement and pushing it into a better level of quality. Part of that is accomplished via supervising director Dan Duncan and Shaun O’Neil, our series art supervisor. Shaun did designs on The Boys: Diabolical. It’s about prioritizing those designs and letting people do their work.”
Since Invincible debuted in 2021, the arena of adult animation has exploded, with more and more domestic and imported series in all genres sprinkled across streaming platforms, something Kirkman is well aware of and which propels his creative team further.
“Anime being so available has really generated a huge, savvy animation audience, and they’re looking at a wide range of stuff,” he notes. “You’ve got Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites, Star Trek: Lower Decks and things like The Legend of Vox Machina, and then Invincible, which I hope comes off as a superhero drama on the same level of The Boys, but animated instead of live action. In the last two years, the landscape has gotten bigger and more robust.”
Subtle Voices
Angstrom Levy is a sympathetic villain new to this fresh season, imbued with altruistic intentions to better the multiverse, but Kirkman reveals that his misguided plans go terribly awry.
“I like it when there’s a logical slant to the villain and hero’s relationship and hatred for each other,” says Racioppa. “As we progress, we’ll see much more of what makes Angstrom tick. The way Sterling plays him is great because you feel for the guy and see why he reacts the ways he reacts. In a lot of ways, he sees Invincible as no different than our audience sees Omni-Man.”
The wealth of vocal talent on Invincible is one of the show’s immeasurable superpowers, catapulting it into the creative stratosphere, and Kirkman and Racioppa are grateful for the actors’ enthusiasm in breathing life into these long-established comic-book characters.
“One of the biggest treats is hearing J.K. Simmons and Sandra Oh and Steven Yeun and all our cast do scenes that we’ve written and just launch them off the pages,” adds Racioppa. “It’s a huge part of the show and a reflection of the skill of our actors. They’re 100 percent crucial to the success of the series. We’re not a Pixar movie. We don’t have the fine facial animation that a feature does. So much more of that emotion has to come out through the voice.
He adds, “We have an even bigger cast for Season Two, so more surprises and more people coming out. The response to Invincible and seeing it all come together has just been supremely gratifying.”
The first of four episode of Invincible Season 2 arrive on Prime Video on November 3. The season’s remaining four episodes will debut in early 2024.
