Battle Beast #12 marked the end of a storyline and the series will now go on break for half a year. The series has been covered by Key Comics Vault before, receiving positive reviews. However, some of the potential problems identified in issue #1 have surfaced. Has Battle Beast run its course?
Paper tiger depth
The series started with promise. Battle Beast is one of the most popular characters from the Invincible Universe and it made sense for Robert Kirkman to explore the character further. A series based around his adventures through space looking for a good death would be fun. The first issue sold over 400,000 units proving this.
There have been some moments of promise such as the interesting dynamic between Salaka and Battle Beast, as the latter slowly develops fondness for the former. Early fights between Battle Beast and that issue’s antagonist were quite fun too. The premise however, has worn thin.
The problem with the series is that almost every reader is aware that Battle Beast cannot die during any of these fights. We know this simply because he is in the main Invincible series after the events of this one. This means there are no stakes during any of these showdowns. In other stories, writers try to tackle this problem, but Kirkman does not seem interested in addressing that.
Battle Beast vs Conquest
The end of Battle Beast #9 saw the arrival of Conquest, another huge character from the original Invincible series. Fans were thrilled to see Battle Beast take on the Viltrumite. We have now had three isues of their fight, with the two building some mutual respect for the other. They beat each other two a standstill, collapsing at the end from exhaustion.
The art from Ryan Ottley and Annalisa Leoni has been wonderful throughout, both revelling in gorgeous violence. They show Battle Beast in all his glory and deserve all the plaudits. Ottley’s panels of Salaka’s homeworld are real visual highlights. Their efforts are the only thing that stop these final three issues feel like anything other than filler.
Similarly to Battle Beast, we know Conquest cannot die here either meaning the climax of the arc has zero stakes. The fight was moved away from the side characters too so even they were not at risk. Kirkman somehow managed to remove the menace from Conquest, reducing him to saying lines like ‘that’s so cool‘. Their eventual stalemate feels like a damp squib rather than a satisfying cliffhanger or end.
“You’re weird as hell, dude” – Conquest
Kirkman’s comments might haunt him
Robert Kirkman was interviewed by Den of Geek earlier this month, covering his Energon Universe and new series Terminal. As part of that interview, he spoke about his belief that comics have gotten too ‘writer-driven’ and that ‘intellectual’ to him means ‘boring’.
“The ‘90s comics were so focused on staying energetic and exciting and in your face and that’s something that we’re trying to bring back to comics. I think as things have gotten more writer driven, things have gotten a little bit more intellectual, and when I hear ‘intellectual,’ I hear ‘boring.’ We’re trying to broom the boring out of comics as best we can.” – Robert Kirkman
Battle Beast feels like Kirkman might have gone too far in the other direction. There is certainly no decompression in this series. No time to reflect, no discussion, nothing that is not there on the surface. It is all action. That might be fine for some readers, but a $3.99 cover price for a 5-minute read might be too much.
Kirkman is working on a lot of projects at the moment, so it might be that his focus is simply elsewhere. It could be that the series is simply doing that ’90s approach that he seems thrilled about, just with modern visual tastes. However, should a 12 issue series end with the main character in, for all intents and purposes, the same place as they started?
Buy Battle Beast #12 Cover A – Forbidden Planet UK
Pre-order Battle Beast Vol. 2 – Bookshop.org US
Pre-order Battle Beast Vol. 2 – Bookshop.org UK
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