Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #1: In Space, No One Can Hear You Bleed

It has been over six years since Invincible ended publication, but the world created by Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker, and Ryan Ottley has maintained its relevance in the cultural zeitgeist long after. So much so that a side character from that initial series has enough cachet to get his own book in the year 2025—one that entices new and old readers in the same breath.

Thankfully, Invincible Universe: Battle Beast #1 is more than a marketing tactic to scoop up fans fresh from the release of Invincible Season 3. It’s a strong foundation for a series built to run wild with beautiful, violent action and thoughtfully grim science fiction adventures. More than anything, this first issue is attempting to sell you on a character that is purposefully shallow and one-note at the start of something that promises to flesh them out as time goes on. The hooks that are in place for that are barbed with ambition and genuinely interesting. Beast, for all of his scrumptious, Lobo-like violence, manages to still captivate on a level deeper than his action-figure-like stature.

More importantly, much of what drives this first issue is seeing how Beast forms dynamics and relationships with others based on his bloodlust. While there are no spoilers present in this review, there is something to be said about how the overarching plot in this title is framed by his not-so-quiet, machismo wish for a fight he cannot win. Death—how we wish for it and how it drives us—is the main motivator for all three of the main characters introduced in this issue. That ghostly thematic underpinning really grabs the reader just as much as Ottley’s jaw-dropping artwork and Kirkman’s excellent action pacing.

Ottley, who’s been stuck illustrating gold for Marvel since Invincible’s initial ending, is back and operating at a thousand times his previous capacity. His work here drips with a flair brought on by killer layouts, expressions, and genius coloring supplied by Annalisa Leoni. Even if the book doesn’t tickle you on a writing level, there is no denying just how tasty its visuals are.

That said, this book is being pitched as something for both hardcore Invincible fans and folks who’ve never touched a single drop of the original series. Normally, that kind of setup results in a clumsy balancing act—overcompensating for the diehards while awkwardly onboarding the newbies. But the team here doesn’t fall into that trap. They’re not checking boxes or playing the greatest hits of spin-off storytelling. This is just Battle Beast’s story—no hand-holding, no forced tie-ins to Mark’s arc just to justify its existence. And honestly, that makes it feel pure. It plays out like this is the main book in the universe, and Invincible is just the spin-off.