Invincible: Head of The Class (Comics) | Review

Here's the thing about the latest volume of Invincible: series creator and writer Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye, The Walking Dead: Miles Behind Us) has officially stopped playing nice with his teenage protagonist.

While other superhero comics let their heroes dust themselves off and move on, Head of The Class forces Mark Grayson to sit with the psychological wreckage of being a seventeen-year-old with godlike powers and daddy issues that could level a planet.

This isn't your typical superhero recovery arc. What we get instead is something far more uncomfortable and realistic– a look at how actual teenagers might handle world-shattering trauma when they possess the strength to punch through mountains. The comics dive headfirst into the messy reality of teenage heroism gone wrong.

Head of The Class picks up the pieces after the earth-shattering revelations of Volume 3, where Mark's entire worldview got completely demolished along with half of Chicago. The story follows Mark as he attempts navigating senior year while processing cosmic trauma.

The story follows Mark as he desperately attempts to navigate his final senior year while his mother Debbie drowns in severe depression, his friends remain completely clueless about his dangerous double life and relentless super-villains queue up to test the traumatized teenager.

The psychological weight becomes most apparent in Mark's increasingly strained interactions with his girlfriend Amber, where his complete inability to process recent trauma creates authentic relationship tensions that feel genuinely teenage rather than superhero-dramatic or artificially constructed for plot convenience.

The brilliance lies in how Kirkman refuses to let Mark bounce back with typical comic-book resilience. Instead, we watch him struggle with basic social interactions while simultaneously dealing with catastrophic threats that could end civilization as we know it.

Kirkman's deliberate decision to slow down the overall pacing allows readers to uncomfortably sit with Mark's profound discomfort, creating an authentically awkward and deeply uncomfortable reading experience that perfectly mirrors the protagonist's own fractured emotional state throughout the entire volume.

The Guardians of the Globe roster shifts add another layer of instability– Robot's departure as team leader creates complex power dynamics that directly mirror Mark's own growing uncertainty about his place in the superhero community.

What this really means is that Kirkman uses the superhero framework to explore genuine adolescent psychology. Mark's attempts to maintain normalcy while processing cosmic-level trauma feel authentic in ways that most superhero comics avoid.

The introduction of new team members like Bulletproof and the return of The Immortal serve as external representations of Mark's internal rebuilding process, mirroring his desperate struggle to reconstruct his completely shattered superhero identity.

The volume also sets up crucial plot threads that will define the series moving forward. Connections to future storylines become apparent as Cecil Stedman's manipulation tactics evolve and Mark's relationship with his Viltrumite heritage grows more complex.

These aren't throwaway setup moments– they're psychological dominoes that will topple throughout the series, creating ripple effects that fundamentally reshape Mark's understanding of heroism, family and his place in the universe moving forward.

Artwork by Ryan Ottley (Invincible: A Different World, Invincible: Death of Everyone) carries the emotional weight that Kirkman's writing demands. His ability to convey teenage awkwardness in the same panels that showcase cosmic-level destruction creates a visual dissonance that perfectly matches the themes of ongoing story.

The character expressions during quieter moments hit harder than the action sequences, which says something about Ottley's range. Color work by Bill Crabtree a deserves mention for how it shifts between the mundane world of high school and vibrant chaos of superhero conflicts.

Kirkman's dialogue avoids the typical superhero speak that plagues the genre. Characters talk like actual people dealing with impossible situations, not like walking exposition machines. The pacing deliberately slows down compared to earlier volumes, giving both Mark and readers time to process the psychological fallout.

Head of The Class succeeds because it treats superhero trauma as genuine trauma rather than a plot device to overcome. While some readers might find the slower pacing and psychological focus less exciting than pure action, this approach proves essential for character development.

This volume establishes the emotional foundation that makes later storylines devastating. For readers jumping from other superhero titles, Head of The Class shows where Invincible truly differentiates itself. It's not about becoming stronger after adversity– it's about learning to function with psychological scars that never heal.

Invincible: Head of the Class is collected in Invincible Vol. 4 trade paperback, hardcovers and Ultimate Collections on Amazon for long-term collectors. The storyline is also available digitally on ComiXology, Kindle and Image Comics' platforms.