Josh Reviews Invincible: Atom Eve

I was blown away by the first eight-episode season of the animated series Invincible when it was released back in 2021.  (Click here for my full review!)  The series is an adaptation of the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Cory Walker & Ryan Ottley.  The series focuses on Mark Grayson, whose father Nolan is the Superman-like super-hero called Omni-Man.  I love the original comic-book series, and the animated show was incredible.  It was a rich and compelling drama while also being a thrilling action-adventure.  It’s shockingly violent and adult at times.  And it has perhaps the greatest voice cast ever assembled for a single TV series.  (If you haven’t watched that first season of Invincible, go watch it right now!!)

It’s been a long, long wait for a second season.  It looks like the first half of this next batch of episodes is finally coming in November.

But in the meanwhile, to tide fans over, last month they released a special one-off episode: Atom Eve, exploring the origin of the super-heroine Atom Eve (who is voiced by Gillian Jacobs on the show).

In this Atom Eve special, we first meet Samantha Eve’s biological parents and discover the tragic circumstances that resulted in her being raised by a different, “normal” family ever since she was a baby.  The episode then jumps forward several times.  The bulk of the story takes place several years before the events of the main Invincible series.  We get to learn when and how Samantha discovered her incredible super-powers, the true origin of those powers, and the life-changing moment in which she chose to use those powers to try to help others.

Samantha/Atom Eve is a terrific character in Invincible, and it’s great to see her getting this spotlight episode.  The episode does a wonderful job in exploring Samantha’s basic nobility and strong moral core.

The animation is fantastic and, after a relatively PG first two acts, it builds into a gloriously intense and violent classic Invincible style fight scene.  It’s delightfully wild.

The voice cast is wonderful.  Aria Kane and Jazlyn Ione are fantastic as Eve at ages 7 and 12, respectively.  The late, great Lance Reddick (The Wire, Fringe) is wonderful as the villainous government agent Erickson.  Jacob Tremblay (Wonder, The Predator, Doctor Sleep, Luca) is great as the hideously mutated kid called “Phase Two”.  And Stephen Root (Newsradio, Office Space, Barry) is fantastic as the scientist Dr. Elias Brandyworth.

Stay tuned at the end for a great mid-credits bit, catching up to Invincible main characters Mark Grayson (Stephen Yeun) and his parents Omni-Man (J. K. Simmons) and Debbie (Sandra Oh).

This was a lot of fun — don’t miss it if you’re already a fan of Invincible.  (And if you’re not, what are you waiting for?)  I can’t wait for season two.

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