Mister Invincible: Local Hero

Product Description

Winner of the BEST MIDDLE GRADE COMIC Award at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair! A JUNIOR LIBRARY GUILD selection!

There’s a new superhero in town — Mr. Invincible! Sure, he wears a mask and cape and helps widows and orphans as any self-respecting hero would, but he also thwarts the mad scientists and bad guys with his amazing super-power that makes him the only true comic book hero: he can reach outside the comic strip panels to affect both space and time! By breaking the boundaries of ‘comic book physics’ he and his companions are able to do amazing things that are only possible thanks to the magic of comics! A wholly unique and creative twist on conventional comic-book reading experience, this wacky Middle Grade title will put your imagination to the test!

From School Library Journal

Gr 3–5—Masked superhero Mister Invincible tries to live a mundane life but often gets drawn into crime-fighting escapades. Cleverly, and often paradoxically, Mister Invincible breaks the fourth wall to outmaneuver wrongdoers and solve problems—in one tale, he saves himself from being shot by crossing panels to future scenes, where he disarms the gunman. Jousselin’s collection, translated from French, has an innocent, old-fashioned, episodic feel, despite featuring modern technologies. With 30-plus entries, it contains both single- and multipage stories that touch upon quotidian issues like running out of bread as well as more complex but age-appropriate story lines that explore the power of words, military weaponry, and empathy. The one-page stories are quick and can be read individually and easily paced through multiple sittings, while the longer tales—in which their shorter companions are nested—either build upon themselves or reference previous longer installments. Many contain cartoon violence, complete with emanata. With the exception of one story that features visually loud 1990s neon-colored pixelated backgrounds, the book is dominated by a subdued beige and soft, creamy orange color base, with a mossy green and cornflower blue used to depict the minimalist nature around Mister Invincible. Character features tend to be exaggerated. Though there is a diversity of body types, racial representation is lacking. Most characters, including Mister Invincible, are white, with the noticeable exception of the Black president of the United States. VERDICT This mind-bending and fun escape from the confines of reality will entice readers looking for a collection with a hint of newspaper comics nostalgia.—Alea Perez, Elmhurst P.L., IL

Review

NEW YORK TIMES – “Mister Invincible’s team ultimately saves the day not with cosmic punches or fancy utility belts but by knowing just how fun it is to exist in panels on a printed page. Perhaps that is the lesson Mister Invincible teaches us longtime fans. The future of comic books lies not in ever flashier superpowers but in the wonders of the medium itself.”

GOOD COMICS FOR KIDS BLOG (SLJ) — This wacky title puts a creative twist on conventional comic book reading that middle school readers will love.

BOOKLIST (STARRED) — He may be “the only true comic book superhero,” but the chubby, yellow-clad Mister Invincible has humble aspirations: rescuing a cat in a tree, bringing baguettes to his grandma, foiling the
occasional mad scientist. Similarly, a casual flip-through of this book, with its uneventfully standard panel grids, might suggest a run-of-the-mill tale. But it takes no longer than the second panel for the character and the book to astonish, as Mister Invincible looks down in his kitchen and spots a mugging in progress on the tier of panels right below him, then leaps down into the lower panel to intervene. This French import gives new meaning to thinking outside the box, as mainstays of comics structure become opportunities for breathtaking formalist experimentation-transposing space and time, abstracting the solid, solidifying the abstract-to
mind-bending ef