I just finished watching Invincible: Atom Eve, and I felt like talking about it. In short, I thought it was fantastic! In a world filled with superhero origin stories, this was the superhero origin story I didn’t know I needed.
Full disclosure, I’ve always liked the character of Atom Eve, both in the comics and the TV show, so I might be biased or at least already primed to like this one-shot. That said, I thought the animation was great (in keeping with the rest of the series), and the voice acting was spot on. It was a bit bittersweet to hear Lance Reddick again (I assume for the final time), but he was perfect in the role.
They did a brilliant job capturing the wonder, excitement, and heartbreak of Samantha’s story. I literally gasped in time with her when she discovered her power, and nearly shed a tear in disappointment with her over her family. It’s been a very long wait to get new Invincible, and Nov. 3 is still a long way away, but I thought this was a great reminder of what we’ve been waiting for.
What did everyone else think?
I think that’s a fair criticism. I chalk it up to her being young and inexperienced at this point, and as a result thinking about being a superhero just like the ones that already exist. It didn’t bother me personally as I was watching, but fair point nonetheless.
For the young and experienced point: I was shocked how well she could fight. I thought the first fight against kill cannon would be the humbling “maybe I’m not ready” fight, but she fought like a god damn pro, ducking and dodging punches. Overall, I felt like she was way to good at fighting, though I guess that can be chalked up to her being created to be a weapon, so there could be some muscle memory implanted in her or some such.