After Disappearing For Years, Invincible's Lost TV Show Has Been Found at Last
With the success of Amazon’s adaptation of Invincible, the Robert Kirkman superhero saga is more popular than ever, and the franchise’s surging fandom has lately been fixated on a piece of supposedly “lost” media, which has now been officially rediscovered: the 2006 MTV motion comic version of Invincible.
On Instagram, the account Geekstuff GT shared a true walk down memory lane for any fans old enough to remember the mid-aughts; while looking through an old iPod, Geekstuff GT found the Invincible motion comic, which was produced by MTV in ‘06.
At the time, Invincible was still in the early stages of its fifteen-year run in publication. In addition to being an exciting pop culture artifact from nearly twenty years ago, the motion comic also makes it clear that there has always been an eagerness to adapt Invincible, with Amazon finally getting it right with the current ongoing series.
MTV's "Invincible" Motion Comic Resurfaces On Social Media, Taking It Off The "Lost Media" List
Shout-Out To Geekstuff GT For Unearthing The Adaptation
As Geekstuff GT noted in their Instagram post showing off the Invincible motion comic, not only did many people think the adaptation was lost, some didn't even believe it was real. "I've been a fan of Invincible since it came out," Geekstuff GT wrote, showing off the OG iPod to prove it. A precursor to the iPhone, iPods might seem almost as archaic as cassette players in hindsight, but in the early-to-mid-2000s, they were revolutionary, and theInvincible motion comic produced by MTV is an example of how content creators sought to take advantage of the era's developing technology.
Even before Iron Man inaugurated the MCU in 2008, bringing superheroes into the mainstream, it was clear that Invincible could reach a wider following, if only people outside the comic book reading audience could be exposed to it.
Though today, comics are readily accessible in digital format, this was far from the case in 2006. Downloadable motion comics like MTV's Invincible were an attempt to make comic content more widely available. The adaptation also pre-dated the boom period of superhero media; even before Iron Man inaugurated the MCU in 2008, bringing superheroes into the mainstream, it was clear that Invincible could reach a wider following, if only people outside the comic book reading audience could be exposed to it. While MTV's Invincible wasn't fully successful in that regard, it set a precedent Amazon would later make good on.
The "Invincible" Motion Comic Is A Novel Artifact In Comparison To The Amazon Series
A Comic Book Adaptaion "What If?"
Multiversal shenanigans and "What If?" stories are superhero staples, so it is worth considering, for a moment, the possible alternate timeline in which Iron Man is not a critical success, and the MCU does not usher in a Golden Age of superhero film and TV adaptations, one where MTV's Invincible motion comic is a treasured, if truncated, piece of media, with no greater follow-up. In this timeline, hardcore Invincible fans are likely still waiting for an adaptation that does the source material justice, while still enjoying the motion comic as the closest anyone has come.
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Instead, the motion comic is a novelty, one which provides context for the trajectory that the Invincible franchise, and the superhero genre in general, have charted over the past two decades. Amazon's Invincible series is a fully-realized adaptation of the original comic, one that creator Robert Kirkman is essentially treating like a second draft of his own story in a different medium. By comparison, MTV's Invincible from 2006 looks primitive, but it is worth remembering that it was pioneering in its day, even if it was ultimately just a teaser for what Invincible would become.
Source: Geekstuff GT on Instagram
- Created by
- Robert Kirkman
- First TV Show
- Invincible
- Cast
- Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, J.K. Simmons, Gillian Jacobs, Andrew Rannells
- Video Game(s)
- Invincible: Guarding the Globe
- Character(s)
- Invincible, Debbie Grayson, Atom Eve, William Clockwell, Omni-Man
