Invisible Kingdom #1 is like Ray Bradbury meets Ursula Le Guin, but with Wilson's unique voice. Wilson crafts a complex and intriguing story that captures you in the first few panels all the while Christian Ward's art creates a stunning and intense reading experience. Read Full Review

Invisible Kingdom is a heady comic youll want to read twice to get a better grip on its ambitions and ideas. Fortunately, the artwork in this book is so vibrant and imaginative, immediately re-reading will feel less like a redundancy and more like a second helping of an impossibly-spectacular visual treat. Read Full Review

INVISIBLE KINGDOM #1 offers the best of its influences: intrigue, interesting characters, and a well-realized world. Ward's art alone makes it a must-read for sci-fi lovers. Berger Books has another hit that will surely be talked about for months to come. Read Full Review

A debut that blends excellent world building, character relations and vibrant environments, "Invisible Kingdom" #1 is a great series debut for G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward. Read Full Review

With new science fiction comics being released on a weekly basis, it really takes something truly special for a new story to push its way through the crowd and stand out on its own. Thankfully, special is something INVISIBLE KINGDOM has in spades, and whether it's brash action, quiet contemplation or the way these two themes come crashing together, this is a new series that deserves your full attention. Read Full Review

Invisible Kingdom's first outing is more than an impressive start, it's a salvo of creativity on both a narrow and broad scale the likes of which I haven't seen in years. Especially appealing for fans of the genre, but near everyone should feel comfortable picking this up knowing they'll find something to like (permitting you have time to make sense of all the new words and worlds). Read Full Review

The major element that separates the book from the rest is Willows use of the real world growth of e-commerce and tying it to materialism versus truth and what happens when the line between religion and greed gets removed and when an organization instilled in truth is a part of a grand lie. All of those elements feel incredibly salient to the current world we live in and the series stands out based on the anticipation of seeing how these themes will be explored in future installments. Read Full Review

Invisible Kingdom #1 is a thought provoking and epic entry into a magnificent new world, but pacing issues unfortunately hinder it from truly shining. Read Full Review

Invisible Kingdom demands to be read by science fiction fans. Even those who aren't into space stuff will find plenty to enjoy in this debut issue. The characters are wonderful, the world is essentially breathing, and everything is just gorgeous. This story wouldn't be possible with another creative team, and I can't wait to see where Wilson and Ward take these characters. Read Full Review

A spectacular start to a new space opera. The visuals create a magnificent new world while the narrative hooks the reader in. Read Full Review

With the opening installment of the series there's a whole lot going on here to be explored, from capitalism to prejudice to religion with mixes of sexuality and family brought in along with a lot more. It's not a complex book based on the first issue but it's starting the world building and giving us characters to connect with from a wide range. Read Full Review

Anyone craving a thoughtful sci-fi that doesn't skimp on excitement or visual flair needs to check out Invisible Kingdom. Read Full Review

If you liked Black Bolt, I can totally recommend Invisible Kingdom. It also strongly reminds me of many of Vault Comics' latest releases like Wasted Space. The opening is slow and steady, but this is space adventure and intrigue with a familiar beginning and unlimited possible endings. And the art, atmospheric and immersive, is the perfect visual vehicle. Read Full Review

Ok maybe it's because I'm french, but I don't understand much of it.
We have not much clues about this new univers and so the cliffhanger don't work at all on me.
I even don't find this book interesting enough to try to make more effort.

Cover - Nice and related. 2/2
Story - Well, it's a very bumpy ride that kick me out. In case it's only me I will not be mean about that. 1.5/2
Arts - For sure that don't help. In one hand, for another univers it's logic to have a weird art, In another I didn't like it when it come to characters. But I can't tell if that do the job or not. 2/3
Feeling - Deffinitly not for me. And I will have to take issue 2 that I sollicited. But I'm not thrilled about that. 0/1

Half efforts

Marking the return of former Vertigo editor Karen Berger to comic book publishing under the “Berger Comics” line at Dark Horse, I was maybe expecting too much from this first offering.

G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward have attempted to create a lush and complicated sci-fi saga revolving around two very different characters whose lives are connected through the tendrils of a inter-stellar shipping company, the LUX Corporation, a massive conglomerate whose morality quickly comes into question.

The story revolves around a pair of women that are literally, and figuratively, from two different worlds. One the captain of a space-delivery cargo ship, the other a being from a marginalized alien race who is being indoctrinated into a strange and secretive religious organization. Their lives intersect when they simultaneously but separately discover that the dubious machinations of LUX Corp. may result in grave consequences.

Mixing politics, religion, corporate hegemony, and the unique cultural dilemmas faced by a society dependent on all three, Invisible Kingdom is dealing with very topical societal issues many can identify with. Like the best sci-fi stories, it examines familiar and difficult questions through alien worlds and eyes.

Initially I was intrigued but ultimately disappointed by this book. The characters lacked any depth and I found myself disinterested in their struggles. Any perils they faced were anemic and far too subtle to hook me into the story, while at the same time the dialog was burdened by hamfisted diatribes about social ills or flowery religious dogma.

While alluring at times the artwork by Christian Ward relies too often on digital techniques and colorful gradients, lacking detail, and at times with wonky perspective. The techniques are more appropriate for static images and landscapes than sequential storytelling and add to the overall feeling of detachment from the narrative.

Neil Gaiman has said that Karen Berger was instrumental in him finding the heart of the Sandman comic series by asking him, “Why do I care?” It made him reexamine the story and discover the theme which the series was able to successfully ride on for seventy-plus issues. She might want to ask the creators of this book the very same question.
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