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Incorruptible #7
Incorruptible, Vol. 7
The flip side of Mark Waid's Eisner and Harvey Award-nominated series IRREDEEMABLE. Humanity needs a savior…and Max Damage is determined to be INCORRUPTIBLE! But it’s hard to stay noble when the world still thinks you’re at the top of the criminal food chain. What happens when the world’s most infamous supervillain tries to become its greatest hero? Find out in Volume 7 of this super-powered hit series.
128 pages, Paperback
First published August 7, 2012
32 people are currently reading
119 people want to read
About the author
Mark Waid
3,200 books1,290 followersMark Waid (born March 21, 1962 in Hueytown, Alabama) is an American comic book writer. He is best known for his eight-year run as writer of the DC Comics' title The Flash, as well as his scripting of the limited series Kingdom Come and Superman: Birthright, and his work on Marvel Comics' Captain America.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
February 1, 2024
A wet fart of an ending.
I don't know. It's easier to see how someone can snap and go crazy (crazier?) like Plutonian than it is to see someone who is completely sadistic go straight.
I feel like I need some kind of backstory on Max or something.
So the end of the world is happening and everyone has to make peace with it.
Except they don't.
Max throws everyone into complete chaos and causes countless deaths because he needs EVERYONE to know that death is on the way. What good does that do?
None.
This fucking guy.
Of course, if you've read Irredeemable you already know what happens.
Max sort of grows a bit emotionally at the end and gets his HEA
Is there something I'm missing?
This was (for me) an ok companion piece to Irredeemable Omnibus.
Recommended for completionists.
I don't know. It's easier to see how someone can snap and go crazy (crazier?) like Plutonian than it is to see someone who is completely sadistic go straight.
I feel like I need some kind of backstory on Max or something.
So the end of the world is happening and everyone has to make peace with it.
Except they don't.
Max throws everyone into complete chaos and causes countless deaths because he needs EVERYONE to know that death is on the way. What good does that do?
None.
This fucking guy.
Of course, if you've read Irredeemable you already know what happens.
Max sort of grows a bit emotionally at the end and gets his HEA
Is there something I'm missing?
This was (for me) an ok companion piece to Irredeemable Omnibus.
Recommended for completionists.
June 25, 2013
It's interesting - Incorruptible started as an offshoot of Irredeemable, but by the end it felt like this was the more important book, with Irredeemable more setting the stage for Max Damage's journey. This is truly the climax for Max Damage as he faces the end of everything and comes to terms not only with the world he lives in, but the person he was and who he has tried to become. The ending may be a little sappy, but it's been a dark path for Max and getting some light at the end of the tunnel really does feel earned.
July 25, 2017
I've finally finished this series! What a relief! The ending is reminiscent of fairy tales I watched on video cassette in my youth: AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER. THE END.
*Max Damage never goes after Armadale's killer!
*Art looks cartoony!
*Max Damage never goes after Armadale's killer!
*Art looks cartoony!
August 16, 2012
a somewhat disappointing ending to the series which in general has been more fun than the main series it spun off of. The ending wasn't as epic as i was expecting but it didn't end in a way that spoiled what I liked about what lead up to it so not a huge problem. More or less it just runs out of gas
September 4, 2015
Ending a series is always difficult, but Mark Waid pulls it off well, without it feeling unearned.
July 11, 2024
Characters I don't care about face impending doom from a wave of deadly radiation heading toward their already-ruined city. Their fate is out of their hands, driving home how useless this spin-off from Irredeemable really is. It doesn't really stand on its own, and it contributes next to nothing to the main series, which isn't really that good either.
July 28, 2016
What started as a wonderful series slowly and surely fizzled until we got here...
Yeah now I remember, this was what I felt when I read the series a couple of years back also, the disappointment and the feeling of missed opportunity.
World: The art is great, I like Takara's art, it's full of style and emotion. That's about all that's going for this last arc. The world building is fine, it's small in scope and it does take care of the pieces that Waid had in place in Coalville. It's a small story and in the end a small intimate story and the world just was there.
Story: It was choppy and rushed as heck, there was no great final conflict just a whimper of an ending. It suddenly became a mopey broody internalized book. The people who died in this book were pointless and a disservice and he person giving the change for Max was the wrong person, it's just a bad ending and just so out of character.
Characters: All over the place, just poor. I feel weird cause this is Mark Waid but yes the characters by the end of the series were all over the place, illogical and pretty one note and stupid and prone to 180 changes in their personality and decisions.
This book needed to end, it did not find the point of existing and I am happy to say it's over. It's sad but it's true.
Onward to the next book!
Yeah now I remember, this was what I felt when I read the series a couple of years back also, the disappointment and the feeling of missed opportunity.
World: The art is great, I like Takara's art, it's full of style and emotion. That's about all that's going for this last arc. The world building is fine, it's small in scope and it does take care of the pieces that Waid had in place in Coalville. It's a small story and in the end a small intimate story and the world just was there.
Story: It was choppy and rushed as heck, there was no great final conflict just a whimper of an ending. It suddenly became a mopey broody internalized book. The people who died in this book were pointless and a disservice and he person giving the change for Max was the wrong person, it's just a bad ending and just so out of character.
Characters: All over the place, just poor. I feel weird cause this is Mark Waid but yes the characters by the end of the series were all over the place, illogical and pretty one note and stupid and prone to 180 changes in their personality and decisions.
This book needed to end, it did not find the point of existing and I am happy to say it's over. It's sad but it's true.
Onward to the next book!
August 17, 2013
Sadly, a somewhat weak end for the Incorruptible series. The biggest problem is that these issues feel a little incoherent. I think part of that may be crossovers with Irredeemable plots, but other events happen at a blur, almost without reason, such as the sudden appearance of people hating "hangers", Alana's changes, and the fate of St. Lucifer. Then, the whole series end with deus ex machina and emotions that haven't been earned.
So, generally a weak volume.
That's a pity because as a whole Incorruptible was the better of Waid's two Boom! series. Maybe it was always doomed to a lackluster ending, though, as it wasn't the "main" series.
I do have to say that I'm glad that I read the whole series out from the library rather than buying them, as Boom! continued with their overpriced policy of 4 issues per $15 (or $17?) volume to the end. That means I won't get to sit down and reread all of these sometime (and I would if I owned them) ... but I have plenty of other comics to do that with, where I didn't feel like the publisher was purposefully overpricing their products.
So, generally a weak volume.
That's a pity because as a whole Incorruptible was the better of Waid's two Boom! series. Maybe it was always doomed to a lackluster ending, though, as it wasn't the "main" series.
I do have to say that I'm glad that I read the whole series out from the library rather than buying them, as Boom! continued with their overpriced policy of 4 issues per $15 (or $17?) volume to the end. That means I won't get to sit down and reread all of these sometime (and I would if I owned them) ... but I have plenty of other comics to do that with, where I didn't feel like the publisher was purposefully overpricing their products.
April 29, 2013
A stellar conclusion to a series that took me a little while to warm up to. It was a long time coming, but Max Damage finally figured out how to approach being a superhero, and I thought it was perfect.
February 23, 2016
Didn't enjoy the artwork in this volume as much as the previous but the primary reason for two stars is that the ending here feels a little like a throwaway ending. This was a solid story and was very enjoyable, but this finale feels forced and weak compared to the overall series.
June 20, 2015
Went out with a whimper more than a bang.
March 18, 2018
I imagine that if you enjoyed reading any of the Incorruptible series, that you'll find this a satisfying ending. It is so much better than the previous volume, that it's hard to conceive it was made by the same creative team.
As someone who only really enjoyed one of the previous six volumes of the series, I wasn't invested enough to read this closely. I found myself looking at the pages, turning them, and having no memory of what I'd just read. This isn't the fault of this volume, I was just eager to get back to, what I consider, the far superior Irredeemable.
This whole series is meant as a counterpoint to Irredeemable (who showed up in volume six, which you shouldn't bother reading), and the ending seemed to create the idea the the two opposing stories of Incorruptible and Irredeemable end up being harmonious in their conclusions.
Sure.
I recommend this to people who enjoyed Incorruptible, fans of Happily Ever Maybe superhero stories, and people who like Deus Ex Morality endings.
As someone who only really enjoyed one of the previous six volumes of the series, I wasn't invested enough to read this closely. I found myself looking at the pages, turning them, and having no memory of what I'd just read. This isn't the fault of this volume, I was just eager to get back to, what I consider, the far superior Irredeemable.
This whole series is meant as a counterpoint to Irredeemable (who showed up in volume six, which you shouldn't bother reading), and the ending seemed to create the idea the the two opposing stories of Incorruptible and Irredeemable end up being harmonious in their conclusions.
Sure.
I recommend this to people who enjoyed Incorruptible, fans of Happily Ever Maybe superhero stories, and people who like Deus Ex Morality endings.
September 3, 2023
The story of Max Damage wraps up as Coalville starts slumping back into anarchy in spite of Max's attempts to enforce order and St. Lucifer's governing style. Max is working through personal, existential issues along with other characters. Some come to a happy ending, others don't.
The plot is a little hard to follow without having the cross-over storylines from Irredeemable's finale. This book reads choppy on its own, jumping between story beats as the conflict with the Plutonian is resolved over in the other book. The aftermath for Max is interesting but not as compelling or satisfying as I wanted. Also, the quality of the art has dropped, which already was not a strong point for this series.
Mildly recommended--if you made it this far, you might as well finish.
The plot is a little hard to follow without having the cross-over storylines from Irredeemable's finale. This book reads choppy on its own, jumping between story beats as the conflict with the Plutonian is resolved over in the other book. The aftermath for Max is interesting but not as compelling or satisfying as I wanted. Also, the quality of the art has dropped, which already was not a strong point for this series.
Mildly recommended--if you made it this far, you might as well finish.
March 21, 2018
OKay, so this series was okay, until the end.
Which sucked. Anti-climactic.
Also, very problematic. So our reformed hero had a sidekick when he was a villian called Jailbait. WHo was jailbait, she was a child when he seduced her into a life of crime and his bed. And she's obsessed with him, but he breaks it off and kicks her out of their world because he feels guilty because of the aforementioned, she's jailbait thing.
Only in the final issue they get back together, and it's so sweet and romantic, and it's just a few weeks until she turns 18 and they can legally fuck again. Awwwww.
And just, yeah. No.
Which sucked. Anti-climactic.
Also, very problematic. So our reformed hero had a sidekick when he was a villian called Jailbait. WHo was jailbait, she was a child when he seduced her into a life of crime and his bed. And she's obsessed with him, but he breaks it off and kicks her out of their world because he feels guilty because of the aforementioned, she's jailbait thing.
Only in the final issue they get back together, and it's so sweet and romantic, and it's just a few weeks until she turns 18 and they can legally fuck again. Awwwww.
And just, yeah. No.
August 19, 2024
This felt RUSHED. Which was a bummer for a finale. All the individual parts are good but it feels like it should have been twice as long, or, alternatively, as though there was a whole volume missing prior to this going over what happened since volume 6. The series at least maintains Max Damage as a really interesting villain turned hero to the end, a guy genuinely trying to do good while also having no fucking clue how to actually do it. A loving tribute to villains and a take down of them as well. It’s more consistent than Invincible but lacks the highs, though I think Damage is my favorite character out of them all.
May 22, 2018
Almost really good, ultimately feels like wasted potential. Intended to be a limited series, but comes off as though there was not an intended direction for the series. Spends way too much time on an antagonist that makes no sense for the setting. Mainly fun for the clever world-building. Has really no effect on the primary series this is a spin off of, so you can read Irredeemable in its entirety before starting this series (there was a crossover, but it carries nothing from this series over to it, except "The main character of this book was the Plutonion's primary villain").
February 2, 2020
I felt like I had largely lost the thread at this point. The most notable part of the book was the punt, but only because it was so jarring
April 19, 2020
Decent conclusion to the story. Could do with out the whole Jailbait character conclusion but as a story it was a decent one.
January 22, 2020
For one, this whole series probably would have been better if it wasn't connected to the Irredeemable series and was it's own thing.
That connection also made this volume a mess. And, the whole series just ends. A series that's more interesting as a journey than a destination, but the journey isn't very consistent.
That connection also made this volume a mess. And, the whole series just ends. A series that's more interesting as a journey than a destination, but the journey isn't very consistent.
December 31, 2015
Incorruptible is Mark Waid's companion piece and twisted mirror of his book Irredeemable.
While I didn't find it quite as fascinating as Irredeemable, it is an excellent book and kind of required reading if you are going to read Irredeemable as they are linked at the heart of their stories.
Incorruptible is the story of Max Damage, a super villain and a borderline sociopath who was one of the arch enemies of the Plutonian. He witnesses the Plutonian's turn to evil, and it changes something fundamental in him. As he puts it, he looked at the face of God and God was insane.
Seeing this hero become something so evil he realizes that being evil no longer makes sense, and someone has to be the hero so he decides it will be him.
The beauty of the story is how does a man with no moral compass whatsoever become a hero? How can he be incorruptible if he's already completely corrupt. His only solution is to eliminate the grey, and see good and evil as only black and white. He begins by destroying everything he gained as a villain, which could have done a lot of good but in his eyes were tainted. He chooses an impossible kind of discipline out of fear of slipping back to the man he used to be.
It's a much more subtle story than Irredeemable, and a bit more fun as Max is the kind of anti hero that it's easy to start to cheer for. And he's something that he doesn't even realize. He's a symbol of hope in the midst of utter despair as the world falls apart. When a god stands against the world, the world has to stand for good because there is nothing else.
Mark Waid is one of the best writers in comic books right now. Everything he touches is worth taking a look at, and he is in rare company with the likes of Brian K Vaughn, Warren Ellis, and Matt Fraction.
Incorruptible and Irredeemable are him at his best.
Read this.
While I didn't find it quite as fascinating as Irredeemable, it is an excellent book and kind of required reading if you are going to read Irredeemable as they are linked at the heart of their stories.
Incorruptible is the story of Max Damage, a super villain and a borderline sociopath who was one of the arch enemies of the Plutonian. He witnesses the Plutonian's turn to evil, and it changes something fundamental in him. As he puts it, he looked at the face of God and God was insane.
Seeing this hero become something so evil he realizes that being evil no longer makes sense, and someone has to be the hero so he decides it will be him.
The beauty of the story is how does a man with no moral compass whatsoever become a hero? How can he be incorruptible if he's already completely corrupt. His only solution is to eliminate the grey, and see good and evil as only black and white. He begins by destroying everything he gained as a villain, which could have done a lot of good but in his eyes were tainted. He chooses an impossible kind of discipline out of fear of slipping back to the man he used to be.
It's a much more subtle story than Irredeemable, and a bit more fun as Max is the kind of anti hero that it's easy to start to cheer for. And he's something that he doesn't even realize. He's a symbol of hope in the midst of utter despair as the world falls apart. When a god stands against the world, the world has to stand for good because there is nothing else.
Mark Waid is one of the best writers in comic books right now. Everything he touches is worth taking a look at, and he is in rare company with the likes of Brian K Vaughn, Warren Ellis, and Matt Fraction.
Incorruptible and Irredeemable are him at his best.
Read this.
December 29, 2012
With the series conclusion my mind remains unchanged on one thing about this series and the one that birthed it, Irredeemable. This is the better, stronger series both in terms of story and character.
There are some small exposition dumps to keep the reader informed of events in Irredeemable that affect the story here. Max Damage remains the focus, and his supporting cast all have prominent roles. The big reveal is the following:
Max finally realizes he can't be perfect. That he can't have the perfect black and white world where he is certain he isn't doing the wrong thing. As he sees the city he has protected from everyone start to turn on itself with the threatened end of he world, he finally understands this. Max decides he can't stand for an ideal, but he can stand for himself. And, himself will now be the best he can be.
The title ends with some small bits of hope for the characters, which after what they have endured seems like a nice payoff.
There are some small exposition dumps to keep the reader informed of events in Irredeemable that affect the story here. Max Damage remains the focus, and his supporting cast all have prominent roles. The big reveal is the following:
Max finally realizes he can't be perfect. That he can't have the perfect black and white world where he is certain he isn't doing the wrong thing. As he sees the city he has protected from everyone start to turn on itself with the threatened end of he world, he finally understands this. Max decides he can't stand for an ideal, but he can stand for himself. And, himself will now be the best he can be.
The title ends with some small bits of hope for the characters, which after what they have endured seems like a nice payoff.
August 30, 2013
The final volume is the best in many ways, as it finishes up Max's story, and really tests how redeemable he really is...
With radiation spreading across the globe, Coalville kept orderly by a supervillain, and Max seemingly distracted, what will happen?
One of Max's allies will not be able to handle the seemingly impossible situation, and will not make the end of our story.
The best part of this is that Waid actually examines the concept of redemption and what Max has done in his own mind to redeem himself, and whether or not it has been a success and if he's even able to redeem himself...
The end result of Plutonian's last book will impact our story here, and to fully enjoy it, you should read all of Irredeemable as well.
Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed the series, and I liked the ending as well, you'll have to read to see what it holds.
A strongly recommended Series; pair with Irredeemable for a very good reading experience.
With radiation spreading across the globe, Coalville kept orderly by a supervillain, and Max seemingly distracted, what will happen?
One of Max's allies will not be able to handle the seemingly impossible situation, and will not make the end of our story.
The best part of this is that Waid actually examines the concept of redemption and what Max has done in his own mind to redeem himself, and whether or not it has been a success and if he's even able to redeem himself...
The end result of Plutonian's last book will impact our story here, and to fully enjoy it, you should read all of Irredeemable as well.
Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed the series, and I liked the ending as well, you'll have to read to see what it holds.
A strongly recommended Series; pair with Irredeemable for a very good reading experience.
September 14, 2012
And so it ends: not with a bang, but a whimper. I never picked up the series which this parallels (by which I mean, my library never picked it up) but never have I really felt it's absence . . .
Until now.
See, until this, until the very last of the collected books in this series, this felt like a completely independent story of its own. Oh, sure, we got the backstory, the Plutonian and all that jazz; but really, that was just background noise to the attempted redeeming of former criminal supervillain Max Damage. He was the focus, the nexus, the (anti)hero extraordinaire, with skin that hardens to the point of invincibility the longer he stays awake and a mean right fist to back it up.
Then we get to the end and find out he can't even fix the problems of his own plotline.
Sigh . . .
Until now.
See, until this, until the very last of the collected books in this series, this felt like a completely independent story of its own. Oh, sure, we got the backstory, the Plutonian and all that jazz; but really, that was just background noise to the attempted redeeming of former criminal supervillain Max Damage. He was the focus, the nexus, the (anti)hero extraordinaire, with skin that hardens to the point of invincibility the longer he stays awake and a mean right fist to back it up.
Then we get to the end and find out he can't even fix the problems of his own plotline.
Sigh . . .
November 26, 2012
Note: I read the previous issues in pamphlet form.
I would have been happy if Waid had continued the run of Irredeemable and Incorruptible, but this isn't a bad ending, just a somewhat sudden one.
I would have been happy if Waid had continued the run of Irredeemable and Incorruptible, but this isn't a bad ending, just a somewhat sudden one.
August 7, 2013
Just finished this final volume of the Incorruptible series. A little clunky in places, but on the whole: two thumbs up. Loved the characters, the plot line, the tragedy, and the hero's epiphany at the end. A twisted super-hero story that will make you smile. Now on to read Irredeemable...
August 8, 2012
Great series that I felt was more consistent than Irredeemable, which had a lot of plot lines.
February 6, 2013
and so it ends.
January 26, 2016
Good wrap up to the series. The main character finally finds redemption in his world. Recommended
July 6, 2016
It was a pretty nice ending. It might have spoiled some of the last Irredeemable, but I'm guessing there's a lot more to it than what's ahown. A great series. now, just have the last Irredeemable.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews