Invisible Kingdom, Vol. 2: Edge of Everything

Invisible Kingdom #6-10

by G. Willow Wilson, Christian Ward (Illustrator)

The explosive aftermath of their shocking discovery has pushed captain Grix and acolyte Vess to the furthest reaches of their solar system.Once unknowing pawns of an ubiquitous religion and pervasive mega-corporation, the now-renegade team is alone after revealing to the world that these "enemy" groups are in cahoots--but not for long. And when their crew encounters a group of ruthless spacefaring privateers, they might not be safe for long either.Volume two of the sweeping sci-fi saga is beautifully crafted by Hugo Award winner G. Willow Wilson (Wonder Woman, Ms. Marvel, acclaimed novelist of The Bird King and Alif the Unseen), and realized through the bold and singular art of Eisner winner Christian Ward (Black Bolt).Collect Invisible Kingdom #6-#10.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, LGBT, Fantasy, Graphic Novels Comics

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 16, 2020

About the author

Hugo, World Fantasy and American Book Award-winning author of novels and comics, including THE BIRD KING, INVISIBLE KINGDOM, and ALIF THE UNSEEN. Co-creator of Ms Marvel. Honorary doctor of letters, Rutgers University. I accidentally started a dutch baby baking cult during quarantine. Not very active on here right now, but often found on Twitter.

Reviews

[s.penkevich [hiatus-will return-miss you all] · Rating 4 out of 5]

The epic space opera continues through stunning artwork and complex relations in the second volume of Infinite Kingdom from G. Willow Wilson (of Ms. Marvel fame) and Christian Ward. After a rocky but promising start in the first volume, this segment slows down the action and focuses in on a more contained episode which is truly to its benefit. Grix and Vess, teamed up aboard the Sundog and on the run after broadcasting the details of an epic political scandal everybody decided to ignore since it would upend all of society, have a run in with space pirates and Grix’s leadership is put to the test to get them out alive. Adhering to a conviction of doing the right thing no matter what, this becomes a tangled web of deceit and best intentions. With a reputation smeared and a tepid romance blooming with Vess, Captain Grix continues to be cool and this is a wild and enjoyable continuation of the epic story.

This volumes lets the story breathe, which was a welcome change from the first few issues that seemed to be juggling more than the pace could handle. Here we get to know the characters a lot better without jumping from scene to scene, and we especially learn more about the two focal characters Grix and Vess. I really enjoy Vess, from all the interesting mating aspects of her species (which plays out in embarrassing ways for her) and Grix being almost annoyingly do-the-right-thing but managing to pull it all off in an impressive way. Plus their relationship moving forward is really sweet. There are some real Becky Chambers vibes here mixed with the nods to Cowboy Bebop and Firefly, and the character dynamics really sing here and make you invested in the outcome. I loved it.

This series is not without its flaws but it is satisfactorily epic, fun, humorous and has some utterly outstanding artwork. The colors are amazing. And its all super sapphic and punching at corporations and religious corruption hijacking government. I can’t wait to see how this sapphic sci-fi all plays out.
4/5


Volume 1: read my review here
Volume 3: read my review here

[Dennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

After having read the pretty bad first volume today, I’ve gone into this with a mindset of just get it over with. Maybe that helped. I thought this was a half-decent story.

Wilson (partly) dumps the evil corporation stuff, that was only empty platitudes anyway, in favor of a more intimate story, in which our spaceship crew encounter a scavenger ship and additionally have to deal with some personal issues. The problem, of course, is that this volume relies heavily on the reader caring about the characters. Unfortunately Wilson never took the time to actually establish such a bond. Therefore it only works partially. The art is still the best thing about it. I love those colors.

Is it an award-worthy story? God, no! But who cares about such formalities these days?!

Hugo 2021 finalist for Best Graphic Story. I’ll give this 2.5 stars.

________________
2021 Hugo Award Finalists

Best Novel
• Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
• The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
• Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
• Network Effect by Martha Wells
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
• The Relentless Moon by Mary Robinette Kowal

Best Novella
• Come Tumbling Down by Seanan McGuire
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
• Finna by Nino Cipri
• Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
• Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi
• Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Best Novelette
• Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine Issue 34: May/June 2020)
• I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter by Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
• The Inaccessibility of Heaven by Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine Issue 35: July/August 2020)
• Monster by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 160)
• The Pill by Meg Elison (from Big Girl)
• Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

Best Short Story
• Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse by Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine Issue 32: January/February 2020)
• A Guide For Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)
• Little Free Library by Naomi Kritzer (Tor. com)
• The Mermaid Astronaut by Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)
• Metal Like Blood in the Dark by T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
• Open House on Haunted Hill by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20)

Best Series
• The Daevabad Trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty
• The Interdependency by John Scalzi
• The Lady Astronaut Universe by Mary Robinette Kowal
• The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
• October Daye by Seanan McGuire
• The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

Best Graphic Story or Comic
• Die, Vol. 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles
• Ghost-Spider, Vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, written by Seanan McGuire, art by Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosi Kämpe
• Invisible Kingdom, Vol. 2: Edge of Everything, written by G. Willow Wilson, art by Christian Ward
• Monstress, Vol. 5: Warchild, written by Marjorie Liu, art by Sana Takeda
• Once & Future, Vol. 1: The King is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire
• Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings

[Chad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wilson slows things down when the Sundog is targeted by a scavenger ship. Now the crew has to figure out how to get their ship back. Meanwhile, Vess is in heat and some interesting and complicated side effects to it.

Ward's art continues to impress. If there's one negative about it, it's that sometimes he picks colors that are too close to one another in a panel making it difficult for my eyes to discern the panel. that being said, I absolutely love the overall color palette. Ward's art was made for space opera.

[cardulelia carduelis · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first volume of this series sets up a motley-crew-on-the-run-from-the-Man type affair with the added twist of space-nuns and a post-truth society.
This volume.. is just some generic spacey shit. Oh no, they're out of fuel --> oh no they got caught by some big bad space pirates --> oh no the captain of the pirates is a big ole meany and smart too --> oh no contentious forbidden love --> oh no the Man is come to get 'em.
I'm bored, all of the stuff that gave me some hope in the first one: the Dool, the eponymous invisible enlightened place, the mysterious nuns: it's all gone.
So, giving up here. 2 stars because it was competent but no more because I'm bored and the art isn't my thing.

[Tori (InToriLex) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful continuation of the series. I am disappointed at how slow information is being doled out because I heard there's only going to be 3 volumes. Vess and Grix's story has a lot of layers, and as they continue to face danger, we learn more about this morally corrupt solar system. Definitely worth the read.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another solid episode of fireflynotfirefly, as the motley fugitive crew and their jalopy of a spaceship encounter . . . space pirates! Oh dear! How will they survive this and still elude the government forces pursuing them?

I'm really enjoying the romantic relationship at the center of the book. With its fun story and decent art, I will definitely be back next volume for the conclusion.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

G. Willow Wilson and Christian Ward's space opera continues into its second arc as our heroes run afoul of a scavenger ship in their effort to blow the lid on the conspiracy that they inadvertently uncovered. But two of them are growing closer, whether they like it or not, and their relationship may put the rest of their companions in even greater danger.

Edge Of Everything is an arc full of tension and claustrophobia. While the first arc was all about running as far and as fast as possible, this one puts the brakes on with a slam as the Sundog gets stuck, and it's only tense negotiations that can save everyone. The new characters shake up our heroes in clever ways, and Wilson manages to have philosophical observations weaved in and out of an otherwise fairly straight forward story.

Christian Ward's art remains impeccable; while he excels at the insane spacescapes, it's the intimate moments that are truly surprising, as he maneuvers his way around the feelings that the two main characters have for each other. The pained expressions that they have as they come to their mutual realizations are both wonderful and horrible to behold.

The most surprising thing about this volume for me was finding out that it's the second of three. There seems like so much more that needs to be said about these characters and their situation, and five more issues doesn't feel like enough real estate to do it. I guess we'll just have to see.

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

With Captain Grix and acolyte Vess on the run, each with secrets about the mega-corporation where the former worked at and the religious sect in which the latter newly arrived in, they are now deep in space and up against spacefaring privateers (yes, space pirates).

The first volume does a fantastic job in setting up a truly fascinating universe but the second diverged into a relatively-boring space opera where things evolved at such a slow and unexciting pace. The upside is that the artwork stays loyal to the first volume's concept and it continues to be fascinating to watch how this creative team depicts this psychedelic universe.

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Florin Pitea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good story. Pretty good graphics.

[John Blacksad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Üç buçuk yıldız.

Macera devam ediyor. Korsanlar, kaçmaca, kovalamaca. İlk ciltte bahsettiğim husus da devam. Derinlik yok. Türe bir yenilik yok. Ama oldukça akıcı, eğlenceli bir okuma var.

[André Habet]

I appreciate when space operas have this intimate scope to them, but there’s so little that happens in this second of three arcs. the critique of institutional corruption feels very undercooked, and it sucked that most of the action occurs in a ship where Ward’s penchant for epic cosmic action is underutilized.

Additional note: the central queer narrative is a real bust: there’s not a single scene between the two characters that gave me reason to invest in their relationship. Like many straight action narratives, they largely seem to get together because they’re the two leads. That might be a win for representation that a queer romance is shoehorned in here but it’s a loss for storytelling.

[Estibaliz · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75

I'm still enjoying the colorful art, but the story is just ok.

There's some intriguing ideas with a lot of potential if they had got the right treatment, but their development is actually quite lacking: stereotyped, rushed, dull... good thing there's just one more volume to go.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

can’t say I was expecting the tropes that showed up wow, but I ENJOYED THIS SOOO MUCH

[James Sansom · Rating 3 out of 5]

More propulsive than its preceding installment and smaller in scale; this is undeniably a stronger story this time around but it is also clear a lot has been lost in making the story more intimate.

[Etienne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is going downhill for me. After two incredible issues in the first volume, and then three lesser one, this second volume (issues six to ten) are all in the same continuity. Good, but everything I like with the first issue of the series aren’t there anymore, even the main character has shift and the world isn’t as unique as it felt at first. I don’t think I will continue to read this series. Worth checking still at least for the beginning and then you will see if this is for you or not.

[hope h. · Rating 4 out of 5]

GOD these lesbians are so fucking sad

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second volume further develops the main characters’ relationship but it doesn’t move the plot much and becomes a bit too talky. It’s basically a Star Wars-like delay of main story as our heroes deal with a bad guy (who is not that bad) that has gained control over them. They need to plan and improvise and finally take action to get back on their own journey. I again enjoyed the colorful artwork, but the outer space scenes and various space crafts are a bit confusing.

[Alex Sarll]

The first volume introduced us to a solar system where the supposed government seemed like fairly ineffectual referees to a struggle between space-Amazon and the space-church – who, as is so often the way in thrillers, turned out to be colluding to perpetuate their rivalry as a grift. Leading the elements from both sides who uncovered this to go on the run. Now, said reluctant heroes get caught by space pirates, who talk the talk about subversion and fighting the system, but really just seem to have their own eye for the main chance, the only difference being that they operate on a smaller scale than the big players. With Christian Ward supplying the art, obviously it still looks gorgeous – but for all that these new developments add a whisker more nuance to the set-up, I still can't help thinking that both he and Willow Wilson could be putting their undoubted talents to much better use elsewhere. Despite which, by the end of this I felt sufficiently invested in at least two of the leads that, should publication ever resume, I'll likely be back to grumble again.

[Norman Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

2021 Hugo Award finalist - Best Graphic Story

I don't know why the Hugo voters overlooked this title last year, but I'm glad it's a finalist this year. This is one of the best ongoing SFF comics right now. Although this is the second volume, it stands on its own as a self-contained story within the overall story arc (although readers will undoubtedly get more out of it if they've read the first volume). This volume leans a bit more into action than the first, but there is still plenty of social commentary about our present world, involving the corruption by mega corporations, religious sects, and governments. The characters are an interesting and motley group that reminds me of other properties such as Cowboy Bebop or Saga. The painted artwork by Christian Ward is beautiful, with clean, simple lines and distinctive colors.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was better than the first one in that at least it was shifting away from its very tired premise (bitching about Amazon, mostly), because we get oh, space pirates. Only like the really boring kind. I think there was a single panel in the whole of these 5 issues that evoked anything like an emotional response, and while I don't want to say the F-word, it's very clear how much this owes to Firefly, which is really unfortunate. I understand that is only supposed to be three volumes, and I can't imagine what they could do in another five issues that they haven't already failed to do in the first ten.

[Mindy McAdams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous art and a very original story involving (1) a heartless giant corporation that's like the Exxon/Amazon of a solar system with four inhabited worlds, and (2) a large and powerful religious organization that is not as holy as it pretends to be. This is the second book in what looks to be a 3-book series. Really fun to read and very good characters!

Book 1 is Invisible Kingdom, Vol. 1: Walking the Path, in which a young initiate named Vess joins the religious, forsaking her home culture, and we meet the crew of a package delivery ship that belongs to the evil corporation.

.

[Gabriell Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Děj dalších pěti sešitů/druhého booku se dějem přesouvá do menších prostor, víc se řeší vztahy mezi postavami a čím dál víc si i hrdinové stěžují na to samé, co já, že vlastně nevím, kam tohle vede. Naštěstí už se to trochu začíná rýsovat a konec slibuje, že by to ještě mohlo být zajímavé. Bohužel to vypadá, že do vydávání trochu skočila virová situace a oznámené další díly jsou zatím stažené. Uvidíme, byla by toho škoda, když už jsem si k tomu konečně našel cestu.

[Noelia Alejandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this series and I read the first two volumes, but it didn't capture me.

The concept art is what peaked my interest, but it isn't consistent. The love story doesn't seem to fit with the action story.

It has interesting characters and their identities are very progressive and exciting, but it doesn't feel at this point that the character development is truly where it should be, specially the main character.

[As You Wish · Rating 4 out of 5]

We follow our crew into the next disaster as they see Vess's home planet and get taken over by scavengers. I want all the good things for them but there's always a company man willing to sell people out. Seeing the electricity between Vess and the Captain was very interesting. No way this could jam things up.

[Valéria. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ú-žas-né.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNFed after a quarter in...this is not for me.

[ambyr · Rating 1 out of 5]

"ambyr, if you hated Volume 1, why did you read Volume 2?"

I do stupid shit for the Hugos, okay?

[Sneha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful Sci-fi visuals continue!
This volume of Invisible Kingdom has a Guardians of the Galaxy vibe and I don't hate it!
4 Stars

[Kathrine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Freaking spectacular omg can't wait for the next one Holy shit 😍😍

[Katie Florida · Rating 4 out of 5]

*read issue by issue*
The story and artwork continue to weave a unique and beautiful narrative that I'm excited to continue.