Publisher: If? Commix
Writer/Artist: Matt Kyme
Release Date: Dec 2014

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When I was handed this series to review, my first thought was: “hang on, this is an ‘Invincible’ rip off, right?”, and although in retrospect some of my original assessment still holds, overall I was perhaps a little too harsh…OK, I was dead wrong!

Yes, you can clearly see that ‘Invincible’ has been a massive source of inspiration for story and design, but the thing that prevents this book being labelled a pale imitation of an established property, is that rare, undefinable quality whereby the reader becomes so engrossed they are loathe to put the book down. I am not going to talk about the book’s general plot here, as it would take up most, if not all this review, and it is very similar to the initial plot of Invincible, should you be familiar with it.

As mentioned before, it’s difficult to define exactly what makes this book quite so good, but I believe it’s strength comes from a combination of interesting characters, and more importantly, how their traits and motivations are conveyed. Each person we meet is subtly nuanced; even minor characters, and no-one feels out of place, with some even providing a degree of potential foreshadowing, which is always welcome.

I do enjoy trying to anticipate where a story is going, and this series had me guessing throughout. That being said, for the first few issues the characters fell into readily identifiable archetypes, but I’d happily put this down to the usual ‘laying of the groundwork’ you get with all new books as they set up the story’s premise.

The series’ artwork is raw and passionate,  and you can almost feel the kinetic motion in each panel, making several action scenes really stand out. Although not my favourite art style (I usually prefer clean, sharp lines), it really works for this kind of story, and overall was very easy on the eye. The lettering, too, deserves a special mention, as it really helped enhance the character’s emotions.

So, if you are looking for an enjoyable, vaguely familiar, but really addictive read, you can’t go far wrong with ‘That Bulletproof Kid’.

Rating: 4/5.

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The writer of this piece was: David Gladman

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