Zeb Larson reviews Invisible Republic #9…
The key to the past is literally a key. It’ll take a zero G heist to unlock it.
Damn, a lot goes down in this issue in terms of exposition and plot. That’s a good thing, because Invisible Republic has been shy about surrendering the secrets of its mythology. In terms of plot, we’re still left hanging off of not one but multiple cliffs in this issue, which isn’t a bad thing. Again, Invisible Republic has gotten to be quite good at that; as we’ve gotten farther into this book, the cliffhangers have become more and more effective. I sense that we’re getting close to the actual events of the revolution, and the beginning of the Avalon government…but maybe I’m reading into it too much. I will be discussing some spoilers from here on out.
Maia ends up in custody because of the market bombing, but she doesn’t crack in the subsequent police interrogation. While she’s briefly afraid that she will be quietly executed, Archi shows up and gets her out of jail. He apologizes for what he said to her and Luis, and the two head back to the group. Yet getting back in the group’s good graces is difficult; some of them don’t fully trust her. In the future, Woronov meets a friend, Ed, who was roughed up by Earth security before being taken to Avalon’s appointed viceroy from Earth, while Croger is seized by Nica.
Is this the first time that a year has been noted in this book? It might be the first I can remember. If nothing else, it’s a detail to grab on to help contextualize everything that’s going on. This issue recapitulates some of the backstory in case anybody has missed it: Maidstone and Asan were ruled over by Kent. Kent was appropriating Asan’s resources and using Maidstone to fight the insurgency on Asan, alienating both planets. Earth’s role in all of this is still a mystery, other than the fact that all of these planets were colonies. The introduction of the viceroy promises to tighten all of that up.
Everything we’ve been told so far wants to make us think that Nica is the villain in all of this, or at least one of the villains in all of this. Maia makes pretty clear that she was manipulated by Nica in the past, and that she also tried to control Arthur. She utters the same words to Maia that she does to Croger at the end of the issue; whether Croger will buy into it given what he knows from the diary is another thing entirely.
Also, while we get to see virtually nothing of Arthur in this issue, we are a little bit closer to the truth about how he came to power. I’ve speculated a great deal in prior reviews about whether Arthur was figurehead or mastermind, allowing himself to appear pliable in order to get closer to power. If we believe Maia, which I’m still too paranoid to fully concede to, Arthur would be the latter.
All in all, this was one of Invisible Republic’s strongest issues. It leaves us on a few strong cliffhangers: how has the group changed while Maia’s been gone? What will Nica try and do with Croger? How is Earth wrapped up in all of this? This series took some patience to get into, but I feel like the effort has been rewarded.
Rating: 9/10
Zeb Larson
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Originally published February 24, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
