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Jack Griffin is a scientist with a high level of ambition and a low bar for ethics. He also has a lofty opinion of himself, disdain for his coworkers, and sociopathic tendencies. The combination quickly proves lethal in Universal Monsters The Invisible Man, which is now available in a hardcover collection.

While doing an experiment with Monocaine, Jack witnesses a mouse lose the color in its fur. With his curiosity and excitement piqued, Jack continues to experiment on the mouse, recognizing that the potential to unlock invisibility is in his grasp. Once that experiment proves successful, he moves on to a larger animal.

But there are obstacles marring his progress – like the need to study a now invisible animal and wanting to experiment on a person. He must appease a boss he doesn’t respect, work alongside a man he despises, and pretend to engage in happy conversations with his girlfriend. It’s ironic that Jack wants to be invisible because he hates wondering how others perceive him when it’s clear that most people in his life are already blind to his true nature.

Universal Monsters: Invisible Man captures the tone of the classic horror movie from 1933. James Tynion IV wrote Jack as an egotistical man driven to prove he is smarter than others through cunning. He is clearly dangerous even before perfecting his invisibility formula as he barely navigates social situations without revealing his true nature.

The theme is woven into the art with Jack often shown in heavy shadow, head titled down so that all the reader sees is his eyes. There’s also great tension in the way that Jack clearly chooses his words carefully to maintain the persona he wishes to project.

The four-issue comic is a psychological game with building tension and a villainous main character on the verge of doing terrible things.

-Amanda Sheriff