With Marvel’s latest event well underway we’re here to continue our coverage of Infinity. As with every group review the writers/reviewers of Comic Bastards will give the book a score of: Buy, Borrow or Pass and then they’re reason for the score. First here’s what the issue is about from Marvel:
- Prison break.
- Stealing a worldkiller.
- The fall of Attilan.
Damn Marvel… work on these descriptions please you’re killing us!
Jordan: BUY
Hickman and his team continue to knock it out of the park with a space opera that’s balanced, powerful and pumped full of energy. The Marvel universe hasn’t felt this cool in a long, long time. As these issues go on things only get more and more well realized. Hickman seems to have an uncanny sense of timing as he shows me something new just as I start to grow tired and doesn’t shy away from peeking into every little niche of Marvel`s roster –so long as it’s interesting. Hell, the Avengers main roster even takes a back seat as the writing lets characters big and small breathes. For his masterful handling of pacing and bead on good entertainment Hickman is able to give us a book that’s big and big fun. Beautiful line work by the issue`s two artists give us the bow on the great package. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, this is how you do an event.
Steve: BUY
Goddamn, this event just doesn’t let up, does it? The deaths of civilizations, supposed gods of empires bowing to their superiors, a looming parallel earth that threatens to crash into and destroy ours, and oh yeah: Mother. Fucking. Thanos! With an artistic style that can only be described as grand, epic and sweeping, and a story that continues to beat its war drum violently, Infinity #3 is already proving to be a modern Marvel triumph. This is how events should be done: built with patience, manipulated with subversion and meticulously, gleefully ripped asunder by cosmic forces.
There is a natural sacrifice of in-depth character moments with event books like this, but Hickman and team do a fantastic job of incorporating quite a good amount of complexity in the space allotted. I will say that I prefer the Builders vs. Space Avengers to Thanos’ at the moment, but that may change once we know why he is looking for who he is looking for, not to mention who it actually is. Right now, though, this does feel comparatively weak in relation to the other massive events that are making everyone shit their collective pants. The icing on the cake is the finale of the Silver Surfer story, “Against the Tide,” at the end of the book, which is fucking brilliant in its use of guided view storytelling. Altogether, this is quite possibly the easiest BUY I have ever given. Read this damn book!
Carl: BUY
Marvel fans will delight that this crossover has picked up steam. The artwork remains consistently beautiful as it chronicles the Aleph attack on the universe. Thanos has demanded the death of all the Inhuman children between the ages of nine and sixteen. Black Bolt must contend with that threat. Meanwhile, Earth's mightiest heroes battle in space against the overwhelming force of the invader's armada. And on Earth, other heroes defend from the onslaught.
Captain America and crew play a strategic chess game in space. Sure, he doesn't use his powers in the conventional way, but we see him play the role of leader quite well. Additionally, heroes still find time to smash and explode things, so don't feel like that is left out. The art, as previously stated, looks crisp and refined. You will have no issue telling apart any of the assembled legions of heroes united against the threat.
Best of all is the overwhelming force of the Aleph overlords. This feels like a battle that can't be won, or at least not won without heavy sacrifice. Read this series. Although it's not an earth-shattering new direction for the comic company, it is one hell of a fun read.
Adam: BORROW
For me, this issue was pretty boring with the exception of a few pages. Obviously since it’s a big event, we’re going to have to see multiple different settings and there’s going to be a good amount of dialogue to explain what’s going on. To me though, it seemed like there was too much planning and threats made, not leaving enough room for a lot of action. That said, the action sequences were awesome and the art was great throughout. For someone who doesn’t read Avengers or New Avengers, the story itself was pretty daunting to take on. For me it wasn’t memorable enough to want to read the other series, and I don’t necessarily care what comes next in this event. That said, I feel any fan of Marvel should at least borrow it if they get a chance.
Samantha: BUY
I can’t say enough of how well this comic pulls in two other major titles and seems to keep up with it all. I don’t read the other titles and still know all the major points in order to fully enjoy Infinity. If anything, this comic makes you want to pick up Avengers and New Avengers. Honestly, I have wanted to read these other books but haven’t had the time. For now, Hickman does the perfect job of recapping everything, so I can have the time to backtrack later.
This comic has some pretty freakin’ amazing art to add to everything else going right for it. The panels are so gnarly that I am wided eyed during every page. It captures that out of this world experience while still making Cap fit right in. And I can just say how badass Cap is here. He always has a plan and can always be turned to when the world is ending, which seems to happen more than you think.
Jeff: BUY
No one can end the world quite like Jonathan Hickman and what better place to exercise his flair for apocalypse then in the pages of an event book, a now-obnoxious publishing staple that burned through its sense of scale and drama somewhere back around 'Fear Itself'. It's a great stage for Hickman who brings real scale and majesty to the Marvel Galaxy wide war, a real accomplishment considering the brief space of each book and the amount of time spent reminding me of all the tie-ins I'm not reading. 'Infinity' is not a wallet friendly event, as it not only requires that you read the two other series that supply many of the major moments of the event but also requires that you'd been reading Hickman's 'Avengers' and 'New Avengers' to understand most of it.
Regardless, artist Jerome Opena and colorist Justin Ponsor will make you forget how out of depth you are with their elegant and epic interior artwork, putting Captain America and Thor in a crowd obscure alien allies and instead of looking out of place making them look like battle-hardened legends. So while I may not understand what all that Starbrand nonsense was about, or care too much about Black Bolt's dilemmas, this is the rare event book that will really be unfortunate when they retcon and forget about it in a few months. It shows Hickman's real passion and respect for the kinds of epic cosmic storytelling that Marvel books could be, and perhaps should be more often.
Dustin: BORROW
Call me jaded, call me whatever because this issue was pretty boring with the exception of the last few pages. Even then it seemed like a set up for Inhumanity more than anything. The Avengers part and the builders part is just too big. It reminds me of Dragon Ball Z where towards the end the threats were so big that you stopped caring. It was like, “oh this dude says he’s going to destroy the universe” and that was a bit whatever. Same thing here only we’re at the beginning stages. The builders created everything supposedly and now they’re destroying it… that’s basically God. What do you do after you defeat God? I don’t know, but I’m sure Marvel will tell us in six to twelve months. I will say that this “event” series is well put together and doesn’t feel like it has it’s ass hanging out in the wind like several other event books, but we’ll have to see if Hickman can stick the landing.
Score: Buy It
Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Dustin Weaver and Jerome Opena Publisher: Marvel Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 9/18/13