Infinity #1 – Review

Jonathan Hickman (Writer), Jim Cheung, Mark Morales, John Livesay, David Meikis (Artists), Justin Ponsor (Colorist)

The Story: The Builders are wreaking havoc everywhere in the cosmos as the Avengers prepare to face them in order to defend Earth. However, Thanos might just see this as an opportunity in disguise…

The Review: Event fatigue is something very real for readers. The world can be in crisis so many times before we can get jaded and tired of the fact that Earth (or America) always seems to be the target for whatever catastrophe is coming. Skrulls, political unrest, old Norse gods and so forth have tried to change the Marvel universe in a permanent way, yet nothing real stuck out in terms of quality*, nothing that people really called as timeless or flawlessly executed. However, this one is written by Jonathan Hickman himself, a master of long-form storytelling capable of reaching a rather large scope in terms of stories and conflicts. Could he be the one to actually deliver a Marvel event that could very well be satisfying?

It is, of course, much too early to say, as this is solely the first issue, yet this is a very promising debut. Hickman picks up a vast number of plot threads from his Avengers and New Avengers runs to create something that is logical and organic to his stories. The Builders, the destruction of the infinity gems, the fact that the universe is undergoing a certain crisis, all of these elements are brought to the forefront to create a large conflict that seems to expand as the issue goes on. People that followed both ongoing by Hickman shall be thoroughly pleased by this introduction.

Avengers #15 – Review

By: Jonathan Hickman, Nick Spencer (Writers), Stefano Caselli (Artist) Frank Martin, Edgar Delgado (Colorists)

The Story: As the signal is constantly sent from the Perth site in Australia, the Avengers tries to understand what it is as what it does as they try to stop the madness it causes.

The Review: I have to admit, it is refreshing to see this title being written differently in the past few issues. From what we could see, the pattern that had been seen was that we’d get some action, some exposition and a whole lot of teasing and hinting at something larger. Starting with the prelude to Infinity that began with the latest issue, the whole pacing and the presentation has changed, for the better.

Sure, we still get some exposition, teasing and action, yet the amount in which Hickman and Spencer does so varies by a large margin. Instead of showing quick glimpses of action and of the general situation, both writers focus on a single situation and allow it to develop completely as the Avengers tries to deal with it. It is a much more satisfying read as we can see the depth and the gravitas of what they have to solve.

Infinity – Free Comic Book Day Review

By: Jonathan Hickman, Warren Ellis, Scott Edelman (Writers), Jim Cheung, Mike Zeck, Mike Mckone (Artists), Justin Ponsor, Chris Eliopoulos (Colorists)

The Story (The interesting one): Thanos sends assassins and envoys to other planets, demanding tributes for his crushing conquests of their ancient home.

(The less interesting ones): Thanos wants to crush a flower, because he’s a bad man! Meanwhile, we get a preview we have already seen of a book by an author many actually like.

The Review: It is pretty easy to completely disregard free comic book day. It is, after all, something that many actual fans of comics might not be so enthusiastic about, since most offerings are either tease at bigger things to come yet, or reprints of stuff we have already seen before. From a bigger perspective, this seems more like a move made to gather people who are not thoroughly interested in the media to begin with, to give them a taste of how versatile the market can be. Sure, there are some terrific books in these free selections, like Atomic Robo, Mouse Guard or any that actually create new and compelling content for people to enjoy.

Of course, what most people will look for is what kind of offering the big two is giving away this year. While DC side has already been explored, Marvel hasn’t, as they have decided to give us a proper tease of their next big event involving one of the most beloved villains of the Marvel universe: Thanos. While it is merely to set up the stage and to excite their fan base, how does it actually fare as a proper comic?

Weekly Comic Book Review’s Top Picks

Dean’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Avengers the Children’s Crusade #5 – This kinda came out of left field.  In a week that had several highly anticipated #1 issues from Image and the launch of Marvel’s newest event, who would have thought that an issue 5 out of 9 would be the best of the week?  How did Heinberg do it?  Well….for starters, he is eschewing typical Act II slowness.  This issue was action packed as the Young Avengers first fight with Doom and then bounce around the timestream with Iron Lad and then it ends with a kinda big character making her big return to the Marvel U.  It also doesn’t hurt to have Jim Cheung doing some just beastly art.  Every page is outstanding from an art standpoint and it shows what happens when you give an A-list artist 2 months to work on something.  This will be a real masterpiece when it is done.

Most Anticipated: Butcher Baker the Righteous Maker #2 – For all hullaballoo about a couple of Image #1s this past week (and a couple of them were quite good), Butcher Baker #1 beat the pants off of them, so I can’t wait to see what Joe Casey and Co. do for an encore in issue #2.  Sure, it probably won’t match the shock value of seeing Dick Cheney and Jay Leno as part of the right-wing establishment trying to talk retired superhero Butcher Baker (a Comedian clone) out of his Charlie Sheen-esque retirement, but I’ll still bet there are some goodies in this issue.  You know one thing: There won’t be any punches pulled!

Other Picks: Unwritten #24, Infinite Vacation #2, Amazing Spider-Man #658, Lil Depressed Boy #3, Black Panther #517

Alex’s Top Picks

Best From The Past Week: Secret Six #32 – While all the buzz was understandably about Fear Itself #1, and it was pretty good, I can’t deny the awesomeness that was this week’s issue of Secret Six.  It was the perfect blend of dark drama, darker comedy, and intricate team dynamic.  In other words, it’s everything that makes Gail Simone’s series so special.

Most Anticipated: Journey into Mystery #622 – I’m a Thor fan.  I’m a Kieron Gillen fan.  I love books centered on the bad guy.  Journey into Mystery offers all of these things, plus the awesome artwork of Doug Braithwaite.  That’s enough to leave me very excited.  I fully expect this to exceed Gillen’s Thor run, which was already pretty solid.

Other Picks: Infinity, Iron Man 2.0 #3, Uncanny X-Men #535, Uncanny X-Force #7, PunisherMAX #12, THUNDER Agents #6, Birds of Prey #11, Batman and Robin #22, The Flash #10, Amazing Spider-Man #658, New Avengers #11, Secret Warriors #26