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john_iv's review against another edition
4.0
Worth it for some more Annihilus sightings! Cosmic Marvel in the house.
Avengers and cosmic allies must fight the march of the Builders as they sweep towards Earth, meanwhile Thanos attacks. Another OHC I'm just getting around to from my shelf in 2015, this is another Hickman outing (I erroneously read his Secret Wars before this) and it's an enjoyable read. Annihilation really whet my appetite for Cosmic Marvel and this has elements of that with a lot hearkening back to similar plot lines of Annihilation and Annihilation Conquest. It was amusing watching Annihilus spout his various asides and hiss menacingly during the various council meetings, while the Brood queen watched on. Some great art too, now I'm moving on to the companion volume. Recommended! (j4.)
Avengers and cosmic allies must fight the march of the Builders as they sweep towards Earth, meanwhile Thanos attacks. Another OHC I'm just getting around to from my shelf in 2015, this is another Hickman outing (I erroneously read his Secret Wars before this) and it's an enjoyable read. Annihilation really whet my appetite for Cosmic Marvel and this has elements of that with a lot hearkening back to similar plot lines of Annihilation and Annihilation Conquest. It was amusing watching Annihilus spout his various asides and hiss menacingly during the various council meetings, while the Brood queen watched on. Some great art too, now I'm moving on to the companion volume. Recommended! (j4.)
captwinghead's review against another edition
2.0
Settle in folks, this is gonna be a bumpy ride.
Marvel... I just want to talk. I just want to have a conversation about why these events are so "necessary". Every few months, Marvel picks a writer (a white man. I've yet to see them give an event to a female writer or writer of color. Imagine them giving one to a woman of color? Not in my lifetime) and basically gives them free reign to decide the next three months of material. This event ran its way through 2 Avengers books, a Spidey book and a few others series in addition to the 6 issue behemoths that made up the main arc. Even worse, it was written in such a way that, if you were reading New Avengers and Avengers, you had to read this in the release order to have any idea of what was going on in those two books.
Simply put: Marvel held your favorite characters hostage and made you read this event to know what was happening with them. These two Avengers series do not make sense without reading Infinity.
That annoyance out of the way, lets get to the actual arc: I could not in good consciousness recommend it.
There is too much going on. There are 2, 3?, plots going on here:
1) Thanos was looking for the time gem. Also, he wanted to find his son Thane and kill him... for reasons.
2) The Builders are trying to destroy earth because they think it will lead to being able to save the universe???
3) Incursions are happening and universes are running into each other
Every time something came to a head for one of these plots, another would crop up and I'd realize, I'd completely forgotten about it. It's hard to follow. It's hard to keep track of everyone's objectives. On top of that, there are several characters I didn't know and couldn't really keep track of, despite the character charts on the first pages.
The good:
- I enjoyed Thor in this book. I feel like it's a rarity for me to say that but I really love Hickman's characterization and usage of him in this book. Thor is not just strong, he's courageous, he's smart and he has a great heart. He was the stand out in this book.
- I enjoyed Cap. I really liked the way Hickman showcased Cap during an actual war. I liked his steady belief in the team and his perseverance.
- I enjoyed an Avengers book in which Cap and Iron Man got to work together and didn't just fight each other for drama. Yes, I understand that something huge was going on behind Steve's back but it was nice for at least one writer to understand why these 2 were on a team in the first place: they are friends. Cap is Mr. Never Say Die and Iron Man is Mr. Contingency Plan. They need each other because Cap can be so stubborn that he doesn't realize when things are going south and Tony can resort to awful means. Hickman is the only writer post Busiek to understand this relationship and I tip my hat to him for that.
- I enjoyed watching other races and former enemies coming together to fight the larger threat.
- More of the Namor v. T'Challa arc that was so captivating in New Avengers
The bad:
- I know Carol Danvers' ass better than my own at this point. The women were not drawn respectfully in Avengers nor Infinity. I will say that.
- The women didn't really matter in this book. They were some of the most powerful but, what little lines they had, were of little importance. The female character that speaks the most in this book is one of Thanos' children and it's a monologue all about how she wanted so badly for Thanos to kill her. Think on that for a moment.
- As I mentioned, too much was going on here.
As I said, this is definitely not a recommend. I wish I could pinpoint which issues had enjoyable moments and cut it together because some of this stuff was super cool. Especially Thor's "negotiations" but, as a whole, this just isn't worth it. I can't imagine shelling out $50 for this and I'm mad Marvel even wanted people to.
I could chalk this up to "it wasn't my cup of tea", I suppose but... it was such overly drawn out, cluttered tea.
librarimans's review against another edition
4.0
One of the better event comics in years, Hickman really crafted a fantastic story. The only thing that really held it back and felt editorially mandated was Black Bolt releasing the terrigen mists to awaken the Inhuman population on Earth. Marvel was banking on the Inhumans taking off and incorporating them into their cinematic universe in place of mutantkind (who Fox holds the rights to), and at least on the comic end that just hasn't happened.
Outside of that, this was a great read.
Outside of that, this was a great read.
lukedaloop's review against another edition
4.0
Cinematic in scope and crafted masterfully, this collection's major drawback is it's position in a larger narrative that it fails to flesh out or elaborate on, leaving any readers out of the loop confused and unfulfilled at it's end.
Update: I still stand by my initial written review, but have a new-found respect for the narrative after reading it in stride with the rest of Hickman's 2012 Avengers run. It weaves a dramatic tale that's only drawback is a reliance on context to understand the greater story at play.
Update: I still stand by my initial written review, but have a new-found respect for the narrative after reading it in stride with the rest of Hickman's 2012 Avengers run. It weaves a dramatic tale that's only drawback is a reliance on context to understand the greater story at play.
olicooper's review against another edition
1.0
Sluggish and boring--on top of too much shit going on. There is so much crammed in here, that it's hard to care about anything.
darthraggy's review against another edition
2.0
Fantastic art, but the story itself splits its attention between two concurrent plots and fails to properly service either. There is no reason at all to call this book "Infinity"-- the namesake gem/stones are references but nowhere to be found. Cover boy Thanos barely plays more than a cameo role, although the introduction of his Black Order is one of the highlights. Most of the plot focused elsewhere in space with a galactic war against an alien race called the Builders. While this fight does have its moments, it annoying dominates a book called "Infinity" for some reason. Putting expectations aside, the war story twists and turns but ultimately ends on a dissatisfying note that doesn't believably justify *how* the Avengers and their allies managed to turn the tide. Ultimately I don't think this book earns its length or its title, despite a handful of good moments and some fantastic artwork.
michael7410's review against another edition
4.0
Jonathan Hickman is one of my top 3 favorite writers in all of comics. He's the man that should be doing the big events like this, and I can't wait to see where Infinity is going.
philrobichaud's review against another edition
4.0
I don't usually read classic Avengers stories (Iron Man, Captain America, etc), but this book was interesting. As most people comment, it's long, really really long, but i liked it all the same. The Thanos/Inhuman plot was the main reason i wanted to read this. The Builders storyline was good, but there are so many characters, a lot of which i didn't know - so trying to keep track of everyone was tough.
fangsfirst's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
1.0
I'm a fan of Jim Starlin's complicated Thanos.
This is not Jim Starlin's complicated Thanos.
This is not Jim Starlin's complicated Thanos.
jonwesleyhuff's review against another edition
3.0
I thought this was a really interesting, epic adventure. I enjoyed it a great deal. I've been catching up on HIckman's Avengers run leading up to the new Secret Wars. I do wish there had been more interesting character interactions/reactions to the epic scale things going on around them. Those were few and fleeting. But, this is an epic space battle/disaster tale so that was more of the focus.