“Infinity” is here in earnest and it seems to be garnering far better reviews than the last several Marvel and DC event comics. Jonathan Hickman has set up a visually-appealing “diagram” for how this event is supposed to work, citing “Avengers” and “New Avengers” as pretty integral, but how well does “Avengers” actually hold up its end of the bargain?
Light spoilers for “Infinity” #1 lie ahead.
Written by Jonathan Hickman
Illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu“AVENGERS UNIVERSE” Deep in space, the Avengers join the Council of Worlds as they declare war on their cosmic invaders.The rebirth of the Skrull Empire.The first encounter with the Builders.
We loved the first issue of “Infinity.” We made it our Pick of the Week, in fact. And truth be told, there are a lot of reasons that are very much present in “Avengers” #18 for why this is Marvel’s best event (so far) in a great, long while. For starters, the Avengers find themselves in league with the “Council of Worlds” against the threat of the Builders (as seen in earlier issues of Hickman’s “Avengers”). Hickman uses this as an opportunity to place the Avengers as a link in the greater chain that makes up the vast Marvel universe, cosmic and otherwise. The issue is subtitled “Avengers Universe”, which sort of takes up a double-meaning at this point. Marvel Comics is so “Avengers”-centric that there’s, like, a dozen books that take its name. In the modern age, pretty much every major American Marvel hero has been an Avenger at some point. But Hickman’s working on a grander scale here, and when Yu shows the Avengers among the “Council of Worlds”, they appear engulfed by the universe, scattered among rarely used characters and alien races. This is really a great event for Marvel continuity nuts, as a lot of obscure stuff comes crawling out of the woodwork here. The Skrulls also get folded in here and actually act as something of an emotional tether in the story. Who would have guessed?
Meanwhile, as seen in “Infinity” #1, Thanos has greater machinations going on in the background, while the Avengers have left Earth vulnerable. We’ve spent so many of the modern Marvel events with the heroes fighting amongst themselves, that it’s so satisfying to see them potentially pitted against not one, but two major villains. “Avengers vs. X-Men” admittedly got some good traction out of one of the biggest pieces of Marvel lore in history (the Phoenix Force), but ultimately it fell apart under yet another event with no real villain. It just feels like this is the right time to throw a real external threat or two at Earth’s Mightiest Heroes – and Hickman is doing just that.
With “Avengers #18”, Hickman gets the actual sparks flying, sending some fleets to meet the enemy head-on out in space. There’s something inherently fun about seeing Captain America doling out orders during a starfleet battle while guys like Thor and Hyperion fly around outside of it. It’s a natural position for him and it’s just plain comic book fun to see it play out. On the other hand, there is the natural fatigue that tends to come with event comics and their penchant for page after page of mass space-destruction. What’s key is what sets these scenes apart from “Age of Ultron’s” penchant for senseless destruction. In this event, we see exactly how and why the threat is so potentially great to the world. We see the logic to the battle and get a sense of exactly how overmatched and outsmarted the Council of Worlds and the Avengers might be. Not to turn this into a rant, but “Age of Ultron” gave us almost no explanation for why the Avengers were at such a loss – for why this was the time that they couldn’t save New York City and why Cap would be huddled in the corner crying. I only bring it up, because the contrast in “Infinity’s” favor is immediately apparent and relevant. Despite a myriad of explosions you just kind of flip past at this point and a few pages spent on rampant destruction, you at least get a sense of what exactly went on.
Continued belowBut as I’ve said before about other artists, and will most certainly say again down the road, if you want to get someone to draw those kinds of scenes, there are very few choices that would be better than Yu. Yu made a lot of his name as a master “event book” artist working with Mark Millar on his bombastic “Marvel Ultimate Comics” and aggressively marketed creator-owned work. The detail and grit that he puts into every explosive panel is awe-inspiring, especially when you consider how relatively fast his turn-around time is. To put it simply, he was a stellar choice for an intergalactic battle with a group of Marvel heroes that he is extremely familiar with at this point. By that token, there is plenty of growth in his character work since his days penciling “Ultimate Comics Avengers” for Millar. He was made to draw the Skrulls, with their chiseled faces and war-weary demeanors. He lends gravity to them as characters that supplements what Hickman is choosing to do with them. I have one quibble that I think is worth mentioning: The Avengers look pretty ridiculous in their spacesuits, specifically designed to show off their most identifiable traits and logos. The suits are inconsistent from character to character, while some characters do not appear to require them for reasons that are not clear. Why is Carol not wearing one? Did I miss something, entirely? Am I nitpicking here? Probably, but it honestly tripped me up in some weird, anal-retentive comic fan way.
Nonetheless, “Avengers” #18 is a fine comic book in its own right, but it’s an even better example of how to do an event tie-in correctly. Whether this issue is absolutely crucial to understanding “Infinity” remains to be seen, since we haven’t seen the 2nd issue of the event yet, but it damn sure feels like it is. And it should be. Tie-ins shouldn’t be useless and if you’re going to sell specific titles as necessary, then they really should feel like it. What does the issue to do earn the “Infinity” banner? It advances the story told by the first issue of the event. It’s written by the core event writer. It’s drawn, expertly, by a top-tier Marvel artist. It also contains one or two of the aforementioned drawbacks to event books. And, I suppose if it’s doing its job properly, it should.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – A suitably massive and refreshing event. Buy.
