Written by Duane Swierczynski
Illustrated by David MessinaThe Elder Gods break free from their extra-dimensional prison and invade the myriad worlds of G.I. Joe, the Transformers, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Danger Girl, and the vampire plagued reality of 30 Days of Night.
Infestation 2, IDW’s second mega-event mini-series, dropped this week, and this time, instead of pitting their hottest properties against a horde or cross-world zombies, creators Duane Swierczynski and David Messina have opted for a more archaic enemy in the form of the horrors of H P Lovecraft.
Should you look or cover your eyes? Check back after the jump for our answer.
In the last few years, IDW Publishing has become one of my favorite companies. Being the current publisher of GI Joe and Transformers certainly got me interested, but what really won me over, and what’s probably impressed me most, was their commitment to creating, collecting, and reprinting some of the best comics on the market. Take for instance Darwyn Cooke’s Parker books, or Joe Hill’s Locke and Key, and their collections of Terry and the Pirates, Grimjack, The Badger, and John Byrne’s NextMen — all comics I’ve either loved discovering or re-discovering. IDW’s damn impressive, and honestly, I could go on and on about just how great they are ad nauseam. That being said, I don’t have a lot of nice things to say about Infestation 2.
Now I realize that some might accuse me of expecting too much from a crossover comic featuring vampires, danger girls, transforming space robots, and ninjas, both mutant commando, and okay, sure… maybe I am. But whatever your opinion of the series’ premise, with this many different properties rolling around, there’s absolutely no reason this thing can’t at least be fun.
Infestation 2 makes the same mistake as the original Infestation mini-series, and spends the entire first issue focused on a group of characters that the majority of people picking it up won’t care about. And I don’t mean to be rude — IDW has worked hard to make Covert Vampiric Operations or “CVO” their own, in-house property, and good for them! I’m all for them having their own thing. But seriously, even if CVO was a first-rate concept, Infestation is a self-described “mega event” where Snake Eyes can meet Leonardo and Abbey Chase, so inevitably, generic vampire soldiers are going to always leave people disappointed, and based solely on the cover, entirely mislead.
Still, negatives aside, writer Duane Swierczynski sets the stage nicely and tells a solid story, but despite his best efforts, I just couldn’t get excited about the CVO team. Concept wise, the idea that the Elder Gods have broken free and are coming for our world is a cool. Swierczynski takes that starting point, and introduces us to the Oblivion, a generational secret society protecting reality from “the old ones”, and they’re so much more interesting than the CVO. If the first issue was going to be a tease, then its real mistake, I think, was not focusing on the Oblivion and making them our window characters.
On the art side of things, we have David Messina. While his fondness for butts and cleavage can be a little distracting at times, I do like his stuff. His intro pages are kind of beautiful, and when the action gets going, he gets to draw some nice Lovecraft inspired monsters. What he doesn’t get to draw, though, is the Transformers. Because, y’know, they’re not in this first issue.
Maybe I’m being too hard on Infestation 2. Heck, I read the first Infestation and had the exact same complaints as the one I’m making here. Really, I shouldn’t be surprised, but yet somehow, I am. In my defense, I wasn’t the one who decided to have all these characters in one, massive event comic, and publicize the heck out of it.
That one’s all you, IDW. If I’m disappointed, well… I definitely think we’re both to blame.
Final Verdict: 6 — Buy it if you like vampires who don’t transform or practice ninjitsu, or who aren’t turtles or female spies.
