It's difficult to review the first issue of any new event comic without considering the phenomenon of event fatigue. Though the early months of the New 52 and Marvel NOW! offered something of a break from the typical event cycle, both companies seem to be pursuing crossovers and events with even greater force now. Here we are, only two months out from Age of Ultron #10, and already Marvel is bearing full steam ahead into their next line-wide event, Infinity.
However, Infinity has a few advantages going for it right off the bat. For one thing, it's the first of Marvel's big summer events in a long time to break out of the constant cycle of cause and effect that began with 2004's Avengers Disassembled and wrapped up last year with Avengers vs. X-Men. In that regard, Infinity feels very much like its own, distinct conflict. The other advantage is that this is the first Marvel event to be written solely by Jonathan Hickman. Hickman's portion of AvX was easily the series' strongest, and that was because his grandiose, epic style of writing so naturally lends itself to the event format in the first place. And indeed, Infinity #1 reads like the natural next step in his ongoing Avengers run. While that does seem to harm the book's casual accessibility in some ways, it also means we needn't fear yet another event comic that's all sizzle and no steak.
Continue reading…
No comments:
Post a Comment