Superhero Media: Infinity

I picked up this event comic from the cheap bins on the trip home from work one night, pretty much because it had Jonathan Hickman's name on the cover and it was only $10 for a softcover trade nearly and inch thick. When I finally slogged through Infinity, I found that it wasn't just the latest event from Marvel, but, in fact, was three or four events squished together in a, frankly, too-long epic that didn't change any status quo or introduce much that was all that new. An enigmatic and ancient race, "The Builders" have returned and are destroying intelligent life for some reason, whilst Captain Universe is being cryptic and trying to get The Avengers in space, also the multiverse is collapsing and the Illuminati can't stop it because Wakanda and Atlantis are at war, and Thanos is coming to Earth to murder his son he now has. As cool as a lot of that is, it's a bit much to follow at times, leaving Infinity a tad disjointed to read and not as much fun as it should be. Hickman is a master of high-concept, space fantasy, Von Danikenite storytelling, but here he probably needed an harsher editor. 

I'm not sure I can really break down the story of Infinity in any way that would fairly represent the event, because of how much goes on, so this one's going to be more a summary of my high and low points of reading it, so that you can decide to pick it up or not for yourself. If you're one of those weirdos I meet who are big fans of The Black Order from Infinity War, they have a lot more going on in Infinity, especially Ebony Maw, who I almost like as a character now, even if he's basically Mephistopheles from Doctor Faustus crossed with Count Orlock from Nosferatu. I don't keep up with The Avengers anymore, but it's nice to not only see Shiang Chi on the team, but also to see him punching robots to death in space gives me a thrill of child-like glee. Infinity makes a lot of references to Annihilation, which I want to like, as referencing my favourite event comic of all time should make me happy, but it has me drawing negative comparisons to the original and all of the less interesting versions that have come out since. I don't get why Wakanda and Atlantis are at war, but that's a cool idea, so I was on-board, but very little of it is seen in the comic, so I may have to wargame Merpeople with crab mechs Vs Afro-futurist soldiers in cat costumes on my own dime sometime. 

Like many events, Infinity features dozens of characters, but few get much time to develop. The above-mentioned Ebony Maw is interesting, and my boy Ronan gets to kick arse and take names, but the stand-out for me was Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans. It can be difficult to present a mute character well in a visual medium, and that's led to Black Bolt getting sidelined quite a lot, so it's great to see him flex. An all-too-short fight between him and Thanos is one of the highlights of the book, as well as the reveal that he's been playing the rest of the Illuminati for a long time. In case you can't tell, I'm torn on Infinity, it's not a bad read, strictly speaking, but I feel major events in comics should be a good point for new readers to get engaged, and this really isn't that. There's too much happening, too many characters that don't do much and a lot of pre-reading that needs to go into enjoying the story fully. I'm glad I read Infinity (a few times, actually) and don't regret the money I spent, but it's not for me and there's no shame or harm in it's not being.