The Good

We’re so close. We’re so close to a massive, expansive glorious Marvel event that consists of only great-to-excellent quality issues at its core. Jonathan Hickman definitely teases more than he delivers in this particular issue, but that’s fine: save the big guns for the final issue. We get to see the preparations for landfall of Earth as well as how the returning Avengers break through that pesky ol’ blockade that Thanos has set up. It involves some of the most magnificently powerful of the Galactic Council and a hammer that isn’t the one you’d immediately think of. I’m always a fan of peering behind the curtain to see exactly how these plans are formulated and Hickman has always done a great job of that. It makes it feel less like all the characters are just slamming against all the other ones and really showcases the thinkers on both sides. Shang-Chi actually shines in this issue, having a page devoted to his awesomeness and setting the stage for his further adventures down the road.

Leinil Yu hits artistic all of the line work with Sunny Gho and Paul Mounts on colors and, as always, the art looks great. Well, it looks great for the most part. The colors are still rich and vibrant, exploding (in some cases more literally than others) across the page with glorious detail. There’s a lot of action, but it’s all contained and easy to follow, so the reader never feels lost. It’s also brief and absolutely brutal, one part in particular that I obviously won’t give away, but it’s incredibly vicious.

The Bad

Hawkeyed (GET IT?!) readers will note that I had a caveat in the art and that is this: I think Leinil Yu may be getting wrist cramps from all the absolutely amazing work he’s been outputting at a truly shocking pace over the last few months. We’ve seen a quality that has been consistently on time and had very little dips in quality, but that seems to have come at a cost and that cost is, here at the end, the linework is sloppy. The sharp, crisp lines have been replaced with jagged, indistinct bits that don't bring out either the finer details nor the color as well as in the past. It’s not deal-breaking, but it’s very obvious.

The Verdict

The art is still great on this issue, which itself is an amazing showcase of so many different talents. This is still a great standalone Avengers issue as well as being an amazing tie-in to Infinity, so fans of the book (who should already been caught up), feel free to continue sinking your teeth, and buying dollars, into this title.

Note: Leinil Francis Yu has released a 'disclaimer' he had to do the art in two weeks.

Another great chapter to the Infinity saga. It was great to see the council in this issue. Gladiator and Ronan had a few fantastic frames. Kl'rt's speech was a nice touch as well.

Kinda weird that Black Widow got the ass shot instead of Spider-Woman on this cover.

AMAZING event so far. Hoping Hickman sticks the landing, and I have every reason to believe he will.

I had to agree on the art.... until I saw the disclaimer. Holy crap! I have to be honest and say I'm not big on Yu's art, but that is DAMNED impressive. His style is just too squiggly and muddy for my liking, in general.

I noticed the art was a bit off as well, but still was a great issue and looked amazing. The final fight at the end of the issue looked epic.

Every issue of this series is more epic than the last. One would be hard pressed to out-do the Thor moment from INFINITY #4, but the moment with Ronan the Accuser bludgeoning Black Dwarf's head was pretty damn close. Really, seeing the Galactic Council in action is a moment that we have been waiting the entire series to see and we didn't even know that we were waiting for it!

Still a good issue have been happy with the tie-ins from this series. The story flows and it's always nice to the see the recap from the previous book seeing as its been a while since the last issue. And may I add YOU HAVE BEEN JUDEGED!

was alright.

The scene with them all in space looked pretty messy. I also laughed at Widow's massive cleavage just because in context it seems so ridiculous.

Whenever Cap speaks during Infinity it's pretty much guaranteed to be awesome, and they're making Ms. Marvel look pretty badass too. I'm also a big fan of the different aliens being on our side, especially Annihilus.

It's weird, because I feel like I don't care at all about the main plot of this event, but it gives me just enough character stuff to keep me going.

Nice.

I think we can pretty much confirm that Infinity has lived up to the hype.

Considering the art was done in two weeks its amazing, Yu is a beast.

And everyone was all like "Infinity? Oh, great, another,Marvel Event."

But they were wrong! :D

I really hope this sets the precedent for for future events, because then we'll have so much to look forward to.

Awesome, Awesome, Awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

One thing that I do remember in one of the early Infinity issues is when Black Dwarf invaded Wakanda. Him and the Black Panther fought and if I remember correctly, Black Panther beat Black Dwarf with ease in which he had to retreat. But in this issue it takes the whole Galactic Council to defeat Black Dwarf. Fair to say that any member of the Galactic Council is easily stronger and more powerful then T'Challa, in which they should of been able to defeat Black Dwarf with even more ease then T'Challa. This didn't bother me at all, but it is something that I did remember and thought was kind of weird.

@louiexiiith: I made a thread about that- it confused me too. Is T'challa secretly the most powerful person in the 616 Universe? http://www.comicvine.com/avengers/4060-3806/forums/infinity-black-dwarf-question-1514645/

@louiexiiith: I made a thread about that- it confused me too. Is T'challa secretly the most powerful person in the 616 Universe?

"YOU HAVE BEEN JUDGED!!" SPLAT!! Headless Black Dwarf!! Awesome!

I have to say that while I have enjoyed this series, it's more been because it's been lacking horrible parts, and not so much because it's had great parts. It's just good to know Marvel can make an event that doesn't suck. It could easily have been a third shorter however.

I had the same problem. Plus, right before that the completely street-level Shang Chi and Black Widow were able to defeat all his minions, who were presumably super-powered, and then Dwarf smacks Widow with his mace, and she gets up on the next page and fights like nothing happened.

It looked like Shang Chi had taken the beating between the two, so at least it wasn't so obvious. But yeah the probability of them two taking on Black Dwarf AND his minions doesn't seem logical. I also faced the same problem with Black Dwarf and BW. He smacks her across the room with his huge mace but then she's able to get up as if she's non human.

@louiexiiith: I completely agree. That's my only problem with this issue. I know she has a similar version of the super soldier serum in her blood, but Gladiator and Super-Skrull got punched just as hard! Black Dwarf wasn't holding back!

Hey, I noticed that too!....That's pretty weird indeed...