What Thanos wants Thanos sends the Black order after.
I’m really enjoying Infinity at the minute, and Hickman has been doing a fantastic job creating an epic storyline, also very engaging and exciting as well. I was quite interested in how the Illuminati would be involved in this story, as part of this story is triggered by something to do with them, and also how the Inhumans would be involved in the story.
Plot
The Black order talk with thanos, and afterwards they invade earth searching for the Infinity gems, and each targeting the Illuminati, who Thanos has discovered had the Infinity gems, but all but one were destroyed.
Review
This is a truly exciting and entertaining issue, that is action for the almost whole issue, but it progresses the plot along fast, and it keeps you interested throughout. How this ties into the main Infinity event is important, as readers would probably be fine reading the main series, but to get the full details, and scale Avengers, and New Avengers are crucial to the story, and plus they are a really good read anyways. The Illuminati played a small part in Infinity #1 they were there, but more so in cameo form, and that issue was Avengers centric, so how the Illuminati would be involved remained a mystery to me. I had an idea thought what might trigger it, the Infinity gems which have played an interesting part in this series so far, and what happened to them with the Illuminati make Infinity all the more interesting.
The Good
- · The cover is dark creepy, and downright beautiful, and the colour scheme across all of the main Infinity books is a neat idea, and it works well to add a level of continuity, but also just looks really good.
- · This issue focuses on Thanos’s new generals the Black Order. They are very interesting villains, and each gets a bit of focus although others get more attention than others, but I suppose they will get fleshed out more later in the story. Proxima Midnight is the most heavily focused of the Black order, and she’s an intriguing villain she doesn’t actually fight, but she’s a nasty sly piece of work by the look of it, and taunts Namor throughout the issue. Supergiant also gets a good amount of screen time in this issue, and she’s one of the most interesting of the group in power set, as she’s said to be a sort of parasitic alien, and she sort of has an air of the unknown as to how she will factor into the story, as she could conceivably take out the Avengers biggest hitters as she could possess one of them, but enough of that she’s an interesting character, and her involvement in the story is interesting. Corvus Glaive again appears, and doesn’t have such a prominenet role in this issue, and mainly just guts Wolverine (which is awesome). The Ebony Maw probably is the creepiest to me just something about him. Black Dwarf is the underused one he could have been used more, but under the circumstances I understand why, but he’s the one who appeals to me most.
- · More of the plot is revealed in this issue with Thanos, and what he wants on Earth, and with the Illuminati, and unsurprisingly it’s the Infinity gems, but the additional spin of their only being one left makes it more interesting, and you begin to appreciate the decision Hickman made a bit more. The conversation Thanos had with the Black order was interesting, and it had a dark feel to it that worked.
- · This issue is action packed with a lot of twists and turns, and it is continually gripping, exciting, interesting, intense, and just generally very tense, and the fighting is fantastic with the scale.
- · Namor in this is incredibly well written, and one moment basically sums him up as a character in general, he’s a pompous ass, but he can also be a bit of a sneaky bastard as well, as is shown in this issue.
- · All the Illuminati are involved in the story, and they each contribute to the plot in some way making the story interesting, but some get more attention than others.
- · I don’t normally mention this in reviews, but the dialogue in this issue is really good and there are a few standout lines which I will not mention as that would give away some of the plot.
- · The ending to the issue gets you really excited for the next, as it has a fair sense of foreboding about it, and it gets excited for the next.
- · The art by Mike Deodato Jr is stunning, and it fits this epic battle perfectly, and his dynamic panel shots make the whole thing come to life, and bring depth to the book making it look more lively, and the action that much more real. Deodato also handles the characters emotion well making them look alive, and real. Also all of the Black Order look good in their own way, especially Black Dwarf who looked menacing, and big every time he throws a punch it just looked powerful. Deodato’s also way of silhouetting some panels works well again in this issue to add drama to certain scenes. Deodato in this issue doesn’t duplicate any panels like he has done in the past, and add bits to them each looks individual which makes Deodato’s work feel much better now.
The Bad
- · Beast didn’t really play a part in the bit I expected him to Wolverine played a bigger part says something about Marvel doesn’t it?
The Verdict
This is an amazing action packed issue full of lots of twists and turns that make the book more exciting and tense. This is the best part of Infinity so far, and it solidifies why I think Infinity is a winning event, and it will beat every other event of the last decade easily. This is probably the first time I’ll ever give 5 stars to a chapter of an event from Marvel.
