What I look for when reading anything is strong characters and a distinct narrative voice. A story can be ambitious and large in scope but if that is the focus of the book, it needs to be compelling enough to sustain that book. I'm explaining myself because I'm not enjoying Jonathan Hickman's Infinity as much as I want to and it's not because I don't appreciate the attempt at telling a grandiose story that spans galaxies, but because the story Hickman has chosen, and the way he's telling it, are the reasons why I feel Infinity is a lacklustre Event comic. The story is that the universe creators, the Builders, have targeted Earth in their current campaign of destruction and, rather than wait until they're right in front of our planet, Captain America has led the Avengers to bring the fight to where the Builders are which is several galaxies away. Meanwhile, Thanos and his army have appeared at the same time Earth's Mightiest Heroes have left the planet defenceless to raze it to the ground, with just the Inhumans and a handful of superheroes left to fight him off. His goal - to reclaim the Infinity Gems. Or is it... The problem with a massive story with so much happening in it is how little space Hickman has to do everything he wants to, especially as this is a 6 issue mini-series (not counting the 9 Avengers and New Avengers issues and multiple tie-ins). So when Earth is taken over by Thanos, it's done in a mere 2 pages, or 6 panels. Earth is taken over. In 2 pages. 6 panels. Wolverine and the X-Men, Namor and the Atlanteans, Doctor Strange, Black Panther and the Wakandans, and Iron Man and Reed Richards in Avengers Tower - all dealt with in 2 pages or 6 panels. It's too quick so it doesn't really register when reading it that that's what's happened. It took me re-reading it again before I realised that's what had happened - it just makes no impact on the reader. The same goes for the epic space battles Cap and the Avengers take part in - a load of spaceships blow up in a handful of panels and that's it. Next scene. No time at all for it to sink in to make the reader care about the largesse of what they're seeing. Even when an entire planet (and a seemingly never-ending stream of planets suffer this fate with Hickman writing) is doomed, it's done too quickly and in such a strange abstract Prometheus-like way that it's really hard to care at all about what's happening. Couple this with Hickman's narrative voice which tells you, rather than shows you, the story and you have a truly stultifying and distant reading experience with Infinity #2. Once again the best part of the comic is the Inhumans storyline but only because the Builders plot is so boring. One of Thanos' elite, Corvus Glaive, appears before the court of Black Bolt to demand Tribute: the heads of every Inhuman aged between 16 and 22. It's an odd request but made understandable by the end of the comic in a nice surprise twist I don't think anyone saw coming. That said, this scene had some really naff moments. Glaive (terrible name and looks like a Star Wars prequel villain) talks about the group he belongs to like an emo-teenager talking about his band. "Thanos named his generals the Cull Obsidian, meaning Midnight Slaughter. But we prefer the Black Order" - I'm sorry, it just sounds like something Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap would say. Especially after some playground smack-talk: "Is there a King here? I look around can cannot seem to find one. Perhaps he is a king of little stature. A tiny king of a small, irrelevant kingdom.". Oooo, sick burn! And just to prove how emo he and his men are, he has them kill themselves just because. Which might seem shocking but if you're a Batman fan, you've probably seen Talia Al-Ghul order something similar with her Leviathan assassins in Grant Morrison's Batman run (incidentally, Hickman is a huge Morrison fan), so the scene had much less impact on me. Plus, villains are always killing their own henchmen - it's part of what makes them bad guys! The other storyline - Captain America and others in space - is by far the most boring of the two and similarly suffers from poor dialogue. Gladiator gets a "rousing speech" moment, saying "You know me as Gladiator, superguardian majestor of the Empire... but soon you will call me Victor. For I will win here today...". Really? I thought you were simply announcing an arbitrary name change. The reason I bring up the poor dialogue is because it's funny to read but lessens the dramatic tension you're supposed to be feeling and takes the reader out of the scene.
Jim Cheung sits out this issue with Jerome Opena and Dustin Weaver taking on art duties. Weaver draws the Earth portions while Opena draws the space sections, and both do a fine job. Opena impressively matches Hickman's bold script by giving a convincing scale and energy to the pitched space battles, while Weaver also brings his substantial talents to the throne room of Attilan as well as the angular, gesticulating form of Corvus "General Grievous cosplayer" Glaive. Whatever my issues with the script and story, the art in this mini-series is superb. With Infinity, Hickman sacrificed character to tell a cosmic story of... what? Another heroes defeated/Earth in peril story only for it to be resolved with the heroes winning and the baddies losing in the final issue? It's not even a compelling story. But the rule of ending strongly comes into play here as it ends on a bombshell revelation that actually does make me want to read the next issue. Cliffhangers - when all else fails, use this cheap ploy! It also might explain Marvel's recent cryptic "Is He...?" ad campaign. Obviously if you've enjoyed Hickman's Avengers runs or if you're a sci-fi fan who prefers stories that focus on concepts over traditional narrative qualities like characters/dialogue/originality/etc., then you'll absolutely adore Infinity. And Infinity is simply red meat for the Marvel cosmic fanbase. But so far I feel the series is very overhyped and very underwhelming and Infinity #2 does little to change my mind otherwise.
Infinity #2 by Jonathan Hickman, Jerome Opena, and Dustin Weaver is out now