Review: The Infinity War

The Infinity War by Jim Starlin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

WAR! What is it good for?

Absolutely nothing except for comic book crossovers and as the climactic film in a cinematic universe.

If you’re one of those folks who like the Marvel movies but haven’t read the comics then you might think that this would be the basis for the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War movie. However, it seems Infinity Gauntlet, the first in this set of big event stories based around the Infinity Stones, will be template the movie works off of. This is actually the sequel to that.

Confusing, isn’t it?

This is fairly decent as Marvel’s big cosmic crossovers go. This time Thanos is kinda sorta a good guy who is helping Adam Warlock and the Infinity Watch try to stop the Magus from essentially becoming god by getting his hands on that bedazzled glove. Earth’s superheroes are also pawns in Magus’ game while Dr. Doom and Kang the Conqueror make for some interesting wildcards.
Overall the story is pretty ambitious with some decent layers to it.

However, the superheroes really don’t serve any purpose other than as selling points to put on the covers. That’s the problem when there’s a threat this powerful. What’s Daredevil supposed to do against an enemy that can defeat Galactus without breaking a sweat? So they mostly end up in a side plot where they fight evil versions of themselves created by Magus as a distraction while the real action is centered on characters like Thanos and Adam Warlock.

Unfortunately, giant crossovers that involve every character in the Marvel universe whether it makes story sense or not would become the norm in the 25 years since this came out.

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