Review code format (ranked 1-5, blah to faboo): [writing / art / new reader? / non-comics reader?]
Infinity War (Marvel) [3/4/2/2] (collects IW #1-6, Marvel Comics Presents #108-111, Warlock & the Infinity Watch #7-10)
w. Jim Starlin; a. Ron Lim, Angel Medina, et al.
In 1992, Starlin continued his “Infinity” series, which began with the Infinity Gauntlet, and would continue with … lots of other stuff from Starlin, all trending downhill in an alarming fashion, punctuated by occasional nice bits, but demonstrating how it’s altogether possible to get too much of a good thing, or, in this case, the evil thing: Thanos the Mad Titan.
If the Infinity Gauntlet demonstrated how absolute power is not all it’s cracked up to be, Infinity War shows that plenty of other people will squabble over it. In this case, Adam Warlock’s evil twin, the Magus, does a Thanos-worthy job of manipulating events to get his hands back on the power of the IG. Hilarity ensues, as the greatest heroes of Earth get drawn into various sides of the conflict. (Why Earth has such a relative monopoly on participants is another question altogether).
The story is more complex than IG, and less satisfying, but there’s plenty of cosmic punch-outs and posturing, if you like watching Galactus arguing with the Cosmic Tribunal. It’s still quite readable, though, in a way that makes you feel like you’ve been drinking too much soda pop afterwards.
Given that the heroes were the “Who’s Who” of the Marvel Universe at the time, seeing how some of the characters have changed — mostly X-types in their costumes — which haven’t, and which have basically vanished from the MU. To that extent, it’s sort of a useful yearbook we well as a Saturday matinee shoot-em-up.
Hulk Visionaries – Peter David: Vol. 3 (Marvel) [3/2/3/2] (collects #349-354, Web of Spider-Man #44, FF #320)
w. Peter David; a. Jeff Purves, et al.
Another volume of David’s work on Hulk — this time in the Gray Las Vegas years. Having the Hulk change back to a gray bruiser, clever and brutal, working as a leg-breaker in Vegas was a clever idea, but the the artwork is a mixed bag, and too many of the villains were throw-aways worthy of the bad old days on Spider-Man.
Still, there are some nice moments here, like the gray Hulk finally winning against the Thing, despite the fact that Hulky’s lower-powered and this was in an era of an over-cosmiced uber-powerful Thing. Brutal cleverness wins against virtue — not a great lesson, but kind of fun to watch.
Speaking of which, while I like the whole “Visionaries” concept from Marvel (nicely crafted collections of creator-specific work on a given character), they really need to decide on the titles. The cover of this tome says, “Marvel Visionaries / Peter David / The Incredible Hulk,” while the spine says, “Hulk Visionaries / Peter David / 3.” The spine, in this case, is the actual title — but that makes the cover more than a bit misleading.
(listening to: “The Mod Squad” from Television’s Greatest Hits)
(listening to: McCurdy, Ed, “Tottingham Frolic” from Naughty & Bawdy Songs of Olde England)
(listening to: Slovak Phil., “Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Min, Op. 21 – Maestoso” (Chopin) from Great Piano Moments)
(listening to: Brassy, “Work It Out” from Kim Possible)
(listening to: Litton, James & the American Boychoir, “I Sing of a Maiden” (Hadley) from On Christmas Day)
(listening to: Joel, Billy, “Christie Lee” from Innocent Man, An)
Comment about Infinity War: I loved the fact that there was no discernable difference between Thanos and his evil twin.
Question about Hulk: Does this collection include the Countdown storyline, where Hulk has to find out who poisoned him as Banner? That little mystery was my introduction to Peter David’s on the character.
Oddly enough, I only ever saw “Mr. Fixit” in a two-part Claremont/Buscema story in the early days of the first Wolverine solo title.
No, “Countdown” starts in #361. You have a couple of volumes to go. 🙂
I liked Mr. Fixit, at least in small doses.
And I like Thanos, too. When he’s (written) on his game, he’s a lot of fun. Too many writers (and, too often, Starlin) just don’t seem to be able to do that.
Actually, speaking of David, there was some good handling of Thanos in his lamented Capt. Marvel series.