A review by captwinghead
Avengers, Vol. 4: Infinity by Jonathan Hickman
2.0
2.5 stars
Where to begin... where to begin...
So, Marvel was really feeling themselves with this one, huh? "Read our TOTALLY ESSENTIAL, WORLD CHANGING INFINITY ARC! All you have to do is buy 5 issues of Avengers, 5 issues of New Avengers, 6 issues of Infinity and pick up some of these tie ins as well". I'm going to say something I haven't said about any other arc save Civil War: you cannot get by just reading one of these trades. You have to read Avengers with Infinity, at the least! New Avengers is kind of a toss up. You don't really have to read that one to know what's happening here, unless you wanna know about the state of Wakanda and Iron Man. But you cannot understand Avengers without reading Infinity as it was released.
So, shell out over $100 (I believe) to read these 2 series just to follow what's going on. Or wait a while and read it all for $10 on Marvel Unlimited... which is what I did.
This is confusing to follow. Even reading it all concurrently, I am confused as hell. There's Builders who are sons of Alephs? Who are all children of the Universe... who is a person?
As I understand it, there are 2 plots:
1) Thanos attacks Attilan trying to find his son Thane and to kill him (for fucking what?)
2) The Builders are destroying earth... to save the universe? Because somehow, that's how this works?
Anyway, Avengers is about the Builders part of it. It follows the Avengers teaming up with the Shi'ar Empire, The Skrulls and other races I can't remember to fight the builders. With less of this really overdrawn plot, this could have been super intriguing because Hickman did something I really liked: he made Captain America a Captain.
I know, "what do you mean? he leads the charge in several books". But in this book, Cap is actually leading an army in a war for the fate of the world. He's negotiating with races he used to fight against and working with their leaders to lead a charge against the Builders. He's using war strategy, sending negotiators (Thor) and delegates to work together. It's nice to see because, outside of flashbacks to the 40s and Civil War (to an extent) I haven't really seen this side of him.
I really love Thor in these series. I'm reading them all at once so I can't pinpoint which one did the most with him but I think Hickman used Thor really well. Not just his hammer but his battle prowess and strategy.
Those are the only nice things I have to say about this. I hate the way women were drawn in this book. It's a shame because I absolutely adore the way Cap is drawn in it. Just FYI, when women know they'll have to do a lot of running and fighting, we don't wear suits that ride up our asses. Just a word fo advice when drawing asses, if it's not something you'd be comfortable running in, it's not something we'd be comfortable in either.
So, it's not really a recommend unless you're determined to read Infinity. Then, it's a must. I wish I could say it was super enjoyable...
Where to begin... where to begin...
So, Marvel was really feeling themselves with this one, huh? "Read our TOTALLY ESSENTIAL, WORLD CHANGING INFINITY ARC! All you have to do is buy 5 issues of Avengers, 5 issues of New Avengers, 6 issues of Infinity and pick up some of these tie ins as well". I'm going to say something I haven't said about any other arc save Civil War: you cannot get by just reading one of these trades. You have to read Avengers with Infinity, at the least! New Avengers is kind of a toss up. You don't really have to read that one to know what's happening here, unless you wanna know about the state of Wakanda and Iron Man. But you cannot understand Avengers without reading Infinity as it was released.
So, shell out over $100 (I believe) to read these 2 series just to follow what's going on. Or wait a while and read it all for $10 on Marvel Unlimited... which is what I did.
This is confusing to follow. Even reading it all concurrently, I am confused as hell. There's Builders who are sons of Alephs? Who are all children of the Universe... who is a person?
As I understand it, there are 2 plots:
1) Thanos attacks Attilan trying to find his son Thane and to kill him (for fucking what?)
2) The Builders are destroying earth... to save the universe? Because somehow, that's how this works?
Anyway, Avengers is about the Builders part of it. It follows the Avengers teaming up with the Shi'ar Empire, The Skrulls and other races I can't remember to fight the builders. With less of this really overdrawn plot, this could have been super intriguing because Hickman did something I really liked: he made Captain America a Captain.
I know, "what do you mean? he leads the charge in several books". But in this book, Cap is actually leading an army in a war for the fate of the world. He's negotiating with races he used to fight against and working with their leaders to lead a charge against the Builders. He's using war strategy, sending negotiators (Thor) and delegates to work together. It's nice to see because, outside of flashbacks to the 40s and Civil War (to an extent) I haven't really seen this side of him.
I really love Thor in these series. I'm reading them all at once so I can't pinpoint which one did the most with him but I think Hickman used Thor really well. Not just his hammer but his battle prowess and strategy.
Those are the only nice things I have to say about this. I hate the way women were drawn in this book. It's a shame because I absolutely adore the way Cap is drawn in it. Just FYI, when women know they'll have to do a lot of running and fighting, we don't wear suits that ride up our asses. Just a word fo advice when drawing asses, if it's not something you'd be comfortable running in, it's not something we'd be comfortable in either.
So, it's not really a recommend unless you're determined to read Infinity. Then, it's a must. I wish I could say it was super enjoyable...