Infinity Wars

Infinity Wars

by Gerry Duggan (Writer), Mike Deodato Jr. (Illustrator), Mark Bagley (Illustrator)

What does Infinity hold for the Marvel Universe? As the Infinity Stones come to Earth, so too comes the war for control over them. But none who wield the stones truly understand the power they contain...or comprehend what it would take to bring them to their end! The nature of the cosmos itself hangs in the balance as we learn the answer to the question on everyone's lips: Who is Requiem? The
ramifications of this story will be felt throughout Infinity for years to come! As cosmic war begins to rage, Gerry Duggan and Mike Deodato Jr. gaze into the Infinite - and bring the truth to
light!

COLLECTING: INFINITY WARS PRIME 1, INFINITY WARS 1-6

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Comic Book, Fantasy, Science Fiction

328 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2019

Reviews

[Sam Quixote · Rating 1 out of 5]

Infinity Wars is the conclusion to Gerry Duggan’s story that began in the pages of his much better series All-New Guardians of the Galaxy - and, like most events, it’s awful!

I appreciated that Thanos and his fucking gauntlet got taken off the table immediately and that, instead of dusting half of all living things in creation, the big bad instead merged one half into the other half so you got wacky combos of familiar characters - eg. Captain America and Doctor Strange become the Soldier Supreme.

But Duggan’s basically just taking the same furniture and rearranging it in a slightly different way. It’s the same uninspired guff about characters squabbling over who gets the Infinity Stones. And that’s really all there is to the story - there’s not nearly enough substance to merit the overlong page count of this bloated, shambolic wreck.

I don’t really understand Gamora’s motivations at all. I get that part of her soul was trapped in the Soul Gem but why not stop after getting it back? The identity of the new character Requiem is revealed almost immediately so there’s no mystery there. Drax’s origin is rehashed again and unnecessarily tacked on at the end to no effect. And that’s basically all there is to Infinity Wars - hardly anything!

I highly recommend Duggan’s All-New Guardians of the Galaxy which is really fun and entertaining but I’d skip the tedious, rambling conclusion that is Infinity Wars and pretend instead that it never happened - Marvel will anyway, like they do most events!

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

If we're going to have to have another Infinity book, I at least like some of the twists in this one, such as Gamora taking the lead. I'll agree that the Infinity Warps angle isn't very interesting to me. But for a big Avengers type event book, I enjoyed this, especially Loki taking center stage. The three Infinity Wars tie in books slapped onto the end seemed completely superfluous. They didn't bring anything new to the story at all.

Is it just me or is Mike Deodato's art getting worse? It seems dark, scratchy and unfinished now with way too many duotone effects. It's a real shame. I used to love when he did a book, but there panels here where I couldn't even tell what was happening.

[Tiag⊗ the Mutant · Rating 1 out of 5]

All that build up for this? Amalgam Wars? This has nothing to do with the Infinity saga and feels like an insult to Jim Starlin, what a cheap excuse to sell more wacky character mashups, just another pointlesss crossover storyline that leads nowhere, it ruined Gamora for me.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been reading Marvel comics since I was two or three years old....over four decades. Rare are the times when I read a Marvel comic and cannot make heads or tails of it.

This was one of those times.

I have no idea what this book was about.

There is a handy "story so far" section, but it was IN THE BACK OF THE BOOK, so it was essentially useless. Not that it would have helped, mind you. But it would have been nice to have the info right up front.

Prime members can read this for free on Amazon right now. Free is still too expensive.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, and I am being generous giving it that because wow not that good a story at all and calling it an event is ugh.. disappointing but then again when it ws coming out in single issues I didn't like it then and binging it.. its okayish maybe as a story but as an event "no".

So the story starts with this Requiem killing Thanos and we see the new Infinity watch gather together only to find out she is Gamora and thus begins the Infinity wars as she takes down the heroes one by one to gather all the stones and how she does it is the main story for sure but we see them fall one by one and her plan: fold the reality on itself so rather than 1/2 life getting extinguished, people merge with others to have the same effect basically and thus we get new heroes and origins and birth of this world but its quickly undone as Loki and Emma gather a team together to get out of this reality and as predictable: take the fight to Gamora outside and a lot more fights later and it becomes boring.

Tbh the ending was predictable but what I liked was the story of Drax which we get in the end and like how content and peaceful he is, in his new life and then the sacrifice which was so worth it and maybe one redeeming thing about this book. Drax/Arthur in heaven was cool and then the fallout of the event with Gamora and then the stones becoming sentient will be interesting to follow for sure!

So yeah a disappointing event but then again its good in parts and does get some characters right and gives redemption for others and continues Marvel's obsession with "Infinity" events again. The writer could have easily continued it in his Guardians run rather than make it an event but then again an okayish read with good art and satisying for a one-time read!

[Malum · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh boy, this was a bit of a mess. SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS ahead.

First of all, FANTASTIC artwork. Ok, now on to the problems:

Gamora wants to get the missing part of her back. Ok, cool. Once she does that, however, her new plan instantly becomes "destroy all existence" for no real reason.

They took a lot of elements from this story from other Marvel stories. Infinity stones wiping out half of the universe? It was done in the original Infinity War (this one wasn't much of a surprise, though, because of course they are going to milk the movie for all it's worth). Someone sees their greatest villain in their mind all the time? It was done in Netflix's Jessica Jones and Daredevil. I felt it was done poorly there, and it didn't impress me here.

The story just becomes a jumbled mess. The stones are all different and each powers a different stone. The stones work in some places but they don't in others. There are copies of the stones and some people have some stones and they switch hands constantly. The stones let you do whatever you want...unless they don't (Adam Warlock just has to "wish and hope" things happen with all of the stones? Can't he just MAKE them happen anymore?).

Loki wants to know why he isn't...the best I guess? He maybe finds out the answer, or maybe he doesn't. It didn't make a whole lot of sense and his plot kind of just ended.

"We have all new super cool heroes that are a mix of two other heroes! Whoa, cool!". Spare me. The fact that they let these stupid characters live makes me think we will be hearing more from them later. Please, no.

So I guess Drax is dead? This feels kind of contrived, like they are setting up for Dave Bautista's departure in the movies since he announced he is likely quitting. Who knows? All I know is that it felt really thrown in there for no reason (the "we can all escape, but one of us has to stay behind" trope has been done to death).

I am sure that there is more yuckiness to mine here, but this book isn't really worth talking about much more than this.

[James DeSantis · Rating 1 out of 5]

Whoa this was a HUGE disappointment.

Duggan did a real fun run of Guardians before this. I really enjoyed it a lot and even liked the prequel to Infinity wars here. The cast of the guardians grew as a family and the situation got worse and worse. However, this? This is pretty bad.

Basically, and this isn't spoilers as it happens right away, Gamore chops off Thanos head. Now the hunt for Gamore begins. Sounds like it could be good, right? It's not. None of the guardians really do anything, a lot of it has Gamore talking about power and being in control, seeing Thanos in her head, but she doesn't really do anything except use the gems which mostly their stories take place in side stories not a part of this collection.

The main issue is not much happens. It's boring, none of the plot points are interesting, and it's slow to get through. The exact opposite of Duggan's guardian's run. What a waste. Even the art wasn't very good, and too many panels broken up by annoying lines through them. A 1.5 out of 5.

[RG · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a massive waste of time. It builds but then went nowhere.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Requiem has come to the Marvel Universe and they have a singular mission on their mind - murder Thanos, and acquire the Infinity Gems. The current holders array to stop Requiem, but even the Avengers might fall to the power of Infinity. And what happens when you halve the number of people in the universe, but not the number of souls? Enter the Infinity Warps!

...Eh. This is a bit of a mess, honestly. Duggan's cosmic stuff has been top notch so far, but Infinity Wars is all over the place. Some issues are fantastic, while others fall completely flat or undo the plot developments in the previous issue which kind of defeats the object, surely. The idea of the Infinity Warps is interesting, so I'm intrigued to check out the tie-in trade, and Loki's side-story is more compelling than a lot of the rest of the book.

The other issues included here, like Prime, Fallen Guardian, and Infinity (Yes, Infinity Wars: Infinity. You can't make this stuff up.) are sometimes superfluous (like Fallen Guardian, which forgets what it's meant to be doing halfway through) or just set-up for whatever comes next (like Infinity). I'm glad they're collected here, since they make the most sense in context, but they also feel like artificial padding for the event overall.

Plus I have a major issue with Mike Deodato's work recently - it's so scratchy and unrefined, I don't understand why he's declined so much. I get that artists change styles as they improve, but usually they get better, not worse. Deodato's gone from a name that will get me to pick up a book to one that makes me actively avoid it.

Infinity Wars is...not good. It has good ideas, and sparkles of good execution here and there, but the bad far outweighs the good, unfortunately.

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Remember what I said in the other Infinity Wars collection review I just put up? Either I'm fast reader, or this one went by really quickly. On purpose I've avoided Marvel crossover events because frankly they've not even been a little bit fun for me. But, I knew the mashup mini-series tied into this so...

This was better than expected. No spoilers, but as usual with Marvel I don't expect the series ending to last past a year. Marvel ties their comics firmly into their movies and events here, especially at the end, will affect upcoming movies too much in the next year or so.

The basic premise, which really isn't a spoiler IMO because its been all over the net, is that Gamora finally kills Thanos. Dead as a door nail dead. Now she's out to collect the infinity stones and make, at least in her own mind, a better and new universe (hence the mashup mini-series).

Upon reading I would argue that life's events have finally driven Gamora insane, at least as insane as Batman is (I mean come on take a close look at the character). In that context her actions make sense.

Unlike all of the previous Infinity crossover events I finished this one. The story telling made sense and held my interest. But, if you compare this to DC's original Crisis or Zero Point where the events of those series held for years, I really don't expect that to be the case here (hint-Gamora's fate).

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was.. ok.

Could see shit happening from miles away beforehand. I don't even mind that. It just wasn't that big of a deal.

It was a nice idea overall, even though -yes I'm gonna say it- nothing we haven't seen already in the past, but it was meh, I liked the key players in this one, especially Loki and even more the way Duggan is writing him. I really liked that.

What I didn't like was that again, I had to read about time traveling and going back and forth and erasing shit and creating shit and killing characters only to bring them back next issue and well, mainly it wasn't that much fun for me to justify all that stuff.

I was ok with it. Jus that. And Loved the artwork!

[Blindzider · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing and non-necessary. This felt as if it was only constructed to create a reason for having the Infinity Warp characters. Somebody had this idea for mixing two heroes from our universe (you know, like Amalgam using DC and Marvel characters) but had to come up with how this would have happened. There's a lot of hand-waving on what happens as well as straight-up exposition to the reader to explain what is going on. It's almost as if they knew the reader was lost because it came at the right time. I didn't even bother reading the backups in this volume because I simply don't care. At this point the use of Infinity Stones/Gems is a tired trope that needs to be retired.

[Emmanuel Nevers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This turned out to be a solid event with lots of interesting ideas. For one the infinity warps of the marvel characters was super awesome but Gamora's motivations seemed all over the place and at this pont I couldn't tell you what they were. Another thing that didnt particularly jive with me was the art. Mike is an awesome artist but his super dark style I thought didnt match the grade epic that this event was trying to be.

[Edward Wilsher · Rating 3 out of 5]

While there is a lot of twists and turns and enjoyable action, the main storyline of the previous book is essentially abandoned and replaced by a story that has too many twists and turns resulting in it being difficult to keep up and with an ending that isn't very satisfying. Would have given it 2.5 stars but rounded up

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loki arrives in Omnipotence City and finds that in all the varied multiverses none of them have Loki as a hero. This causes Loki to go on a quest that ends up revolving around the Infinity Gems. I won't give away any spoilers, but this was a strange story.

Apparently, the Gems are scattered throughout and held by different people (from Dr. Strange to Adam Warlock). It is Loki's quest to find the Gems and save reality that are the impetus for the story. I liked the rather epic scope of the story and the strange mixed-up realms are interesting. My only issue with any of this is the sudden "promotion" of the criminal Turk. How he goes from being a d-list street thug from the pages of Daredevil to this character, I have no idea.

But this boils down to the various sides trying to claim the Infinity Gems. Though this time instead of Thanos, we are dealing with Gamorra. The strangeness of a "good" Loki and the odd-ball combinations (like the Dr. Strange/Cap America hybrid) make for an interesting story. The artwork while not stellar is good throughout.

If you are looking for a "something different" in the rather large tract of "Infinity Gem" related books, then this comic might fit your desire for an entertaining story that is a little different. Primarily, Loki as the main "good" guy makes that difference. I think that the Infinity Wars volume with an interesting, as well as entertaining, story surprised me. I was rather "Infinity Gems" out, but this was an interesting take.

[Matthew Lagerloef · Rating 1 out of 5]

Narratively incoherent with no sense of pacing. I wanted to like this, since I like the artist and was intrigued by the concept, but ultimately it was a total letdown, with zero answers given for questions raised, bizarre character motivations, and no resolution or consequences. Probably the worst event comic I have ever read - obviously this was green lit so it would get a boost from Infinity War, but it shouldn’t have been.

[Ondra Král · Rating 2 out of 5]

Člověk by řekl, že se Marvel poučí... Svět díky Infinity War šílí po Thanosovi a kamenech nekonečna, rozjet podobný boj o šutráky i v komiksech tak dává perfektní smysl. Duggan si dlouho budoval pole ve Strážcích a speciálních sešitech, hráči jako Ultron/Thanos/Magus/Wolverine vypadali slibně... a pak se to zvrhlo v naprosté WTF. Během prvních sešitů se veškerá příprava zahodila a zbyl zmatený myšlenkový a rádobyhluboký guláš. Meh, 2* za Deodata

[Travis Duke · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5)The infinity stones.... its like beating a dead horse these days right? I actually feel bad for the writers that get stuck recycling this story. But wait... I actually think there is a method to this madness ill get back to this. So Requiem (i wont spoil it) is hunting down the stones and is looking to wield all the cosmic powers. Right off the bat Requiem starts killing heroes and villains, first on the list, Thanos and yes his head rolls like the rest of them. Fast forward and Requiem is in control and wants to do the whole "snap" thing but with a twist, instead its going to mash two people together. We get some really cool mash ups of heroes and the art is really cool. So now we have a warp world and its um.... another world/reality setting.

Ill stop here, but I actually liked the story it has a few surprises that kept my interesting going. The characters are a mix of popular and less popular, a recipe i rather like. The writing is pretty fluid and keeps the story flowing along, i don't really remember any dead spots.

So its not a surprise but this book has the potential to shake up the Marvel universe, even at the end of the book they recap most of the infinity stuff because well.... its just got really interesting. I was really shocked that they tied in for example, cosmic ghost rider. I am actually excited to see where this goes because it feels like a fresh start for the infinity stones.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep having high hopes for Marvel's big crossovers but rarely do they live up to my expectations. Unfortunately Infinity Wars wasn't an exception to the rule. I will say the art is great, truly worthy of a big crossover event. But the story I just found lacking. It felt like we'd been here before, because we sorta have. Then it felt like things weren't fully explained, and then it was all over. There were plenty of pages to this story, but for some reason I didn't feel much substance. Thanos gets killed yet again (I won't even put a spoiler tag here since it happens at the beginning and it's not like he hasn't been killed like 97,000 times or something) and then things just go downhill from there.

It's not horrible by any means, and I don't regret reading it. But this required a major investment (of time and money) to read all of the story, and it just didn't come across as worth it. I will say this was a rare case where I found the tie in issues to be much better than the core issues, so there was a silver lining to the cloud. I'm sure I'll keep reading the Marvel Crossovers just because I still find them fun, but I wish we'd get a little more substance.

[Tom Ewing · Rating 1 out of 5]

Remarkably for a company which makes so many of them, Marvel seem to have entirely forgotten how to do a good event book. Infinity Wars is thin and cursory, barely pretending to be anything other than product pushed out to catch some post-movie heat. Gerry Duggan, whose clipped no-nonsense style can work well on the right book, turns in a script that hops impatiently from one unexplored development to the next: it feels desperate to be finished. The core gimmick - mashed up alternate versions of characters on yet another parallel world - barely features in the main story. There’s not one memorable scene or interesting idea in here - though there is some richly textured art by Mike Deodato, prettier than the story deserves. At the end, a glimmer of hope: cosmic scold Adam Warlock “releases” the Infinity Gems to find their own destiny. A long rest for this most tiresome of plot devices? No such luck - an epilogue finds them seeking new carriers, and so the wretched cycle grinds on.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects Infinity Wars issues #1-6, Infinity Wars: Prime issue #1, Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian issue #1, Infinity Wars: Infinity issue #1, and material from Thanos Legacy

The concept was great, but the execution was just OK. I love Marvel Cosmic stories, but this one felt a little all over the place.

I don't think I feel like the Requiem reveal was earned, even though I had been reading "Guardians" and "Infinity Countdown" prior to this title.

I'm glad that Adam Warlock is back, but it is weird to feel like he was both front-and-center, while also being underused. He was around a lot, but I'm not sure how much his impact was felt until the last act of the story.

SPOILERS:

I am really drawn to the Warp World idea, and I've heard that we will see more of this dimension post-"Infinity Wars."

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

I followed this through infinity countdown and now that I’m done there was so much time wasted and then rushed in the last 3 issues. I loved where it was going all the way through issue 3 then the book just got ridiculous. I guess its cool where it ended and opens the possibility of other stories hopefully not by by Gerry Duggan i feel like he completely blew a story that was headed in a cool direction. Deodato Jr. art is good but man i cant stand how he draws alot of faces.

[Nicholas Kotar]

DNF. I went into this cold, with no experience of the comics outside the movies. If Jim Starlin's Infinity Gauntlet actually tries to account for newbies and reads well enough, even if you have no idea who's who, this one presupposes that you know a lot. Plus, I just couldn't get into the story. The artwork is truly amazing, though.

[Wadi Hisham · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started off strong but then it lost me along the way. It was still a fun enough read but the plot was all over the place and a whole bunch of stuff was explained poorly.
Also, whatever did happen to Doctor Strange?

I give it 'Yeah, it was alright but could've been a lot better' out of 10.

[Adam Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

This tale is epic in reach and consequence, therefore the review must be as well! SPOILERS ABOUND.... (and thanks to the Marvel Wiki for helping me with this review)

Loki embarks on a journey to the God Quarry with Flowa, in order to investigate a book with a story involving him. When he reaches the God Quarry, its guardians, The Coven, burst into flames announcing that "infinity's end is here!" Just then, a portal hurls a counterpart of Loki (who is worthy of Mjolnir and possesses the Infinity Stones of his reality), who warns him that he won't be able to breach into the "original universe" without them, or have any hopes of winning against Requiem and Devondra. Though confused, Loki sets out to find the Infinity Stones.

On Earth, Doctor Strange (holding the Time Stone) convenes the Infinity Watch: Warlock (Soul), Turk Barrett (Mind), Black Widow (Space), Star-Lord (Power, or so he thinks), Captain Marvel (Reality) to arrange the safekeeping of the Infinity Stones. Strange attempts to observe Thanos' whereabouts (knowing that where the Infinity Stones are, he’s there causing trouble) and is surprised to find him dead. Requiem arrives and demands the Infinity Stones. Carrying a sword with the real Power Stone on the hilt, Requiem reveals herself to be Gamora, who also is the murderer of Thanos. Surprised by Gamora's behavior, Star-Lord tries to reason with her, but she “kills him” (he's actually saved from dead by Doctor Strange, using the Time Stone). Strange gets the Mind Stone from Turk Barrett, promising riches and power.

Captain Marvel flies away with Gamora to try to stop her, but Gamora steals the Reality Stone from her and uses it to trick the heroes into believing she's Captain Marvel and that Marvel is Gamora. Captain America notices the ruse after Doctor Strange restrains Captain Marvel, but Gamora uses Reality to fuse him and Strange together, claiming both the Time and Mind Stones. Gamora then decapitates Warlock, and the heroes try to get the Soul Gem. However, she uses the Time Stone to freeze time, grabs the Soul Stone, and steals the Space Stone from Black Widow, completing the collection. Gamora then sets out to rebalance the Soul Gem (after collecting the missing piece of herself, making her whole again), declaring that Devondra, the devouring creature at the heart of Soul World, must feed.

At this point, Loki approaches Gamora with Flowa, and offers her his counsel. Reading his mind, she learns of his visit to the God Quarry and sets out (with Flowa) to investigate the boundary at the Quarry of Creation. As a means to neutralize any possible opposition, and to feed Davondra, Gamora uses the Infinity Stones to trap all the inhabitants of the universe in a pocket universe called Warp World (I’ll call WW) located inside Soul Gem, merging every person with another, effectively cutting down the number of souls in the universe by half. This results in the creation of many particular inhabitants inside WW, including Iron Hammer, Soldier Supreme, Weapon Hex, Arachknight, and Ghost Panther (See my review of Infinity Warps).

Loki is also trapped inside WW, so he tries to enlist the help of Diamond Patch (Wolverine/Emma Frost) to find Adam Warlock to prevent the doom of both Warp World and the real world. He deduces that if Gamora has copied the entire universe and installed it into the Soul Stone, Diamond Patch theorizes a set of Infinity Stones must also exist in Soul World. Since he has the knowledge he will one day wield the Phoenix Force, Diamond Patch sends his future self a telepathic message in a bottle, resulting in the Phoenix-empowered Wolverine from The End of Time arriving to help Loki and Diamond Patch. He gives them the WW Power Stone, and splits Diamond Patch back into Logan and Emma Frost before leaving. In an adjacent reality, WW Phyla-Vell and WW Moondragon confront Requiem and escape to the Prime Marvel Universe after failing to take her down.

Leaving Logan behind, Emma helps Loki recruit other individuals he deems uniquely suited to wield an WW Infinity Stone. When Gamora read Loki's mind before creating WW, Loki specifically imagined the people he needed in his journey mashed together so that she would subconsciously create them and unwittingly facilitate their location. These people are Ms. Kang (Ms. Marvel/Kang the Conquerer), and Little Monster (Ant-Man/Hulk). Using their combined powers, Emma and Loki split them into their original four. After assembling the team (unofficially called the Cosmic Avengers), Loki finds Adam Warlock (now resurrected) and attempts to get his help to escape Soul World, but he insists they need to fight Davondra. Emma rallies numerous merged heroes to help Warlock as the entirety of WW becomes infested by manifestations of the creature. One of the heroes that answers Emma's call is a seemingly normal saxophone player who is actually Drax the Destroyer (more about that later).

In the real world, Gamora finds an impenetrable barrier bellow the Quarry of Creation. She tries to breach out of the universe but she can't, and is soon confronted by the Council of Watchers.
While the heroes of WW fight Devondra, Loki's team find the rest of the WW Infinity Stones. Loki divides the stones between his team based on each person's individual talents, since a wielder's mastery over the aspect of a certain Infinity Stone allows them to unlock the full power of another.
WW Phyla-Vell and WW Moondragon confront Gamora for the actions of their universe's Requiem. Joined by Loki and his team, they use the WW Infinity Stones to defeat Gamora, snatching from her several of the Stones from the set in her possession. Then, Loki pickpockets Ant-Man and Ms. Marvel, making a complete set of Infinity Stones (although not all from the same universe). He sends Gamora, WW Phyla-Vell and WW Moondragon into Soul World and escapes through the barrier in the bottom of the Quarry of Creation. He finds himself in another universe, with Celestials being surrounded by countless Infinity Stones. In the meantime, in Soul World, Arthur Douglas (the saxophone player mentioned earlier) is recruited by Peet (Groot/Star-Lord) to join the battle against Devondra.

Loki confronts the Celestials and is directed to a mirror to see his future. He laughs and, disenchanted, returns to the Quarry of Creation. Having used the power of his merged set of Infinity Stones to render inert the surplus ones, he hands them over to the Cosmic Avengers and leaves with Flowa , deducing that it was the actions of his future self, who tried to change the past to prevent himself from breaching out of the universe.

In WW, Peet reunites the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Cosmic Avengers return to WW and Hulk uses the Space Stone to create a black hole to destroy Devondra. Warlock uses the Soul Stone to return the Guardians to normalcy, and splits WW's Arthur Douglas, revealing that he had already been merged with himself, possessing two souls, one corresponding to his human self and another to Drax the Destroyer. Warlock directs the stone-wielders to bring back the regular universe, while keeping Warp World intact in a facet of the Soul Stone per the wishes of Soldier Supreme. Arthur and Drax decide to sacrifice themselves, staying in WW to hold open a portal so that Warlock and the other heroes can safely return home. When they do, Warlock teleports Gamora somewhere she can start on a path of redemption, and she finds herself taking a younger and amnesiac Magus under her wing. Warlock makes a tough decision, deciding to give each Infinity Stone their own soul, allowing them to dictate their own destiny. All the stones fly away (reminded me of the Dragon Balls, including Soul, much to Warlock's surprise since he expected it to remain by his side.
In the aftermath, Arthur Douglas is living a happy life with his wife Yvette in WW, and the warped heroes that banded together to fight Devondra, officially joined forces to become the Defenders. Warlock ponders on the final fate of the Infinity Stones, expressing that he feels like a piece of himself is missing. AND… original Drax is back in 616, ready to reunite with Moondragon. (This finally solves the discrepancy that has been with Drax since the relaunch of the Guardians after the first movie became popular… and that had been bugging me!)

Will this live in infamy as much as the Original Infinity Gauntlet story? Probably not, but that doesn't make it any less amazing. A great crossover, and wrapped up a bunch of storylines, as well as started some new ones.

Strong Recommend.

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

The infinity stones exist. People want the infinity stones for some nefarious purpose. Marvel Comics has a history of this being the case. And now at the peak of Gerry Duggan's good-ish Guardians of the Galaxy run we have our big finale in which a bunch of people want to use the infinity stones and come to the realization that the infinity stones are powerful. Also there is some bizarre weird reality/universe for half a second. And some generally good art from Mike Deodato Jr. that over the course of the series quickly turns into a rushed mess that's awful to look at as the deadlines have caught up to him and all his lead time has disappeared.

There's some funny bits of humour. There's some heart-warming moments with characters like Drax doing some (literal) soul-searching. But at the heart of it this is a boring worthless event that never really does anything other than sit there going "yeah the infinity stones are crazy powerful and weird right?" while setting up some status quos that who knows if they'll ever pan out to anything. Gerry Duggan's whole Guardians of the Galaxy run has been leading up to this and the run is incomplete without it but with it you get such a sour ending that you'll probably dislike the run as a whole. It's a shame! Duggan's run was promising and was easily better than the Brian Micahel Bendis run that preceded it but it's still a jumbled mess I wouldn't recommend diving into.

[Brian Poole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Infinity Wars suggests that Marvel is trapped on a “Big Events” wheel and doesn’t know how to make a graceful exit.

The Infinity Stones are back. Again. Lots of people want them and through a series of poor decisions on the heroes’ part, the shadowy Requiem acquires all of them, with the intention of rewriting reality. Starting with “folding” half of the universe in on itself, resulting in a “Warp” universe that exists inside the Soul Gem (featuring mash-ups of well-known characters). But Loki has a plan and working with an unlikely band of heroes and villains, gives the heroes the opportunity to save the universe. Again.

It would be easy to be overly harsh about Infinity Wars and lump it in with the absolute duds in Marvel’s portfolio. The fact is, it’s a not bad series, decently written by Gerry Duggan, with some beautiful, atmospheric art from Mike Deodato, Jr. (working with colorist Frank Martin). There are flaws, to be sure, and if it feels like this is a story you’ve read two or three times before, it’s because you have. In part, that goes to the heart of Marvel’s “Event” problem.

More so than its competition, Marvel is addicted to the Event cycle, a seemingly non-stop pipeline of deliberately “BIG” stories that intend to unite a cross-section of the publisher’s characters in a high stakes crisis with allegedly major ramifications for the whole line to follow. Except that when the publisher throws one Event after another at its readers, the creative result is a prime example of the law of diminishing returns. There’s nothing wrong with Infinity Wars; if you’d never read a Marvel event before you might be impressed. But for fans who have been around, it can’t help but feel like an exercise in formula, which is a disappointment when considering the talent involved.

Infinity Wars tags in elements like the Infinity Stones, Thanos, wiping out half a universe and a bunch of prominent heroes (with some oddball choices mixed in) uniting to save the day. There are deaths, of course (though most don’t even stick for an entire issue); a couple major characters are taken off the board, while others are returned and still others get a “new” status quo. Seeds are planted for future stories. Some of which will be all but ignored as Marvel rushes headlong toward its next Event, as the frequency between them becomes shorter and shorter. The biggest new element, the Infinity Warps, was a non-event, really. These character mash-ups were touted before Infinity Wars, but didn’t really land with much impact. The climax was a confusion of comic book logic tropes, though the twist given to the oft-misused Infinity Stones could make them more interesting when next they pop up.

Character work is almost beside the point here. The identity of Requiem will come as no surprise, unless you’ve never read a comic book before. But then, it’s not clear that was supposed to be a big mystery. Loki gets some nice moments, but the heroes mostly come off as dumb and reactive. It’s an odd beast.

That comes down to another reality surrounding Infinity Wars: it’s more a cross-media promotional tool than anything else. At its heart, this series was really a Guardians of the Galaxy arc that Marvel ballooned up into an Event to align with the 2018 release of the Avengers: Infinity War movie. So the comic has a similar title, uses many of the same characters and focuses on the same MacGuffin. There’s a weight added to this story that it can’t inherently sustain. Had this been an arc in the regular GotG series, as it was originally intended to be, it would have been fine. But forced into trying to be something bigger due to the dictates of multi-media cross-promotion, it sags.

That’s not Duggan and Deodato’s fault. They turn in a perfectly fine story here. It’s just that it can’t help but come off as Marvel’s annual deck shuffle, intended to usher in a new branded marketing initiative and slew of new #1 issues.

The fans are part of the problem here. We all gripe about “Event Overload” and yet we all continue buying the Event books, which really doesn’t give Marvel an incentive to change its ways. From a business perspective, these Events are making money. And despite Marvel editorial’s various statements to the contrary, Infinity Wars is nothing more than the publishing line’s creative direction being subsumed by the business needs of its higher profile movie studio sibling.

That’s a reductive approach to publishing that sooner or later can only lead to a dead end. Instead, why isn’t Marvel trying to find the next organic hit? They should be building on successes like Tom King’s Vision or Donny Cates’ Thanos/Cosmic Ghost Rider, or distinctive winners like Immortal Hulk, Ms. Marvel or Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, books that have succeeded with fans and critics by doing something unique, demonstrating a genuine creative vision and interest in taking characters (and fans) somewhere different. Immortal Hulk is the perfect example of how a character that’s been around for almost six decades can still be used in an unexpected, some might even say groundbreaking, way that gets attention for all the right reasons. Fans certainly find that more satisfying than yet another iteration of a “plug the details into the formula” Event.

You don’t have to avoid Infinity Wars; take it on its own merits if you’re interested. But don’t feel you’re missing out on something vital if you skip it.

[Judah Radd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool as far as events go. Definitely brought be back to the 90s starlin era cosmic stuff. The art was superb. Some of the plot points were a big confusing, but I still enjoyed it overall.

[Brendan Leipelt · Rating 1 out of 5]

this sucked

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

https://youtu.be/cVLz4V4RFiA