In 1991, Jim Starlin, George Perez and Ron Lim brought us the saga of the Infinity Gauntlet, a battle in which much of the world was killed, Adam Warlock was resurrected, and Thanos achieved the godhood he’d always been wanting. Twenty-five years later, that cosmic battle is about to start raging again… Major Spoilers review of The Infinity Entity #1 awaits!
THE INFINITY ENTITY #1
Writer: Jim Starlin
Penciler: Alan Davis
Inker: Mark Farmer
Colorist: Jordan Boyd
Letterer: VC’s Joe Sabino
Editor: Tom Brevoort with Wil Moss
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Previously in Infinity Entity: “Adam Warlock was created by Earth scientists as an artificial “perfect” human. For some time, he explored the cosmos, occasionally allying himself with heroes such as the Infinity Watch and the Guardians Of The Galaxy. He had a dark side, however, and eventually, in order to prevent his evil self, The Magus, from permanently taking over, he convinced Star-Lord to kill him. Recently, the Adam Warlock of an alternate reality was reborn in this reality with the help of Thanos, who has been both and ally and an enemy of Adam over the years. This alternate reality Adam has been reborn with vast power and knowledge, as he contains the energy of his former reality within him… But he does not fully realize just how powerful he has become…”
ONE MORE TIME, BACK TO THE WELL
I’m a big fan of Starlin’s classic run on Warlock, especially the soul-searching drama and epic monologuing that came with Adam’s classic comic tales. I’m less impressed by ‘The Infinity Gauntlet,’ mostly because expanding the cast added far too many voices for my taste, and each successive Infinity iteration has added even more heroes. This issue starts with a sequence that gives me hope, as Adam Warlock travels through space and time, encountering the Big Bang, which destroys his physical form. Warlock rebuilds his body, but his memory still has more holes in it than Albert Hall, and he sets off to find some friends he vaguely remembers. Adam arrives at Avengers Mansion, but quickly discovers that his friends don’t know him at all. (This, coincidentally, is because he arrives in the middle of 1963’s issue #2, with a brand-new team of inexperienced Avengers having their first official meeting. None of them known him because he hasn’t met them yet.) After some senseless fighty-fighty, Warlock seeks out the Guardians Of The Galaxy, arriving just in time to save Gamora from a fatal wound. As the issue closes, he finds that his travels have attracted attention, as he is confronted by the cosmic creature known as The In-Betweener…
SOME LOVELY ART TO BE HAD
Farmer and Davis deliver some wonderful art in these pages, and it’s wonderful to see them tackling the original Avengers, as Davis seems to love drawing three-toed Hulk, bulky gold Iron Man, pointy-headed Wasp and company. The depiction of the Big Bang is quite well-done as well, but I’m not a fan of Warlock’s current uniform, with its odd knot-symbol and strange pink coloration. Of course, I’m not 100% sure that it actually *IS* pink, as the coloring throughout the issue is weirdly muted and desaturated, making me wonder if Adam’s suit is meant to be red. (Gamora and Drax’s skin tones are paler shades of green, making me wonder if somebody turned down the contrast in the whole issue.) Starlin’s angsty existentialism is here as well, but it hasn’t aged nearly as well as I’d hoped, and the plot is kind of a nonsensical series of events designed to give us cameos by the big-name teams. (It’s truly weird to use that phrase regarding Star-Lord and the GoTG, even three years into their new, higher profile.) In short, while the issue looks really good, the story doesn’t have the power to grab me the way old-school Warlock did and still does…
THE BOTTOM LINE: NOT AS ENGAGING AS IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN
Given that this series is designed to serve as a bridge between two graphic novels (‘The Infinity Relativity’ and ‘The Infinity Finale’), and this is but chapter one, there’s still a chance that it could grab me the way the best Warlock of years past has. But, based entirely on what is here, The Infinity Entity #1 ends up being a crowded story, maddeningly vague in its events, and feeling very disjointed in execution, admittedly with very strong art, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. I really want to love this, but an accumulation of small flaws affects my reaction to this story…
[taq_review]