The identity of Requiem is revealed, and the Guardians of the Galaxy will never be the same! Your Major Spoilers review of Infinity Wars #1 awaits!
INFINITY WARS #1
Writer: Gerry Duggan
Artist: Mike Deodato, Jr.
Colorist: Frank Martin
Letterer: VC’s Cory Petit
Editor: Jordan D. White
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: August 1, 2018
Previously in Infinity Wars: As the Infinity Stones come to Earth, so too comes the war for control over them. But none who wield the stones know the truth about the power they contain… or what it would take to bring them to their END. The nature of the universe itself hangs in the balance as we learn the answer to the question on everyone’s lips since ‘Infinity Wars Prime’: WHO IS REQUIEM?
A NEW INFINITY WATCH?
We open this issue in a dramatic fashion, with Gamora looking directly at the reader and intoning “A piece of me is missing.” She is referring to the dissolution of the GotG after their latest run-in with Thanos, and Star-Lord is too busying drinking himself into oblivion to really respond. Elsewhere, Doctor Strange has called a meeting of the possessors of the Infinity Gems Stones in the hopes of assembling a new Infinity Watch: The Black Widow, Star-Lord, Captain Marvel, Adam Warlock, Strange himself and… Turk Barrett of ‘Daredevil beats up a punk in a bar’ fame since 1970. Turk has actually brought his own coterie of mercenaries (including Bullseye, who wants to kill Black Widow, The Sandman, The Spot and more) to protect his interests, as he has no truck with all the heroism stuff. We get a glimpse of Loki meeting his own alternate self (who is more like our world’s Thor, amusing Loki to no end), we see that Thanos is pretty dead and suddenly, Requiem attacks! Worse still, Requiem loses her helmet to reveal the face of… Gamora!??
THE TURK BITS ARE A LOT OF FUN
Okay, first of all, the fact that they gave Turk an Infinity Stone is either hilarious or just awful, I can’t decide which, but at least they didn’t go with the Soul Gem. But most of this issue is the ol’ Sturm and Drang setup, as seen in a hundred crossover first issues before it, and Duggan does it well enough, hitting all the right notes. His Star-Lord is very much the one from the movies and the takes on Captain Marvel, Turk and Black Widow are solid as well. As for Deodato, his skills have really improved since 1996 and his facial expressions are of particular note here, with expressive faces and some really strong, subtle storytelling. When the battle breaks out, Deodato really shines, and the reveal of the face beneath Reqiuem’s helmet is excellent. The big problems with this issue, though, come in its familiarity: Readers of ‘Infinity Gauntlet’ will have some serious deja vu here, and of course, that big Marvel movie a few months ago also tread this territory as well. The second problem comes in the six dollar price tag. Though Deodato delivers the goods narratively, his use of big full-page spreads makes this feel like less content than the average $3.99 book at nearly twice the price.
BOTTOM LINE: THE SHOCK ENDING WORKS, BUT IT’S ALL FAMILIAR TERRITORY
In short, this is an issue with much to offer in terms of story and dynamic art, but one that gets hamstrung by the familiarity of this the story elements and by being a bit pricey, but Infinity Wars #1 isn’t a bad book at all, and if you haven’t read previous takes on this story, it has the capacity to excite readers, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. Even if you’re a jaded old jerk like me, seeing the dramatic death on the last page is well-done and I’m still smirking about the whole Turk subplot. (If they’d tried to use him instead of The Hood in those “new Kingpin of Crime” tales a couple of years ago, I’d probably have liked that mess a lot more.)
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