Review: New Avengers Vol. 2- Infinity
Quick Summary
Pros: The main storyline is full of tension and suspense, which often lead to exciting moments of action. The doomsday themes of the first volume return and are developed even further. The artwork still looks great and matches the book’s overall tone.
Cons: Reading only this volume leaves out key details that are necessary to understanding this collection.
Overall: This is a solid story whose only problems are derived from the way in which this volume is collected. The main storyline is exciting and reads well. It also features a ton of development on the characters and themes present in the first volume. However, actions occurring outside of this collection are left unexplained and can easily cause confusion for anyone unfamiliar with the stories that this collection ties into. This is still an entertaining story and a solid continuation to the New Avengers’ dilemma but is better if experienced in full.
Story
New Avengers Vol. 2: Infinity is tense, exciting, and well-written from beginning to end. It further develops a variety of interesting concepts from the previous volume and even manages to introduce more concepts, ones that will clearly come into play as the series progresses. However, the way in which this particular volume intersects the Infinity (Review) events is not detailed well within this collection. It leaves out portions of the event that are crucial to understanding the Illuminati’s struggle and is sure to cause plenty of confusion in readers who are not reading the full event. This is still a good story all on its own but is much better when read in full, the way it is presented in Infinity (Review).
(spoilers start here)
New Avengers: Infinity is every bit as tense and exciting as its predecessor. It has the Illuminati simultaneously defend the Earth against an invasion from Thanos and an incursion in the Multiverse. At every moment, it seems that total disaster is just over the horizon and that the heroes are about to be completely overrun by their enemies. However, watching them prevail makes the adventure exciting and provides an awesome release valve for the level of tension found here.
This volume also continues the theme that its predecessor started, showing what happens to heroes that are forced to sacrifice everything for the greater good. The members of the Illuminati have now destroyed friendships, lost powerful positions, and compromised their own moral standards all in the hope that it will help save the universe as a whole. The volume even hints that the Illuminati may soon have to make a choice about whether or not to sacrifice the Earth itself, which would be very interesting to see. Overall though, watching the members of the Illuminati evolve is fascinating and makes for some tense reading.
The volume also ends in a way that opens up the future even further than it had before. Black Swan teases the possibility of enemies that are even more powerful than the one the Illuminati have already gone up against, including Mapmakers, Black Priests, and the Sinnu Sarrum. These threats are completely unknown entities, yet the way they are presented here makes them seem terrifying already. Essentially, the final few pages of this volume remind readers that the future is going to be even more difficult for the heroes.
The only major problem with New Avengers: Infinity is the way it is collected here. This volume only shows a small piece of a much larger storyline. The first half of the collection does a great job in summarizing the missing story pieces, but the second half does not. It omits key story elements from the summaries; for example, Thanos’s fight with Black Bolt and his capture are not shown or even summarized at any point. This is can easily cause a lot of confusion for anyone unfamiliar with this entire storyline. For this reason, this story reads much better when viewed in full, through the Infinity (Review) collection, rather than the way it is viewed here.
(spoilers end here)
Art
The artwork in New Avengers: Infinity provides a wonderful complement to the storytelling. Mike Deodato’s work here looks great and depicts the characters and backgrounds with a great level of detail. His work here also does a great job in emphasizing the tone of the story, making bleak moments feel even more desolate and giving hope to more optimistic moments. Frank Martin’s colors also help in setting the tone, as the colors here can range from muted and depressing to colorful and wonderous. All of this helps make the reading experience better and ensure that this volume does not disappoint when it comes to visuals.
Continuity
New Avengers Vol. 2: Infinity is part of the Infinity (Review) crossover event. This event continues story elements from Avengers Volume 3: Prelude to Infinity (Review) and the beginning of New Avengers Vol. 2: Infinity.
The main event ties in to all of Avengers Vol. 4: Infinity (Review) and the end of New Avengers Vol. 2: Infinity.
The story here continues in Avengers Vol. 5: Adapt or Die and New Avengers Vol. 3: Other Worlds.
This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:
- Beast’s transformation occurred in All New X-Men Vol. 1: Yesterday’s X-Men.
- Namor’s previous attack on Wakanda is referenced a number of times. This took place during Avengers vs. X-Men.
- During the events of this book, Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four are also on a trip though the universe. This trip began in Fantastic Four Vol. 1: New Departure, New Arrivals.
- The end of Iron Man Vol. 1: Believe (Review) explains Iron Man’s new armor.