Review: Convergence- Infinite Earths Book 1

Quick Summary

Pros: The JSA story is wonderful and works as a sendoff for these characters. Most of the other stories have their moments and offer something to the overall mix. The artwork ranges from alright to great.

Cons: The Huntress/Dick Grayson story is unappealing and poorly written.

Overall: This is a collection of stories with mostly moderate appeal, besides a few key exceptions. The majority of the stories here are alright; they spotlight a unique feature of the character they center around but are not overwhelmingly positive. The exceptions come from the JSA chapters, which are fantastic, and the Huntress/Dick Grayson chapters, which are bad. This book may appeal to fans of older comic characters, specifically the JSA, but might not appeal to readers simply looking for the best stories out there.

Story

Convergence: Infinite Earths Book 1 contains stories of just about every quality level; one is fantastic, one is bad, and the rest fall somewhere in the middle. Each of the stories offers a unique glance at the pre-Crisis world of Earth 2 and helps advance the stories of that era in some way. However, the only one that really stands out as something significantly worthwhile is the JSA story, which ends up being one of the absolute best Convergence (Review) tie-ins. The rest of the stories still offer something on their own but mostly just feel average in terms of quality. In the end, this book is alright, but isn’t anything that special.

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Infinite Earths Book 1‘s most significant positive is the Justice Society of America’s story, written by Dan Abnett. This story arc starts by showcasing the aging members of the JSA, most of whom are nowhere near fighting condition. Then, when they are forced to fight against invaders from another world, Doctor Fate blesses the group with one last burst of youthful energy. The resulting battle is an awesome celebration of the Golden Age of comic books and a wonderful sendoff for these classic characters. In the end, this is easily the best arc of this volume and also ends up being one of the best Convergence (Review) tie-ins in general.

Unfortunately, not every arc is as positive as the JSA’s. The Huntress/Dick Grayson storyline is fraught with erratic character decisions made simply to push the story forward. The arc even ends with Huntress apologizing for acting so irrationally but gives no real explanation behind her childish antics.

The rest of the book falls somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. The Infinity Inc. story is a solid comic about a young team taking its rightful place in the world, which works well with the conclusion of the JSA story. Meanwhile, the Superman/Power Girl and Seven Soldiers of Victory stories are entertaining examples of heroes rising up against seemingly overwhelming odds. Each of these stories offers something to the mix but, individually, they don’t stand out in the same positive way that the JSA’s story did.

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Art

The artwork in Infinite Earths Book 1 is pleasing overall and has a few standout chapters. The Huntress/Dick Grayson chapters, by Denys Cowan, look beautiful and make use of an interesting art style. Meanwhile, the JSA chapters, by Tom Derenick, have a wonderfully detailed look that matches the classic appeal of these particular heroes. It also helps that, unlike other tie-in books, there are almost no visually disappointing chapters in this book. Even the chapters that fail to stand out as something unique or as something significantly impressive, end up looking alright and contain very few moments that look strange. The entire collection is average at worst, making for a comic with sporadic visual positives but very few visual negatives.

Continuity

Convergence: Infinite Earths Book 1 contains multiple tie-in stories that are designed to accompany the Convergence (Review) event. These tie-ins all take place around the events of Convergence #1, part of which is shown in each of these stories.

The larger narrative surrounding the stories contained here is told through the rest of the Convergence (Review) event.

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• The protagonists from this volume are from the pre-Crisis world of Earth 2.
• Most of the antagonists from this volume are from the world of Superman: Red Son. Other antagonists include:
  • The members of the Dogs of War from the Hex comic series, currently uncollected.
  • The Weaponers of Qward from the pre-Crisis Antimatter Universe.
• The members of Infinity Inc. mention their origins and their fight with the Ultra-Humanite. This is explained in the first 12 issues of the Infinity, Inc. series, part of which is collected in Infinity Inc.: The Generations Saga Vol. 1.