Review: Convergence- Infinite Earths Book 2

Quick Summary

Pros: All of the stories here are entertaining and each one brings some appeal to the book as a whole. All of the stories also feel unique and stand out as something interesting. The artwork looks good in every chapter and gives the book some visual appeal.

Cons: The Booster Gold story lacks a bit of resolution.

Overall: This is a wonderful collection of stories and is, quite probably, the best collection of Convergence tie-in chapters. Each of the tales told here is exciting, interesting, unique, and visually appealing. This creates a compelling mix of stories that ensure the volume is worth reading all the way through. Anyone looking for good Convergence tie-ins or for good stories about classic comic characters should consider looking at this book.

Story

Convergence: Infinite Earths Book 2 may be the most consistently unique and entertaining of all the Convergence (Review) tie-in books. The stories contained here are all instantly enjoyable and contain adventures that are both exciting and well thought out. This leads to a interesting narrative with very few low-points. Plus, every story in this volume stands out in some way, allowing them to provide a more diverse reading experience than other Convergence tie-in books. Overall, this is a very entertaining book and is easily the best collection of material from this specific event.

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Infinite Earths Book 2 is packed to the gills with awesome tales that actually feel different and stand out in their own way. The first story brings back the original Captain Marvel for a story that feels as classic as his character. The second does the same thing for the Charlton Comics characters. The third completely breaks the mold set by previous Convergence (Review) tie-ins and is one of the most interesting stories of the bunch. The fourth centers around villains, rather than heroes, yet ends with a message that works just as well, if not better, than stories that ended with heroes. Finally, the volume’s last story spends most of its time building its unique world, rather than focusing on a generic fight. Each one of these stories does something different and does it in a way that helps this volume stand out as something unique, which is not something that can be said for all of the Convergence tie-ins.

These stories aren’t just unique for the sake of being unique though, they are also all highly entertaining on their own. Each one centers around a hard fought battle between two groups, giving the stories excitement and action. However, each of these battles is approached with intelligence and told in a way that makes sense, allowing each one to generate interest and keep that interest. Unlike other tie-ins, that focus on random action and erratic decision making to push the plot forward, all of the actions in this book make sense, which helps the volume solidify itself as something well worth reading.

The only real downside in this whole volume is that the Booster Gold story ends on a change in the status quo that does not get resolved in any other comic, as of right now. It is a great conclusion, but it leaves the readers on uncertain footing and doesn’t ever fix the problem.

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Art

The artwork in Infinite Earths Book 2, like the story, ends up being very appealing. Each of the chapters here are detailed by artists with talent and they manage to bring that talent to their specific chapters. No portion of this book ends up looking lackluster, as even the book’s worst chapters look good at minimum.

The visual highpoint of the book comes from the Captain Marvel chapters, drawn by Doc Shaner. This entire portion of the book is a gorgeous return to the classic feeling of the comic book Golden Age. The lines are sharp, the characters stand out, and pages are laid out in a way that allows the action to easily progress. After finishing this story, I was left wanting an entire series with this same aesthetic, so the visuals obviously had a lot of appeal.

Continuity

Convergence: Infinite Earths Book 2 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 many different worlds. This includes, in order:
  • The world of Earth-S, the location for the classic Captain Marvel comics.
  • The world of Earth-Four, the location for Charlton Comics stories.
  • A pre and post-Flashpoint Booster Gold
  • The world of Earth-Three, first introduced in Justice League of America #29, collected in Justice League of America: The Silver Age Vol. 3.
  • Earth-X, home of the Freedom Fighters, first introduced in Justice League of America #107, collected in Justice League of America: The Bronze Age Omnibus Vol. 1.
• The antagonists from this volume are from many different worlds. This includes, in order:
  • The world of the Batman: Gotham by Gaslight series, collected in Batman Elseworlds Vol. 1.
  • The Post-Zero Hour world of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
  • The future world of DC One Million.
  • The dystopian future of Futures End (Review) (Reading Order).
• Booster Gold’s story in this volume is a direct continuation of his story from Futures End: Booster Gold #1, currently only collected in the Futures End Omnibus.
• The Crime Syndicate’s first battle with the Justice League is mentioned here. This battle took place in Justice League of America #29, collected in Justice League of America: The Silver Age Vol. 3.