Review: Infinity Crusade Vol. 2

Quick Summary

Pros: The main narrative is entertaining all the way through and gives a satisfying conclusion to this saga. The suspense, in particular, is well written. The themes developed here are just as they were before. The artwork looks great in most places.

Cons: A few of the minor storylines are just mediocre. Some of the artwork comes across as a little lackluster.

Overall: The conclusion to the Infinity Crusade event and the Infinity Saga wraps up this era nicely. This volume tells a thrilling story, filled with tons of suspense, that delivers a finale fans will find satisfying. This is backed up by some nice-looking visuals and by some interesting themes. Though there are a few places where the quality of the read drops, these lows are infrequent and are overshadowed by the collection’s highs. Anyone who enjoyed the first volume in this event should continue reading here.

Story

Infinity Crusade Vol. 2, by Jim Starlin, brings an exciting and satisfying conclusion to the Infinity Crusade event. The narrative here is every bit as thrilling, interesting, and meaningful as it was in the event’s first half. It deals with daring brushes with death, clever planning from the heroes, and a well-thought out conclusion to the entire adventure. Along the way, the narrative raises questions about religious extremism, self-destructive personalities, and the nature of good and evil. The only problem is that there are a few plots points, here and there, that don’t read as well as the rest of the collection. Luckily, the vast majority of the work is positive and works as a satisfying end to this era of Marvel’s cosmic history.

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Infinity Crusade starts out with some of its weakest plot points. Too much time is spent focusing on Pip’s power fantasies. This focus provides a moment of brevity but, by the time it shifts, the one joke feels overplayed. In addition, a little too much time is spent on the individual battles leading up to the Goddess’ final gambit, especially in the case of the Thor vs. Drax battle.

Luckily, outside of these few missteps, the rest of this event is great. The narrative retains all of the excitement and tension of the first volume. The Goddess still appears as if she is unstoppable but Adam Warlock seems to have some plan to counteract her actions. This keeps the reader in suspense all the way through, as it is never quite clear in what direction the narrative will head.

All of this leads to a fantastic finale that delivers on all of this pent-up suspense. At first, it appears as if the Goddess was successful in eliminating all life from the universe, which is displayed in a sequence that graphically describes a fiery end for all life. Then, it is quickly revealed that this was simply a ruse Adam Warlock utilized to distract her and shake the faith of her followers, a clever twist to defeat a nearly all-powerful villain. This then leads to an epic showdown on the spiritual plane, which ends in an equally epic victory for the heroes. By the end of the event, it feels like Adam and Thanos have done what earlier appeared to be impossible and have scored a major win for the universe as a whole.

Alongside being exciting, Infinity Crusade Vol. 2 continues to develop the unique themes started in the first volume. The book’s main message, a caution against religious extremism, develops well as the villain’s deception is revealed and the heroes are set free from her control. Meanwhile, Warlock goes through some serious self-evaluation that causes him to question whether denying his own emotions has been as beneficial as he once believed it to be. Finally, the collection takes a truly unique look at the concepts of good and evil by subverting them in a number of ways, with the sum total of Adam’s “good” nearly destroying the universe while the “evil” Thanos plays a significant role in saving it.

My only complaint here is that the assigning of masculine and feminine mental traits makes the psychological examination of Adam Warlock feel outdated. From a more modern perspective, this piece of the narrative reads like pseudo-psychology rather than something deeper.

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Art

The quality of the artwork in Infinity Crusade Vol. 2 ends up being about the same as the quality of the artwork in Infinity Crusade Vol. 1 (Review). Ron Lim, penciler; Al Milgrom, inker; and Ian Laughlin, colorist produce work that matches the crazy events and far-out locations seen throughout this collection. They produce pages where the action is bold and the structures help tell the story being told. In addition, more moody and dramatic work can be found in chapters from the Warlock Chronicles series. These chapters have a more realistic and serious flair to them that matches the subject material well.

While Infinity Crusade Vol. 2 shares many positives with its predecessor, it also shares a few negatives as well. There are chapters from the Warlock and the Infinity Watch series where the artwork drops in quality and the depictions of the characters come across way too exaggerated. In addition, there are a few times when a change in art style from one chapter to the next makes it hard to tell if the characters are in the same place they were in before. In the end, the visuals are mostly positive throughout this collection but do manage to disappoint in a few places.

Continuity

Infinity Crusade Vol. 2 continues the story from Infinity Crusade Vol. 1 (Review).

This event has a number of tie-ins relating back to it. These tie-ins are explained in our “Infinity Crusade Reading Order“.

The immediate aftermath of Infinity Crusade is felt most directly through the Warlock and the Infinity Watch series.

This event is also a part of the “Infinity Trilogy” series of events. See our reading order for the trilogy here.

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

• Infinity Crusade serves as the final chapter in a trilogy of events, with the first two being Infinity Gauntlet (Review) (Reading Order) and Infinity War (Review) (Reading Order). As such, the activities of these first two events are mentioned quite often.
• Many events from Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1-17 are referenced throughout this comic. These issues are collected in Infinity Watch Vol. 1.
• The Magus previously manifested within Warlock over the course of Marvel Masterworks: Adam Warlock Vol. 2 (Review).
• It is mentioned that Thor seems like he is “insane”. He started to succumb to “warriors madness” around Thor #460.