Comic Review: Infinity Countdown #5

Infinity Countdown #5

Marvel Comics

Writer: Gerry Duggan

Artist: Mike Hawthorne

When Infinity Countdown first started the series felt like a continuation of the story presented in All-New Guardians of the Galaxy. It was really good. The end of the Infinity Countdown series feels far more unfocused. I think when Duggan was given the okay to expand the scope of his story the removal of boundaries made him lose sight of the direction he was taking. There is still a Guardians tale at the heart of this book. Gamora is seeking the soul stone to replace a lost part of her own soul. The Guardians team is losing trust in each other. There is another story trying to compete with that tale, however, about a coming disaster involving the Infinity Stones.

If you have been reading the numerous one-shots and mini-series you get a bigger picture of what is going on. The Infinity Stones are making themselves known. Many different types of people are finding them. The range of people goes from street thug Turk to mystical Adam Warlock. The variation of people holding the stones is a cool idea. I think introducing how they got the stones could have happened in regular monthly series issues personally. Having the one-shot issues does make it easier for people that might not keep up with what is coming out to stay with the story so I can’t really fault Marvel in that.

Event problems are what makes this issue hard to stomach though. Characters bounce in and out of the story. Determining when this story takes place is hard when it does not fall into the various characters monthly title. Part of that problem is the inconsistent use of caption boxes to provide context. I have been reading a lot of the tie-in issues and it was still frustrating for me.

If the writers and artist are not communicating then you end up with noticeable details that derail your story. Doctor Strange is not wearing his new blue and white costume which made me wonder if anyone is even reading his series. The last page reveal was already introduced in the Champions tie-in making the reveal irrelevant. These small details may seem insignificant, but they help the story feel like part of a larger narrative.

This whole series has in fact been a countdown to the story Duggan wants to tell. The Infinity Countdown story could have been written into the connected monthly series. That would have given readers something to come back to later on. Marvel seems to forget that reading back issues is easier than ever. A quick caption telling us to check out certain issues would introduce readers to other series they might end up liking.

The art in this issue I mostly enjoyed. Minor costume mistakes aside, everyone looked good. There is some great detail in backgrounds. The art felt like an improvement over the last issue.

This series is the closing chapter of the story arc. Duggan could have handled the chapter better but it is decent. The story did leave me excited to see what will happen with the Infinity Stones from here. The concept of the stones powering each other was a neat idea. Having the keepers of the stones at different levels in the Marvel universe was also fun. I think there is a lot to enjoy here even if it is at times frustrating. The book still gets my recommendation.