Comic Review: Infinity Wars #2

Infinity Wars #2

Marvel Comics

Writer: Gerry Duggan

Artist: Mike Deodato Jr.

Requiem has confronted the Infinity Watch and proved she would do anything to get the soul stone. Now she is taking every one of the six Infinity Stones from the watch in order to claim the soul stone. There is a lot of fun use of the stone’s power in this issue. This chapter also adds a good amount of mystery for future issues within the story as well. While this conflict hardly feels like it has reached a full war (or wars) yet, it is a great starting battle.

One of the things that Infinity Wars has done well is include all levels of heroes in the story. Turk’s involvement is a good example of this. He shows us what a simple man would do when given power equivalent to a God. He is motivated to take care of only himself. Turk relents when he realizes he is in over his head.

The Guardians and Captain Marvel are veterans of galactic affairs. The galactic heroes use brute force to try and stop the threat of the stones. Meanwhile Doctor Strange relies on trickery to try and hide the stones. Duggan does a good job of thinking out his story here. This chapter, more so then previous issues, seems to have a focus that is very promising.

It is hard to say if this tale can reach the epic proportions of Infinity stories of the past, but it does have some solid roots to get there. If the Requiem identity has not been revealed to you yet, I will not spoil it here. I will say, however, that I think many will find take issue in the motivations and behavior of the character. I would say it seems out of place if you had not been reading the two series All-New Guardians of the Galaxy series and Infinity Countdown. If you have, the reveal will be a lot less surprising.

Mike Deodato Jr and Frank Martin handle the art for this issue. Deodato is very strong when it comes to displaying emotion in the characters’ faces. Each character has an exaggerated look that highlights what the character is expressing.  The experimentation with page layouts and the choice in angles that Deodato uses does make me question if he is the artist for this book. Character actions can sometimes be confusing or just displayed in a way that is not ideal.

The pages of the comic look beautiful. Deodato does not have a cinematic feel to his storytelling. The art falls more into an abstract category. This style works really well for magic and cosmic displays. Moments such as Doctor Strange stealing Turk temporarily in another realm look terrific. The fight between the heroes and the villains paid to guard Turk less so.

Overall I think this has put the series (and I include Infinity Countdown) back on track. This issue sets precedence for the heroes going forward with a more action-oriented chapter. I think readers will look forward to what comes next because of how much enjoyment you can get out of this issue. I would give it a recommendation.