Infinity Countdown #1 Review

Since both Bendis and Alonso are now gone from Marvel Comics, and with new EIC C.B. Cebulski on board, I figured I would give the latest Marvel Cosmic(?) event a try.

Now I’m no fan of Duggan, but his work here does come off decent enough; however, I did find a lot confusing.

Is Infinity Countdown a tie-in to the MCU? Is it a prequel to The Avengers: Infinity War movie?

Star-Lord sort of looks like Chris Pratt, the Milano ship from James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy is even there, and so is (Muppet) Baby Groot.

In addition, the book features the Infinity Stones and not Jim Starlin’s Infinity Gems, so I guess this must take place within the MCU.

So for a tie-in book to the MCU aimed at the general audience, I guess it isn’t that bad.

Now if I’m going to review it from the perspective of a comic book fan, Infinity Countdown #1 is good at times and downright awful.

If you look back over the book, you will notice that both the art and writing NOT featuring MCU characters is done well; however, any time the book tries to adapt, mimic or whatever they hell they are trying to do from the MCU–it’s horrible! Both Duggan’s writing and Kuder’s art goes back-and-forth between being semi-epic (or having the potential to be) to being goofy. It’s almost like watching a movie where you know they used two different scripts.

All the Guardians’ dialogue is cringe-inducing as is Nova’s speech. One thing the previous team (Abnett) excelled at was the dialogue. Infinity Countdown #1 seems at best a wannabee version of DnA’s work, and 7-8 years later it features the same plot and elements (so why isn’t Abnett writing this, then?).

And regarding the Nova Corps, when did ALL the Nova Corps get promoted to Nova Prime? They ALL have the Nova Prime rank on their helmets. Here’s a tip: check out the Nova Prime Page for the proper use. Designating the Nova Corpsmen’s rank in the comic enables the reader to know the difference between the characters otherwise they all end up looking like Richard Rider Nova. 

So why is Ant-Man in this title?

Ant-Man and every other street level character should stay the hell away and off of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The book finishes with Black Widow (ughh…), and I see the tie-in books also feature Daredevil and the awful Champions characters (lol).

How about Duggan, editor Jordan White, Brevoort and Cebulski go back and read Annihilation, which is a Marvel COSMIC event done right? I suppose I can’t blame Cebulski too much for this hack-job as he just came on board. I’ll also add that Duggan and Kuder probably aren’t to blame either as the Marvel Comics editors have forced the MCU garbage upon us comic book readers.

Cebulski needs to get the MCU out of the pages of the comics ASAP.

The MCU stuff takes away from the creativity of the comics, and the MCU fans don’t even read the comics. Otherwise Alonso would still have a job.