Ininity - Marvel.... anyone ?

[Savant]

Also highly recommend Secret Warriors Omnibus. Fantastic run and totally ties into his FF and Shield series. Like I said it is ALL one story, we're just getting it pieces at a time

I received the Secret Warriors Omnibus a few days ago, and have been enjoying the hell out of it. Fantastic recommendation, it's more Hickman greatness. I also like Caselli's art. I glanced at some of the pages of the other main artist, Vitti, and don't care for the aesthetics. Hopefully, Vitti's artwork won't deter from the enjoyability of reading the book.

As for the writing.....I love the aspect of recruiting previously unknown legacy characters (The son of Doctor Druid, the son of Ares, etc...) .....I knew about the son of Ares due to his appearance in Dark Avengers, but this is fun stuff. I also love the machinations of Hydra, especially with Baron Von Strucker and the other leaders at the helm.

You mention this tying in with Hickman's FF & Shield runs. It also somewhat ties into his Avengers/Infinity run. I finally get to see the back-story on Manifold. Via his appearances in Hickman's Avengers, I assumed he was of some sort of African descent. I didn't realize he was an Australian Aborigine (Likely Arrernte, to be exact, if the region Hickman wrote them in is accurate), and tied in with Gateway. Certainly makes sense, given his powers.

After I finish Secret Warriors (As well as the first East Of West tpb), I'll try out Hickman's Shield series. I know the first Shield series is collected in HC & tpb form, but was the second series also collected, or will I have to buy the single issues?

[Savant]

I finished the Secret Warriors Omnibus around a week ago. I felt the story got kind of crappy midway through, which was when Vitti replaced Caselli for a bunch of issues. I disliked it not just due to the art, but the writing completely bored me through those middle chapters. It felt like a lot of filler.

When Caselli came back, it good good again, and even when Vitti, and a few others, permanently replaced Caselli for art chores after Caselli's second run on the book, it was still predominantly good.

Overall, an excellent omnibus that was mired with 7-10 dull chapters.

[lorddunlow]

Just caught up on Infinity, including this week's issues. Guardians of the Galaxy tying in nicely with Angela becoming involved in the whole mess. Nothing about this feels forced. It just seems like a ton of puzzle pieces all finally falling into place.

This whole thing I just plain fun. Very exciting stuff. Makes me feel like a kid again. However, it's deep and thought provoking at the same time. I love Hickman. Can't wait to see how it wraps up.

[Zaphod]

I am enjoying the cross-over. I am curious to see how it ends as it really has about 3 different stories all threading together. The story I am the most interested in would be having to do with the Builders wanting to destroy all of the Earths. It seems to me this is the initial salvo in that larger story. The Incursions of universes grown out of New Avengers seems to be the story that has the most legs.

I couldn't care about Thanos in this story, he isn't the main character and is essentially a tool being used for bigger machinations.

[Zaphod]

hmmmmmm

[lorddunlow]

It wraps up today. I'm very excited!

[Zaphod]

It wraps up today. I'm very excited!

yeah, that is what my "hmmmmmm" is referencing. It seems like a rushed ending, rushed art (though still good, Cheung's art is very BWS-esque.

Not one major death in this "war" will hurt this story in the long run, imo.

[lorddunlow]

Clearly the New Avengers storyline seems to be the endgame here, so I guess the whole story will be told in its next issue and beyond. I hate that once again, Marvel has just rolled this storyline into another title/event. There is still the matter of Angela, the other universes, Galactus in the Ultimate Universe, etc. that will have to be dealt with. I guess we shall see.

Overall, I have thoroughly enjoyed this event.

[Phoenix8008]

I've missed a few issues and I'm waiting to get them before re-reading through the whole thing. What I've seen so far has been good though. I'm wondering now if the fall of Atillan is what is being referenced in the begining of Issue #1 of Avengers when it was looking back from the future with the monologue about "It was before the fall... it was before" this, that, and so forth. If so, it's another step towards whatever present that monologue was speaking from. Hickman said he had a 3 year plan for these two titles, so I'm interested to see where it goes still.

[Zaphod]

I've missed a few issues and I'm waiting to get them before re-reading through the whole thing. What I've seen so far has been good though. I'm wondering now if the fall of Atillan is what is being referenced in the begining of Issue #1 of Avengers when it was looking back from the future with the monologue about "It was before the fall... it was before" this, that, and so forth. If so, it's another step towards whatever present that monologue was speaking from. Hickman said he had a 3 year plan for these two titles, so I'm interested to see where it goes still.

I went back to re-read A(5) #1 and no, that doesn't reference Attilan at all.

"As it happened before the light" - The White event
"Before the War" - Infinity - Builders vs Galactic Council and/or GC vs Thanos army in the battle for Earth.
"And Before the Fall" - the panel shows 4 different Iron Man suits all laying in a wasteland of destruction so I guess we are getting a new Armor Wars?

I enjoyed Infinity but it was a misnomer. The Infinity Gems/Gauntlet really had nothing to do with it. Thanos was a bit player in the story, in fact he was little more than a tool used to destroy Attilan, introduce Thane and really...what else?

The storytelling is much better than 'Operation: Galactic Storm' but the over-all impact to the status quo of the Avengers doesn't seem to be. Over-all I am disappointed in the story. The grand scale of most of it was intense but it had very little, if any character development.

[Tim]

Just finished it. And went back and re-read the whole thing (and the Avengers and New Avengers run leading up to it) and with exception of a few moments still found it to be a dull, pointless, utter waste of time. I guess it just shows that the Marvel Universe at large is no longer the place for me.

Make mine Valiant!!!