The Infinity Crusade—Volume 1

Comic Info

The Infinity Crusade #2

Reprints Infinity Crusade #1-3, The Warlock Chronicles #1-3, and Warlock and Infinity Watch #18-19 (June 1993-September 1993).  When Warlock took the Soul Gem, he ejected both his good and evil sides.  His evil side the Magus had plans for the universe, but the heroes rose and stopped him…now it is the Goddess’s turn!  Appealing to the religious and peaceful nature of the universe, the Goddess intends to change life forever…but she might have alternative goals as well.  Warlock seeks out allies to bring down the Goddess while the heroes of Earth realize they might be fighting against their closest friends and allies.

Written by Jim Starlin, Infinity Crusade—Volume 1 is a Marvel Comics event series.  A sequel to Infinity War, the series features crossover through The Infinity Crusade, The Warlock Chronicles, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch with art by Ron Lim, Tony Raney, Angel Medina, and Tom Grindberg.  Issues in this collection were also included in the Infinity War Omnibus.

The Infinity Gauntlet was great.  The Infinity War was less so…and though I read it, I was done by The Infinity Crusade.  The summer after summer repeated events started to wear on me, and the need to read more comics to keep up with the storyline just didn’t work on a limited comic book budget.

The Warlock Chronicles #3

The Infinity Crusade isn’t as bad as some of the more modern series in that sense.  While the core series (The Infinity Crusade) does jump title to title, much of the storyline is understandable just reading The Infinity Crusade.  The stories in Warlock Chronicles and Warlock and the Infinity Watch help flesh out The Infinity Crusade, but you can probably still follow some of the story without reading them.

That being said, the story in The Infinity Crusade isn’t very rewarding.  I believe the most interesting aspect of the story is the idea of those (like Beast or Human Torch) that believed they were virtuous and believed in God yet they weren’t chosen by the Goddess.  This and the idea of if someone or something could suddenly stop war it could still be a bad thing are what works in The Infinity Crusade…but the other tedious storytelling is what flounders.

The art for the series is pretty indicative of the 1990s.  I love Jim Starlin’s space illustrations, but I wish he had provided the weird and wacky look for the series instead of the artists chosen (I’m guessing that was Starlin’s choice).  Ron Lim had a solid Silver Surfer style, but I still would have picked Starlin’s art any day for the main title.

Having The Infinity Crusade collected into one concise storytelling block helps.  You don’t have to worry about missing storylines and you get the whole story as Starlin largely intended, but the series is still ho-hum.  With half of the adventure finished in this volume, it doesn’t feel like much happened after the first issue…and doesn’t leave you looking forward to the next part.  The Infinity Crusade—Volume 1 is followed by The Infinity Crusade—Volume 2.

Related Links:

The Infinity Gauntlet

The Infinity War

Infinity Watch—Volume 1

Warlock by Jim Starlin:  The Complete Collection