Infinity 5, Avengers 22

Infinity 5
Hickman (w) and Opeña and Weaver (a) and Ponsor (c)

Thor and the Avengers have shown that the Builders can be broken and that message has resonated through the universe, giving the conquered worlds the inspiration they need to fight again. Though there are casualties throughout the universe, the resistance is overwhelmingly a success and many worlds realize the Avengers are to thank and, as a result, become "Avengers worlds." Cap and co are heartened by this but soon receive news from Gladiator that Earth is besieged by Thanos, so their celebration is cut short. Back on Earth, everything is coming up Thanos. His Black Order has secured Wakanda's Necropolis and the world-ending weapon therein, which they're able to activate by scouring the memories of the totally-still-alive Black Bolt (score! Except for the activation codes, that's a bummer). Meanwhile, the Ebony Maw has found Thane, son of Thanos, and immobilized him, delivering him unto Thanos. The Illuminati return to their world to find Wakanda in flames and the Necropolis invaded. Help is on the way, but will it come too late?

I really can't say enough about the pacing of this series. Every issue has felt like it's been worthwhile. You can't say that about too many events these days, yet every one of these seemed to have a structure to them and a piece of the story that was necessary for the whole event. Even insofar as it spanned to Avengers and New Avengers. Perhaps the scale of the story helped that; a story this big was bound to need this many parts, as it really is kind of two events wrapped into one (the Builders in the universe and Thanos on Earth). Still, I don't see that as a coincidence or a fault of the series by any means. It feels instead like really great planning and great execution. It's been a story worth telling and it's been told right. Every issue of Infinity, I've gone into the next wary that there won't be enough story to sustain. Now we enter the last issue with almost too much to tell. Of course, there are two Avengers issues between now and then (one reviewed NEXT) to help push the story along which will certainly help alleviate the burden on Infinity 6 (not to mention a post-Infinty New Avengers issue to wrap up the whole event for good, presumably). Really looking forward to seeing how this goes. There are plenty of events (one ending this week, in fact) that I cannot say that about.

Avengers 22
Hickman (w) and Yu and Alanguilan (a) and Gho w/ Curiel (c)

The Avengers have beaten the Builders back and earned the respect and admiration of the universe in the process, putting them in a rather unfamiliar place as they head back home. It's a good place to be in, though, especially as they'll need help when they get back home in defeating Thanos and his army. We see a little bit of what's going on within the Avengers' ranks as we discover a relationship between Cannonball and Smasher, met with confusion by Sunspot. We also see Manifold, who has played a huge role and is undoubtedly the unsung hero of this whole event, trying to come to terms with what's happened recently. It's easily the biggest event he's been involved in and he's having some trouble making sense of it. The Captains America and Marvel try to downplay it a bit, attempting to remove any sense of fate or faith or destiny attached to it, though Thor comes in and does exactly the opposite, which seems to calm Manifold a bit. Meanwhile, a strike team hits Titan to knock out any reserve troop Thanos might have. There's not too much waiting in the wings but it serves to let Thanos know that they're coming, a message they're not afraid to send.

It's hard not to assign action-adventure tropes to stories like these and a couple, in particular, shine through that make me a little worried about the fate of some of these characters. The Avengers, for their part, have not really lost much of anyone in their time in space, a tremendous outcome considering how total the threat was. Now they return home and will all be very clearly on the front lines. There are no more guerrilla style attacks, no more plotting and quick strikes. This is going to be a straight assault (though, admittedly, with a sneak-attack part of the plan) and it could very well cost the Avengers. It seems events don't happen without some death being attached to them so be prepared. The tropes I was hinting at, by the by, were the idea of the relationship that's developed here, the idea of the two best pals (I've been predicting a Sunspot or Cannonball death since the start of this event and the relationship between Cannonball and Smasher seems only to strengthen that argument), and the idea of the young, tired secret weapon who questions the meaning of it all. Okay, that one's a little more specific. I guess my fear for Eden is that he had so many lines this issue. It's like watching Lost or the The Walking Dead; the moment someone has above average lines, you know they're about to go down. Of all of those mentioned, Eden's the one I want to lose least so this one strikes a particular fear-chord (that's a thing, right? Fear-chords?). Nice to see a little bit more character from the smaller characters here (though I'm still constantly surprised to see Shang-Chi there, maybe we should highlight him some more?) but it comes with the distinct fear that at least one or two of them (or maybe more) are being built up to be killed next time out.