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will_cherico's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
ekansthepokemon's review against another edition
3.0
this one felt a little less focused and more ridiculous. decent storytelling, but at this point, the infinity trilogy just drags on until it finally ends
brenticus's review
3.0
Infinity Crusade caps off Adam Warlock's trippy consequences from Infinity Gauntlet with a gigantic brawl between Earth's mightiest heroes, led by the good half of Warlock expelled when he wore the gauntlet, and Earth's backup heroes, strung along by Thanos in a strange attempt to save the universe (again). Things start off with the Goddess collecting cosmic containment cubes - which the Magus used a few of in Infinity War to just about destroy reality - from various realities in order to brainwash everyone in the universe into helping her enact the rapture. Naturally, a bunch of vaguely religious or spiritually-inclined heroes get dragged into the brainwashing with the rest of the universe and go to an artificial planet to protect the Goddess while she does her thing.
Set against such heroes as Doctor Strange, Thor, and the Silver Surfer are basically all the weaker heroes plus Hulk and Drax. The odds are stacked against them, but they're pretty sure there's something fishy going on with the whole brainwashing-the-entire-universe thing so they set out to stop the Goddess. Thanos and Warlock, as usual, conscript them into an actual functional plan as cannon fodder and do their own thing to actually save the day while all our favourite heroes bumble around until the universe is saved.
The plot of Crusade pretty much proceeds along the same path as War did, except since the heroes are fighting their friends the stakes are a bit higher. On top of that, Thanos and Warlock are basically powerless before the Goddess and have to rely on a plan that carefully threads the needle to usurp her power at just the right moment to save reality. With the odds stacked so heavily against the good guys, I hope I'll be forgiven for actually wondering if they were going to succeed. Starlin does a great job of showing just how dangerous the situation is.
Like the rest of the Infinity Saga, the stars of the show are really Warlock and Thanos. Seeing Warlock brooding over how both the Magus and the Goddess, born from his evil and good emotions, respectively, continually put the universe at risk is pretty interesting. He keeps saving the universe, but his extreme emotions are the ones that try to end it. The dynamic isn't exactly original, but interesting for such a powerful character who used to be an almost literal god.
Thanos, much like his appearance in Infinity War, seems to have settled into this universe. He acts out of selfishness, wanting to preserve the reality he lives in, but in doing so he continually works to save the universe. There are quite a few interesting exchanges where Thanos shows himself to be developing into something of a hero, and actually makes impractical decisions because it's the morally right choice. At this point I really prefer comic Thanos over MCU Thanos; he's developed far beyond being the Mad Titan hell-bent on conquering the universe and fucking Death. He has an idea of what's important to him, what he wants to do, and in working to protect these things he's developing into something like a hero. It's certainly not unheard of for a villain to develop into a good guy, but the path Starlin took here was a good one.
There's a lot of good stuff mixed into this volume, and while a lot of the main plot beats are rehashed from Infinity War the way the characters have changed since then keeps the book from getting stale. If you're interested in this series, I definitely don't see a good reason to pass over Crusade.
Set against such heroes as Doctor Strange, Thor, and the Silver Surfer are basically all the weaker heroes plus Hulk and Drax. The odds are stacked against them, but they're pretty sure there's something fishy going on with the whole brainwashing-the-entire-universe thing so they set out to stop the Goddess. Thanos and Warlock, as usual, conscript them into an actual functional plan as cannon fodder and do their own thing to actually save the day while all our favourite heroes bumble around until the universe is saved.
The plot of Crusade pretty much proceeds along the same path as War did, except since the heroes are fighting their friends the stakes are a bit higher. On top of that, Thanos and Warlock are basically powerless before the Goddess and have to rely on a plan that carefully threads the needle to usurp her power at just the right moment to save reality. With the odds stacked so heavily against the good guys, I hope I'll be forgiven for actually wondering if they were going to succeed. Starlin does a great job of showing just how dangerous the situation is.
Like the rest of the Infinity Saga, the stars of the show are really Warlock and Thanos. Seeing Warlock brooding over how both the Magus and the Goddess, born from his evil and good emotions, respectively, continually put the universe at risk is pretty interesting. He keeps saving the universe, but his extreme emotions are the ones that try to end it. The dynamic isn't exactly original, but interesting for such a powerful character who used to be an almost literal god.
Thanos, much like his appearance in Infinity War, seems to have settled into this universe. He acts out of selfishness, wanting to preserve the reality he lives in, but in doing so he continually works to save the universe. There are quite a few interesting exchanges where Thanos shows himself to be developing into something of a hero, and actually makes impractical decisions because it's the morally right choice. At this point I really prefer comic Thanos over MCU Thanos; he's developed far beyond being the Mad Titan hell-bent on conquering the universe and fucking Death. He has an idea of what's important to him, what he wants to do, and in working to protect these things he's developing into something like a hero. It's certainly not unheard of for a villain to develop into a good guy, but the path Starlin took here was a good one.
There's a lot of good stuff mixed into this volume, and while a lot of the main plot beats are rehashed from Infinity War the way the characters have changed since then keeps the book from getting stale. If you're interested in this series, I definitely don't see a good reason to pass over Crusade.
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