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Infinity Countdown
Infinity Countdown
As the Infinity Stones reappear around the cosmos, the ultimate race for power is on! Battles will be fought, blood will be spilled, lives will be lost... all as the greatest galactic heroes and villains vie for possession of the Power Stone, towering over a remote asteroid, somehow grown to the size of a building! Watch as the path to Infinity opens before your eyes... and the END is near... Collects Infinity Countdown Prime #1 and Infinity Countdown #1-5.
156 pages, Paperback
First published September 11, 2018
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168 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
October 10, 2018
I know, I know, Marvel and this fucking word “Infinity”, eh? So characters are running around chasing after the Infinity Stones AGAIN before Thanos blah blah blah - Marvel don’t have new ideas any more!
The best books Marvel has published this year have been Gerry Duggan’s All-New Guardians of the Galaxy which disappointingly ended after just three volumes - except it didn’t! Infinity Countdown is the unofficial fourth book in the series… with added nonsense because Event.
So from that series we get here the conclusion to The Gardener storyline and continuations of the Rich Ryder/Raptors and Guardians/Infinity Stones storylines... none of which are that good unfortunately. The Gardener story plays out as you might expect and the others spin their wheels.
The added nonsense is various cosmic characters doing random stuff. Adam Warlock and Kang are time-travelling because that’s what they do, a preggo Nova Corpsman gives birth, some Chitauri champion fails at pretending he’s a threat, Galactus and Silver Surfer are battling a Hank Pym/Ultron hybrid, Doctor Strange is chatting with Stilt-Man who’s somehow involved - all of it is pretty pointless bloat, thrown in to beef up the book to an absurd seven issues of basically filler.
Drax is brilliant in every scene he’s in - that character is absolutely killing it whether in the comics or the movies! There’s a couple good surprises in this book that I won’t spoil here, one of which involves Groot that’s a sensible (and long-time coming!) development for him, and another that involves Galactus and the Surfer which also makes sense given Marvel’s recent Legacy tack.
And the various artists draw some great pages. From Mike Allred’s superb Adam Warlock issue to Mike Deodato and Aaron Kuder’s work, this is a fine-looking book! Still, despite all the noise he makes, Gerry Duggan can’t shake the feeling of inconsequentiality that surrounds Infinity Countdown. I’ll read the new Infinity Whatever event when it comes out (apparently the Stones do something different this time around) but unfortunately the brilliance of Duggan’s Guardians series didn’t transfer over into Marvel’s much wider Cosmic arena.
The best books Marvel has published this year have been Gerry Duggan’s All-New Guardians of the Galaxy which disappointingly ended after just three volumes - except it didn’t! Infinity Countdown is the unofficial fourth book in the series… with added nonsense because Event.
So from that series we get here the conclusion to The Gardener storyline and continuations of the Rich Ryder/Raptors and Guardians/Infinity Stones storylines... none of which are that good unfortunately. The Gardener story plays out as you might expect and the others spin their wheels.
The added nonsense is various cosmic characters doing random stuff. Adam Warlock and Kang are time-travelling because that’s what they do, a preggo Nova Corpsman gives birth, some Chitauri champion fails at pretending he’s a threat, Galactus and Silver Surfer are battling a Hank Pym/Ultron hybrid, Doctor Strange is chatting with Stilt-Man who’s somehow involved - all of it is pretty pointless bloat, thrown in to beef up the book to an absurd seven issues of basically filler.
Drax is brilliant in every scene he’s in - that character is absolutely killing it whether in the comics or the movies! There’s a couple good surprises in this book that I won’t spoil here, one of which involves Groot that’s a sensible (and long-time coming!) development for him, and another that involves Galactus and the Surfer which also makes sense given Marvel’s recent Legacy tack.
And the various artists draw some great pages. From Mike Allred’s superb Adam Warlock issue to Mike Deodato and Aaron Kuder’s work, this is a fine-looking book! Still, despite all the noise he makes, Gerry Duggan can’t shake the feeling of inconsequentiality that surrounds Infinity Countdown. I’ll read the new Infinity Whatever event when it comes out (apparently the Stones do something different this time around) but unfortunately the brilliance of Duggan’s Guardians series didn’t transfer over into Marvel’s much wider Cosmic arena.
September 22, 2020
Story - 4.00
Graphics - 2.00
Graphics - 2.00
January 21, 2019
While Adam Warlock, Thanos and the Infinity Stones still bring me out in hives, I enjoyed this a lot more than any of Marvel’s other ‘Infinity Fill-In-The-Blank’ books. Perhaps because Jim Starlin had nothing to do with it...
3.5 stars, rounded up because reasons.
3.5 stars, rounded up because reasons.
May 24, 2019
I'm excited to see an Infinity series written by someone other than Jim Starlin. He just tells the same damn story over and over. This is basically volume 4 of Gerry Duggan's Guardians of the Galaxy run with an Adam Warlock resurrection tacked on. This was all tremendous fun. Duggan manages to throw a couple of twists in there like the stones are functioning differently now. Mike Allred killed it on the Adam Warlock one-shot. Mike Deadato was solid on Prime, although I'm not a fan of his duotone shading. The Guardians half of Infinity Countdown looks great thanks to Aaron Kuder. Unfortunately, he draws too slow and all of the non guardians pages are by Mike Hawthorne. I know Duggan must like him because he's drawn a lot of his Deadpool run but he's an awful artist. That's the worst Silver Surfer I've ever seen. When he first appeared I didn't even know who it was supposed to be.
February 27, 2019
Maybe because I wasn't expecting much but this was damn fun.
So this starts off with Adam Warlock being reborn! After years of being out of the picture he returns, but then is return to the past to figure out what to do next. Trust me, it somehow all makes sense. Next up this is a sequel to Gerry Duggan's awesome Guardians of Galaxy run and so we pick up where we left off. Drax protecting a stone, Gamore, Quill, Groot, and the rest taking on the baddies, and of course Nova and the corps doing what they have to do to survive this war.
Good: Lots of nice surprises. Some big characters return to the fray in this big volume. I really enjoyed EVERYTHING with the guardians. Some new team members get to shine, a evolution of one, and some laugh out loud moments. The art stays good throughout (besides the Adam Warlock issue) and I thought the ending set up things to come in REALLY big ways.
Bad: The wolverine issue feels a bit out of place. Like...what the fuck? Is this after the return of Wolverine? Weird. Also, the Adam Warlock issue art is pretty awful.
Overall, great. I think if you're going to do a cosmic event, do it big and fun. This does just that. Can't wait to Infinity Prime! A 3.5-4 out of 5.
So this starts off with Adam Warlock being reborn! After years of being out of the picture he returns, but then is return to the past to figure out what to do next. Trust me, it somehow all makes sense. Next up this is a sequel to Gerry Duggan's awesome Guardians of Galaxy run and so we pick up where we left off. Drax protecting a stone, Gamore, Quill, Groot, and the rest taking on the baddies, and of course Nova and the corps doing what they have to do to survive this war.
Good: Lots of nice surprises. Some big characters return to the fray in this big volume. I really enjoyed EVERYTHING with the guardians. Some new team members get to shine, a evolution of one, and some laugh out loud moments. The art stays good throughout (besides the Adam Warlock issue) and I thought the ending set up things to come in REALLY big ways.
Bad: The wolverine issue feels a bit out of place. Like...what the fuck? Is this after the return of Wolverine? Weird. Also, the Adam Warlock issue art is pretty awful.
Overall, great. I think if you're going to do a cosmic event, do it big and fun. This does just that. Can't wait to Infinity Prime! A 3.5-4 out of 5.
April 12, 2022
So yeah that was a fun read and umm a lot to take in but probably best to read it taking your time and I like the use of deep continuity here!
So it starts with Warlock Story and what he has been upto like the whole resurrection process and all and then we follow his quest and mission and that meet up with Kang which was fun meanwhile in the present the Guardians fight the Gardener to help out their friend Groot and some interesting revelations there and we see where the stones are and who on earth are holding them and its great to see some dead characters (at the time) back! Plus Guardians teaming up with Nova corps then to fight off against Warbringer and his army meanwhile Warlock and Silver Surfer vs Ultron and Norrin’s new mission and new status quo which is heartbreaking!
I like the exposition and its fun omg but when things start rolling in like whose coming next and Guardians meet up with Warlock, we see some of the dalliances and the beginnings of a new Infinity wars for the stones and I like how Duggan builds up the tension in the team in particularly Gamora and you can see why she does what she does next and it’s a fascinating read and sort of justifies her action.
I also like how he focuses on Warlock and shows the timelessness of his character and exploring him in that regard is kinda awesome and makes for a great reading plus Peter’s and Guardians next mission is gonna be awesome in that regard, the art was awesome and there is nothing else to say but read it, its not an event per se but a really cool story which happens to lead into an event proper.
So it starts with Warlock Story and what he has been upto like the whole resurrection process and all and then we follow his quest and mission and that meet up with Kang which was fun meanwhile in the present the Guardians fight the Gardener to help out their friend Groot and some interesting revelations there and we see where the stones are and who on earth are holding them and its great to see some dead characters (at the time) back! Plus Guardians teaming up with Nova corps then to fight off against Warbringer and his army meanwhile Warlock and Silver Surfer vs Ultron and Norrin’s new mission and new status quo which is heartbreaking!
I like the exposition and its fun omg but when things start rolling in like whose coming next and Guardians meet up with Warlock, we see some of the dalliances and the beginnings of a new Infinity wars for the stones and I like how Duggan builds up the tension in the team in particularly Gamora and you can see why she does what she does next and it’s a fascinating read and sort of justifies her action.
I also like how he focuses on Warlock and shows the timelessness of his character and exploring him in that regard is kinda awesome and makes for a great reading plus Peter’s and Guardians next mission is gonna be awesome in that regard, the art was awesome and there is nothing else to say but read it, its not an event per se but a really cool story which happens to lead into an event proper.
October 24, 2018
Pretty fantastic prologue to the new Infinity War event. Lots of battles, surprises, characters dying and characters returning from the dead and/or from alternate dimensions.
August 13, 2018
[Read as single issues]
The Infinity Stones are back! With the Guardians Of The Galaxy waging war against the Gardener, the Nova Corps fighting to protect the Power Stone, and Adam Warlock mysteriously returned to the present, this couldn’t be a worse time for another Infinity hunt. But with stones in the hands of the likes of Ultron and Kang, they can’t be left unchecked for long. The clock is ticking, and it’s counting down to another Infinity War…
Infinity Countdown is a strange series. It’s essentially what would have been Guardians Of The Galaxy #151-155, with an Adam Warlock mini-series squashed into it as well. It’s clear reading it that it’s not really designed to be an event series; the reader is thrown in at the deep end with lots of storylines already in mid-flow, and there’s no real attempt to catch people up outside of a few previously… pages. It’s not bad if you’ve already been reading Guardians, but for newbie readers hoping to jump onto the Infinity War train after the movie, it’s not a good place to start.
That said, for those who have been reading Guardians, it’s pretty great. As I mentioned, it’s mostly two individual storylines – the Guardians dealing with the aftermath of the Gardener’s insanity, and then attempting to help the Nova Corps defend the Power Stone from attack, while Adam Warlock attempts to track down the Soul Stone and runs afoul of Galactus, Ultron, and the Silver Surfer. Both stories are action packed, and deal with a lot of previous continuity regarding the characters involved (see my previous point about not being newbie friendly), but the respect for these no doubt convulted cosmic storylines from Duggan is clear in every panel. I never thought I’d see Drax play the saxaphone again, and yet here we are, and there’s a huge development for Galactus that feeds right off of his appearances in Ultimates and Ultimates Squared (that I’m not particularly happy about, but I get it).
The fact that this wasn’t designed to be an event mini-series is clear in its ‘conclusion’ as well. I say ‘conclusion’ because it doesn’t really end, just sets up the events of Infinity Wars and goes on its merry way. There’s no big payoff from the goings-on in this arc, just chess pieces being shuffled around the board so that they can be in place for the next big thing. If this was an arc of Guardians, that’d be fine – and I get that it’s called Infinity Countdown, so it’s obviously counting down to something, but it just feels a bit cheap, and smacks of Marvel blowing things out of proportion again so that they can charge more and throw out a bunch of tie-ins to varying effect (see my Infinity Countdown Companion and Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk reviews).
The art’s pretty great though. Regular Guardians artist Aaron Kuder tackles the Guardians story, while Mike Hawthorne, fresh off of Deadpool and Daredevil, deals with Adam Warlock (while the Adam Warlock one-shot is gorgeously rendered by Mike and Laura Allred). Kuder’s never been the quickest artist, so the pages being divided up gives him time to plan here, and his visuals benefit from it. Hawkthorne’s art is a little stiffer than usual, but then he’s mostly drawing robots and monsters, so that’s to be expected.
Infinity Countdown isn’t bad at all. It’s a superb Guardians story in a line of them from Gerry Duggan, with some nice artwork and a lot of momentum going into Infinity Wars. But it’s made out to be something that it isn’t, so if you can look past the event mini-series label, you’ll probably enjoy it a lot more than if you just take it as it is.
The Infinity Stones are back! With the Guardians Of The Galaxy waging war against the Gardener, the Nova Corps fighting to protect the Power Stone, and Adam Warlock mysteriously returned to the present, this couldn’t be a worse time for another Infinity hunt. But with stones in the hands of the likes of Ultron and Kang, they can’t be left unchecked for long. The clock is ticking, and it’s counting down to another Infinity War…
Infinity Countdown is a strange series. It’s essentially what would have been Guardians Of The Galaxy #151-155, with an Adam Warlock mini-series squashed into it as well. It’s clear reading it that it’s not really designed to be an event series; the reader is thrown in at the deep end with lots of storylines already in mid-flow, and there’s no real attempt to catch people up outside of a few previously… pages. It’s not bad if you’ve already been reading Guardians, but for newbie readers hoping to jump onto the Infinity War train after the movie, it’s not a good place to start.
That said, for those who have been reading Guardians, it’s pretty great. As I mentioned, it’s mostly two individual storylines – the Guardians dealing with the aftermath of the Gardener’s insanity, and then attempting to help the Nova Corps defend the Power Stone from attack, while Adam Warlock attempts to track down the Soul Stone and runs afoul of Galactus, Ultron, and the Silver Surfer. Both stories are action packed, and deal with a lot of previous continuity regarding the characters involved (see my previous point about not being newbie friendly), but the respect for these no doubt convulted cosmic storylines from Duggan is clear in every panel. I never thought I’d see Drax play the saxaphone again, and yet here we are, and there’s a huge development for Galactus that feeds right off of his appearances in Ultimates and Ultimates Squared (that I’m not particularly happy about, but I get it).
The fact that this wasn’t designed to be an event mini-series is clear in its ‘conclusion’ as well. I say ‘conclusion’ because it doesn’t really end, just sets up the events of Infinity Wars and goes on its merry way. There’s no big payoff from the goings-on in this arc, just chess pieces being shuffled around the board so that they can be in place for the next big thing. If this was an arc of Guardians, that’d be fine – and I get that it’s called Infinity Countdown, so it’s obviously counting down to something, but it just feels a bit cheap, and smacks of Marvel blowing things out of proportion again so that they can charge more and throw out a bunch of tie-ins to varying effect (see my Infinity Countdown Companion and Infinity Countdown: Darkhawk reviews).
The art’s pretty great though. Regular Guardians artist Aaron Kuder tackles the Guardians story, while Mike Hawthorne, fresh off of Deadpool and Daredevil, deals with Adam Warlock (while the Adam Warlock one-shot is gorgeously rendered by Mike and Laura Allred). Kuder’s never been the quickest artist, so the pages being divided up gives him time to plan here, and his visuals benefit from it. Hawkthorne’s art is a little stiffer than usual, but then he’s mostly drawing robots and monsters, so that’s to be expected.
Infinity Countdown isn’t bad at all. It’s a superb Guardians story in a line of them from Gerry Duggan, with some nice artwork and a lot of momentum going into Infinity Wars. But it’s made out to be something that it isn’t, so if you can look past the event mini-series label, you’ll probably enjoy it a lot more than if you just take it as it is.
June 30, 2021
E P I C
October 26, 2021
While it has a solid main storyline with Adam Warlock, the smaller side-plots never join the main plot and so it makes the book very open-ended at the end. It does, however, tease the next book very well and I can't wait to find out what happens.
September 19, 2018
I really enjoy Duggans writing here. Great take on the stones. He seems to write better when dealing with the Guardians.
April 14, 2021
Wow! Not bad!
Some cool parts, an exciting developing story, and a heavy dose of Starlin nostalgia. I’m definitely lookinh forward to the main event.
Some cool parts, an exciting developing story, and a heavy dose of Starlin nostalgia. I’m definitely lookinh forward to the main event.
August 18, 2019
Tried something new...!
March 23, 2019
I'm a fan of most of the Infinity marvel events, but at this point it seems like it's been done to death. That being said, this still wasn't too bad. The stones have been mixed up, as in it seems the powers that had have been switched around so they don't do the same things they used to. There are also some rather odd characters holding gems this time (Turk, for example.) There's some fighting going on between the Nova Corps, Guardians of the Galaxy, Chitauri and some others. Ultron is also trying to get a gem to turn everyone into evil cyborgs. It started out strong, with the return of Adam Warlock, but then it seemed like we were just killing time. There was a little too much going on to me, and I'm not really sure why all of this was necessary since I get the impression it's just prologue anyway. I guess the bottom line is that this probably just what you think it is. Another entertaining, slightly confusing, and probably unnecessary crossover event. But I can't help but read these things!
February 2, 2021
I don't even remember what happened.
January 22, 2019
What do you call an event series that's entire purpose is to set up another event series? A pre-event series? That's what Infinity Countdown is and it's a jumbled mess because of it.
I've enjoyed Duggan and Kuder's Guardians and it's unfortunate that the conclusion of the events of that series are shoe horned into this event in a pretty unsatisfying way. I did enjoy the sequences with the Guardians throughout the event, but everything else was clutter. Why is Kang here? Hank Pym too? The tie in issues, in particular, served very little purpose, as tie in issues are wont to do. I'd have preferred if Duggan was allowed to wrap up the Guardians story in that series and just gone straight into the coming Infinity Wars series.
I have to say the Adam Warlock issue with Mike Allred on art was excellent. It was the highlight of this collection. Allred and Kuder are just two of the many talented artists that were brought in for this, and it's a shame they didn't have better stuff to work with.
I'm hoping after this bit of mess that Infinity Wars won't have to do much leg work and can hit the ground running...But after reading this mess I'm not sure that Infinity Wars isn't just going to be an even bigger mess!
I've enjoyed Duggan and Kuder's Guardians and it's unfortunate that the conclusion of the events of that series are shoe horned into this event in a pretty unsatisfying way. I did enjoy the sequences with the Guardians throughout the event, but everything else was clutter. Why is Kang here? Hank Pym too? The tie in issues, in particular, served very little purpose, as tie in issues are wont to do. I'd have preferred if Duggan was allowed to wrap up the Guardians story in that series and just gone straight into the coming Infinity Wars series.
I have to say the Adam Warlock issue with Mike Allred on art was excellent. It was the highlight of this collection. Allred and Kuder are just two of the many talented artists that were brought in for this, and it's a shame they didn't have better stuff to work with.
I'm hoping after this bit of mess that Infinity Wars won't have to do much leg work and can hit the ground running...But after reading this mess I'm not sure that Infinity Wars isn't just going to be an even bigger mess!
June 9, 2023
Bu kitap için aynı yayınlanmış olan Infinity Wars hikayesinin giriş bölümü diyebiliriz. Bir takım olaylar görüyoruz ama bir netice yok ortada. Devamını okumak şart eğer tam bir deneyim istiyorsak.
Sonsuzluk taşları Infinity hikayesinde yok olmuştu fakat Secret Wars sonrasında evren düzelince bu taşlar da geri dönmüş. Dünyadaki ve uzaydaki çeşitli karakterlerin eline geçmiş olan bu taşlar yine bir takım güçlerin hedefindedir. Bu hikayede ilk olarak Ultron/Hank Pym karşımıza çıkıyor. Infinity Wars ise başka bir tanıdık kötüyü getirecek gibi gözüküyor.
Kapaktaki Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Super Skrull gibi tipler biraz yanıltıcı olmuş. O karakterler kitapta mevcut olsa da toplamda gözüktükleri panel sayısı yirmi bile olmayabilir. Hikaye daha çok Infinity Watch/Guardians of the Galaxy ekiplerini odaklıyor. Hiçbiri sevilesi portreler ortaya koymadığı için yer yer sıkılmadım desem yalan olur. Yazar, hikayesinde zaman zaman ilginç ve yeni fikirler sunmaya çalışsa da sonsuzluk taşları ve "infinity" kelimesi çoğu çizgi roman okuru için fazla kullanılmış ve tadı kaçmış konseptler.
Sonsuzluk taşları Infinity hikayesinde yok olmuştu fakat Secret Wars sonrasında evren düzelince bu taşlar da geri dönmüş. Dünyadaki ve uzaydaki çeşitli karakterlerin eline geçmiş olan bu taşlar yine bir takım güçlerin hedefindedir. Bu hikayede ilk olarak Ultron/Hank Pym karşımıza çıkıyor. Infinity Wars ise başka bir tanıdık kötüyü getirecek gibi gözüküyor.
Kapaktaki Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Super Skrull gibi tipler biraz yanıltıcı olmuş. O karakterler kitapta mevcut olsa da toplamda gözüktükleri panel sayısı yirmi bile olmayabilir. Hikaye daha çok Infinity Watch/Guardians of the Galaxy ekiplerini odaklıyor. Hiçbiri sevilesi portreler ortaya koymadığı için yer yer sıkılmadım desem yalan olur. Yazar, hikayesinde zaman zaman ilginç ve yeni fikirler sunmaya çalışsa da sonsuzluk taşları ve "infinity" kelimesi çoğu çizgi roman okuru için fazla kullanılmış ve tadı kaçmış konseptler.
October 30, 2018
With the release of "Avengers: Infinity War", Marvel must have seen that the Infinity Stones are guaranteed money-makers and brought the powerful galactic gems back into play for the comic book realm. "The Infinity Gauntlet" and its following stories, are all classic, must-reads to understand the cosmic balance of the Marvel Universe. Building from the pages of "Guardians of the Galaxy", "Infinity Countdown" seeks to join its 'Infinity' brethren in the halls of Marvel history... yet this tale is merely the set-up for the series to follow, "Infinity Wars"...
NOTE: Important to remember that with the popularity of the MCU, comics have adapted their current stories to not cause confusion, so 'Infinity Gems' have been changed to 'Infinity Stones', AND the colors match those in the movie. If you keep up on the comics, the "Gems" were actually destroyed in the collapsing of the Multiverse back in "Time Runs Out" and "Secret Wars".
Adam Warlock, previous keeper of the Soul Gem, awakens from a long slumber to find Kang warning him of an upcoming crisis he names "Infinity's End". Kang's solution? Send Warlock back in time to find both the Time Stone and the Soul Stone, allowing them to each protect the realm they care for so much (Kang as a master of time; Warlock as the master of the soul). Sending him back to our present day, Warlock begins his search. The Stones have been found by others though:
Space - Found by a resurrected Wolverine, who after keeping it for a little, passes it on to Black Widow
Mind - Turk Barrett, small time gangster, has the Mind Stone and is using it to stake a larger claim to territory in Hell's Kitchen
Reality- Held currently by Captain Marvel, who found it in an alternate dimension
Power - First starting off as huge, then having it revealed as much smaller, it gets claimed by Drax, but ultimately ends up in the hands of Star-Lord
Time - Found by Super Skrull Kl'rt, it is taken from him by Doctor Strange (the rightful owner in my mind)
Soul - Found on Ego by Magus, the dark clone of Adam Warlock, it is quickly taken from him by Ultron. Lots of the tale revolves around getting the stone back from Ultron, and it ultimately ends up back in the hands of Warlock.
This story is appropriately chaotic:
- Battle between the Nova Corps and the Fraternity of Raptors, reuniting Richard Ryder with his thought-dead brother Robbie
- The Gardener finally being healed of his madness (see Guardians book for all that back story), who in turn restores Groot to full height and allows him the power of speech again (no more only saying "I am Groot")
- Ultron trying to take over a planet, and almost succeeding, only to be stopped by Galactus, who returns to being the Devourer instead of the Lifegiver. For this breech in his new-found morality, Galactus demands the return of Silver Surfer as his Herald. The Soul Stone ends up with Adam Warlock.
- Near the end, Doctor Strange reaches out to the other Stone holders (Adam Warlock, Black Widow, Turk Barrett, Star-Lord, and Captain Marvel) and requests they meet and reform the "Infinity Watch", wanting to prevent another galactic incident, even if that means defeating Thanos, who will most likely come after the Stones soon.
It's obvious something huge is coming. You don't get "Wars" without something awful happening. Could it revolve around a mysterious figure known as Requiem, who apparently "hasn't arrived yet"? Where will Thanos play in all this?
High recommend. Bring it on Marvel...
NOTE: Important to remember that with the popularity of the MCU, comics have adapted their current stories to not cause confusion, so 'Infinity Gems' have been changed to 'Infinity Stones', AND the colors match those in the movie. If you keep up on the comics, the "Gems" were actually destroyed in the collapsing of the Multiverse back in "Time Runs Out" and "Secret Wars".
Adam Warlock, previous keeper of the Soul Gem, awakens from a long slumber to find Kang warning him of an upcoming crisis he names "Infinity's End". Kang's solution? Send Warlock back in time to find both the Time Stone and the Soul Stone, allowing them to each protect the realm they care for so much (Kang as a master of time; Warlock as the master of the soul). Sending him back to our present day, Warlock begins his search. The Stones have been found by others though:
Space - Found by a resurrected Wolverine, who after keeping it for a little, passes it on to Black Widow
Mind - Turk Barrett, small time gangster, has the Mind Stone and is using it to stake a larger claim to territory in Hell's Kitchen
Reality- Held currently by Captain Marvel, who found it in an alternate dimension
Power - First starting off as huge, then having it revealed as much smaller, it gets claimed by Drax, but ultimately ends up in the hands of Star-Lord
Time - Found by Super Skrull Kl'rt, it is taken from him by Doctor Strange (the rightful owner in my mind)
Soul - Found on Ego by Magus, the dark clone of Adam Warlock, it is quickly taken from him by Ultron. Lots of the tale revolves around getting the stone back from Ultron, and it ultimately ends up back in the hands of Warlock.
This story is appropriately chaotic:
- Battle between the Nova Corps and the Fraternity of Raptors, reuniting Richard Ryder with his thought-dead brother Robbie
- The Gardener finally being healed of his madness (see Guardians book for all that back story), who in turn restores Groot to full height and allows him the power of speech again (no more only saying "I am Groot")
- Ultron trying to take over a planet, and almost succeeding, only to be stopped by Galactus, who returns to being the Devourer instead of the Lifegiver. For this breech in his new-found morality, Galactus demands the return of Silver Surfer as his Herald. The Soul Stone ends up with Adam Warlock.
- Near the end, Doctor Strange reaches out to the other Stone holders (Adam Warlock, Black Widow, Turk Barrett, Star-Lord, and Captain Marvel) and requests they meet and reform the "Infinity Watch", wanting to prevent another galactic incident, even if that means defeating Thanos, who will most likely come after the Stones soon.
It's obvious something huge is coming. You don't get "Wars" without something awful happening. Could it revolve around a mysterious figure known as Requiem, who apparently "hasn't arrived yet"? Where will Thanos play in all this?
High recommend. Bring it on Marvel...
May 16, 2023
La verdad es que no sé muy bien como enfocar la reseña de Cuenta Atrás hacia Infinito, ya que aunque tiene entidad propia editorial, no deja de ser un preludio de Infinity Wars, que llegaría poco después, con Gerry Duggan al frente de esta iteración del lado cósmico de Marvel, surgido a rebufo de las películas de Vengadores y la participación de Thanos y el Guantelete del Infinito en estas. Es más, de hecho, los propios colores de las gemas parecen haberse adaptado a los de las películas, de modo que se ha olvidado el clásico color verde de la Gema del Alma, por ejemplo.
En fin, Infinity Countdown continúa la historia que comenzó en Guardianes de la Galaxia, y nos va a permitir descubrir más cosas sobre la nueva versión de las Gemas del Infinito, que están repartidas por el Universo. De este modo, vamos a tener a Adam Warlock que, en su búsqueda de la Gema del Alma, va a encontrarse con Kang y ambos van a colaborar para buscar la Gema del Tiempo; los Guardianes van a tener que hacer frente a los Raptor y los guerreros Chitauri liderados por Warbringer para conseguir la Gema del Poder, y tendremos también un enfrentamiento a nivel cósmico por la Gema del Alma, que se encuentra en manos de Ultrón, lucha en la que van a participar Adam Warlock, Estela Plateada o el mismísimo Galactus, mientras vemos que hay algo extraño en el interior de la Gema Alma, donde se encuentra atrapada una faceta de Gamora, y donde parece haber una criatura, el Davedra, que se alimenta del propio interior de la Gema.
Además, en Countdown vamos a tener una serie de especiales donde vamos a ir conociendo a algunos de los portadores de las otras gemas, como la Gema del Espacio que Lobezno va a dejar en manos de una resucitada Viuda Negra, la Gema de la Mente que va a estar en manos Turk, un viejo personaje de Daredevil o la Gema del Tiempo en posesión del Super Skrull y luego del DoctorExtraño. En fin, en formato y fondo, Countdown me ha recordado bastante a... Countdown precisamente, pero la Countdown to Final Crisis que antecedió a Crisis Final en DC, o el primero de estos proyectos, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, también en DC, y aunque la saga principal es efectiva para preparar las cosas de cara a Infinity Wars, hay momentos en los que se queda un poco... insípida, a pesar de estar contando con los personajes más clásicos del lado cósmico de Marvel, con los que Abnett y Lanning ya habían hecho auténticas maravillas (por no hablar de Starlin, claro). En fin, quizá donde salga perdiendo la historia sea precisamente en esta comparación.
En fin, Infinity Countdown continúa la historia que comenzó en Guardianes de la Galaxia, y nos va a permitir descubrir más cosas sobre la nueva versión de las Gemas del Infinito, que están repartidas por el Universo. De este modo, vamos a tener a Adam Warlock que, en su búsqueda de la Gema del Alma, va a encontrarse con Kang y ambos van a colaborar para buscar la Gema del Tiempo; los Guardianes van a tener que hacer frente a los Raptor y los guerreros Chitauri liderados por Warbringer para conseguir la Gema del Poder, y tendremos también un enfrentamiento a nivel cósmico por la Gema del Alma, que se encuentra en manos de Ultrón, lucha en la que van a participar Adam Warlock, Estela Plateada o el mismísimo Galactus, mientras vemos que hay algo extraño en el interior de la Gema Alma, donde se encuentra atrapada una faceta de Gamora, y donde parece haber una criatura, el Davedra, que se alimenta del propio interior de la Gema.
Además, en Countdown vamos a tener una serie de especiales donde vamos a ir conociendo a algunos de los portadores de las otras gemas, como la Gema del Espacio que Lobezno va a dejar en manos de una resucitada Viuda Negra, la Gema de la Mente que va a estar en manos Turk, un viejo personaje de Daredevil o la Gema del Tiempo en posesión del Super Skrull y luego del DoctorExtraño. En fin, en formato y fondo, Countdown me ha recordado bastante a... Countdown precisamente, pero la Countdown to Final Crisis que antecedió a Crisis Final en DC, o el primero de estos proyectos, Countdown to Infinite Crisis, también en DC, y aunque la saga principal es efectiva para preparar las cosas de cara a Infinity Wars, hay momentos en los que se queda un poco... insípida, a pesar de estar contando con los personajes más clásicos del lado cósmico de Marvel, con los que Abnett y Lanning ya habían hecho auténticas maravillas (por no hablar de Starlin, claro). En fin, quizá donde salga perdiendo la historia sea precisamente en esta comparación.
August 11, 2021
Half of this is tying up some loose plot threads from Gerry Duggan's Guardians of the Galaxy run, the other half is setting up the forthcoming Infinity Wars event. The parts that wrap up Guardians of the Galaxy are pretty good and keep up the quality from that series. The Infinity Wars prequel stuff is... pretty worthless. This is an 'event' but it's not an event it's a mini-series setting up an event, that is based around infinity stones that are flip-flopping around the Marvel universe with no real purpose yet.
The Adam Warlock one-shot with Mike Allred on art is pretty but it suffers the same problem every Adam Warlock comic suffers from- it is about Adam Warlock. And to include Adam Warlock you have to go over a bunch of complicated messy stuff from his history and the one-shot ends up as one big exposition dump trying to justify why Adam Warlock is in the event- because it is about the infinity stones so of course Adam Warlock has to be in it.
I spent most of this volume wishing we could get on with the actual event already. Duggan's whole run has been hinting at infinity stones doing everything and now this Infinity Countdown 'event' introduces a bunch of new characters that show up out of nowhere or disappear into nowhere or do nothing but pass the stones along as things keep shuffling around. Why exactly? I'm not sure. I guess eventually the stones will eventually find whoever they're supposed to end up with but for now they're powerful artifacts that flop around making people punch each other a bunch to try and control them.
The Adam Warlock one-shot with Mike Allred on art is pretty but it suffers the same problem every Adam Warlock comic suffers from- it is about Adam Warlock. And to include Adam Warlock you have to go over a bunch of complicated messy stuff from his history and the one-shot ends up as one big exposition dump trying to justify why Adam Warlock is in the event- because it is about the infinity stones so of course Adam Warlock has to be in it.
I spent most of this volume wishing we could get on with the actual event already. Duggan's whole run has been hinting at infinity stones doing everything and now this Infinity Countdown 'event' introduces a bunch of new characters that show up out of nowhere or disappear into nowhere or do nothing but pass the stones along as things keep shuffling around. Why exactly? I'm not sure. I guess eventually the stones will eventually find whoever they're supposed to end up with but for now they're powerful artifacts that flop around making people punch each other a bunch to try and control them.
December 13, 2024
Kolejne duże kosmiczne wydarzenie zbliża się dużymi krokami, ale zanim do tego dojdzie tak trzeba porozstawiać pionki na planszy. Zatem będziemy mieli tutaj szereg starć o kamienie, które ponownie mieszają w tym świecie. Choć są nieco inne...
Już na początku widzimy powracającego Adama Warlocka, który decyduje się na ryzykowny sojusz. Jeszcze gdzie indziej strażnicy walczą z jednym z najstarszych istot w tym wszechświecie, czyli Ogrodnikiem, który miał własny plan na Groota. W innym zakamarku kosmosu Ultron-Pym ma własne plany co do Silver Surfera, a jego marzenia sięgają po przejęcie całych galaktyk.
Jednocześnie Drax pilnuje jednego z kamieni nieskończoności, a Gamorra szuka kamienia dusz, bowiem czuje, że do tego świata nie wróciła cała, a wewnątrz kamienia tkwi jeszcze coś więcej. No i jest Logan, który powrócił z martwych i także wszedł w posiadanie cennego kamyka. A tam gdzieś spokojnie czeka sobie Thanos, który czuje że pora zebrania się kamieni jest już bliska...
Mamy tu sporo akcji, w zasadzie lwia część tej opowieści to nieustanne starcia i bitwy. Szkoda tylko, że rysunki miejscami bywają tutaj zwyczajnie brzydko, co nieco dziwi bo są tutaj zeszyty naprawdę zjawiskowe.
Historia też bywa mocno chaotyczna, jakby autorzy nie potrafili ogarnąć stworzonego zamieszania. Wpływa to mocno na odbiór, tworząc nieprzemożne wrażenie, że całość ma zapchać jeszcze trochę miejsca przed eventem. W tak dużym tempie, iż czasami miałem wrażenie luk fabularnych i mocnych skrótów myślowych. Niemniej gdy całość gra, nadal jest dobrym akcyjniakiem.
Już na początku widzimy powracającego Adama Warlocka, który decyduje się na ryzykowny sojusz. Jeszcze gdzie indziej strażnicy walczą z jednym z najstarszych istot w tym wszechświecie, czyli Ogrodnikiem, który miał własny plan na Groota. W innym zakamarku kosmosu Ultron-Pym ma własne plany co do Silver Surfera, a jego marzenia sięgają po przejęcie całych galaktyk.
Jednocześnie Drax pilnuje jednego z kamieni nieskończoności, a Gamorra szuka kamienia dusz, bowiem czuje, że do tego świata nie wróciła cała, a wewnątrz kamienia tkwi jeszcze coś więcej. No i jest Logan, który powrócił z martwych i także wszedł w posiadanie cennego kamyka. A tam gdzieś spokojnie czeka sobie Thanos, który czuje że pora zebrania się kamieni jest już bliska...
Mamy tu sporo akcji, w zasadzie lwia część tej opowieści to nieustanne starcia i bitwy. Szkoda tylko, że rysunki miejscami bywają tutaj zwyczajnie brzydko, co nieco dziwi bo są tutaj zeszyty naprawdę zjawiskowe.
Historia też bywa mocno chaotyczna, jakby autorzy nie potrafili ogarnąć stworzonego zamieszania. Wpływa to mocno na odbiór, tworząc nieprzemożne wrażenie, że całość ma zapchać jeszcze trochę miejsca przed eventem. W tak dużym tempie, iż czasami miałem wrażenie luk fabularnych i mocnych skrótów myślowych. Niemniej gdy całość gra, nadal jest dobrym akcyjniakiem.
February 6, 2020
Mientras leía este cómic, no podía quitarme la sensación de que me faltaba algo. Leí Guardianes de la Galaxia de Duggan (bastante bueno en realidad) antes de aventurarme a este tomo, pero creo que todo el tema de la resurrección de Wolverine me faltó.
Este tomo es una especie de preludio a Infinity Wars, el evento grande de 2018, obviamente por todo el tema sinérgico con la película Infinity War de Marvel Studios. La trama de este tomo es mostrarnos dónde están apareciendo las gemas del infinito y nos dan pistas que desde Secret Wars, algo no está bien con las gemas. Parece que algunas de las gemas ni siquiera son de este universo. Cada gema llega a un personaje distinto, y aunque esto podía contarse en pocas páginas, también funciona como un cuarto volumen a la serie de Guardianes de la Galaxia de Duggan ya que finalmente vemos lo que sucedió con el Jardinero y los Groots que estaba sembrando. Al mismo tiempo hay una gran guerra por la gema del poder que se volvió del tamaño de un planeta.
El cómic presenta mucha acción sin sentido, mucho relleno y muchas cosas que podían haberse abordado en un sólo número del evento central. Creo que lo más interesante del tomo son las partes de Pym como Ultron, porque no habíamos visto mucho de eso, y las partes de Gamora porque realmente se está volviendo una especie de Thanos.
Estoy casi seguro que en el tomo de Infinity Wars, habrá al menos una página que resumirá todo este tomo en lo más importante, haciéndolo completamente inútil.
Este tomo es una especie de preludio a Infinity Wars, el evento grande de 2018, obviamente por todo el tema sinérgico con la película Infinity War de Marvel Studios. La trama de este tomo es mostrarnos dónde están apareciendo las gemas del infinito y nos dan pistas que desde Secret Wars, algo no está bien con las gemas. Parece que algunas de las gemas ni siquiera son de este universo. Cada gema llega a un personaje distinto, y aunque esto podía contarse en pocas páginas, también funciona como un cuarto volumen a la serie de Guardianes de la Galaxia de Duggan ya que finalmente vemos lo que sucedió con el Jardinero y los Groots que estaba sembrando. Al mismo tiempo hay una gran guerra por la gema del poder que se volvió del tamaño de un planeta.
El cómic presenta mucha acción sin sentido, mucho relleno y muchas cosas que podían haberse abordado en un sólo número del evento central. Creo que lo más interesante del tomo son las partes de Pym como Ultron, porque no habíamos visto mucho de eso, y las partes de Gamora porque realmente se está volviendo una especie de Thanos.
Estoy casi seguro que en el tomo de Infinity Wars, habrá al menos una página que resumirá todo este tomo en lo más importante, haciéndolo completamente inútil.
February 6, 2019
I originally read these as single issues when they came out and then re-read it all at once. At first I gave Infinity Countdown only three stars because it's weighed down by the messy Infinity Wars that came after, but on re-reading, I bumped it up one because Infinity Countdown is a fun, mostly focused cosmic story with killer super-hero art by Aaron Kuder, Mike Hawthorne, Jordie Bellaire, my favorites Mike and Laura Allred, and others. I didn't read any Infinity Countdown spin-offs other than Infinity Countdown: Adam Warlock, which is a great issue all by itself. You can tell that the Allreds had fun depicting all the Marvel miscellany collected in Kang's fortress at the end of time. I really wish that Marvel editorial had let Gerry Duggan do Infinity Countdown as a self-contained Guardians of the Galaxy story, as was his original intent, instead of spinning it off into an unnecessarily bulked out crossover. I have a soft spot for Adam Warlock and the Silver Surfer from when they were written by Jim Starlin in the 90's and I dug Duggan's depiction of them and the plot twists in Infinity Countdown. Duggan also does a good job writing witty banter between the Guardians. But this story is also setup for Infinity Wars and then the plot really goes off the rails. I guess I should learn to enjoy the journey and not worry about the destination.
August 5, 2018
Το βασικό πρόβλημα με αυτό το εισαγωγικό event είναι ότι στην πραγματικότητα είναι πολύ μικρό γι’ αυτό που λέει ότι θέλει να κάνει. Οι Infinity stones είναι μια διαγαλαξιακή απειλή και πρέπει να κινητοποιήσουν όλους τους ήρωες και τους villains της Marvel. Αντίθετα με αυτή την απλή σκέψη, όμως, στο Infinity Countdown βλέπουμε ένα crossover των Guardians of Galaxy, του Ant-Man και του Adam Warlock με δευτερεύουσας σημασίας χαρακτήρες, όπως η Ms. Marvel, ο Nova και η παρέα τους. Ένα μικρό πέρασμα κάνει η Captain Marvel, η οποία ετοιμάζεται για το comeback της στα comics μετά τον ρόλο που έπαιξε στο Civil War II και ενώ είναι στα σκαριά και η επερχόμενη προσωπική της ταινία, ενώ παίρνουμε και μια ελάχιστη δόση από τον Doctor Strange και την Black Widow. Ο Wolverine από την άλλη φαίνεται να μπήκε στα εξώφυλλα και σε ελάχιστες σελίδες του event, μόνο για λόγους marketing και όχι γιατί θα είχε κάποιο ρόλο στην ιστορία, αφού το ενδιαφέρον για το μέλλον του ήρωα μεταφέρθηκε στις σελίδες του Hunt for Wolverine.
Κείμενο στο Smassing Culture
Κείμενο στο Smassing Culture
November 8, 2023
I'm definitely missing some time here. I checked out on Marvel Cosmic after the Thanos Imperative, but it looks like the post-Annihilation status quo more or less exists. I'm also backwards in thinking this series lead into Gerry Duggan's Guardians series, when it's apparently taking place afterwards? Oops.
Anyway, the story is somewhat intriguing, even as lost as I am on the details. The dialogue, on the other hand, is really bad. I've read a few of Duggan's other works, and I don't remember him being that damn clunky. This reads like a rough draft that barely got finished before press time.
But, I have a soft spot for these characters, thanks to the late Keith Giffen, and I want to see what happens next.
2.5 stars, rounded up with the understanding that my rating might be higher had I been better versed in the Guardians lore leading up to this event.
Anyway, the story is somewhat intriguing, even as lost as I am on the details. The dialogue, on the other hand, is really bad. I've read a few of Duggan's other works, and I don't remember him being that damn clunky. This reads like a rough draft that barely got finished before press time.
But, I have a soft spot for these characters, thanks to the late Keith Giffen, and I want to see what happens next.
2.5 stars, rounded up with the understanding that my rating might be higher had I been better versed in the Guardians lore leading up to this event.
November 12, 2018
Collects Infinity Countdown Prime issue #1, Infinity Countdown issues #1-5, Infinity Countdown: Adam Warlock issue #1, and material from Free Comic Book Day 2018 (Amazing Spider-Man/Guardians of the Galaxy) #1
This is quite entertaining, but I would say that Gerry Duggan's short-lived "All-New Guardians of the Galaxy" run is required reading before checking out this pre-event. "Infinity Countdown" exists to set up "Infinity Wars," so in a lot of ways it feels like five additional issues of "Guardians of the Galaxy." There are a lot of great moments in this collection, and I am excited to read on in "Infinity Wars."
Adam Warlock is back, which I love. He is one of my favorite Marvel characters. I hope he has a big role to play in Duggan's overall story.
This is quite entertaining, but I would say that Gerry Duggan's short-lived "All-New Guardians of the Galaxy" run is required reading before checking out this pre-event. "Infinity Countdown" exists to set up "Infinity Wars," so in a lot of ways it feels like five additional issues of "Guardians of the Galaxy." There are a lot of great moments in this collection, and I am excited to read on in "Infinity Wars."
Adam Warlock is back, which I love. He is one of my favorite Marvel characters. I hope he has a big role to play in Duggan's overall story.
May 17, 2019
So I read this a while ago in a Barnes & Noble stopover, and I enjoyed it. It's probably more a roundup four than a straight-up four, but it does a good job of addressing the role of the infinity stones that had been cropping up in Marvel's cosmic books, and allows for establishing enough differences with them from the previous, pre-Secret Wars MU, that it seems to justify itself. I enjoyed seeing these characters together again, and Duggan seems to suggest some actual resolution--or at least enough of one for a good long pause--on Infinity Stone story telling for a while. I'll be glad of that if it's well-done, because these have become the most overused macguffins in the Marvel Universe. And it has a lot of Macguffins.
August 8, 2022
3.5 rounded up (for an event).
So really, this is All-New Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4 by Gerry Duggan. I think this would read very differently without the context of the first 3 volumes of that series. That said, the story is more bloated (such is the nature of events) and scattered, but is overall a better infinity stone story than I was expecting. The art is very good, though inconsistent. The book can feel muddled in the middle, partially due to the punchy-punchy (also the nature of events), but ramps things up for the actual event, Infinity Wars. While I think this was better executed than it was purported to be, I am concerned it’ll spin out of control. Alas, only reading that event will tell.
So really, this is All-New Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4 by Gerry Duggan. I think this would read very differently without the context of the first 3 volumes of that series. That said, the story is more bloated (such is the nature of events) and scattered, but is overall a better infinity stone story than I was expecting. The art is very good, though inconsistent. The book can feel muddled in the middle, partially due to the punchy-punchy (also the nature of events), but ramps things up for the actual event, Infinity Wars. While I think this was better executed than it was purported to be, I am concerned it’ll spin out of control. Alas, only reading that event will tell.
May 5, 2024
I'm trying to 'catch up' and figure out what exactly I've missed in the time I've stopped buying single issues, which led me to this. After reading 95% of the Civil War books, I refuse to touch another event arc in full so soon but given Loki's role in this, I at least wanted to get a vague idea.
This was fine. In between the art which I wasn't overly fond of and the absolute wordiness of each page I had to fight to keep my attention on it. Overall it's pretty interesting and I like the idea of it, but I'm just not that interested in most of the characters featured. The more interesting prospects were sort of glanced at here and instead, we got A LOT of the Guardians, Nova Corps, and Ultron.
This was fine. In between the art which I wasn't overly fond of and the absolute wordiness of each page I had to fight to keep my attention on it. Overall it's pretty interesting and I like the idea of it, but I'm just not that interested in most of the characters featured. The more interesting prospects were sort of glanced at here and instead, we got A LOT of the Guardians, Nova Corps, and Ultron.
August 4, 2019
This was a weird way to bring the Infinity Stones back into the post-Secret Wars Marvel continuity but we now have slightly different stones than what we used to. The book isn't quite a full Marvel crossover event on its own and feels more like a rather limited crossover story for books like Guardians of the Galaxy for the most part. If you've been following the books then the story makes a bit more sense. If you haven't, then it's a little weird. But I do appreciate some of the larger revelations that affect other cosmic aspects of the Marvel Universe including the Nova Corps, Galactus, and the Silver Surfer. It's no Annihilation and largely it's a preamble to a larger event to follow.
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