Review: Infinity Entity

Quick Summary

Pros: The comic offers some interesting information about current events in Adam Warlock’s life. The artwork looks nice in most places.

Cons: The comic heavily relies on others in order to be interesting. The main narrative is not that exciting or fun. Too much of the volume is spent on exposition.

Overall: This volume is an alright companion piece but not a great solo comic. The bulk of the volume focuses on giving additional details about what is happening to Adam Warlock in another comic series. However, outside of this, the narrative is not that entertaining and offers little when it comes to fun. In the end, this volume may be worth it for readers who really enjoyed the Thanos original graphic novel series, not readers just looking for a good story on its own.

Story

The Infinity Entity, by Jim Starlin, is a solid accompaniment to the trilogy of Thanos original graphic novels but doesn’t stand well on its own. The volume expands upon Adam Warlock’s role in this series, explaining how his actions in The Infinity Revelation (Review) have had a massive impact on the narrative in The Infinity Relativity (Review) and The Infinity Finale (Review). Learning this backstory is interesting, and it is presented in a way that is engaging. However, outside of giving some interesting information, this volume does not offer much. It isn’t that exciting, it contains few moments of suspense, and it spends more time explaining things than it does doing things. Because of this, this collection is only really worthwhile if readers are very interested in expanding their time with the Thanos original graphic novels narrative.

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As mentioned above, The Infinity Entity is a great companion to entries in the Thanos original graphic novel series. It shows how the universe melding from The Infinity Revelation has been manipulated in The Infinity Relativity and how this will impact the power level seen in The Infinity Finale. This adds a human element to a character who is otherwise treated as a living battery in a few of these comics. It also simply makes the entire saga more grandiose than before.

This information is also presented in a way that is entertaining. The volume starts out with a mystery, as Warlock is suffering from amnesia. Then, readers see the veil lifted on this mystery and are rewarded with the information that comes out of it.

However, outside of learning new information, The Infinity Entity does not offer much. The vast majority of the volume is focused on exploring this mystery and little time is spent generating any conflict or excitement. Instead, Warlock simply wanders around for a while and eventually rediscovers what he had forgotten.

This problem is exacerbated by the volume’s penchant for lengthy bouts of exposition. The collection starts by recapping events from Thanos’ past, moves on to recapping events from Warlock’s past, and ends by recapping the events from The Infinity Revelation and The Infinity Relativity. By the end of the read, it feels like a large chunk of the narrative was wasted by rehashing old material instead of displaying new material.

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Art

The artwork in The Infinity Entity looks nice throughout most of the collection. Alan Davis’ work on the book matches the cosmic nature of the comic, especially when paired with Wil Quintana’s colors. It depicts far-off worlds and metaphysical entities with a level of creativity that one would want to see in a book like this. However, there are also a few places, typically in scenes set on Earth, where the visuals look less refined. In these pages, characters, in particular, do not look as good and are depicted with their eyes closed too often, to the point where it feels unnatural. Overall though, the art in this book still manages to look good and works well with the story being told.

Continuity

The Infinity Entity continues Adam Warlock’s story from The Infinity Relativity (Review).

The story from this volume directly continues in Thanos: The Infinity Finale (Review).

This volume also makes references to other comic books, detailed below:

• Thanos Annual #1 discusses many events from Thanos’ past.
  • His original attempt to take over the universe and his fight against Captain Marvel occurred in the “Thanos War” (Reading Order).
  • He gained the Infinity Gauntlet and its Gems in the Thanos Quest limited series, collected in Silver Surfer Epic Collection: Thanos Quest (Review) or Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos (Review).
  • He used the Infinity Gauntlet to obtain total power in the Infinity Gauntlet (Review) (Reading Order) event.
  • He fought the Magus in the Infinity War (Review) (Reading Order) event.
  • He fought the Goddess in the Infinity Crusade (Review) (Reading Order) event.
  • He fought difficulties of his own making in the Infinity Abyss event, collected in Guardians of the Galaxy: Road to Annihilation Vol. 1 (Review).
  • He fought Galactus in the first story arc from the Thanos Vol. 1 series, collected in Thanos: Redemption (Review).
  • He was killed by Drax in Annihilation #4, part of the Annihilation (Reading Order) event.
• The Infinity Watch was formed across Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1-3, collected in Infinity Watch Vol. 1 (Review).
• Thanos Annual #1 precedes but references the drama that unfolds in Thanos: The Infinity Relativity (Review).
• The Infinity Entity #1 shows a flashback to Avengers Vol. 1 #2, collected in Marvel Masterworks: Avengers Vol. 1 (Review).
• Adam Warlock fought Thor in Thor #163-166 collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor Vol. 8 (Review).
• Star-Lord killed Adam Warlock back in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 #19, collected in Guardians of the Galaxy by Abnett & Lanning: The Complete Collection Vol. 2 (Review).
• The Living Tribunal was revealed to have died in New Avengers Vol. 3 #8, collected in Infinity (Reading Order). The cause of its death was shown in New Avengers Vol. 3 #30, collected in Avengers: Time Runs Out Vol. 3 (Review).