Review: Year of the Villain- The Infected

Quick Summary

Pros: The book presents interesting twists of several heroes. Donna Troy, Hawkman, and Supergirl’s stories fit well alongside other comics.

Cons: The majority of the book feels rushed. Many of the stories in this volume feel underdeveloped and end just as they are getting interesting.

Overall: This is a comic with pretty specific appeal. The stories here aren’t the best and have problems that prevent them from standing well on their own. However, they do manage to provide some interesting takes on a few characters. Ultimately, this book ends up being for readers who really want to see a few heroes in a different light and don’t mind that the stories presenting them aren’t the greatest.

Story

Year of the Villain: The Infected is a mostly mediocre collection of comics. The stories here do a decent job in presenting a unique twist on the characters. However, they often feel rushed and don’t have quite enough time to fully expand on the concepts they develop. This makes them stand poorly on their own. For some characters, like Donna Troy, Hawkman, and Supergirl, the stories here lead to interesting developments elsewhere. However, this doesn’t work out as well for the rest of the characters. In the end, this book succeeds in presenting interesting takes on familiar faces but fails to establish something worthwhile on its own. 

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As mentioned above, The Infected‘s chief success comes from the way in which it twists most of the characters through the corrupting effects of the Batman Who Laughs’ poison. Shazam’s ends up as a petulant child facing off against a virtuous Black Adam, Blue Beetle hides from his friends as he transforms into something monstrous, Donna Troy actively hunts her former teammates as she grapples with her identity, and Hawkman’s evil personality comes from a previous life from an alternate dimension. Watching these characters respond to their inner evil is interesting, especially if you are already a fan of the character.

These twists are particularly interesting in the cases of Donna Troy, Hawkman, and Supergirl. Each of these characters has their story from this volume fit into a larger story that continues from and continues in other comics. Unfortunately, for the other characters, their story here just feels like a major change from their character’s most recent comic appearance.

This wouldn’t be as much of a problem, if the stories in The Infected had more time to develop their concepts. In most stories, by the time the exposition has taken place and readers are just beginning to understand what is happening to the hero, the story is over. It makes the majority of this book feel rushed and underdeveloped. It is also why the characters who’s stories continue elsewhere fair a bit better.

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Art

The artwork in The Infected isn’t overly positive or negative. Jack Herbert’s visuals look nice and Adriano Lucas’ colors really help set the mood in the James Gordon story. In addition, Eduardo Pansica’s pencils, Julio Ferreira’s inks, and Chris Sotomayor’s colors in the Supergirl story give the issue a wonderfully crisp and clean look. However, the visuals in the Hawkman story are just alright and the visuals in the Blue Beetle story often make regular characters look a little weird. Ultimately, the mix of positives and negatives prevents the overall appeal of the visuals from going too far in either direction.

Continuity

Year of the Villain: The Infected mostly continues storylines from Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Who are the Secret Six? (Review).

The story here mostly continues in Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen (Review).

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

• The Infected: The Commissioner references when the Joker (Reading Order) attacked Barbara Gordon (Reading Order). This took place in Batman: The Killing Joke.
• The Infected: The Commissioner also makes a direct reference to events taking place in Batman/Superman Vol. 1: Who are the Secret Six? (Review).
• Hawkman #18 references earlier storylines in the Hawkman series. The previous storyline is collected in Hawkman Vol. 3: Darkness Within.
• Supergirl #36 directly continues the narrative from the first half of Supergirl Vol. 3: Infectious (Review).