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Infinity Inc. #5

Infinity Inc. #5

Scheduled to arrive in stores: January 9, 2008

Cover date: March 2008

"Luthor's Monsters" - Part Five: "Sweet Sickness"

Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciller: Max Fiumara
Inker: Matthew Southworth

Back-Up Story: "Persona - Part 3"

Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciller: Matthew Southworth
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano

Neal Bailey Reviewed by: Neal Bailey

Click to enlarge


Kid Empty attacks a shapeshifter. The shapeshifter makes Empty sick, so he retreats, and the shapeshifter, Persona, follows.

John Henry suits up as Steel, and Nat appears to speak with him. They debate her course of therapy, and Nat leaves, distraught and turning to vapor.

Mercy remains, hiding in the background.

A girl speaks to her father on the phone about how happy she is. She hangs up, and begins to cut herself. The walls are cut as well. Kid Empty appears, and attacks her.

Infinity Incorporated arrives at the girl's house on a tip-off from Persona.

They attack Kid Empty and beat him up, knocking him unconscious.

Natasha decides to go back into therapy, and a girl (I believe the cutter, though I'm not sure) joins up with Infinity, Inc.

2Story - 2: Okay, so we have a fight with Kid Empty, again, as he's trying to drain someone, again. His powers are still ill defined, and he's dispatched by a punchout? Okay.

Steel suits up for no real reason. It's kind of cool to see, but plot irrelevant and kind of annoying, considering how cool it would be to see Steel leading a pack of characters into battle under the auspices of Infinity, Inc.

Instead we have a group of sniveling, whining psychobabble kids who I can't identify with because they're completely self-obsessed, whining, and glib.

Kid Empty ultimately offered no insightful fruit despite a potentially interesting concept.

Also, the issue of cutting, something I've had personal experience with in girls that I've dated, is relegated into a cliché for rich young women with idyllic existences. It's pooh-poohed for yet another psychology reference, and this time it irked me personally.

All in all, this series has really offered me nothing thusfar of the promise coming out of 52, and I'm going to stop reviewing and reading it unless you guys really want me to continue. If you do, leave a few comments and I will gladly, but I don't sense much passion for this story in any regard, much less my own, and if you guys aren't interested and I'm not, what's the point? Unlike Countdown, which has ramifications, this is just spinning wheels, so I see no need to review it unless you do.

Why would Steel not show up for the fight if he were suiting up? Why wasn't the backup story meshed into the main story if they were going to interrelate? What would Mercy bring to Infinity, Inc? Why does Nat fear Steel leaving her when she's the one who left him, and wasn't that dilemma resolved? Why are we reading this? All important questions.

3Art - 3: Many backgrounds missing. It's got its own distinctive style, but a lot of it is a bit grim for a superhero comic, I realize, and dark. The action scenes played out well, but the static scenes again focused a bit too much on "mood color" and drug the piece down a good bit. Still, the story is told, and mostly clearly, though I still have no idea who the blonde lady is. But that's the writing, not the artist, I would imagine.

Back-Up Story: "Persona - Part 3"

Writer: Peter Milligan
Penciller: Matthew Southworth
Inker: Stefano Gaudiano

Kid Empty's girlfriend finds Persona and tries to kill him for helping Infinity, Inc. capture Kid Empty.

Persona reverts to his blue form and explains what Luthor did to him. Kid Empty's girlfriend sympathizes, so they become a couple.

1Back-Up Story - 1: Ugh. Violent, murderous rage instantaneously into love over a simple point of sympathy. Missed a few plot points there.

3Back-Up Art - 3: Persona ends up looking a lot like Kid Empty, and there are some missing backgrounds, but it tells the story in the gritty style the story asks for. It doesn't stand out, but it doesn't reek, either. It's just kind of dark and realistic for a superhero story.

4Cover Art - 4: A compelling image. Steel's expression pretty much sums up my thinking about this series thusfar, but the dynamic poses and Steel in particular make this cover decent. Not amazing, but decent.

Mild Mannered Reviews

2008

Note: Month dates are from the issue covers, not the actual date when the comic went on sale.

January 2008

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