Gamora has always been heralded as “the deadliest woman in the galaxy.” She’s continuously been a cosmic force of violence and power but Infinity Wars sets out to make her slogan more accurate than ever. Gamora now wields a sword powered by the Power Stone with her sights set on the rest of the stones.
***SPOILERS LIE AHEAD***
Gamora’s quest for the Infinity Stones sees her plow through her allies, making quite a mess. She meets her goal, freeing the part of her trapped within the Soul Stone. It’s revealed that Thanos is haunting Gamora, appearing to her in visions and such after dying by her hand.
Infinity Wars #2 has a hard time conveying to the reader what exactly the trajectory is. What are we working towards? Is Gamora a straight-up villain now? The minimal effort put into getting the stones separated and off-planet results in the daughter of Thanos collecting them all effortlessly. Other than recovering the missing piece of herself from Soul World, what is her motivation?
Almost none of the vision and charm that we’ve seen grace the cosmic landscape recently is present from writer Gerry Duggan. This issue moves things forward but in a hap-hazard and aimless way.
Thanos’ posthumous role is intriguing, I don’t recall him every being in this position before. His complicated relationship with his daughter is the most compelling thread so far–tapping into the same vein that the Infinity War film did. Outside of that, the only solid character moment is Doctor Strange cutting a deal with Turk for his stone, which is immediately proven pointless.
Artist Mike Deodato has been delivering great work recently for Marvel between Infinity Wars, his recent Old Man Logan run, as well as some wonderful covers. There are a number of problematic face compositions in this issue that are hard to ignore. Star-Lord, Doctor Strange, Loki, Cap, and Drax all have pretty bad close-up panels where they either look extra-doofy or appear unpolished.
One major knock against the art is the blood spatter. Whether it’s Deodato or Martin’s decision to make it look like somebody threw paint at the general vicinity of an injury or spray, it doesn’t really add any style to a pretty solid effort overall. It’s more sloppy looking than stylish.
Colorist Frank Martin injects the most life into the book, especially with Doctor Strange’s supreme sorcery and the use of the Infinity Stones. Cory Petit does a great job with lettering, especially with sound effects. There’s a panel where Gamora gets struck with Cap’s shield and Thor’s hammer that features three distinctively different sounds, giving the action more impact.
Infinity Wars #2 doesn’t necessarily drum up a ton of excitement for the next issue, or this story in general. This isn’t the finest work by Duggan or Deodato. For the love of God (DOOM), get this story off Earth already!
