The Good

Cover- The standard cover has Thanos bathed in blue light while he stands in pitch darkness. The blue hues are very bright and dynamic making this cover easily stand out on the stands.

Art- Jim Cheung does a bang up job on this opening arc, I’m very satisfied!

Threat- So the builders are not dead as previously thought (or that’s what I thought in Avengers (2013)’s opening arc [See Avengers #1, Avengers #2 and Avengers #3 for details] they are continuing their work by destroying planets they deem unworthy. Now this issue they destroy a whole planet very casually and if we remember the opening arc, the entire Avengers team could not defeat Aleph (one of their robots) and these guys have a whole armada of said robots. If these guys reach Earth our heroes are screwed!

It Begins- Ever since Avengers (2013) #1 and New Avengers (2013) #1 I’ve been eagerly anticipating Hickman’s event and to finally have it in my hands fills me with all kinds of excitement

Black Heroes- The books opens with a flashback to New Avengers (2013) #6 when Black Panther and his Illuminati destroyed another planet to save our own. On the cast page we have Captain Universe who now lays comatose after surviving the destruction of a planet, Falcon, Eden Fesi, Nightmask and Sunspot.

The Attack- Now when I initially heard of the invasion of Earth I was left wondering who in their right mind would even think of attacking the mainstream Marvel Universe when they have defeated Galactus, thwarted alien invasions by the kree, Skrull and Brood, survived the Phoenix etc. It’s suicide to attack this planet, it never ends well, heck I would be terrified to even meet a human from said planet. Corvus Glaive paints the picture for us of why this is the time to invade and Hickman uses the army to voice my concerns and those of countless others by having him reason that Schism among the mutants, discord among the Inhumans and the Avengers heaviest hitters leaving the planet; this leaves the planet, at least from the outside prime for an invasion of some kind, all it’s defenders are either divided or not present.

Comixology-   The beauty of modern technology, if you want to check out this issue buy it here

Mystery- What is Thanos searching for on Earth?

Two edged sword- The Avengers have been instrumental in just about every one of Marvel’s big events since Civil War so they have this reputation that makes them intimidating on many levels.

Digital Content- There is a Silver Surfer tale tacked onto the Digital version that shows what’s happening to the people/individuals on the planets set upon by the builders and their machines. It’s written by Jason Latour and illustrated by Agustin Alessio. This makes the almost perfect Infinity #1 perfect! It really could not have unfolded in this manner in a physical comic and gives credence to  Digital only content o at least putting extra effort into the presentation of Digital content. The war and the absolute reality of the panic, the madness and the fear of what’s going really reaches new heights int his tale. Silver Surfer’s action scenes are just epic from start to finish as is his reaction to the Skrulls seeing him initially as a threat instead of a savior. Kudos all around this was tight!

The Bad

Reprint- Not a fault of the book itself really but the first fifteen pages where reprints/flashbacks that we have seen in other books so far. It didn’t hurt the story but I skipped them since I know them inside out already, I think most already following this crossover will do the same.

Enjoyable- I was disappointed when the issue came to an end…..but that may be because I was enjoying it so damn much! Around 54 pages of story and it flew by quicker than I would have liked.

New Readers- So new folks can pick up this issue but there is no way for them to understand or really follow the gravity of the situation unless they have been reading Hickman’s Avengers line and have intimate knowledge of X-men’s Schism etc. A few text boxes may have helped in that regard or include a  back up feature to detail what some things are would have really helped to explain to new readers just what the hell is going on.

Event- No matter how grand a scheme Hickman and Jim Cheung present this is just another Marvel event and another will follow just like last year we were having Avengers vs. X-men fever.

The Ugly

Overall I found Infinity #1 is a very enjoyable read with great interior and cover art. It managed to introduce us to the two pronged threat approaching Earth and the assortment of villains. It’s all just set up so it’s not the most perfect of issues but it prepares us for what comes next. Luckily if you have the digital version with the Silver Surfer backup tale then it becomes perfect. So for the Physical copy I give this one 4/5 For the Dgital though with the added bells and whistles it’s a 5/5