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Infinity Inc. #4

Infinity Inc. #4

Scheduled to arrive in stores: November 7, 2007

Cover date: January 2008

"Luthor's Monsters" - Part Four: "Personification"

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

Back-Up Story: "Persona - Part 2"

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

Neal Bailey Reviewed by: Neal Bailey

Click to enlarge



Erik runs from Nuklon, telling him to stop asking him to turn into a girl.

Meanwhile, Nat is being drained. Kid Empty's gal tries to get him to attack her, complaining she never gets attention.

This allows Nat to pull away, and they trade blows before the rest of Infinity, Inc. arrives and causes both to flee.

Mercy talks with Steel, and offers to give him evidence about what Luthor did.

Kid Empty, post coitus with his girlfriend, slaps her around when she tells him that (caution, very descriptive) sex with him was like being mauled with limp lettuce.

Nat and Eric/Erica talk and Erica changes back to Eric.

In the house, John Henry attacks Nuklon, revealing himself to be a shapeshifter. He flees as Nat and Eric arrive.

Two shadowy figures watch him flee, approving and considering Lars Bergson, the shapeshifter.

1Story - 1: Again, we suffer a repeat dilemma, the story is prolongued arbitrarily, and there are more wasted pages. This book is turning into a complete wash.

Transsexual humor that falls flat, "social commentary" on therapy that's really very surface, and a villain, Kid Empty, that seems content to do horrible things, run away, and then do horrible things and run away. I have yet to establish his motivation beyond getting high, but if existentialism drove him to evil, he'd see getting high as just one more falsity, right?

At any rate, out of nowhere comes the shapeshifter plot from the backup story that isn't even finished yet, and Nuklon gets stabbed about despite his ability to have multiple hims about that he was just gloating about (gee, wonder if that's the out next issue!).

Beyond that, the sex scene with Kid Empty and the subsequent beating seemed unnecessary to convey that Kid Empty is a @$#&%. It's obvious from the repeated cold murders shown. Now we have to arbitrarily insert a rottenly graphic sex scene with a woman getting beaten? Woman in refrigerator? Dare I say it? Guess I just did. I don't think it's sexist, I think it was just a poor writing choice, and there have been many in this series thusfar, though it tries.

I hope it gets somewhere soon.

2Art - 2: The art got really sloppy this issue, and there are some points with weird anatomy. There's also a distinct background shortage and a bit too much shadow for my tastes.

"Persona - Part 2"

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

Persona, the shapeshifter, hides out after the events of this issue. He finds a girl, has sex with her, and wakes in the morning a blue husk. As he flees, Kid Empty tells him he'll be fine.

3Story - 3: Okay, now I start to get why there's this backup story. But it's still just a story of the shapeshifter going to bed with a gal and the awkward situation that causes. There's no real character derived from that, other than the astute observation that if a guy had shapeshifting powers he'd use it to get sex. Dur. Okay. What does that say about our villain that it doesn't say about any guy?

4Art - 4: The art is a bit stronger, has more detail, and there is more clarity. Stronger than the main story, point of fact, which is sad.

3Cover Art - 3: An odd image, I thought Steel had no face. Still, compelling, and reflecting the dilemma of the issue, so not a total loss.


Mild Mannered Reviews

2008

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

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