Review: Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume Two by Roy Thomas, Jerry Ordway, Mike Machlan, et al.

Okay, there actually wasn't a volume two of The Generations Saga. But if DC had bothered, it would have collected (one assumes) issues #5-10 of Infinity, Inc., so I'm going to review those as a unit before progressing to the series in its entirety at a later date.

I was kind of down on the first half of The Generations Saga (typically called The "Generations" Saga or The "Generations Saga" in the actual issues, fact fans!), but I feel that's fair. The first four parts were never designed to be read as one unit. Either you read them one by one as they came out, or you read them as part of all ten. DC's weird collecting strategy leaves you with an unsatisfying read. But the last six installments pull everything together pretty nicely. In this half, what's going on becomes clear: the Ultra-Humanite (in revenge for his defeat in 1942 at the hand of the All-Stars/JSA and Infinity, Inc.) infected Superman with water that turned him ruthless; Superman in turn infected several other JSA members with it; now, Infinity, Inc. has to stop them. So the Ultra-Humanite will get to make parents battle children and watch them all destroy each other.

This being Roy Thomas, the ruthlessness water is from an old issue of All Star Comics; of course he does a ten-part saga as a follow-up to an obscure 1940s one-off. But to be honest, the source of the water doesn't really matter, because it leads to some good storytelling, especially in parts VII–IX, where Infinity, Inc. splits up to take down the individual members of the Justice Society. This means the Infinitors have to think about what their parents most desire, and how to thwart it, which allows for some good character work for both the Infinitors and the JSAers. A lot of good-guy-goes-evil-because-of-reasons stories have the evil good guys go snarling and power-mad because reasons, and there's a little bit of that here, but mostly this works well. Wonder Woman wants to obtain immortality for her husband, Steve Trevor, and their daughter Fury has to stop her; the Atom (always anxious about being underpowered) seeks out a new source of atomic energy, and his godson Nuklon must stop him; the Green Lantern (who once lost control of a communications company because he neglected it) seizes control of all communications on Earth, and his children-of-uncertain-provenance Jade and Obsidian must stop him. It's well thought out, and interesting.

from Infinity, Inc. vol. 1 #9 (plot by Roy Thomas & Dann Thomas,
script by Roy Thomas, art by Jerry Ordway and Mike Machlan & T. Dezuniga)

Plus the fight scenes themselves are a cut above. I am often not a fan of the split-the-team-up-into-subgroups trope of team books, because I don't read team books for a set of six abbreviated solo stories, you know? But Thomas, Ordway, and Machlan give each of the fights enough space to really work-- one of the benefits to devoting ten issues to this whole saga, I suppose. Jade and Obsidian vs. the Green Lantern was my favorite one. A lot of ups and downs, clever strategy, good use of powers, interesting interior monologues from the two young heroes, and of course great art.

Jerry Ordway is always good, of course, but man, I'd forgotten how good these "Baxter" books looked. Infinity, Inc. is printed on high-quality paper, and back in the day you paid good money for it. Infinity, Inc. #5, for example, was $1.25, while the same month's issue of All-Star Squadron was just over half that at $0.75. But the difference in quality is clear even thirty-five years later: the colors pop in Infinity, Inc. (a definite perk in a book where one character is bright green), and nthe blacks are black (also a perk when one of your characters is made of shadow). Ordway's breakdowns give a clear sense of motion, and his facial expressions really take you into the characters. Maybe I'm projecting, but I detect a real sympathy for Jade on his part.

The one thing The Generations Saga doesn't give you is a actual sense of what Infinity, Inc. will be like as an ongoing book. The whole ten issues (plus the three of All-Star) is the Infinitors reacting to one crisis. I'm curious to see how Thomas sets up a status quo that will fuel an ongoing, but I also think this is a really good foundation for one.

Parts V–X of The "Generations" Saga originally appeared in issues #5-10 of Infinity, Inc. vol. 1 (Aug. 1984–Jan. 1985). The story was written and edited by Roy Thomas; pencilled by Jerry Ordway; inked by Mike Machlan (#5, 7-10), Al Gordon (#6), Tony DeZuñiga (#8-10), and Jerry Ordway (#9); co-plotted by Dann Thomas; lettered by David Cody Weiss (#5-10) and L. Buhalis (#9); and colored by Anthony Tollin (#5-10) and Adrienne Roy (#5, 7-10).

This post is the fifth in a series about the Justice Society and Earth-Two. The next installment covers Showcase Presents... Power Girl. Previous installments are listed below:

1. All Star Comics: Only Legends Live Forever (1976-79)
2. The Huntress: Origins (1977-82)
3. All-Star Squadron (1981-87)
4. Infinity, Inc.: The Generations Saga, Volume One (1983-84)