Back when the New 52 launched, one of the original books was OMAC by Dan Didio and Keith Giffen. The comic didn’t garner a lot of attention — leading to it being one of the first books cancelled.
The people who did stick with it, however ended up enjoying the premise and the Jack Kirby nature/elements (never read it myself, but heard good things). Fast forward to now, the same team is taking on another concept by Kirby, Infinity Man and the Forever People. Can the team deliver on what could be another underground hit? Is it good?
Infinity Man and the Forever People #1 (DC Comics)
On New Genesis, a group of students have graduated from the Academy of Higher Conscience and are about to be sent out on their first mission. Their goal is to help aid in the advancement of different worlds through one way or another. And just where are they being sent? Earth, of course.
Hey you! Don’t touch our box! You might make it go boom and stuff!
I’ll admit it: I am a Jack Kirby virgin. As such, I cannot tell you how well this does updating or capturing the feel of his original Forever People series from long ago. I can only judge the book on its merits and… it’s perfectly fine. Maybe if I were a bigger fan of Kirby’s works or had read some in the past, I might have liked this more since I’ve heard from fans of his works that they thoroughly enjoyed this.
That being said… this isn’t a bad book at all. There’s nothing really poorly written about it. We’re given a decent setup, though pretty much the entire issue is setup and not much else. The characters are fine and have a bit of personality to them already, but they don’t’ stand out or do much. Also, I don’t believe I saw Infinity Man anywhere in the comic, so, uh where the heck is our lead character? The dialogue and narration is decent, but not really noteworthy outside of a humorous line or two and it is extremely dense with dialogue. The pacing is fine, the structure is fine, and the ending is alright.
They’ll be fine: they’re just traveling by boom technology. Nothing to be afraid of excepting for exploding!
Now while I may not be too familiar with Jack Kirby’s writing, I am very familiar with his art style. The artwork here by Giffen does a reasonable job at paying homage/invoking similar line work, energy, and the way the characters are drawn. Plus, with the additional colors by Hi-Fi, the book is very colorful and lively.
Is It Good?
Infinity Man and the Forever People #1 is a book that is catered to a certain audience and fans of Jack Kirby’s works. It’s a perfectly reasonable book with its writing and artwork, but again, only for a certain audience and not quite me. I hope this book catches on with the right people, because it did feel like a nice break from all the bleakness and grittiness that DC has been putting out as of late.
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