My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This two issue comic book was released in advance of "Avengers: Infinity War." It revisits the events of previous movies adding a few snippets of new material here and there. Of the new material, much of it elaborates upon events that are known to have happened behind the scenes of earlier movies. Not surprisingly, given Marvel's penchant for secrecy, there are only a few frames that offer insight into activities that a fan who'd seen all the preceding films would be in the dark about.
I'm assuming that anyone considering reading a prelude to "Infinity War," by this point, has already seen that movie and relevant preceding films such as "Captain America: Civil War," the first two "Avengers" movies, "Guardians of the Galaxy 1," and "Doctor Strange." If that's not the case, and you want to avoid potential spoilers, stop now.
The first issue recaps "Captain America: Civil War" while providing insight into what happens with Captain America's team in the wake of that film, at the end of which they find themselves on the wrong side of the law. Much of the issue is verbatim repetition of the events of that movie. There's also elaboration about the Black Panther's assistance to Winter Soldier (Sgt. Barnes) via his genius sister Shuri, as well as a scene showing what Captain America, Black Widow, and other team members are up to in the aftermath of the breakup of the Avengers.
The second issue consists largely of Wong schooling Doctor Strange on the powers of the infinity stones and their current whereabouts. Those who've seen all the films know that five of the six stones were accounted for before the third Avengers movie. Only the whereabouts of the soul stone remains in doubt. This book doesn't solve that mystery and merely offers a cryptic comment about the soul stone's power. As Wong is describing events, the reader is shown flashback scenes from the movies and post-credit scenes that explain where each stone is and how they were used in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1," "Thor: The Dark World," "Avengers 1 & 2," "Doctor Strange," etc.
If you are an intense fan who craves every new bit of information, you may enjoy combing through this comic book. Otherwise, it's mostly of use for those who are planning on seeing "Infinity War" but who haven't seen "Captain America: Civil War," "Guardians of the Galaxy 1" (which contains a brief piece of exposition that clarifies the nature of the stones), or the previous "Avengers" films. I don't know how big that demographic is, but I suppose new fans are coming along all the time. I wouldn't recommend you purchase the prelude expecting anything new and earth-shattering. The art and dialogue are all well done and inline with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films.
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