Wolverine Infinity Watch #5 // Review
t’s the final battle against Warbringer in Wolverine Infinity Watch #5, by writer Gerry Duggan, artist Andy MacDonald, colorist Jordie Bellaire, and letterer Cory Petit. With the power of the Time Stone on their side, the heroes should be able to triumph, but with Hector not even knowing how to use the Stone, will they be able to triumph?
Warbringer attacks and Talonar puts a shield up, but Wolverine, Loki, Talonar, Hector, and Gloria, Talonar’s mom, are knocked through the ship. Wolverine gives Hector a pep talk about using his powers and Hector gives it a try, freezing everything in time… but unable to unfreeze them. He explores the ship, finding some armor and refining his powers, figuring out how to use them. He unfreezes time, and the heroes get the upper hand over Warbringer… before the heavily damaged ship begins to explode. Talonar opens a portal back to Earth for them and closes it before Warbringer can get through. Logan asks Hector to go back in time and grab the time bat so he can use it to save the X-Men, but Hector refuses and leaves. Logan rages for a little bit, before he and Loki exchange a few last words and part company. In the far future, Old Man Thor finishes reading the story of the adventure, ready to drink with anyone around… but everyone else is dead.
At first glance, it sort of feels like this issue ends the series with a whimper. The fight against Warbringer is kind of anti-climactic. Only one of the Infinity Stone holders is found. However, Duggan isn’t telling that kind of story. Wolverine has his reasons for helping Hector survive- he wants to use the power of the Time Stone to save the X-Men. Loki is trying to take control of his own destiny, even though he knows where it’s all leading. Talonar and the Raptors and Warbringer both want the Stone for their personal reasons. Hector, for the most part, just wants to be free. His powers are new to him and kind of overwhelming, but he doesn’t want to allow himself to be a pawn in anyone else’s game. He narrates the issue, and readers get a good look into his head.
While the plot of the last issue subverts expectation, it does feel a bit disjointed. The problem with it is Duggan hadn’t really spent much time up to this point building up Hector as a character. He was having too much fun playing with the relationship between Loki and Wolverine and building the villains to give readers much more than a cursory glimpse into Hector’s head. It’s good that he used the last issue to highlight him and flesh him out, but it does come out of nowhere a little. It’s a good ending, but it feels weird to readers who have gotten used to Wolverine and Loki as the main characters.
And MacDonald’s art is probably the best; it’s been all series long. Everything is fully fleshed out. None of it feels rushed. His character acting could be a bit better, and the design for Hector’s costume looks a bit like a 90s Green Lantern costume. Even with a lot of his character acting being merely alright, one of the best panels in the whole book is when Talonar leaves his mother on Earth, and the panel focuses on her watching him go. It perfectly captures her sadness.
Wolverine Infinity Watch #5 goes in an entirely different direction than the ending of the last issue. It builds the character of Hector more than over the previous four chapters, but it sort of comes out of nowhere. It’s an exciting way to end the series, but it’s so abrupt that it might leave readers a bit cold, because, for the majority of the series, Duggan has been playing with Loki and Wolverine. Andy MacDonald’s art is good, but he could use more work in his character acting for the most part. All in all, this is a satisfying ending, even if it does come out of the left field.
