Infinite Frontier #5

Infinite Frontier #5

DC Comic 2021

Written by Joshua Williamson

Pencilled by Paul Pelletier, Jesús Merino & Tom Derenick

Inked by Norm Rapmund, Raul Fernandez & Tom Derenick

Coloured by Hi-Fi

Lettered by Tom Napolitano

Roy Harper finds himself forced to do things on his own. He’s been through a lot since he was Green Arrow’s sidekick, and usually, the only person he can count on is himself. Hence, he’s hiding the fact that he’s back from the dead from his old friends. He comes across Jade, who has also been stranded by herself-can he help her while letting her help him? Because neither of them can handle Darkseid all by their lonesome. Meanwhile, Barry Allen sends out a call: it’s time for all the heroes exploring the Infinite Frontier to come to the Omega Planet!

As much as I hate to say it, it is nice to see The Psycho Pirate playing a large role in this story. After all he did go crazy as one of the few beings who remembered the original crisis from before and after so that he’s instrumental in this story as well. I have to say that it’s also really nice to see Lady Quark again who has gotten lost in the shuffle for so many years among those that the Psycho Pirate appeals to when it comes to the worlds being coerced into helping him. I will say I love this new and improved costume of his as well.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter. Much of this can be summed up when Mr. Bones sees Chase and he’s in full Infinity Inc. costume. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story we are caught up in the whirlwind of it all.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. These layers really contain all the great moments, Bones in that costume for instance, and the bulk of the characterisation with the plot twists which all add this delicious depth, dimension and complexity to the story. The way everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceedingly well.

The interiors here are seriously fabulous. So with all the heroes that are now present it’s quite the assemblage of power. They are going to need it too but I’m getting sidetracked. The linework is clean, crisp and strong and how the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work that we see is extraordinary. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels bringing out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is marvellous to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling, or sets of eyes more accurately. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a great understanding of how colour works.

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That we see this confined to the six issue series is what I dream events are like. Not company wide but self contained so that we can see the entire story without feeling pressured to buy other books. What will come out of this are books like JSA, Justice Incarnate and no matter how it’s worked in an All-Star Squadron that is from the previous Earth-2. Hey when I dream I dream big lol. This really is well written and the characterisation is spot on and the interiors are so classically DC that they really make an impact upon the reader.