(Strand)om Stories: Infinity Watch (vol. 2) Review
A new writer leverages past material better than his predecessor, allowing the characters in this volume some much-needed development
—by Nathan on September 18, 2025—
Three years ago, I picked up several cosmic narratives in preparation for my eventual "Spider-view" review of Jim Starlin's Infinity Gauntlet. I explored Starlin's take on Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock and threw in a few Silver Surfer issues tethered directly to Gauntlet. In the time since, I have reviewed the two other installments in Starlin's cosmic trilogy, Infinity War and Infinity Crusade, and touched a bit on what happened between and after those limited series.
In the wake of Gauntlet, Adam Warlock split the Infinity Gems between himself, four friends, and a mysterious sixth recipient, eventually revealed to be the Mad Titan Thanos himself. Along with Moondragon, Gamora, Pip the Troll, and Drax the Destroyer, Warlock formed the Infinity Watch, whose early adventures I reviewed prior to Infinity War. We're back for the second half of the Watch's titular series today, which picks up in the wake of Crusade.
If you want to know the Watch's more immediate appearances post-Crusade, you'll need to read a volume of Thor comics collecting the "Blood and Thunder" arc. Do so at your peril. Purely subjectively, I found the narrative as weak as distant thunder, hollow and unaffecting. With Thor's madness-derived rampage across the cosmos halted by the end of "Blood and Thunder," we can peacefully pick up this volume, assured that much better things are yet to come.
Maybe.
Infinity Watch (vol. 2)
Writers: Jim Starlin, Richard Ashford, John Arcudi, and Evan Skolnick
Pencilers: Kris Renkewitz, Tom Grindberg, Jeff Moore, Pat Olliffe, Lee Sullivan, and Mike Gustovich
Inkers: Pat Redding, Bob Almond, Tom Dzon, Pat Olliffe, Keith Williams, Lee Sullivan, and Art Nichols
Colorists: Ian Laughlin and Electric Prism
Letterers: Jack Morelli, Janice Chiang, and Company
Issues Collected: Warlock Chronicles #6 and Warlock and the Infinity Watch #26-42
Volume Publication Date: June 2016
Issue Publication Dates: December 1993, March 1994-July 1995
I am not going to go so far as to say I've become disillusioned with Jim Starlin circa early 1990s, but I will say that the last few post-Gauntlet narratives I've read of this, from his Gauntlet sequels to "Blood and Thunder," have all felt fairly hollow and pretty disjointed, sacrificing storytelling and characterization for the sake of spectacle. I can't say whether this is completely Starlin's fault; maybe he was writing to the whims of corporate wishes, desiring to copy the success of Infinity Gauntlet with bigger, more brash, crazier adventures. The results have been lackluster, so heading into this volume, I felt prepared to be underwhelmed.
I did not end the volume underwhelmed, so we have taken a step in the right direction. I'm not gushing with praise over it, either, so I'll take some time to unpack how I think it functions well and where I find it falters.
Starlin's writing is, somewhat surprisingly, the weakest material delivered throughout the volume. I should note that, assessing the collection as a whole, none of the assembled writers have a clear notion of what exactly the Watch is supposed to be at the end of Crusade. That series felt like a final "hurrah" for Warlock, in that he wrapped up a story notion which had been plaguing him since the end of Gauntlet, that of his dual nature, torn between the representative of his darker side (the Magus) and the representative of his better side (the Goddess–literally, Warlock's "better half"). With both of those concepts reconciled, and with Thor recently subdued, Warlock has no cosmic-spanning threat to fight or to direct the Watch against. Thus, our writers, particularly Starlin, have to devise new plots and new threats.
This second volume feels like a hodgepodge of ideas, some birthed from seeds planted in earlier issues, others as brand new as Adam when he stepped out of his cocoon as Him all those years ago. The new concepts Starlin and Company throw at the Watch work haphazardly–the Watch battles the Avengers, who are under the thrall of an old enemy of Warlock's who has made a sudden reappearance; the subterranean tyrant Tyrranus pops up, threatening Monster Isle, the Watch's base of operations; a villainous version of Dr. Strange seeks out the Infinity Gems as part of an ongoing narrative in his own title; and the Watch is threatened by a typhoon generated during the events of a crossover arc with Atlantis and the Fantastic Four. These stories happen rather randomly, a seeming effort to keep the Infinity Watch relevant to the rest of the Marvel Universe by slotting them in other people's stories. Instead of making the team feel integrated into the larger universe, these efforts are confusing, the indiscriminate use of characters and plot points generating no emotional connection between characters or feeling integral to the Watch's own overarching story.
It's when the focus is honed on the Watch members themselves and their own narratives that our writers find some depth to these characters, with John Arcudi (of Dark Horse's The Mask series) finding the most leverage in the work Starlin laid. My biggest concern heading into this volume was how the mystery behind Maxam, an amnesiac who has become the Watch's latest member, would be resolved. Starlin had teased his missing memories often without making much progress as to restoring them, and though he offers a bit of momentum in this volume, it's Arcudi who's responsible for answering lingering questions. He does so as well as he can, providing Maxam with a believable enough backstory that generates strong conflict for the end of the series. Are we treated to any world-shattering twists? By no means, but Arcudi does what Starlin fails to do by connecting the mystery to emotional touchpoints between our characters and just doing what he can to wring some semblance of satisfaction out of the messy circumstances he's given.
Arcudi is far more interested in the Watch's inner workings, and like a watchsmith himself, he tinkers to see how he can get these human and superhuman timepieces ticking again. Drax the Destroyer, often positioned as a lumbering lummox, is allowed some mental development, and his relationship with Moondragon is strengthened beyond how Starlin left it; a single scene where Drax chastises his friends for always treating him poorly speaks more about the character than most anything Starlin did in the preceding issues. Arcudi takes seeds of jealousy Starlin planted in Gamora to create unease between herself and Warlock, a subplot which heavily impacts the series' final issues. Additionally, Arcudi allows Warlock to wrestle with his own manipulated feelings for someone else, struggling with that ever-present internal torment which has so often defined Adam as a character.
Arcudi's work is by no means perfect, and he's responsible for writing the issues which deal with a lot of that "new" material I mentioned. He endeavors, admirably, to find the line between developing his characters and weaving in plot, and the balance is not always perfect. But it's a darn better attempt than Starlin gave in the volume's (and series') earlier issues, and given that Arcudi appears to be writing at the whims of higher-ups who wanted Infinity Watch connected to not just ongoing sagas but also a crossover from Marvel's then-newly acquired Ultraverse from Marvel-owned Malibu Comics, the awkward balance and imperfect pacing should not be surprising. That the series ends enmeshed with the aforementioned Ultraverse crossover is a darn shame, preventing Arcudi from tying up every loose end and introducing new subplots involving Thanos and the Infinity Gems rather than drawing the series to a neat close.
Of the artists utilized, Pat Olliffe's work remains the standout. It isn't that I don't appreciate guys like Tom Grindberg; it's just that they don't stay on the book long enough to make an impact, whereas Olliffe is paired with Arcudi for most of his run on the title, allowing the series a level of consistency it had been sorely lacking. I tend to associate Olliffe with his work on Spider-Girl, so watching him tackle a range of not-so-street-level characters–from the Watch, to former herald of Galactus Firelord, to Tyrannus–is a treat. He's allowed to draw alien races, interdimensional backdrops, a host of large monsters…there's enough variety to keep the art feeling fresh.
If I may, let me indulge in praising Arcudi a bit more: he's given a sticky situation to work his way through by being handed this series, and he really does his darndest. Starlin's leaving isn't triumphant, nor does he leave in a place where it feels he's said all that he wanted to. I don't know if he chose to leave or if higher-ups bid him adieu, and I couldn't tell you if his work's "unfinished" feeling stems from him applying really poor pacing or being distracted by all the other cosmic shenanigans going on with these characters. Arcudi doesn't wow anybody's Drax-sized purple boots off, but he really tries to do what he can with the material he has. It's an admirable effort, and the fact is that we have at least pointed moments–Drax's desire to be treated differently, Gamora's fits of jealousy– which derive some characterization from a series that has been knee-deep in action, cosmic mythology, and crossover events.
In reviewing the first volume, I noted how it felt aimless, how Starlin wasn't quite sure where to lead the series, and I actually compared it to his Warlock work in the 70s once he'd had Adam defeat the Magus the first time. After such epic story arcs such as "the Magus Saga" and Infinity Gauntlet, what is one to do? It's like coming off a highway: you need to be cautious about your speed; you can't be going as fast as you were, even if you've gotten used to it. I wonder if that was Starlin's issue with these stories, getting so used to high-stakes threats and narratives that he couldn't slow down significantly enough to shift back to writing character-centric material. Fortunately, with Arcudi in the driver's seat, the pace slows down, becomes more focused. There are speed bumps along the way, most of which Marvel laid in front of Arcudi, but the man navigates as best he can. The second half of the Watch's cosmic caperings is not without its rough patches, but there is a significant effort to realign the series' vision back to watching (sorry) the characters Starlin had so gracefully grown in the 70s develop a little beyond the places where they were at the start.