Convergence: Infinity Inc. #1 (DC)

writer: Jerry Ordway

artist: Ben Caldwell

I'm not gonna lie: I was hugely interested in this particular Convergence spin-off for only one reason, and that's artist Ben Caldwell.

Simply put, I became a devoted fan of Caldwell's after his masterful Wonder Woman feature in Wednesday Comics.  The panel I've included from Infinity Inc. is as close as this one gets.

Which is not to say, Ba! and darn you Ben Caldwell! but that clearly he didn't get to go the full Caldwell.  "Full Caldwell" means some of the most interesting page layouts I've ever seen.  But it's okay.  It's enough to see more Caldwell art at all.  I have no idea why, but this has proven to be incredibly scarce over the years.

So yeah, I leaped at Infinity Inc. to see it again.

The rest of the comic isn't too bad, though.  The writer is Jerry Ordway, another impressive talent (with more pedigree and longer history) who doesn't seem to get enough work.  The featured characters are the offspring of the Justice Society.  Back in yon olden days I had randomly acquired an issue of the classic Infinity Inc. material, so I was familiar with the characters from their original context (Alan Scott's offspring, Jade and Obsidian, have the longest publishing history of the set).  And it struck me, these guys make for excellent storytelling material.  Grant Morrison's Multiversity issue The Just featured a different second generation entirely (as did Kingdom Come, and come to think of it Geoff Johns' JSA/Justice Society of America), but this is the original version.  If I were DC, I would consider bringing them back on an ongoing basis.

And, you know, locking down Ben Caldwell.  He'll be doing Prez after Convergence concludes.  I will certainly have to take a look at that, too...