And here he is. Stephen Baskerville appears to add a patina of 90s ugliness to Alex’s art. Would really like to know the story on how this occurred. Forced by editorial? Requested by Alex to seem competitive? Someone just thought he was a good inker? Could be anything, but it’s hard not to read it a certain way. I felt compelled to look him up. Like basically all the guys who filled this “90s inker role” at the time, he eventually evolved beyond it. Apparently got work in video game development. Probably pays a lot better, if nothing else. Well, anyway. Apparently, by this point in Infinity Crusade, Silver Surfer has switched sides to the not-brainwashed team, and those heroes are flying toward “Paradise Omega” for the big showdown. Also, Surfer has, surprise, teamed up with Thanos. “The devil you know.” Ok, sure. Moondragon, still functioning as The Goddess’s representative, tells the brainwashed heroes to prepare for war.
Spidey tries to get between Storm & Jean’s nonsensical fight only for them to both turn on him. But then Captain America stops them.
Could this have possibly been timed worse? We just suffered through 14 pages of Spidey and eventually Cap saying they can’t kill Carnage even though he’ll never stop murdering people, and now we have Cap ready to kill his friends for The Goddess? Hoo hoo. What a disaster. As the good heroes make landfall, Cap reiterates that “greater goals must subsume personal codes and loyalties,”… I mean this is such hilariously bad timing… and then he tells Spider-Man he should partner with a war vet, and puts him and Puck together. That works out pretty well with the Alpha Flight guest spot, Puck saying Spidey Alpha Flight owes him a favor or two.
I feel like I can’t really judge Infinity Crusade based on these terribly mismanaged tie-ins, but it seems both light on plot and very stupid. I wonder how much Starlin wanted to do it and how much Marvel pushed to keep the Infinity train rolling. The feeling that this is all empty sure isn’t helped by a really unusual amount of full page splashes, 2-page splashes and 4 panel pages crammed into what is only half a comic. Unbelievable. Spidey and Puck are hiding in the woods, Spider-Man still trying to advocate for, you know, not killing a bunch of heroes, Puck reiterating cap’s bloodthirsty position, and then Firestar and, uh, Strong Guy run by. Strong Guy is a big dumb lug from X-Factor who chose his own superhero name. The 90s. Puck attacks them, so Spidey feels he has to back him up. Fight fight fight.
When it’s hero vs. hero, you can always count on Spider-Man to switch sides, I guess. But that’s for the far future. In the present, far from this pointless fighting, this Robbie/Betty thing finally gts some details…
So now they’re actually banking on it looking like an affair. This is a weird subplot. Back in space, Spider-Man is directed telepathically by Moondragon to go help Hercules and Human Torch fight Sleepwalker and Darkhawk (A real old school vs. new school thing), but is more concerned with keeping them all from hurting each other. Rogue shows up and she and Herc conveniently knock each other out, and then Thing shows up to fight an unwilling Spider-Man.
Well, ok! Wonder what happened. Or even what’s happening. Meanwhile, Nightwatch fights Deathgrin in a sewer and wins. Who cares? Not me!