Issue(s): Infinity Crusade #4
Cover Date: Sep 93
Title: "Mortal sins"
Credits:
Jim Starlin - Writer
Ron Lim - Penciler
Al Milgrom - Inker
Craig Anderson - Editor

Review/plot:
I've talked in the past about how i think all three Infinity crossovers suffer from the clutter of the larger cast of Marvel heroes, and how the series are best understood as a Starlin story about Starlin characters that just happen to have the likes of Spider-Man and Captain America as background characters. I know people complain that Starlin advances his own characters at the expense of others, but (at least to me) that's less of an offense when you realize that these characters are the stars (i.e. the "heroes always win in their own book" syndrome). So i don't have a problem with the heroes becoming canon fodder, i don't have a problem with Thanos outsmarting Mephisto, etc.. This all becomes a lot harder to defend with this third crossover because it's so listless even above and beyond having to juggle the large superfluous cast. But there are moments that shine through even here, like this scene of Thanos approaching the Silver Surfer.

Ron Lim of course deserves a lot of the credit, too. There's something about a panel with a silent grin that conveys so much more than words could in conveying the complexity of Thanos. Starlin and Lim make a good team, with Starlin having the restraint to hold back and let Lim's art do the work, and Lim having a great sense of pacing.

Anyway, scenes like the one above are why i'm always trying to find reasons (excuses?) why the Infinity stories aren't as good as they should be, instead of just declaring them to be crap like i do with other crossovers in this era of crossover excess. Extract (what i think are) gems) like the scene above and put them into a smaller scale crossover (or just issues of Warlock and the Infinity Watch) and you could have had a really good event. Instead we have to deal with the larger group of heroes, and spend time setting them up very explicitly as cannon fodder.

Thanos gets the heroes to agree to their role, and he takes the comatose Professor X with him and the Surfer.

Poor Xavier. At least the super-villain isn't literally cutting out his brain this time.

We also see that Thanos' spaceship is actually a gun so big it would make even Nick Fury feel inadequate.

Meanwhile, the Goddess' forces are launching an attack on Avengers mansion (with a ludicrously big bomb), but of course the heroes have already left to launch their own assault on Paradise Omega.

Thanos' plan involves the Silver Surfer drawing power from the sun (Thanos assures the Surfer that he can handle it, but he hasn't really made any calculations).

Super 90s!

The Hulk and Drax are positioned on asteroids to knock the Surfer in the right direction, towards Paradise Omega, if he gets out of control.

The Surfer's impact destroys Paradise Omega's satellite defense system. Moondragon sends Thor into space to deal with the heroes, and he destroys the Quinjets.

Thor then engages with Drax and the Hulk (a scene that will be expanded upon / repeated multiple times in the tie-ins and next issue).

The heroes crash land on the planet and prepare to fight the Goddess' recruits (ditto, but i won't cover those until after next issue). Thanos doesn't fire his gun yet.

Meanwhile, Adam Warlock meets up with Autolycus and Judge Kray-Tor in the Soul World.

Notice that Kray-Tor doesn't say a word. He doesn't have to. He's awesome just by existing.

Warlock really wants to talk to the Magus, who is a special case since he can't interact with the other denizens of Soul World.

Also, this:

Yeah, thanks a lot. Just had to include a scene with Sleepwalker turning into Rick Sheridan and back so that placement with regard to his regular series would be awkward. It serves no other purpose!

Aside from the scene with Thanos and the Surfer at the beginning, this issue is not very good. It's not very thrilling to see Thanos getting the Silver Surfer to do a complex power trick to deal with a satellite defense system that we hadn't heard of prior to this. It doesn't feel like a major blow to the bad guys. And we're now four issues in and still no sense of what the real threat is.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Again, just for quick reference here are the official tie-ins for this issue, but they don't necessarily all follow directly.

There are actually not a lot of tie-ins that fall (entirely) between Infinity Crusade #4-5.

References:

• There are vague references to Pip and his "assassination attempt" as seen at the end of last issue and mainly in Warlock and the Infinity Watch #20.
  
• Thanos reminds the Silver Surfer that they worked together during the "Doppelganger Wars", aka Infinity War. I'll link to Infinity War #6, which is when the Magus was banished to the Soul World.
  
• When the Surfer calls Thanos a hero, Thanos disputes it by offering to use the Soul Gem to give the Surfer a glimpse of his Soul, similar to when the Surfer entered the Soul World in Silver Surfer #46-47 (at least i assume that's what is being referenced; no footnote.).

Crossover: Infinity Crusade

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I kept wondering and finally decided to look it up, and now I am sharing it with all of you: The name Autolycus is pronounced aw-TOL-ih-kus, and it means "the wolf itself."

I have to agree with fnord that the combination of Jim Starlin's scripting and Ron Lim's pencils gives us a Thanos who is so unabashedly conniving and smugly devious that it's actually quite amusing and entertaining. I just wish that it was in service of a better story.