Issue(s): Infinity Gauntlet #1
Cover Date: Jul 91
Title: "God"
Credits:
Jim Starlin - Writer
George Perez - Penciler
Josef Rubinstein & Tom Christopher - Inker
Craig Anderson - Editor

Review/plot:
In a year when some of the biggest hype is around reboots to the X-books, and where grim and gritty street level violence becomes more and more prevalent, it's sort of refreshing to see that there was also a lot of hype around a big cosmic storyline with roots that go back to the 1970s. Let's be clear: there was a lot of hype around this too, and with the crossovers and the decision to run this story as a mini-series with almost all of Marvel's heroes instead of in the Silver Surfer book, this was a commercial book too. But the writer and (for the first three issues) artist were creators that gave us some of the more mind-blowing stories of the 70s. Jim Starlin wrote previous stories involving Thanos and Warlock, and George Perez was the artist on (part of) the Korvac Saga, so both were involved in stories that can be seen as precursors to this one. The Starlin connection is obvious. But the Korvac Saga, along with (and i know this is sacrilege) Secret Wars II, has a lot in common with this story. In Infinity Gauntlet we have an omnipotent cosmic being, but he was mortal not long ago, and this story is really about how a mortal struggles with becoming God. The twist on that premise is that, unlike Michael Korvac at the time of the Korvac saga (and unlike the Beyonder in Secret Wars II), there is no question that Thanos is evil. But it is still his mortal flaws that do him in. That gives the story more power than if it were just a question of the heroes finding the right way to punch the bad guy. And it provides for a more satisfying ending. The original Galactus saga and the Kree-Skrull War show that endings for cosmic storylines can be tricky. And of course Secret Wars II shows that even when you have the right underlying themes, execution is still important. Infinity Gauntlet manages to pull it all off very well.

Well, at least that is the case for the main six issue series. This event is also similar to Secret Wars II in format, with a main book and then tie-ins for each issue. It's a return to that format after Acts of Vengeance and the various mutant cross-overs (e.g. Inferno) where all of the story occurred in the regular books, even if some parts of those cross-overs were more "core" than others. But while the format is the same, the specifics are different. Each issue of Secret Wars II was more or less standalone as the Beyonder evolved into different phases, and there was room between issues for other things to be going on. Infinity Gauntlet is more self-contained, and the tie-ins therefore generally take place between panels of individual issues (this was true for some Secret Wars II tie-ins is well, and there is some variation with the Infinity Gauntlet tie-ins, but on balance there is a big shift).

Marvel is also surprisingly restrained with the tie-ins. Secret Wars II touched every book in the line. With Infinity Gauntlet, only certain books tie in to the story at all. Some are obvious: this story was built up in Silver Surfer, so it makes sense for his book to continue to stay connected (although the tie-ins become increasingly pointless, and Silver Surfer actually went bi-weekly during this period, meaning that it gets a lot of tie-ins). And Dr. Strange plays the role of a sort of "glue" for the heroes in this book, so giving him tie-ins also makes sense. Beyond that, the tie-ins are fairly arbitrary. The Hulk is no more or less involved in Infinity Gauntlet than any other character, but he gets 3 tie-ins (i assume to get eyeballs on the new status quo for the character). Quasar gets a tie-in, largely devoted to explaining why he's not involved more. Cloak and Dagger gets a tie-in either because it was already doing a story about Mephisto or because it was faltering saleswise. And Sleepwalker, of all characters, gets a tie-in, which can only be because it was a new book that Marvel wanted to promote (although neither Darkhawk nor Deathlok get tie-ins, even though they were also new books and those characters all appear in the same scenes as Sleepwalker). And the adjectiveless Spider-Man series belatedly gets a single issue that may or may not be a tie-in (it's not labeled as such, and the whole issue can be written off as a dream).

So that is 19 tie-ins in 7 titles (if we don't count Spider-Man). That sounds like a lot, but what's notable are how many titles don't get tie-ins. The popular X-Men characters barely even appear in the main series. The Fantastic Four are similarly absent. The Avengers do appear in the main series, and tie-ins for them would make perfect sense, but they don't get any. For all three franchises, the fact that the books were in creative team upheaval may have been a factor. Or it may be that Marvel was deliberately keeping this event from becoming overwhelming, in a year with a lot of bi-weekly summer events and crossovers in the annuals and the aforementioned X-book changes. Marvel will "correct" that decision for the sequels, Infinity War (45 tie-ins in 18 titles) and Infinity Crusade (39 tie-ins in 14 titles), but for now the event is relatively small, to the point where i am hesitating to use the phrase "line wide" when describing it.

It's also worth mentioning that there are no promotions of the tie-ins in the main book. Secret Wars II always ended by telling us what the tie-ins were for that issue. Nothing like that here, and no footnotes in the core book referring us to events we might have missed from the tie-ins. You could read the core 6 issues and not even know that there was any more to the story. It actually goes beyond promotion; there is a lack of coordination between the main book and the tie-ins. When it comes to fitting in where, say, the Hulk or Quasar's tie-ins fit with the main series, it requires more than a little mental acrobatics.

We saw in Cloak and Dagger #18 that Thanos was carving his face into planets. This issue opens with him forming a giant stone word spelling "God", and then telling Mephisto that it is time to claim his seat at the head of the cosmic pantheon. But we already see him struggling a bit with his newfound omnipotence.

And when he returns to Death, who he loves and who (he claimed) he was gaining his omnipotence to be with, the question of his mortal beginnings is made explicit.

Silver Surfer, meanwhile, crashes through the window of Dr. Strange's house, as we saw in Silver Surfer #50. The Surfer is weak, coming in and out of consciousness, but he warns Dr. Strange that Thanos has returned, and that Death has ordered him to slay half the population of the universe.

Thanos comes to the conclusion that the reason that Death is not reciprocating his love is that he hasn't been worshiping her properly (i.e., instead of carving his face into planets).

He actually misses the actual reason, given to him from Death's zombie servant: Death has no interest in being subservient to him, which is all but inevitable now that his power has surpassed hers. In fact, we never get a sense during this story that Death ever had any interest in him beyond wanting him as a minion to do her bidding. If he were less powerful than her (as he was), or even managed to become exactly equal (something that he never tries, unlike when the Beyonder tried restricting his own power), it's likely her treatment of him would be the same.

So he goes with the monument.

Click for monumental size.

That does nothing to impress Death. Mephisto suggests demonstrating the depths of his depravity, so Thanos brings in Nebula, the woman claiming to be his granddaughter. For that claim, he ordered her killed, and when that didn't quite happen, he transformed her into a zombie thing. That actually happened in Silver Surfer #45 and he's just teleporting her in now.

Again, no interest from Death. In fact, Death's zombie servant tells him that Death is displeased with his boasts. That results in Thanos destroying the zombie, even though he's clearly just a mouthpiece for Death, who refuses to speak to Thanos directly.

Mephisto then reminds Thanos that the whole reason Death resurrected him was to wipe out half the universe. When Thanos remembers that, Death does seem to become more attentive.

Maybe Death thought this would get rid of him. That he'd go off and start killing people, giving her some alone time. But he's got the Infinity Gauntlet now, so killing off half the universe is just a snap of his fingers.

Dr. Strange was reading a newspaper article about an outbreak of insanity in the Catskills when Silver Surfer crashed through his window. That may not be related to anything in this story (from Punisher: POV, it seems Starlin liked to include the Catskills in his stories), but a little later we see three people coming out of a bar in upstate New York.

Whether or not the inclusion of the Catskills is a little personal Easter egg for Starlin, the poster on the side of that bar definitely is for George Perez. We see that Perez's co-creation, the White Tiger, is hanging out with the Sons of the Tiger nowadays, performing their kung fu for the locals.

The above scene is actually a flashback, told from the perspective of a silhouetted Pip the Troll. The three people coming out of the bar were armed robbers and murderers. Drunk, they drive off the side of the road, and died. But suddenly come back to life.

And that is actually how Pip, Gamora, and Adam Warlock are reborn from the Soul Gem back into the real world.

And that's how the first issue ends. A good start. If you feel like Thanos is maybe a little bit wimpy regarding Death's rejection of him, you're supposed to. It's actually the point of the story that Thanos is not ready for godhood, insane ("the mad Titan") and full of human flaws that will be his undoing, or rather that his own subconscious recognition of all of this is his undoing. That will become increasingly clear as the series goes on, but we see evidence of it right from the beginning. On top of that, we have George Perez at his best, with detailed art and interesting storytelling choices...

...and a set-up that gets a good chunk of Marvel's heroes involved in a world-wide, even universe-wide, crisis.

Quality Rating: A

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - start of the Infinity Gauntlet

Chronological Placement Considerations: Silver Surfer #50 leads in to this story. Hulk #383 is (unofficially) a tie-in that starts basically the same time as this story, but note that the Hulk is sitting in a bar, finding out on television that Rick Jones isn't the only one that has disappeared. We'll have to see how to fit that in to what actually happens in Hulk #383. Doctor Strange #31 also takes place during this issue, stretching out the scene after the Surfer crashes through his window. The epilogue in Sleepwalker #6 (which takes place "a few days" after the main story) takes place during this issue, but the actual Sleepwalker Infinity Gauntlet tie-in, in issue #7, spans the length of the event and i'll be placing it at the end of the series. Thanos' appearance in Quasar #24 happens after Thanos creates the monument to Death. Silver Surfer #51 (which can really take place any time before Galactus shows up in this series next issue) is also tie-ins to this issue.

References:

• Thanos was resurrected by Death in Silver Surfer #34-35.
  
• He acquired the Infinity Gems in Thanos Quest #1-2.
  
• Thanos trapped the Silver Surfer and Drax in his Soul Gem in Silver Surfer #44. They escaped in Silver Surfer #47, and were warned that Thanos was planning to act by Mephisto.
  
• Surfer then rushed to Earth, but was delayed multiple times, culminating in his fight with the Thanos statue in Silver Surfer #50.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Wow - An "A" rating from FNORD. Judging by the price that these issues sell for, it only shows how popular this series was with everybody. This is one of those instances where I was collecting in "real-time" and was thoroughly impressed with the art as well as the plot. I looked forward to this series as much as the "Cosmos In Collision" mini-series in Quasar.

The Infinity Gauntlet! This was a blast to read in real time. By killing half of all life in the universe, Thanos effectively took the Fantastic Four and all the X-teams off the board, which really helped to ramp up the scary factor. There was no Mister Fantastic to turn to with the hopes of his figuring everything out and creating a device to neutralize the Infinity gems. (Not to mention is was a relief to not have the series cluttered up with the numerous X-characters. It gave everyone else room to breathe.)

The tie in issues, to me, felt like it focused on the former Defenders: Dr. Dtrage, the Hulk and Silver Surfer. Namor's title wasn't involved, but he himself was in the series in a minor role. I always wondered if those titles were chosen intentionally for some Defenders based reason.

That is a good point about having no Fantastic Four and barely any X-Men it ramps up the scare factor...but still it feels kind of wrong having not even one full member be part of this.

Oh and that's really my closest thing to a complaint for this.

Wolverine and Cyclops do figure into it later.

Oh and let me add my praise for this series. It's easily top five of Marvel's best stories from the '90s I think. Not that the competition was all that stiff. Anyway, my only complaint is that Perez wasn't able to finish it. I have nothing against Lim but I was pretty bummed at the time at the change in artists.

Do I love this story?

Look at my username, what do you think? :D

I wasn't picking this up as it was coming out; I was only 7 or 8 and my interest in comics was solely focused on Spider-Man and the X-Men. But a friend of mine was, and he gushed about it, about how awesome this Thanos guy was ("He killed Wolverine!" "No way, you CAN'T kill Wolverine!").

Next year, around the same time that the sequel was coming out, my dad spotted INFINITY GAUNTLET #1 in a comic store and got it for me, saying "the cover looks interesting, this might be good." And boy, was he right. This one issue single-handedly introduced me to the rest of the Marvel universe, and birthed my lifelong interest in all things cosmic. It's possible I wouldn't have stayed with comics if I didn't have this one. It got me really interested in trying to write this stuff myself. And it instantly cemented Thanos as one of my all-time favorite villains. Years later, when I was introduced to the Internet, "Thanos" was my first choice of username, but since that was taken, I hit a random button and became Thanos6 instead.

It is not an exaggeration to say that INFINITY GAUNTLET literally changed my life, and for that, I will forever be immensely grateful.

I must have been the only person who found this whole series bloated and boring. Forty-eight pages per issue, six months, and basically nothing happens: an omnipotent guy does onipotent things that are all meaningless and as easily undone as done. Heroes get slaughtered, the other cosmic powers get humiliated, much as they did at the Beyonder's hands in SWII, and of course only Starlin's characters--not the Surfer or Dr. Strange or anybody else--can save the day. It's like fanfic.

There's no intrigue, no mystery, little developmemt, most of the characters are cardboard. Other than Thanos, who comes out of this with a character in any way different thsn when they went in? What would be the impact on anyone other than Starlin's pets if this story had never happened?

I love Starlin's '70s Captain Marvel and Warlock work, and it seems to me that Avengers annual six did in one issue as much as Infinity Gauntlet does in a half-dozen. I'd like IG if it had been a Solver Surfer story, but it's been blown out of all proportion in this mini.

But that's just me. I can see why other people love this--Perez and Lim are good, the scale is epic, the villain is cool (even if he doesn't do much), and it was a hot storyline at a time when comics were still fun. And Starlin is a better writer than most of Marvel's crop at this time, even if i dont like this work or the indulgence he showers on his own creations.

I never did understand why the Hulk would assume that the Abomination would have something to do with half the world's population disappearing.

Anyway, It was nice to see George Perez back at Marvel after nearly a decade, but it was sadly marred by Rubenstein's inks. He's a good inker when you need someone to punch up poor pencils and make them look average at least....but he has an unfortunate tendency to make superior artists look average as well. I remember asking myself why the covers looked 10 times better than the interior art...and that was because Perez inked the covers himself.

Infinity Gauntlet was Starlin's last great Thanos story and really tied up all the work he did with the character. I've always liked the ending too and wish they'd have just left the characters there.

And as for commercialization, Marvel must have made a killing on this thing not just in sales, but also in T-shirts. Every Marvel book back then always had a couple pages of T-shirt ads for McFarlane Spider-man and the famous "Come and get me" Thanos picture.

Not in the scans, but if you look close, you actually three sparks leave the Soul Gem when Thanos is talking to Mephisto early on. Gotta love those little Perez details.

You're not alone, Walter Lawson. My feelings about this series are similar to what you've expressed. What I loved about Starlin's original Warlock stories, which I grew up with, were their multi-level thematic richness, with elements of satire, surrealism, psychological insight, parody of the Catholic Church, and so on. By contrast, this series seems quite one-dimensional (the theme of absolute power) and drawn-out. Also, it was very much like the Cosmic Cube again but far more grandiose and far less mysterious. Everything here is basically spelled out and brightly lit. The original Soul Gems were heavily retconned for the purpose, and the great cosmic characters of the 60s (Galactus, The Stranger, et al.) all seemed to be demoted.

I could start going on about this, but basically it seemed to me like Starlin and Shooter before him had a kind of oedipal complex in relation to Stan Lee and expressed it by trying to trump Galactus, the biggest gun on the block. That may seem far-fetched on the face of it, but I believe there's something to it. Shooter started that when he was in his teens with the Sun-Eater (not just a planet eater, you see, over at DC) and then later gave us Korvac (who stole power from G's ship) followed by the big, bad Beyonder, who immediately trashes you-know-who. The Infinity Gauntlet essentially makes Thanos into another Beyonder (but evil, as fnord notes), and Starlin always makes "his" characters look better than the others. Anyway, this oneupmanship and cosmic inflation never sat well with an old Stan Lee and Galactus fan like me.

Although far better than most of what was going on at Marvel at the time (saying much?), I really didn't like this series when it came out and didn't like it when I reread it a few years ago. Maybe in my case it's like trampling on sacred ground, since Starlin's original work on Mar-Vell/Thanos/Warlock was so important to me when I was younger. (Heck, still is.) Also, I've never liked Starlin's work that he didn't draw himself nearly as much as the best that he did -- not the same integrated whole.

Even so, I can understand the excitement of a younger reader like Thanos6 who was breaking into comics around that time. Things like this are highly relative to one's age and expectations. And now it looks like we're heading toward a movie version.

I remember a lot of people getting mad when #2 came out and the list of heroes killed included major folks like the FF and X-Men who they knew wouldn't stick.

In the era of speculation, a lot of young, naive collectors bought multiple copies of number one, thinking it would shoot up in value, due to the deaths of characters.

(In fairness, Marvel did promote it along the lines of "things will never be the same," years before they had run that pitch into the ground)

I had one friend who dropped the book altogether, because "it isn't going to be worth anything when everyone comes back at the end."

He ended missing an amazing story that would be flawless, except for my gripe that Perez bolted to go work on the forgettable War of the Gods for DC. I wonder, in hindsight, if he regrets that move now.

Lim's issues were good, though a little more rushed-looking than his usual artwork.

When this first came out, I was using one of the mail order subscription services. In the description, it said Thanos was wiping out Counter Earth the first issue. I thought that was good as it implied the half of humanity that would perish was not on our Earth. This meant the events would be real and not magically undone at the end of the story.

When I go it - nope, half of Earth's population disappeared - so I knew however it ended, it would be with a huge cop out with no real permanent effects on the Marvel Universe. Major bummer.

It had its faults, but the art was great while Perez was on it, and there were a lot of cool bits to it.

That's one of the best parts about reading comics as a kid; you don't know that "oh, these characters are too important, they won't stay dead." You haven't learned about change and the illusion of change. Merchandising and other business concerns don't enter your head. You just enjoy this story where WOW the villain just killed half the people in the universe how are they going to stop him?

I love the original Warlock stuff too, with the Magus and the Universal Church of Truth. You can enjoy that as just a fun adventure story, which is how I first enjoyed it as a kid, after reading GAUNTLET and WAR sent me scrambling for back issues. And of course, when I grew up and kept re-reading it, more and more of the allegory and layers made sense to me.

But that's not what INFINITY GAUNTLET is, and I don't think that's a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with a well-made action tale with high stakes, good humor, and the occasional bits of deep characterization and that's what this is, or at least, that's what I think it is.

Enjoyed your answer, Thanos6, and agree that "There's nothing wrong with a well-made action tale with high stakes, good humor, and the occasional bits of deep characterization." Maybe I just wanted even more from Starlin and these particular characters since the bar had been set so high earlier (from the First Thanos War to The Death of Captain Marvel) and since, at a strictly personal level, I had identified so strongly with Warlock's struggles against both others and himself.

It's somewhat doubtful that the original Warlock would ever be made into a blockbuster movie -- too quirky and layered for that, I'd guess. And if they did do it, they'd surely ruin it.

That's the best part about comics and literature in general. If something confuses you, or you don't think you've understood it quite right, you go back and re-read that part again, and flip back to earlier in the book if you need to clarify something. (And there are, unquestionably, plenty of those moments in Starlin's early Mar-Vell and Warlock stuff; and that's not a criticism! Just an observation :) ) You can only do that with a movie if you're watching it by yourself at home, and even then it's more troublesome.

Yeah, I recall the massive hype at my local comic store about this one and I enjoyed it at the time though I prefer Thanos Quest. I just read it to my kids and they enjoyed it.

My major disappointment was that Doom was pretty useless. He was after all the guy that stole Galactus's power to defeat the Beyonder. Thanos also ultimately suffered from the same flaw that Doom did in Secret Wars which cost them both omnipotence which was lazy of Starlin.

Most of the heroes were mere punching bags but the highlight was Cap's final confrontation with Thanos. Truly heroic.

The Big G had long lost his majesty so I did not have a problem with him being defeated so easily.

I am worried about the forthcoming movie pitching Thanos as a one dimensional villain. I much prefer his good side that shone through on later Infinity series.

Infinity Gauntlet was one of the last Marvel comics I read in the 90s (I was 12 or 13 when it came out in Finland, and by that point I'd grown tired of the increasingly grim & gritty stuff that was going on in superhero comics); it certainly was the last Marvel comic I remember enjoying as a kid. But having recently reread it as an adult, I have to with the criticisms presented here.

The obvious flaw in the comic is that all the assorted heros, besides Warlock, never achieve anything in the story. All their efforts to beat Thanos fail, often spectacularly. The contribution Silver Surfer, who in his solo series was foreshadowed to be the one who defeats Thanos, is reduced to being the guy who flies really fast as part of Warlock's plan − and he still fails at that. Now, all this wouldn't matter if Warlock, the only hero in the story who get things done, would be a likable character, but he's not. Having already gone through his character arc in the 1970s, and having reached enlightenment inside the Soul Stone, here he comes off as an arrogant know-it-all jerk. How can anyone relate to a hero like that?

Since nominal heroes of the story are not interesting, the only character that could make the story work is Thanos. And Starlin writes him really well here, in the #1 issue; his mission to satisfy Death, him becoming a literal personification of Freud's thanatos is interesting stuff, and it certainly blew the mind of 12-year old me. But even that gets kinda sidelined when the story moves to the part where Thanos mostly just fights waves of increasingly powerful opponents. Sure, those fights look cool and are nicely coreographed, but it's hard to invest emotionally to them since Starlin's writing doesn't invest to the heroes. Besides Warlock, he doesn't try to flesh out any of them, they become mere cannon fodder. The "Cap alone versus Thanos" scene is pretty much the only place where I really rooted for a heroic character in the story.

That said, I think the final twist of the series is pretty nicely done, and that's what makes IG better than any of its increasingly worse sequels. This is a story where the heroes fail, and without Nebula, Thanos would've won. Sure, it's ultimately revealed that Thanos is a self-defeatist, and letting Nebula live is probably part of his subconscious desire to lose, so (as Grom points out) the resolution is kinda the same as with Doom in Secret Wars... But having the heroes lose completely, and the universe being saved only because of the actions of a supporting villain character, is still an intriguing way to end the story, It's certainly a better ending than in Infinity War, where we find out Magus never really had a chance of winning because Warlock and Thanos are so Smart and Cool, so it all becomes a mere shaggy dog story.

I'm not sure if it's intentional, but the conclusion of IG kinda mirrors the conclusion of Lord of the Rings. In LotR, Bilbo doesn't kill Gollum when he has the chance, and that act of pity is what ultimately leads to Sauron's defeat. In IG, Thanos' doesn't kill Nebula, and the resolution is pretty much the same: the character who was saved steals the magical all-powerful object which would've made the villain win. But the interesting difference compared to LotR is that it's the villain himself who commits the act of pity, and that leads to his own defeat. That's a psychologically fascinating way of depicting the villain, and it further emphasizes the point that Thanos himself is pretty much the only interesting thing in Infinity Gauntlet.

Great writeup Tuomas. I failed to mention how disappointing SS was in the IG series and generally throughout all engagements with Thanos. We have to accept from issue 38 that Surfer's greatest threat to Thanos was him potentially interfering with Thanos's quest for the gems. For some reason Thanos was worried - maybe his concern derived from some prophecy in SS 34. This issue misleads the first time reader into thinking that Surfer will be able to prevail over Thanos.
However in the next issue Thanos shows that even without the gems he could easily handle Surfer. So in hindsight the SS issues (with the exception of Dynamo City) seem almost pointless as Surfer posed as much threat to Thanos as an asthmatic ant to a lion. Englehart's run holds up much better on second reading and feels very special and epic to me.

By the way, Warlock is the most boring character ever written (like a robotic Cyclops).

Thanos is written by Starlin to be the true hero. He only gets better with each Starlin written series. Everyone else is window dressing (though Living Tribunal is still cool.)

I like the Lord of the Rings parallel, with one caveat: i don't think Thanos keeps Nebula alive out of pity. I think it's the opposite. This series should definitely be seen as a Thanos solo story, just like Thanos Quest, and what makes it interesting is that the protagonist is evil. More as i get into later issues.

Random observation: am I weird or is Death kind of hot in this story..?

"Totally not weird." - Thanos

I like the Lord of the Rings parallel, with one caveat: i don't think Thanos keeps Nebula alive out of pity. I think it's the opposite.

Well, maybe not pity, but even though Thanos says Death is the only companion he needs, there are hints that he subconsciously graves for companionship, even family. When he first meets Nebula and learns that she's suppose to be his granddaughter, he says the whole idea that he could have produced offpsring is blasphemous, yet he keeps Nebula alive and even keeps telling everyone that she's his supposed granddaughter, even though there's no reason for him to mention that. He also casually mentions having killed his mother, so it'd sound like family means nothing to him, yet he keeps Eros alive (much like Nebula) as a witness his deeds, even after he's killed all the other heroes.

And later on, in one of the Starlin-penned tie-ins to Infinity War, we learn that that the same ambiguity also applied to his relationship with Gamora when she was kid. On the surface he tried to come off as an cold taskmaster, so that Gamora would grow up to be a ruthless killer, but it seems he couldn't quite hide the fact that he had some parental feelings towards her too. So I'd say there are deeper reasons why Thanos keeps Nebula alive than those he states out loud.

Count me among those who dislike this story (and the Infinity series that follow it). It's a story in which the Silver Surfer is reduced to an ineffectual guest star in his own book, and Thanos turns out to be less a nihilist who embodies the death-drive and more a pathetic stalker with a crush.

The 1970s Starlin material is much, much better than this in nearly every respect. There, Thanos really does come across as a deliberate attempt to avoid the cliches of other villains: he uses the Cosmic Cube more intelligently than anyone before or since, he has a subtle (by the standards of the time) plan with a number of backup contingencies in place, and he uses misdirection with tremendous effectiveness. Here, he's just really, really, physically strong, and he's "smart" mostly because everyone around him seems to lose about thirty IQ points.

I feel like Starlin made the same mistake with Thanos that Thomas Harris did with Hannibal Lecter: he fell in love with his creation. And as in Harris's novels, the character's commercial popularity meant that the writer no longer needed to work to sell the character to readers; he simply becomes the monster we're meant to adore, smarterer and betterer and tougherer than an increasingly thinly drawn cast of disposable sidekicks and antagonists.

I think it kinda makes sense that Thanos doesn't need to be smart at this point, since he's omnipotent. He had to be smart to steal the Infinity Gems from the Elders, though, and I guess that's why Thanos' Quest is better story than the one it's a a prologue for. It's fun to see how Thanos manages to cheat each elder out of his Gem. But it makes sense that once he has all six, that cunning isn't needed anymore. What's the point of having contingency plans when no one can stand up to you?

As powerful as the Cosmic Cube was, the heroes could still fight against Thanos when he had it, but with the Infinity Gems, they couldn't have done anything if Thanos hadn't deliberately limited his powers because of Mephisto's manipulation. I guess the point Starlin tries to make is that power doesn't necessarily make you wise. Even with ultimate power you can make mistakes that cause you to lose it. But it makes for a rather dull superhero story when the heros' efforts are futile to begin with, and the villain is only defated because of his subconscious self-sabotage. Like Fnord says, this is more of Thanos solo story, a character study really, than the sort of "superheroes vs. a villain" story the 70s Thanos comics still were.

Whoops I wasn't clear earlier. I meant it feels wrong having not even one member of the FF during the attack. Cyclops and Wolverine represent the X-Men so they got it covered pretty well but I'd have had Invisible Woman.

Fnord misses one thing in his intro - yes, Perez worked on Korvac Saga, but I think it's much more relevant that he drew all of DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths - which showed he could do a massive company wide saga with huge casts of characters. In a lot of ways, that was much more the blueprint for what followed here than any previous Marvel wideline crossover, though Crisis had much more lasting changes than this series did. But no matter what, it was awesome to finally have Perez doing something for Marvel again. The only bummer about fnord's Marvel obsession is that he has missed out on Perez and Wolfman and their fantastic work on New Teen Titans and Crisis.

Glad that fnord included my favorite panel of the whole series - Pip's downcast look when he realizes Warlock is in the cocoon.

Considering how hard she worked to end the war just a year or so ago in publishing time, it seems bizarre that S'Byll would immediately start the third Kree-Skrull War without hesitation.

With all the shock and rattle around Avengers: Infinity War, I found myself largely unfazed. Maybe cause I've read IG, and I know how this will prob play out, even w/o Death, Mephisto, or Adam Warlock.
Comparatively, Thanos is pretty cartoon villain for most of this storyline, whereas the film version's fractured ideology was surprisingly refreshing, even if, like Ultron, the hype trumps the substance.

I was looking at Mephisto's facial expression when Thanos was preparing to snap his fingers. I've wondered if Mephistor really wanted him to do it, was afraid of Thanos or was more in disbelief he'd actually do it or what.