Issue(s): Warlock and the Infinity Watch #10
Cover Date: Nov 92
Title: "Self-destructive tendencies"
Credits:
Jim Starlin - Writer
Angel Medina - Penciler
Bob Almond - Inker
Lynaire Brust - Assistant Editor
Craig Anderson - Editor

Review/plot:
This issue plays out the battle between Thanos and his doppelganger.

We saw in Infinity War #5 that the two Thanoses ruled out an alliance. But they consider it again after Magus gains the power of the Infinity Gauntlet.

But since Magus has decreed that only the survivor of their fight can join him in the other room, the alliance isn't to be. They're unable to penetrate the barrier that he put over the door.

So they get back to fighting. Note that Thanos feels "dimmed" after his brush with omnipotence during the Infinity Gauntlet saga.

He continues to think about his weakened resolve, and wonders about the suicidal implications of killing his duplicate. But he ultimately does it.

Look how cute Thanos (or his doppel) looks when he's scared.

Thanos then absorbs his doppelganger's soul, Satana style.

Nom nom nom nom nom!

Thanos considers himself "whole" after this, and you might think that this would result in him becoming fully evil again, but as we'll see at the very end of the core Infinity War series, it's not quite that simple.

I thought this was a great use of the "evil twin" concept of Infinity War, basically using it for some character work for Thanos after he'd obtained godhood and then lost it. And Angel Medina depicts it very well. Ultimately it's not much in terms of content, and it's a short read, but it's one of the tie-ins that i actually think is worthwhile, and that's a rarity.

Quality Rating: B+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This fight takes place during Infinity War #6.

References:

• I'll link to Infinity Gauntlet #5 regarding Thanos' loss of omnipotence.

Crossover: Infinity War

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

This, in effect, is Thanos's version of what Warlock went through when he killed himself (or his future self) in the classic Warlock #11 in order to stop the Magus. And again, the goal here is to stop the Magus.

Suicide (and near-variants on it, as here) is, of course, a key theme in Starlin's work: Aknaton goading Dreadstar to kill him in the Metamorphosis Odyssey, Gilgamesh II's jump after his "brother" has been killed, Cosmic Guard opening with our hero about to commit suicide out of despair, Captain Comet killing cloned versions of himself, various characters, from Mar-Vell to Matter Eater Lad to Supergirl, sacrificing themselves to stop some major threat, and so on.

One gets the impression that Starlin took this Camus statement seriously: "There is only one really serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide. Deciding whether or not life is worth living is to answer the fundamental question in philosophy." And suicide in his work is also often allied with the doppelganger motif--it's not always literal suicide but killing some version or part of yourself. One of the interesting aspects of Starlin's work is the way he develops a theme like this very resourcefully in a variety of ways. It gives his work real thematic density, a literary quality that's something pretty rare in comics (or perhaps anywhere else). And when things get too existentially serious, he often pulls out Pip or a slapstick brawl to remind us that absurdity can also be funny.

*Slow clap*

That's why Iike sites and discussions like these. Getting info and therefore connections I didn't see before and enriching my reading experience especially rereading stuff. Thx for that.