The Thanos Imperative #4 – Review

By Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Miguel Sepulveda (artist), Jay David Ramos and Wil Quintana (color artists)

I have cancer.

Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, to be exact.

It’ll probably kill me at some point, assuming I don’t drink myself into oblivion before then, but I felt compelled to share with you because that is the frame of mind I’ve been in as I read Abnett and Lanning’s latest, and possibly most disturbing, space epic for Marvel. I’ve long been a fan of DnA’s work for this corner of the Marvel Universe, and applaud how they have carved out and defined a territory that has been vastly under-utilized by creators for decades now. These guys have succeeded in forging Marvel’s universe a chaotic, exciting, and utterly terrifying place to tell stories in. With every epic they’ve crafted, they’ve gradually raised the stakes in ways that seem logical yet infinitely more perilous. Now, with The Thanos Imperative these guys are building one of their finest stories to date, one that forces me to consider my own mortality in a way that is deeply disturbing.

At the heart of this tale is the simple, eternal conflict between Life and Death. Specifically, it is the tale of a universe where Death died and Life prevailed. A universe that is now trying to infiltrate our reality in a desperate attempt to find more space to continue growing and living. Where this story excels though is in the way it fucks with our expectations by portraying Life as a vile, cancerous entity and Death as, if not The Good Guy, then certainly a necessary deterrent to the threat of Life unbound. Thematically, it’s a strange concept and not something we’re accustomed to endorsing; our education as readers of fiction has trained us to view Life as being Good and Death as being Evil, but here Abnett and Lanning do what good writers do and play with our expectations, twisting them in ways that make us reconsider what we thought to be true. I don’t know about you, but I like that.

The action in this issue is unparalleled and furious, even if the plot was rather sparse. Sepulveda has a wonderful understanding of these characters and his gritty style is perfectly suited to the large canvas Abnett and Lanning like to work on. I loved the contrast of Nova and his strikeforce leading an incursion into the Cancerverse while Lord Mar-Vell and his Revengers stalked our universe in pursuit of the Avatar of Death. With every issue, this cat and mouse game is becoming more intense and bloodthirsty, the stakes are being continuously raised as each side fights relentlessly to gain the winning advantage, and after this issue I’m at a loss to see where the creative team could possibly go from here with the story.

The Thanos Imperative #1 – Review

By: Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Miguel Sepulveda (artist), Jay David Ramos (color artist)

Canadian comic book reviewers maintain bold opinions, despite Memorial Day in the US! News at 11.

The Story: The forces of the Cancerverse (the universe where Death was defeated and life reigns uninterrupted) spew through the rift, into our universe, ripping through the strongest Kree defenses. At the same time, Thanos, a psycho so dangerous that sometimes Death throws him back, seems to be the key to facing the invasion. And, it only gets worse….

What’s Good: Sepulveda’s art, paired with Ramos’ color work, is awesome. Marvel has lined up a great art team that has delivered the goods. Rocket Raccoon looks positively feral as he stares down Thanos (with a threat to keep him alive!), while the space battle around the extrusion at the Fault is worth poring over for a good few minutes. My reading experience slowed even more to watch Gladiator fight one of the invaders head on. The villains are creepy and disturbing, and the Silver Surfer is distant and regal while staring at the same thing I was: the streamers of power spilling through the Fault like prominences on a star. Brilliant, brilliant work (no pun intended). I could go on about the art, but I don’t want to short-change the writing in the review.

Abnett and Lanning are quickly becoming two of my favorite writers. They have been delivering solid, surprising, cosmic-scale adventures in the Marvel U for years. They juggle tension, humor, death, epic invasions and personal losses in as deft a manner as any of the best writers of comics today. I’m not a huge Inhumans fan, but watching Medusa and her entourage react to the invasion had me fascinated. I loved the character moments between Richard and Robbie (and Namorita). I was riveted by all of the Thanos moments, and how different Guardians managed him, or filled their pants with bricks. The panel devoted to Thanos and Drax deserves a bit of a writing award for the freshness of the scene and the desperate, paradoxical longing that Abentt and Lanning have managed to soak into both characters. And I can’t miss mentioning the nods that Abnett and Lanning always seem to give to past classics, like the last-minute arrival of the Cancerverse Defenders.