Comic Review – The Thanos Imperative

This week I’m reviewing a graphic novel that’s one of the story-lines that, reportedly, is inspiring the Guardians of the Galaxy film.

Title: The Thanos Imperative
Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Art by Brad Walker & Miguel Sepulveda
Published by Marvel Comics
Published in August 2011

Available from Amazon.com

The Premise

Following the death of Thanos in Annihilation, Adam Warlock has started a cult to eldritch beings. These being come from a universe where death has been slain, and “the many-angled ones” have come from the space between universes to take over. Now these Great Old Ones seek to claim the universe.

High Points

This is the first Guardians of the Galaxy book I’ve read, and it’s an incredibly fun book to read.

Low Points

I would have liked it if we’d gotten more into the character of The Revengers. Also, while I haven’t read a Cosmic Marvel book in a while, Adam Warlock’s character seems off.

Scores

Originality: While The Authority did “Superheroes vs. the Cthulhu Mythos” before, I’d say that this book does it better. 5/6

Story: This is very well written, and works wonderfully for people who hadn’t read a Marvel Cosmic book before (or not read them for a while). 5/6

Artwork: The art makes the cosmic elements look incredible. 5/6

Characterization: Aside from the low point, the characters are very well written. 4/6

Emotional Response: This book is exciting and very intense. 5/6

Flow: 6/6

Overall: This is a great refresher for the cosmic side of the Marvel U. 6/6

In total, The Thanos Imperative gets 36/42.

2 replies on “Comic Review – The Thanos Imperative”

  1. If you haven’t read other DNA (the collective name for Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, from their initials and “D. and A.”) then Adam Warlock would seem off. It’s a different take from the outset, but the way they brought him back to the Marvel Universe brought him back “different,” so I wouldn’t have chosen that as my personal low point. It makes perfect sense in the context of the story they were telling, and is clearly marked from the meta perspective as “the writers know this isn’t the classic Warlock and didn’t make a mistake.”

    As someone buying the issues as they came, I might have chosen the High Point as the way this was released. Instead of branching out with multiple tie-in issues and miniseries as usual, they actually shut down Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy before this launched, making this the only Marvel Cosmic title at the time. This works standing alone, but it also works to wrap up the saga that started with Annihilation, continued in Nova, Annihilation: Conquest, Guardians of the Galaxy, War of Kings and Realm of Kings. I highly recommend the entire run to everybody who is even remotely interested in these characters. Annihilation: Conquest was weaker than it would have been if major creators hadn’t jumped companies late in the planning stages, but it establishes important information as the new Guardians of the Galaxy spun out of that title.

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