The Infinity Saga

[Katatonia]

Check this out, apparently Jim Starlin's credibility was pretty much cast aside like he was yesterday's snow to the eyes of Marvel, and there's a multitude of reasons for that. One being the fact that he left them due to the Thanos series being similar in endings. Then again from what I heard editorial didn't care regardless. So, as a big fan of everything Thanos, and yes, I like him a hell of a lot more than Darkseid. He's a much better, cold and calculating character if written right. And I gotta say this, Jeff Lemire's take on Thanos was incredible. I never enjoyed a story as much as I've enjoyed his 12 issue Thanos run. Man, it had everything you want, but with the CCA out of the picture, anything in this life is possible. In Lemire's run of the series, Thanos is dying of a cosmic-like cancer and tries to find a cure, something that Death gave to him apparently so he would in turn become even more stronger. It was cool seeing Thanos reduced to nothing more than a broken human eating whatever he could find and throwing up. Plus he even gets mugged and beat up by space trash. It fleshed Thanos more than just a evil warlord. Then he finds the cure and his son conspires against him with Death and Thanos eventually kills his son Thane, or gets rid of him forever. Doing that the way he did it, felt absolute and a good way to end a characters life in a comic.

However, Donny Cates takes over and his story is equally impressive. Young Thanos meets King Thanos, an older version of himself in the future, to team-up with and kill Silver Surfer and win the love of Death. Jim Starlin mentioned how his ending was very similar to Cates ending and fought over who would be able to do that in the editorial department. But here's something I'm not getting, tomorrow Thanos main-series ends. Which is unfortunate cause it's so damn good. Honest to God, it's quite possibly one of the best comics I read all year. I did read Infinity Siblings the same time it literally came out and loved that as well, and pound for pound, no one knows Thanos better than Jim Starlin does. However, when you have 2 highly prolific writers like Jeff Lemire and Donny Cates writing him as well, well, it makes the series even more fun. And, I will say, Lemire is a great writer, I'd say he's a top-tier guy. His work for various publishers is super nice, he's an all-over-man. Kinda like Cullen Bunn, but Bunn is a little different. Bunn is more of a horror writer than anything. But I will say his Sinestro was incredible and I wished it never ended cause it would've just kept going. I hope that gets an Omnibus since it was so great. Same with this Thanos.

Anyways, in my head, and from seeing things about Jim Starlin's Thanos conclusion. I was thinking Thanos would eventually kill Death, become the embodiment of Death, then kill Eternity and become Eternal Death. To me, that makes a lot of sense in my head. Why go small, when you can go big? And this would come full-circle with the original Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Not only because Thanos did kill Eternity, but because he literally was beyond human and alien comprehension. There was nothing left for him to do but become a powerful God-Like world demolisher. The ending to Donny Cates hints that Young Thanos and King Thanos will probably fight to the death. But Young Thanos gave up his love for Death earlier in Lemire's run, so if King Thanos is him in the future, and he still loves Death, then it means he never stopped loving her. But, I'm thinking Young Thanos will probably kill King Thanos and Death together, thus becoming Death itself. And in many respects, that does coincide with Jim Starlin's series cause it feels like it's the same story told at a different angle. I could be entirely wrong and it could turn out differently. But I honestly feel that's what's going to happen, it's predictable writing at its best.

People argue what's the best comic crossover of all time, I'd say the entire Infinity Trilogy is. But the Infinity Trilogy is a little different. First and foremost, The Gauntlet is crazy never-ending high fueled craziness. The start with Thanos destroying half of the people in the world was pretty awesome. The ending was great, cause it lead right into Warlock and the Infinity Watch which was just as incredible. Then it goes into the Infinity War with the doppelgangers which was also pretty good. It was cool seeing Magus going crazy and drunk with power and Thanos conspire against him. I enjoyed that a lot then it goes into the nfinity Crusade and religious stuff. And that was another pretty good story, though every story felt like it just built on Thanos becoming more and more intelligent and more cunning for the right time to strike. Throughout all of this there was Thanos side series, the original Thanos trilogy and mini-series. It just keeps going to this point now. What Lemire did was build it to where it had to go and honestly, the series could've ended after 12 issues and still been great. It did honestly feel like it ended to be honest. Donny Cates extends it a little more and this is like the end of everything now.

They hinted the Infinity movie would have Thanos die at the end, and I believe in the comics, they might want to kill him, or have him become something more than just some cosmic world killer. In Lemire's run Thanos did kill his father, and almost killed Eros, his brother. So he does still have some kinda compassion and he's not an idiot and he does fight to the death. Thanos, in this series, honestly reminds me of Raoh from Fist of the Northstar. Raoh for the honor of being the man, would fight to the death and if death ever came for him, he would eventually kill himself, then to allow anyone to kill him. Thanos, feels like in Lemire's run, he was greatly inspired by Raoh. And I will mention this, I did translate Fist of the Northstar complete, it's one of the greatest manga series of all time. If any of you haven't checked it out, I suggest you do. Going back to Thanos, everything about this series feels right and it feels like the only Marvel series of now worth reading. They got all of these saturated series from Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, to Iron Man being some girl. It's as if Marvel lost their standards a very long time ago. If not for series like this Thanos and the Omnibus line collecting older stuff, nothing would be worth getting.

I haven't read Annihilation, yet. I'm planning on reading the entire series as a complete crossover. Sadly I missed out on the Omnibuses due to the hectic translation schedule of mine. I went for months translating and not reading any comics and that was the time the Omnibus of that came out along with the Infinity Gauntlet Omnibus. However, I did get the Infinity Gauntlet Box for almost nothing. Thanks to God for having so much credit with IST. Maybe, I'll get those 2 from someone on here on a trade. Or, I'll just find them and buy them. Whatever works. I know Annihilation was also based off of Thanos and his quest for power. Though, Thanos series carries itself pretty good without having to read Annihilation. So, either way you win because of Jeff Lemire's great narration and backtracking the story, keeps you up to date on all previous events. In closing, on Comixology, I saw the Infinity Siblings for sale for 95 cents. It was 95% off. I'm thinking that has to do with Starlin's departure from Marvel and them sticking it to him. I hope Starlin goes to DC and writes an epic Green Lantern run or even Hawkman for that matter. As long as it's cosmic, I'm sure it'll be great. Though Vendetti still is killing it on GL, so we'll see.

[Judge Dredd]

Infinity Conflict was just dated for November like a couple weeks ago and it was suppose to be a trilogy so sometime start of next year we should get part 3 then he will be done with marvel. He may have left, but he did leave them with some work. Also haven't marvel and Starlin had issues in the past and got over them to do more work. Something with Adam Warlock I believe from a few years ago.

[Katatonia]

So, I just finished reading the last issue of Thanos, and it doesn't feel like it ends at all. It feels like it's about to begin, and expand even more. Which is good, cause right now, I consider that the best On-Going Marvel title as of yet. According to the back of the issue, Donny Cates says it's far from over. And keep an eye out for the Infinity Countdown, cause it'll explain things in a wider prospective. Maybe Thanos will re-acquire the Infinity Gauntlet and finally become a God amongst insects and bend reality to his will. Anything is possible, however, I don't care for the Infinity Countdown the writer/art team sucks. I am for one, a fan of how Geoff Shaw drew Death with the funny faces. I digged that a lot. It made it more serious than it was supposed to be comical. The ending to this issue was good. It would make sense if Young Thanos killed King Thanos, since Young Thanos understood that, he'd actually erase himself from existence. Which is what King Thanos wanted originally. But Young Thanos, refused to kill "himself" and left by opening a portal with an Infinity Gem he snatched off of King Thanos's neck. That's after he stole the sentient energy from Silver Surfer's dead body to open that said portal.

I don't know how Jim Starlin's Thanos series ends, no one does. The only conclusion I had, was about what I mentioned earlier, about him killing Death and eventually Eternity. Thus becoming "Eternal Death" or "Death Eternal". That's after seeing his face split in half with Death's skull and Eternity's body flowing through his, on the promotional art of the final OGN from Infinity. That's the only conclusion I really have. And if that is true, that means Jim Starlin got into it with Marvel over nothing. If it isn't true, and Jim Starlin was completely right that Donny Cates had similar ideas, than I don't know. But I thoroughly enjoyed Donny Cates story a lot. I can't wait for his Ghost Rider to come out, as well as the continuation of his Thanos story. To me a comicbook should be enjoyable to read and keep you hooked. Which is what that Thanos series did. I will say Jeff Lemire's Old Man Logan was also really good. Ed Brisson is also keeping it going as well. There's not many comics of today that I actually read besides like the old stuff from back in the day. I'm not really a fan of like newer series unless it's from people I really like a lot. Cause you know exactly what you're getting. It's gotta be specific and serious.

But so far, I loved that Thanos and hope it continues in the near future. I salute you Donny Cates, great job.

In closing, I wanted to say I'm excited about Gail Simone coming back with a new series about Domino. It feels like Domino's going to be Birds of Prey 2.0 which is good. No one can draw a female series like Gail Simone can. I loved almost everything she's done. From Gen-13 til now, she's a very enjoyable writer to relax and check out stuff by. I've also had the pleasure of meeting her and she's a very lovely lady to meet. I still hope her Birds series gets a big Omnibus, that would be incredible. I consider that one of the greatest runs in a team-book in a very long time, and no matter how many times you go back to it, it's always enjoyable. Her first Domino issue popped out today, so I'll probably make a separate thread about that and future issues. Hopefully it's long and it's fun. I haven't read it yet. But I will after I post this reply. For me, personally, Marvel is a hit or a miss with series. It feels like their over-saturating their market with a lot of meh series as of late. But there's still gems within all of that stuff. However, DC is still going strong. And DC's been stealing everyone from Marvel as of late. But honestly, let's see where all of this goes and what develops in the coming months between both companies.

[JBatmanFan05]

Some day, I need to read some Thanos after Infinity Gauntlet. I love every single Thanos story up through IG and in fact I'm custom binding that all together, but I know Thanos becomes a good guy of sorts post-IG for a period and I don't like that, it appeals much less to me. I love villain Thanos.

[Katatonia]

Well, he's always going to be a villain. He's just a cunning dude. Personally, him going good is most likely an evil plot to screw everyone over and become supremely evil again. The more I think about this, the more Fist of the Northstar comes to mind. I honestly believe that Jeff Lemire is heavily influenced by that manga series. From his Wolverine series Old Man Logan, to Thanos. Everything literally draws back to Raoh. To be honest with everyone, Raoh was one of the greatest antagonists I ever seen in any comic or manga series ever. He wants to be the successor to Hokuto Shinken so bad, that he's become Ken'oh or "Fist King" and ravages lands, kills people, destroys the world under his mighty hand. And, Kenshiro, the main character, eventually has to fight his older brother to the death. Because ultimately, Raoh had to literally sacrifice himself for the betterment of the world. And the crazy thing is that Raoh actually knew that day would come. But even when it's time for Raoh to die by the hands of Kenshiro, after their extreme battle, Raoh doesn't allow Kenshiro to kill him. Instead, Raoh uses the last of his power to kill himself, cause in the end, ultimately, Raoh would never have burdened Kenshiro with his death. After all they were still brothers, and in his final moments Raoh did show compassion. But had little regret, cause Raoh knew in his heart, the future of the world to keep going on would have to be with his death.

Thanos in my eyes is like the American Comicbook version of Raoh. He in his final moments when he was dying of a cosmic virus, or what Death inflicted upon him, didn't hold him back. Cause he kept fighting. Raoh in the manga, he was torn apart until there was nothing left of him to keep going, and yet, he still didn't refuse to give up. Cause he believed he should fight until the end. The only thing that separates Raoh from Thanos is that, Raoh had compassion and he understood that he'd never have sadness in his heart. Something Kenshiro was capable of having since Hokuto Shinken, the fighting style required someone to know what true sadness was. Raoh did cry, but he cried when he found out his younger brother Toki was inflicted with cancer and was in fact dying. And when he did die, that's when Raoh cried. Because he showed even a powerful warlord such as he is still capable of having feelings. The second time was when he was about to die at Kenshiro's hands, he realized what must be done and did it. Thanos, did cry, only once that I can remember, and it was at the end of the Thanos Quest when he had all six Infinity Gems. Death still refused to love him, and Thanos was shattered by that. In fact, Thanos Quest and the whole build up to the Infinity Gauntlet was one of the most enjoyable stories I ever read in my life. It was so well done and so well crafted, it all fit together like this perfect puzzle. But unlike, Raoh who took himself out in the end, Thanos was taken out by his granddaughter of all people as a ploy by Death.

But if you really look closely, and you see how the new Thanos series goes from start to the finish, it's literally like Raoh's story being re-told in this time with a different set of characters. I guess, Death could actually be Yuria. But then again, Kenshiro and Raoh loved her more than anyone. Though, Raoh knew he wasn't worthy of Yuria's love, because her heart belonged to Kenshiro. And Yuria eventually died. That did in turn break Raoh a lot, and it hurt Kenshiro even more. In this setting it's a lot like Raoh was King Thanos, and Kenshiro was Young Thanos. One became the conqueror and killer of everything. While the younger version was just going through his life as it happened. In Old Man Logan, Hulk's son looks a hell of a lot like Raoh when Logan faces up against him. And the settings a completely barren wasteland like in Northstar. And in all honesty, I like that a lot that people draw influence from one of the greatest manga series of all time. And, I'm proud to have been the guy to translate it for the year and a half I worked on it. Northstar is quite possibly the only series I ever read in my entire life that's actually made me cry. And you feel the pain with the characters, it hits you deep. That's called the "Bible of Men" in Japan, and for good reason. Thanos, in my eyes will forever be the American Raoh.

[ArthurCurry]

Check this out, apparently Jim Starlin's credibility was pretty much cast aside like he was yesterday's snow to the eyes of Marvel, and there's a multitude of reasons for that. One being the fact that he left them due to the Thanos series being similar in endings. Then again from what I heard editorial didn't care regardless. So, as a big fan of everything Thanos, and yes, I like him a hell of a lot more than Darkseid. He's a much better, cold and calculating character if written right. And I gotta say this, Jeff Lemire's take on Thanos was incredible. I never enjoyed a story as much as I've enjoyed his 12 issue Thanos run. Man, it had everything you want, but with the CCA out of the picture, anything in this life is possible. In Lemire's run of the series, Thanos is dying of a cosmic-like cancer and tries to find a cure, something that Death gave to him apparently so he would in turn become even more stronger. It was cool seeing Thanos reduced to nothing more than a broken human eating whatever he could find and throwing up. Plus he even gets mugged and beat up by space trash. It fleshed Thanos more than just a evil warlord. Then he finds the cure and his son conspires against him with Death and Thanos eventually kills his son Thane, or gets rid of him forever. Doing that the way he did it, felt absolute and a good way to end a characters life in a comic.

However, Donny Cates takes over and his story is equally impressive. Young Thanos meets King Thanos, an older version of himself in the future, to team-up with and kill Silver Surfer and win the love of Death. Jim Starlin mentioned how his ending was very similar to Cates ending and fought over who would be able to do that in the editorial department. But here's something I'm not getting, tomorrow Thanos main-series ends. Which is unfortunate cause it's so damn good. Honest to God, it's quite possibly one of the best comics I read all year. I did read Infinity Siblings the same time it literally came out and loved that as well, and pound for pound, no one knows Thanos better than Jim Starlin does. However, when you have 2 highly prolific writers like Jeff Lemire and Donny Cates writing him as well, well, it makes the series even more fun. And, I will say, Lemire is a great writer, I'd say he's a top-tier guy. His work for various publishers is super nice, he's an all-over-man. Kinda like Cullen Bunn, but Bunn is a little different. Bunn is more of a horror writer than anything. But I will say his Sinestro was incredible and I wished it never ended cause it would've just kept going. I hope that gets an Omnibus since it was so great. Same with this Thanos.

Anyways, in my head, and from seeing things about Jim Starlin's Thanos conclusion. I was thinking Thanos would eventually kill Death, become the embodiment of Death, then kill Eternity and become Eternal Death. To me, that makes a lot of sense in my head. Why go small, when you can go big? And this would come full-circle with the original Infinity Gauntlet storyline. Not only because Thanos did kill Eternity, but because he literally was beyond human and alien comprehension. There was nothing left for him to do but become a powerful God-Like world demolisher. The ending to Donny Cates hints that Young Thanos and King Thanos will probably fight to the death. But Young Thanos gave up his love for Death earlier in Lemire's run, so if King Thanos is him in the future, and he still loves Death, then it means he never stopped loving her. But, I'm thinking Young Thanos will probably kill King Thanos and Death together, thus becoming Death itself. And in many respects, that does coincide with Jim Starlin's series cause it feels like it's the same story told at a different angle. I could be entirely wrong and it could turn out differently. But I honestly feel that's what's going to happen, it's predictable writing at its best.

People argue what's the best comic crossover of all time, I'd say the entire Infinity Trilogy is. But the Infinity Trilogy is a little different. First and foremost, The Gauntlet is crazy never-ending high fueled craziness. The start with Thanos destroying half of the people in the world was pretty awesome. The ending was great, cause it lead right into Warlock and the Infinity Watch which was just as incredible. Then it goes into the Infinity War with the doppelgangers which was also pretty good. It was cool seeing Magus going crazy and drunk with power and Thanos conspire against him. I enjoyed that a lot then it goes into the nfinity Crusade and religious stuff. And that was another pretty good story, though every story felt like it just built on Thanos becoming more and more intelligent and more cunning for the right time to strike. Throughout all of this there was Thanos side series, the original Thanos trilogy and mini-series. It just keeps going to this point now. What Lemire did was build it to where it had to go and honestly, the series could've ended after 12 issues and still been great. It did honestly feel like it ended to be honest. Donny Cates extends it a little more and this is like the end of everything now.

They hinted the Infinity movie would have Thanos die at the end, and I believe in the comics, they might want to kill him, or have him become something more than just some cosmic world killer. In Lemire's run Thanos did kill his father, and almost killed Eros, his brother. So he does still have some kinda compassion and he's not an idiot and he does fight to the death. Thanos, in this series, honestly reminds me of Raoh from Fist of the Northstar. Raoh for the honor of being the man, would fight to the death and if death ever came for him, he would eventually kill himself, then to allow anyone to kill him. Thanos, feels like in Lemire's run, he was greatly inspired by Raoh. And I will mention this, I did translate Fist of the Northstar complete, it's one of the greatest manga series of all time. If any of you haven't checked it out, I suggest you do. Going back to Thanos, everything about this series feels right and it feels like the only Marvel series of now worth reading. They got all of these saturated series from Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, to Iron Man being some girl. It's as if Marvel lost their standards a very long time ago. If not for series like this Thanos and the Omnibus line collecting older stuff, nothing would be worth getting.

I haven't read Annihilation, yet. I'm planning on reading the entire series as a complete crossover. Sadly I missed out on the Omnibuses due to the hectic translation schedule of mine. I went for months translating and not reading any comics and that was the time the Omnibus of that came out along with the Infinity Gauntlet Omnibus. However, I did get the Infinity Gauntlet Box for almost nothing. Thanks to God for having so much credit with IST. Maybe, I'll get those 2 from someone on here on a trade. Or, I'll just find them and buy them. Whatever works. I know Annihilation was also based off of Thanos and his quest for power. Though, Thanos series carries itself pretty good without having to read Annihilation. So, either way you win because of Jeff Lemire's great narration and backtracking the story, keeps you up to date on all previous events. In closing, on Comixology, I saw the Infinity Siblings for sale for 95 cents. It was 95% off. I'm thinking that has to do with Starlin's departure from Marvel and them sticking it to him. I hope Starlin goes to DC and writes an epic Green Lantern run or even Hawkman for that matter. As long as it's cosmic, I'm sure it'll be great. Though Vendetti still is killing it on GL, so we'll see.

What? (characters)

[Darkseid Is]

Before anyone posts anymore... he is not a better character than Darkseid...

Continue with the thread.

[DebkoX]

I like the entire infinity one, but it is so much to take in that I am going to attempt it all later in the future.

[Katatonia]

Yeah, it is a lot to take in. It's like never ending. Plus, Starlin basically writes every single crossover that goes into it for the most part. He had his entire hand in the entire project. Infinity Gauntlet is incredible. Infinity War is also really good, but they could've done more with the Doppleganger's, like have them look cooler, or different palette swaps on colors. Infinity Crusade was also really good. But it's about a religious zealot. But each part of the Infinity Saga involves Adam Warlock and Thanos as the main characters. The first part was Thanos, then Warlock. The aftermath, Warlock took the Good and Evil out of him, which then in turn in the War created Magus, even though, Magus was known before then in Starlin's original run of Warlock. Then in Crusade the Good Side of Warlock was a religious psychopath wanting a One-World Religion. But in each one, Thanos was instrumental in the defeat of each entity. So I mean, the stories are great, although they lack very little, Thanos saves it. Infinity Watch is great stuff though. I love that series a lot.

[koonfasa]

Is this the one in Hickman’s Avengers omnibus?

[Judge Dredd]

Before anyone posts anymore... he is not a better character than Darkseid...

Continue with the thread.

I agree with this statement

[Citizen Kane]

I agree with this statement

I concur. However, Thanos has been involved with some great stories as of late, unlike Darkseid.

[Katatonia]

Between Thanos and Darkseid, Thanos is a way better fleshed out character. And he's not some barbaric 4th Worlder either. Thanos has some great character runs, the Gauntlet Trilogy, the many OGN's Jim Starlin does along with the mini-series. As well as, his newest volume by Jeff Lemire and Donny Cates. That entire run is better than anything Darkseid has been apart of. The only time I ever liked Darkseid was in Geoff Johns Justice League run and Alan Moore's Swamp Thing. Cause honestly, to me, Darkseid's a super boring character and was basically Jack Kirby's way of saying go F yourself to Marvel. At least Thanos actually has a personality and is cunning and crazy. Darkseid is like a stiff lawyer with no personality whatsoever, he's cut and dry, and ultimately a boring character if not written properly. That's how I feel about that whole situation. Thanos literally has legendary runs and series behind him. Darkseid has only some moments, while Thanos has tons of moments.