Should Jim Starlin continue to write Thanos?

[Bob Probert]

The first problem I had with Jim was when he retconned everything that Thanos previously went through when he left the company years ago in the late 90's just because he didn't like what his character had been through without his input.

Now he has been writing everything on Thanos with his dated art and "Thanos is the smartest most powerful" blah, blah, blah.


After reading Thanos vs Hulk#2 (in the comic shop because I'm not buying his crap), I realized how much he caters to his character. Simply put; Starlin sucks! He needs to stand down and let somebody else take the reigns in writing his character.

And btw, We all know Thanos is a carbon copy of Jack Kirby's character Darkseid, but I hate how Starlin never gives Roy Thomas co-creator status on Thanos because he had a hand in his creation.

[XPac]

I don't necessarily think he should stop writing the character.

But at this point literally everything he does is a Thanos story... guy probably should consider branching out a bit.

[Inhuman X]

The first problem I had with Jim was when he retconned everything that Thanos previously went through when he left the company years ago in the late 90's just because he didn't like what his character had been through without his input.

Now he has been writing everything on Thanos with his dated art and "Thanos is the smartest most powerful" blah, blah, blah.


After reading Thanos vs Hulk#2 (in the comic shop because I'm not buying his crap), I realized how much he caters to his character. Simply put; Starlin sucks! He needs to stand down and let somebody else take the reigns in writing his character.

And btw, We all know Thanos is a carbon copy of Jack Kirby's character Darkseid, but I hate how Starlin never gives Roy Thomas co-creator status on Thanos because he had a hand in his creation.

I will foreword my sentiment by noting that I am not a fan of Thanos in the now. He is a character I think is only popular because he is powerful and they write him as mean. He has no real personality like the really great Villains in comics (when such a thing really existed rather than gray characters like now) such as Magneto, Dr. Doom, Galactus, The Joker, et all that live in people's consciousness for reasons other than being able to punch real hard and sit in a chair with an ugly grimace while talking crap. In many ways I feel he suffers from being such a pastiche of Darkseid and has never really been able to escape that shadow to make it on his own. Nothing against any one and no offense to his fans but I think Marvel would be better off trying to strike magic with a more unique villain of their own creation that has some depth rather than trying to popularize a bad riff on a DC property that doesn't quite fit into Marvel's universe as snugly as Darkseid does for DC (as a superman villain in particular.)

[CraigTheCylon]

As it stands, the new stories Starlin is putting out are basically 'out of continuity' and can be safely ignored without feeling like you've lost some important universe-altering seekritz. If Starlin was, say, the guy behind the current Avengers books and The Infinity Revelation et al were part of that, then I might take issue with what he's doing, but as it stands I've no doubt he still attracts a loyal fanbase, and there's no reason to deny them these books just because they don't work for all of us.

Could do with less talk about getting a boner from punching Ronan the Accuser, mind.

[Mr MajestiK]

I will foreword my sentiment by noting that I am not a fan of Thanos in the now. He is a character I think is only popular because he is powerful and they write him as mean. He has no real personality like the really great Villains in comics (when such a thing really existed rather than gray characters like now) such as Magneto, Dr. Doom, Galactus, The Joker, et all that live in people's consciousness for reasons other than being able to punch real hard and sit in a chair with an ugly grimace while talking crap. In many ways I feel he suffers from being such a pastiche of Darkseid and has never really been able to escape that shadow to make it on his own. Nothing against any one and no offense to his fans but I think Marvel would be better off trying to strike magic with a more unique villain of their own creation that has some depth rather than trying to popularize a bad riff on a DC property that doesn't quite fit into Marvel's universe as snugly as Darkseid does for DC (as a superman villain in particular.)

I'm afraid I disagree with some aspects of your post as regards Thanos status as a powerful antagonist within the 616 MU.

My first solid introduction to the Mad Titan was via the 1970's Adam Warlock stories written by Jim Starlin and I really took the character and continued to enjoy reading about him until he became somewhat over exposed after one Infinity Gauntlet saga too many.







Jim Starlin is the only writer in my humble opinion who gets Thanos voice and characterization right with Kieth Giffen being a close second.

Hickman's take on the character has for the most part, rung particularly hollow as far a I'm concerned with Thanos being portrayed as not being particularly intellectually gifted in the slightest and more or less reliant on brute force to get his points across as opposed to using his vast intellect.

A character is only as good as the story being crafted around them o maybe it's time to pair Starlin's unique take on the character with an artist fully capable of illustrating Thanos and his twisted world view in a manner befitting the Mad Titan.

[pinoypanzer]

The first problem I had with Jim was when he retconned everything that Thanos previously went through when he left the company years ago in the late 90's just because he didn't like what his character had been through without his input.

Now he has been writing everything on Thanos with his dated art and "Thanos is the smartest most powerful" blah, blah, blah.

During the Infinity Trilogy Thanos was no longer a cookie cutter villain and learned that more death and destruction would not make Mistress Death love him. The stories from the 90's that were retconned turned him back into that type of villain so I have no problem with the retcons from a story-telling perspective and I actually liked the changes. IMO Starlin had the best characterizations and voice for Thanos.

I agree with Mr. MajestiK that other than Starlin, Keith Giffen had a good voice for Thanos. I'll also throw in Ron Marz and Peter David.

As for his portrayal it depends against whom. Starlin sees him and Adam Warlock as near abstract beings so I have no problem with them treating Marvel Earth as pawns since that how the earth characters should be portrayed in large-scale cosmic battles IMO. Now Thanos doing that to Galactus, I DO take issues with.

After reading Thanos vs Hulk#2 (in the comic shop because I'm not buying his crap), I realized how much he caters to his character. Simply put; Starlin sucks! He needs to stand down and let somebody else take the reigns in writing his character.

If you've had a problem since the 90's retcons (Infinity Abyss) and you find his material crap, then why would you continue to read any of his future material? Wouldn't it make more sense to read something you actually like?

And btw, We all know Thanos is a carbon copy of Jack Kirby's character Darkseid, but I hate how Starlin never gives Roy Thomas co-creator status on Thanos because he had a hand in his creation.

He originally designed Thanos after Metron and Ray Thomas told him to draw him more like Darkseid's design. If that counts as co-creation then there would be a heck of a lot more co-creators for many characters. There characterization are quite different especially during the Infinity Trilogy and in Starlin's later stories from there.

[Bob Probert]

During the Infinity Trilogy Thanos was no longer a cookie cutter villain and learned that more death and destruction would not make Mistress Death love him. The stories from the 90's that were retconned turned him back into that type of villain so I have no problem with the retcons from a story-telling perspective and I actually liked the changes. IMO Starlin had the best characterizations and voice for Thanos.

I agree with Mr. MajestiK that other than Starlin, Keith Giffen had a good voice for Thanos. I'll also throw in Ron Marz and Peter David.

As for his portrayal it depends against whom. Starlin sees him and Adam Warlock as near abstract beings so I have no problem with them treating Marvel Earth as pawns since that how the earth characters should be portrayed in large-scale cosmic battles IMO. Now Thanos doing that to Galactus, I DO take issues with.


If you've had a problem since the 90's retcons (Infinity Abyss) and you find his material crap, then why would you continue to read any of his future material? Wouldn't it make more sense to read something you actually like?



He originally designed Thanos after Metron and Ray Thomas told him to draw him more like Darkseid's design. If that counts as co-creation then there would be a heck of a lot more co-creators for many characters. There characterization are quite different especially during the Infinity Trilogy and in Starlin's later stories from there.

I don't read any of the Thanos crap today. I looked into it because of the Hulk. And it's easier to go to a Barnes and Noble look into it and then discard it. So he doesn't ever get my money.

And yah, Roy is a co-creator of Thanos.

[Zero Hunter]

I don't bother with it anymore. I think the last decent Thanos story he wrote was Infinity Abyss. Everything since then just has not been that good or just feels like reruns of stuff he has already done. The gap in quality really stood out in the Thanos series itself. The first arc by Starlin was not nearly as good as the second arc by Giffen. I would love to see him do something new though. I think Starlin would be able to shine on a book like Guardians of the Galaxy.

[Kirby Krackle]

While Jim Starlin will forever be one of my favorite comic book writers, I would like to see him focus on something else besides Thanos and Warlock. It feels like he has nothing new to really say with both characters, but mostly Thanos. Which is why he keeps trying to either reset the character or come up with reasons why other writers didn't "get" Thanos. While I agree with that sentiment at times, using whole stories to address that leaves much to be desired. Luckily his recent outing don't seem to be central to the 616 as a whole, so their are no real problems.

[totalsellout]

i really don't like how starlin keeps resetting the character. i have liked how thanos has been been treated in infinity and the thanos rising series (maybe i'm the only one). it just feels childish when a creator comes in and discredits another creators work.

to me, i like thanos best as a straight bad guy. i didn't really enjoy the attempts in the latter infinity trilogy books and the starlin thanos series to try and give him a good (or at least neutral) guy personality. he's a death fetishist. he should be a bad guy. i liked aaron's take on his history, it added the "mad" titan feel that starlin doesn't seem to want to give him anymore. i liked how hickman fleshed out his followers and showed more of what it's like to serve in thanos' army, rather than the nameless alien hordes we've seen from starlin. i don't think his intellect was downplayed in infinity, i think it was just a consequence of showing him delegating that he appeared less hands on with his battle plan.

[Billy Batson]

Thanos in a nutshell.

[xcoijoi]

Yes, Starlin should continue writing Thanos.

Thank you.

[Bob Probert]

Yes, Starlin should continue writing Thanos.

Thank you.

No. Don't agree. His writing and art are dated and tired. Time to hang it up or move onto something else.

[Username taken]

Starlin treats Thanos like he's the very best at everything at the detriment of other characters.

I would rather he move onto something else.

[XPac]

Starlin treats Thanos like he's the very best at everything at the detriment of other characters.

I would rather he move onto something else.

I think it's okay having a character that uber as long as it's a villain. You want at least a FEW villains that are so credible it can BRIEFLY lull the readers into thinking the villain actually has a chance of winning, even though we all know they're gonna lose in the end. It's very similar to Doom, only to a greater extent. It's why Doom and Thanos are two of the few villains we actually perceive to be credible threats to the heroes despite the fact that they do usually lose.

It bothers me more when heroes are written that way. But I think it's good to have at least a FEW villains handled that way.