The Thanos Imperative

If you’re a fan of the larger events that have moved the Marvel comics, this would be right up your alley. After the annihilation war, the universe doesn’t get a chance to recover before we get to see them handling another fantastic and dangerous apocalypse to be. I’ve reread this at least twenty times, can’t recommend enough.

This collects the 2010 Marvel mini-series "The Thanos Imperative" which features almost the entire cosmic Marvel Universe. This includes nine issues' worth of material: the "Ignition" prologue, the six issue limited series, the "Devastation" postlude and the ancillary handbook "Thanos Sourcebook". The story was written by the team of Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning, who have teamed on several Marvel cosmic universe titles. Miguel Sepulveda penciled and inked all issues besides the prologue (from Brad Walker and Andrew Hennessy). The "Thanos Imperative" arc follows the "Annihilation" and "War of Kings" cosmic events of recent years and continues the cancelled monthly cosmic titles "Nova" and "Guardians of the Galaxy".The Cancerverse, an alien universe bursting at its seams where death does not exist, has breached The Fault and threatens our universe. The invaders are led by an alternate reality version of Captain Marvel and The Avengers. Nova, Quasar, Silver Surfer and several Kree heroes join a coalition at a staggeringly massive battle raging at The Fault, while the Guardians of the Galaxy plan to resurrect Thanos, the avatar of death, and sneak him to the Cancerverse.The prologue and main story are consistently strong, but the "Devastation" postlude is a noticeable drop-off after an excellent issue #6. The "Sourcebook" offers sixteen pages of cosmic universe backstory and thirty half-page character sketches written from Nova's perspective. The collection ends with a dozen pages of sketches and a two page interview with the writers. Amazon's discount offers a great deal for the nine issues that each cost $3.99.

It doesn't matter if you're familiar or not with the extraterrestrial races in Marvel this is a very clever plot. Although the idea of a universe attempting to invade another one through war is not new, this volume focus in death and life in universal scales and as so Thanos is central. Among the characters I didn't know Cosmo and I loved it, and there is a lot of characters. The writer got the talent to don't make a disperse story.Why I am leaving four stars instead of five? I think perhaps I had already read the plot in one part of the Cast of Metabarons by Jodorowsky, and fair enough it could be they both drink from the same source. And the other point is that I really have not sympathy for the inhumans, they seem to me aristocrats without charm. If you love them then this series could be in the highest regard for you.

I really miss the Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova monthly series. This is not the most well executed cosmic event that DnA ever wrote, but it is certainly better than War of Kings was. The biggest problem is that the whole thing feels rushed. Like they had to cut out 2 issues of it at the last minute. It really made for some odd narrative jumps when characters just suddenly appear in the book that weren't there 2 pages ago. I would loved to have seen the decompressed version of this story.Having said that, I absolutely LOVED the concept behind it. While the great old one himself does not make an actual appearance, there are so many references to Lovecraft's work that I couldn't help but enjoy myself. My only complaint about this trade is that I wish it had that stuff that was cut/left out of the regular issues.

This graphic novel was the best I ever read! It was great how all the sci-fi marvel galactic space heroes were literally in it! I mean, literally all the galaxy space characters were in it and I liked how it was all kept in a great story balance instead one superhero to the next and then they all spaz out at the same time. This book I would recommend it to eveyone that's into sci fi, galaxies, and MARVEL galactic space adventures. But I gave it 4 out of 5 because when my order arrived, the book had folds all on the bottom and scratch marks on the cover which really irritate me since if you're one of those people that wants your books in MINT shape. I mean I don't blame Amazon I kinda blame the seller and how they actually shipped it. But overall this was a good book.

I'm starting to get back into the cosmic characters again, so I thought this book sounded interesting. Plus I'm a pretty big Thanos fan. This book is decent, it's just nothing special. Here are some of my complaints:1. The dialogue. If Nova said "blue blazes" one more time, I was going to vomit. Also, Quasar says "holy mackerel". I understand this is a comic book, but who says that outside of a 60's Batman episode? It just came off too cheesy a lot of times. This is a well respected writing team and I'm starting to wonder why. The overall concept isn't bad. I actually like it quite a bit. Probably would have been better suited for a huge event like Annihilation.2. Too much power. Every other page had some being or threat that was twice as powerful as the thing they just fought. Cosmic books seem to do this way too often. It has no effect when it's overdone. Plus, you lose respect for all the characters we normally love...Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill, Gladiator,etc. They were pretty much useless in this story.3. No "emotional" impact. This king of goes along with #2. *spoiler* Drax gets killed by Thanos right in front of his fellow Guardians and they could care less. Literally did nothing. Barely mentioned it. They needed Thanos alive, but there should have been some retaliation. Characters that are usually arrogant and bull-headed (Gladiator, Ronan, Gamora) just seem plain dull. There are just too many characters involved to give any of them life.The art was just okay, too. It was a little too dark and rough for a cosmic book. With so many laser beams going off everywhere, I expect more color and vibrance. All in all, it isn't terrible, but I'm not sure I'll ever read it again.

Thanos, Galactus, The Inhumans, The Silver Surfer and many more great Marvel characters are all present in 'The Thanos Imperative'. I will not put any spoilers in this review but this comic is written and drawn just the way I like it ..... dark, moody, exciting and a deep story to boot. Thanos has always been one of the more fascinating characters in the Marvel universe and this graphic-novel adds to his mystique. There are also many other characters that I am not familiar with, such as Nova (as after a 25 year break I have only just rediscovered the joys of reading Marvel), but that didnt spoil my fun.

Really excellent read with some great art and story. Only issue being the overload of characters but helpfully, for comic fans from the 60s and 70s who might have missed this "new" bunch of characters, their appearances also include name labels. Perhaps the heroes and villains will soon need costumes with their names on considering Marvel's 35,000+ characters. Surprised Marvel has not yet created a mega storyline / arc incorporating all their characters, dead and alive. This one did seem like it.

This story has both got all the trademarks of a classic cosmic Marvel epic, but is at the same time modern in both picture and story. All the best galactic characters are there, and some new introductions as well. An amazing epic shared by a big bunch of great writers through five decades now, from the first time we saw Galactus and Thanos till now! It's done with respect to the existing (but rapidly changing) Marvel Universe, but I stiull can't give it 5 stars, as I would some of the Starlin Masterworks.

This book is definetly worth a try, the storyline is great, very enjoyable, the characters are likable and funny when needed, the art is fantastic, it’s good to look at. I recommend this book to anyone who loves comics or just interested in getting to know the genre.

I haven't read much Guardians of the Galaxy but this left me wanting to read more. Thanos is a great character, well used here but watch out for the shock ending if you're a fan of the Guardians films!