Thanos

Warlock #15 (November, 1976)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

In July, 1976, the comics fans who’d been following artist/writer Jim Starlin’s Warlock series could pick up some strong clues about the latest issue’s contents from the cover — specifically, from the the various figures (and heads) that Starlin had drawn symbolically surrounding his central image of the series’ titular hero.  Because while three out of the total six characters thus portrayed were new and unfamiliar, the other three — i.e., Thanos, Gamora, and Pip — were folks we hadn’t seen since issue #11 (in the first two cases) and #12 (in the last).  That strongly suggested that, after the past two issues’ standalone tale of Adam Warlock’s conflict with the Star Thief, Starlin was going to be giving his faithful readers what many of us had been waiting for — namely, the next chapter in the saga of Thanos’ quest to bring about universal stellar genocide.  Or at least some movement in that area, if only in the form of a subplot.

As it turned out, that assessment was essentially correct.  But what we fans didn’t know then — and still wouldn’t know, even after we finished reading the comic (up to and including the letters page, which ended with an editorial note encouraging us to come back next time “for one of the greatest surprise thrillers of all!  See you in sixty!”) — was that this issue was also the last one of the series.  So, whatever progress was going to made here in regards to Starlin’s overarching storyline was, in the end, going to amount to nothing more than a tantalizing tease… at least for the next twelve months.  Read More

Warlock #11 (February, 1976)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

As regular readers of this blog may recall from our post on Warlock #10 back in September, that issue ended on a relatively quiet note, with the titular hero grimly preparing to enter his personal timestream for the express purpose of ending his own life — and, thereby, preventing his evil future self, the Magus, from ever coming into existence at all.  Or at least that was what should happen, according to the theory espoused by Adam Warlock’s unexpected new ally, Thanos the Mad Titan — and it’s not like there were any better options for saving the universe on the table, so what was a onetime messiah to do?

But while the beginning of our latest object of discussion, Warlock #11, seems to be taking place a mere moment after the ending of issue #10, it’s clear from auteur Jim Starlin’s opening splash that things are no longer the least bit quiet, and probably won’t be again for some time:  Read More

Warlock #10 (December, 1975)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

Fifty years and two months ago, the ninth issue of Warlock ended with a shocking revelation — Thanos, the Mad Titan, who’d been missing and presumed dead since the climax of Captain Marvel #33 (Jul., 1974), was alive — and had shown up to offer Adam Warlock his personal assistance in the latter’s battle against his evil future self, the Magus.  Could it be true?  Going by the cover of Warlock #10, which boldly promised us readers of September, 1975 “Thanos versus the Magus”, both in its blurb copy and in its spectacular illustration by Jim Starlin and Alan Weiss, it sure seemed like the return of the villain of Starlin’s last great cosmic epic was indeed back, and ready to throw down with the villain of Starlin’s current great cosmic epic.  But, of course, if we wanted to know for sure, we were going to have to turn past the cover and dig into the comic’s contents, beginning with its opening splash page…  Read More

Warlock #9 (October, 1975)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

The banner that’s emblazoned above the title logo on the cover of Warlock #9 — “Pulse-Pounding PREMIERE Issue” — can fairly be called misleading, if not outright dishonest.  After all, “premiere” means “first” (in this context, anyway), and the issue of a periodical that numerically follows its eighth can hardly be its first, now can it?  In fact, this isn’t even the premiere issue of the “Warlock” feature’s revival, which would of course have been Strange Tales #178, published back in November, 1974.  But I suppose we can forgive Marvel Comics for wanting to trumpet the return of Adam Warlock in “his own senses-shattering mag” (to quote from the cover’s other blurb) with language a little less clunky that “Pulse-Pounding Fifth Issue of Relaunch” or even “Pulse-Pounding First Issue Under This Title Since 1973”.  It was a special occasion, after all. Read More

Captain Marvel #33 (July, 1974)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

Behind a cover both pencilled and inked by Jim Starlin (his first such since coming on board the Captain Marvel title with issue #25), this issue featured the conclusion of the epic “Thanos War” storyline that the creator had inaugurated a year and a half earlier with the 55th issue of Iron Man, and which had since woven through the previous eight issues of Captain Marvel itself, while also spilling over briefly into Marvel Feature, Daredevil, and Avengers.  Read More

Avengers #125 (July, 1974)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

I suppose that Ron Wilson and John Romita’s cover for this issue of Avengers might be taken as misleading by some readers, since, as we’ll soon see, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes never directly confront Thanos himself anywhere within its pages (indeed, the Mad Titan only puts in a personal appearance on a couple of them).  I’m pretty sure, however, that that fact didn’t bother my sixteen-year-old self very much (if at all) when I first read this comic back in April, 1974; after all, the story is unquestionably a part of the “Thanos War” saga that had been being told by artist-writer Jim Starlin and others for the last year and a half, mostly (though not entirely) in the pages of Captain Marvel.  If you took Avengers #125’s cover as “symbolic” of our heroes’ struggle against that epic’s Big Bad, as I was happy to do, you’d have to admit it was pretty much on the money.  Read More

Captain Marvel #30 (January, 1974)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

By the time Captain Marvel #30 came out in October, 1973, Marvel Comics readers had already had a couple of opportunities to see the newly-enhanced (as of issue #29) “Most Cosmic Superhero of All” in action — namely, in Marvel Team-Up #16 and Daredevil #107.  But the subject of our discussion today was the first time that writer-artist Jim Starlin, the creator who was actually responsible for the big changes to Mar-Vell’s status quo, had himself had a chance to show just what those changes meant for the hero, and for his fans, going forward; and the creator obligingly responded with a story that, if it didn’t quite deliver on its cover blurb’s promise of “pure action — from cover to cover!”, still managed to come pretty damn close to living up to that claim.  Read More

Daredevil #107 (December, 1973)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

Back in July, we took a look at Daredevil #105, in which a plotline involving a series of mysteriously-empowered new supervillains — one that had meandered through the generally street-level-set series for the past nine issues — suddenly took an unexpected turn for the cosmic, as our Man Without Fear found himself involved with Moondragon — a woman who, though Earth-born, presently called Saturn’s moon of Titan her home.  In other words, DD had somehow managed to wander into the outskirts of the “Thanos War” saga being chronicled by artist-writer Jim Starlin over in the pages of Captain Marvel.  Read More

Avengers #118 (December, 1973)

Posted on by Alan Stewart

It’s September, and we’ve finally arrived at the climax of Marvel Comics’ pioneering crossover event of the summer of 1973, the Avengers/Defenders War.  Having realized at last that they share a common enemy, the superheroes of the two feuding teams have united to save the world.

So it’s fitting that, for the first time since the storyline began, the cover of this chapter gives us a group shot of multiple members from both teams — although artists Ron Wilson and John Romita have probably chosen wisely in not trying to cram all fourteen heroes, plus supervillains Dormammu and Loki, into a single shot.  Rather, they’ve opted to go with just nine, and it’s interesting to take note of who’s been included.  Unsurprisingly, every character starring in their own series — that’s Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and Black Panther (in Jungle Action) from the Avengers, plus Sub-Mariner, Hulk, and Doctor Strange (in Marvel Premiere) from the Defenders — makes the cut.  But that still leaves two slots, and they’ve both gone to female characters — the Avengers’ Scarlet Witch and the Defenders’ Valkyrie — which serves to make the cover at least slightly less of a sausage fest.  Better luck next time, Silver Surfer, Vision, Hawkeye, Swordsman, and Mantis (the only shero who didn’t make the cover).

Still, if you’re hankering for a big group shot featuring all the heroes from both teams, no exceptions, then have no worries; Marvel’s got you covered on the book’s opening splash page:  Read More