Why Does Darkseid Lounge?

Over a decade ago on the blog, I looked at Action Comics #593 (1987), a team-up story starring Superman and Mister Miracle written and drawn by John Byrne. As I noted in that review, this was one of the earliest comic books that I read.

Here's an excerpt from my review:

Mr. Miracle enters his house with his diminuative aide Oberon at his side; however, instead of finding his wife Barda waiting for him, Mr. Miracle is greeted by Darkseid, sitting in an armchair sipping wine. Seriously, I wouldn't kid you. Even though Keith Giffen's Ambush Bug mocked the idea of Darkseid's ubiquity in DC Comics all the way back in 1985, it seems no one got the memo as Darkseid would continue to make appearances like this up to present times. Darkseid sipping wine in Mr. Miracle's living room is about as menacing as Darkseid serving Ambush Bug a hamburger in Ambush Bug#2. Ah well; in 1987, I knew of Darkseid through the Super Powers figures and Super Friends cartoon show, so at least he was a familiar face.

Above you can see the image of Darkseid calmly sipping wine while lounging in Mister Miracle's living room, and below is the final page of Ambush Bug #1 (1985) by Robert Loren Fleming and Keith Giffen. This was the start of a running gag in the four-issue Ambush Bug mini-series as each issue would conclude with Ambush Bug encountering Darkseid in some mundane locale, but the succeeding issue would completely ignore that scene. Finally, at the end of Ambush Bug #4, Ambush Bug reveals that the "Darkseid" in his stories was just an inflatable dummy. He says to the deflated dummy, "Thanks, pal. You bought me an extra fifty thousand sales in the comic shops!"

This trope of Darkseid lounging around in a mundane location instead of unleashing his power to destroy his enemies-- that's become a well-worn trope in DC comics. And I suppose my reaction in the above review came out that way because I was used to a post-Jack Kirby Darkseid. Post-Kirby, Darkseid was no longer the arch-enemy of the New Gods-- now he was basically everyone's arch-enemy, from Superman to the Suicide Squad, from Mary Marvel to the Legion of Super-Heroes. Writers still seemed to understand that he was a villain who needed to show restraint (or else he'd simply wipe most of Earth's heroes out of existence), and thus the many images of Darkseid lounging. This was particularly apparent in the 1987 Legends crossover, which resulted in Darkseid appearing in many, many comics within a six-month span, but mostly he appeared only to plot and scheme rather than take action.

What I didn't appreciate about Darkseid was that Kirby had pretty definite ideas about how to play his arch-villain; after a few cameos in Kirby's Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen stories, Darkseid made his big debut in New Gods #1 (1971), which also introduced Darkseid's true opponent, Orion. Orion spent the entirety of issue #1 battling his way through Darkseid's armies on Apokalips only to learn Darkseid was on Earth. The issue ends with Orion heading to Earth, where Darkseid promises on the last page, "I hear you, Orion! The battle begins!"

But New Gods #2 opens up with Orion entering an apartment where he simply finds Darkseid lounging, waiting for him, as seen above (and it does look like Giffen drew directly from this image for the end of Ambush Bug #1). There is no physical confrontation with Darkseid in that issue; although Orion continues to oppose all of Darkseid's schemes, New Gods was cancelled before the promised showdown with Orion and Darkseid could occur. So, Fleming and Giffen weren't just making light of Darkseid's ability to add sales when they used him in Ambush Bug - they were also poking fun at how, from their perspective, the promised fight between Orion and Darkseid kept being put off.

I should note that Giffen was also the artist of a Legion of Super-Heroes story titled "the Great Darkness Saga," written by Paul Levitz (Legion of Super-Heroes #290-294, 1982). It was a lengthy storyline where the antagonist was ultimately revealed to be Darkseid, still alive in the 31st century; in the climax, Orion suddenly appears and they have the epic battle that fanboys had been asking for since 1971. It's basically fan-fiction, Levitz and Giffen trying to write their own ending to Kirby's New Gods. Many fans call it "the greatest Legion of Super-Heroes story!" That's how lame the Legion are, I guess... their best story is a stealth New Gods comic.

"The Great Darkness Saga" happened early enough in Darkseid's post-Kirby history that it seems to have been extremely influential. Yet I also wonder how much the version of Darkseid seen in that story - the cosmic powerhouse who goes fist-to-fist with the entire Legion of Super-Heroes - owes to Thanos. Thanos was, after all, created by Jim Starlin in 1973 as what he admitted to as a being directly inspired by Darkseid. For Thanos' early appearances, he was quite a bit like Darkseid - he employed a number of lieutenants to do his dirty work and mostly plotted and schemed. It wasn't until he obtained the Cosmic Cube during Starlin's Captain Marvel stories that he ceased being on the sidelines and instead directly engaged the heroes (I wrote a 10-part history of Starlin's Thanos; here's part 1, where I discussed those early comics). I'd say that Starlin's Thanos stepped out from Darkseid's shadow when he reappeared in Warlock as Warlock's ally against the Magus. Although Thanos' quest to win the love of Death could be compared to Darkseid's quest for the Anti-Life Equation, Thanos' subtlety and guile in those Warlock stories is very unlike Darkseid's single-minded approach.

Post-"Great Darkness Saga," DC reprinted Kirby's New Gods stories in 1984 as a prestige-format series. In the final issue, Kirby finally wrote and drew the conclusion to Orion and Darkseid's unresolved fight. To put it mildly, it's not what fans like Levitz and Giffen anticipated. In fact, there is once again, no fight. Orion pursues Darkseid, but Darkseid continually beats a strategic retreat rather than engage in combat. Finally, Darkseid leads Orion into an ambush; a squad of Parademons blast Orion's body full of bullets and he drops out of sight, seemingly dead; the end.

And this isn't a course-correction on Kirby's part, it's consistent with all of his Darkseid stories in the 1970s. Although Darkseid deployed plenty of lieutenants against his enemies, his own interest was simply the Anti-Life Equation. He would indulge his lieutenants if he thought their plans might bring him the equation (or at least inconvenience his enemies so they wouldn't interfere with him) but Darkseid didn't use power for power's sake. I think any of the confrontations Kirby wrote between Darkseid and Desaad would be instructive; Desaad would inflict pain on his enemies because he enjoyed the sensation; Darkseid, however, was not a sadist and expressed annoyance at Desaad for placing his sadism above his actual goal - the Anti-Life Equation. Outside of flashbacks, the only characters Darkseid killed with his own power in Kirby's stories were his lieutenants when he felt they'd gone too far off-track - and then Kirby gave him the power to resurrect his lieutenants in his graphic novel Hunger Dogs (1985), albeit the resurrected lieutenants were mere shades of their former selves.

I submit, then, it's possible that the Darkseid of "the Great Darkness Saga" is a combination of Levitz and Giffen's fanboyish wish for a Darkseid who fights, drawn from Starlin's Thanos. Kirby's Darkseid was not Starlin's Thanos; he had plenty of raw power, but next to no interest in unleashing it. Perhaps a true "final" New Gods story in which Darkseid obtained the Anti-Life Equation would bring the character to a point where he would unleash his full power. But that's not Kirby's Darkseid; without the Anti-Life Equation, what is there for Darkseid to do, but... lounge.

Space-Born Super Hero Part 41: The End.

Here are my parting thoughts on the series I've been running on this blog called 'Space-Born Super Hero'. The recent Captain Marvel motion picture prompted me to think about the character of Captain Mar-Vell, and in particular how out-of-focus his adventures prior to the arrival of Jim Starlin were. By the time Starlin drew Captain Marvel #25, Captain Marvel had been a Marvel super hero for about six years. What went on during those six years?

Now, my own exposure to Mar-Vell's earlier adventures was somewhat limited - although I wrote for The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, I never needed to delve into the character often. Heck, I'm not sure if I even had to do a write-up on the Kree. I suppose blogging about the early Captain Marvel stories interested me because it was an avenue of Marvel Comics I hadn't delved into before, likely the only 1960s super hero stuff I hadn't read from start to finish.

At the same time, I knew of the book's reputation. I knew many in fandom at the time despised the series because he had 'robbed' the moniker 'Captain Marvel' from the defunct Fawcett hero. I have some fascination with terrible comic books, as my Bitter Fruit series targeting the Shadow will attest. However, I also enjoy defying conventional wisdom. Perhaps the comics weren't that bad? So... what did I find?

Not as advertised.

Perhaps the strangest discovery I made was that the picture I had in my head of Captain Marvel's personality was all wrong. I'd based my ideas on Jim Starlin's stories (which I first read in The Life of Captain Marvel) and I had the impression that Mar-Vell came to Earth as an invader but had the heart of a hero, causing him to take a stand against the Kree. I knew he had loved Una and lost her to one of his enemies. I had this image of a noble but tragic hero who gives up everything from his upbringing to save Earth.

But... that's not really what happened. Mar-Vell is frustratingly obtuse about his motives throughout the early parts of the series. There is a sense that he's a dedicated soldier who refuses to betray his uniform, but at the same time is ordered to take hostile actions against humanity. However, he would find loopholes to avoid having to take a stand for his principles, such as in Captain Marvel #7 where he tricked Yon-Rogg into thinking he killed a town of people with a plague (they were all robots).

Instead, Mar-Vell lacks agency; Yon-Rogg despises Mar-Vell from the start and wants him dead (although strangely, not so much because of Una, which is what I thought his motivation was; he only really claims that was his motivation after Una dies). The Kree are shown as paranoid war-mongers who have it in for Mar-Vell and will execute him the moment he shows signs of disloyalty. In the end, what causes Mar-Vell to leave the military? He destroys the Organization after being told to form an alliance with them. Like, seriously, Mar-Vell is given the death sentence because he killed humans.

Once Mar-Vell is forced out of the military, he's motivated by revenge, not any affection for Earth or anyone else. His nobility is still lacking; even after bonding with Rick Jones, where Mar-Vell is frequently cast in the role of Rick's conscience, he mostly pops out of the Negative Zone to help save Rick from a problem he's gotten himself into. Again, where's the agency? What does Mar-Vell want for himself? Why does he do the things he does?

Such a limited sphere.

Part of what makes Captain Marvel so boxed-in and easy to avoid is that almost no one introduced in the pages of Captain Marvel goes on to bigger and better things. You've got Mar-Vell and his two iconic costumes; you've got him bonded to Rick Jones via the Negative Zone; you've got supporting character Carol Danvers... that's it. He is part of the Kree-Skrull War, but it goes on entirely in the pages of the Avengers, where the character with the most impact on the plot is the Vision. None of Mar-Vell's brand-new foes such as the Metazoid, Solam or the Organization went on to greater things. Heck, outside of Lou-Ann Savannah, almost no one in the first 24 issues has any bearing on Jim Starlin's run.

And there's Zo.

Yeah, Zo. So, Zo was terrible, but not quite as terrible as I'd been led to think. The idea of Mar-Vell having a cosmic benefactor is one which Starlin came back to with his character Eon. Zo, however, is just way too much of a non-character. Eon's purpose is clear from the start - he's a champion of life and needs Mar-Vell to help defeat Thanos, so gives him the power he needs. Zo doesn't explain what he wants or why Mar-Vell is the person to help him get it and grants him odd powers which Mar-Vell barely ever thinks to employ. Gary Friedrich added some minor interest to the character by bringing in trippy hippie visuals, but Zo's presence continued to highlight the problems with the series - which again and again, come down to Mar-Vell possessing a poorly-defined character motivation.

Was it all terrible?

No, certainly not. Gil Kane's issues were absolutely lovely and Mar-Vell appearances in the Avengers were all classic stories I quite enjoyed. I found much of Don Heck's art lacking, but he pulled off some very nice art in Captain Marvel#16.

There was promise, certainly. That's what I felt in the last few issues of Captain Marvel. Gerry Conway's story in Captain Marvel #22 started off well enough, but I felt Marv Wolfman whiffed it on the second half; the same thing happened with Captain Marvel #24, which had some nice art by Wayne Boring and great character designs, but became a little muddled when Wolfman had to write an ending to the story.

The nadir, I'm sorry to say, were the Arnold Drake issues. I commend him for trying to create new adversaries for Mar-Vell, particularly the Aakon. I also think his idea that Mar-Vell's other identity - Dr. Walter Lawson - was actually a villain was a fascinating idea, yet he barely glanced on it, other than using it as a means to get the world's worst robotic assassin into comics. I'm torn between which of his stories was the worst; was it the rushed and poorly-scripted Captain Marvel #10? Or was it Captain Marvel #11, where they muffed up Una's death, drew the wrong villains and introduced Zo? Wait, I take it back, #11 was definitely the worst.

I'm glad I know more about this little cul-de-sac of the Marvel Universe. And now to move on and never think of it again...

Space-Born Super Hero Part 1: Introduction

The recent movie version of Captain Marvel got me thinking about the Marvel Comics hero - specifically, the character of Mar-Vell who was Marvel's first character to use the name.

Mar-Vell is kind of interesting in so far as how uninteresting he was. The popular opinion in comics fandom is that the best story starring Mar-Vell was The Death of Captain Marvel - that is, the one where he died. Generally speaking, most people's favourite interpretation of the character is the one by Jim Starlin. Even though Mar-Vell had been around about 7 years before Starlin started drawing the series with issue #25 and he ultimately only worked on the book for about 11 issues (plus the graphic novel), Starlin was the one who gave Mar-Vell his blond hair and Cosmic Awareness powers, to say nothing of pitting him against Thanos. Starlin is pretty much the only reason Mar-Vell is remembered favorably today.

This is despite the fact that the Captain Marvel comic book series had a lot of talented hands toiling on it. He was created by Stan Lee and Gene Colan and other contributors prior to Starlin included Roy Thomas, Arnold Drake, Don Heck and Gil Kane - not exactly a bunch of Joe Schmoes.

However, prior to Starlin, Captain Marvel had a pretty lousy reputation. If you look at the nascent comics fandom of the late 60s and early 70s, you'll notice a number of fan publications which seriously pooh-poohed this series. Some of this was simply due to the character's name; the original Captain Marvel (published by Fawcett) had been the single most widely-read super hero of the 1940s. Aging fans mythologized the then-defunct Fawcett hero to the point that seeing another hero assume his name was taken as a personal affront. In that sense, comic book fandom has not changed much in the last 50 years...

But beyond fandom's antipathy regarding the hero's moniker, there was also a great deal of scorn directed at the comics themselves. Marvel had been producing one hit after another in the 1960s but Captain Marvel was the first hero who did not impress audiences right out of the gate. Heck, even the much-mocked Ant-Man had his early adventures illustrated by Jack Kirby. But while most Marvel heroes were introduced with either Kirby or Ditko participating in the character creation, Captain Marvel proved unfortunate. Gene Colan is no slouch, to be sure, but it was Kirby and Ditko who established the Marvel look and at a time when Kirby was designing almost all of the Marvel heroes' visuals, his lack of participation seemed to mark Captain Marvel as an also-ran. Beneath the King.

True. the Kree had been created by Kirby in the pages of Fantastic Four, but they hadn't yet been codified into one of Marvel's great extraterrestrial races. Further, Colan took very little from Kirby's own designs and when he did attempt to draw the same Kree whom Kirby had created, it appeared off-brand. Even fans who weren't incensed at Mar-Vell for bearing the name Billy Batson once held considered Captain Marvel to be possibly the single worst Marvel super hero comic of the 1960s.

So! Why then am I blogging about this series? Despite having been an author of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe for eight years, I didn't delve too deeply into Mar-Vell, reading only those issues which I needed to. Therefore, the pre-Starlin stories are mostly unknown to me and what I did read wasn't in sequential order. Thus, I'm going to read the saga of Mar-Vell in original publication order and blog about what I find until I reach issue #24. Will I find Captain Marvel to be as bad as its reputation holds? Dunno. I have an open mind and I enjoy finding something interesting within neglected works. Let's see what I find...

Tomorrow: We begin with Marvel Super-Heroes #12, the first appearance of Captain Marvel!

Starlin's Thanos, part 10 of 10: Forever Infinite.

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove; Part 6: They Bite; Part 7: The Holiest War; Part 8: Gazed Too Long; Part 9: False Conclusions

And just like that, Thanos was everywhere.

He was in Brian Michael Bendis & Mark Bagley's Avengers Assemble; he starred in a mini-series by Jason Aaron & Simone Bianchi; he was the instigating antagonist of Jonathan Hickman & Jim Cheung's line-wide crossover Infinity; and he was in a post-credits scene at the end of 2011's hit film The Avengers.

Where Thanos wasn't was under Jim Starlin's thumb.

The courtesies previously granted to Starlin were now clearly on the skids; creators (such as Hickman & Cheung) had no problem with altering Thanos' costume, sending him after the Infinity Gems again and otherwise treating him as a constantly-restless would-be conqueror.

Starlin hadn't even been given notice that Thanos would be making his big screen debut and it rankled him; fortunately, with all the cash Thanos was bringing into Marvel, there was a little to spread around. Starlin had spent most of his time since the Thanos ongoing working for DC Comics, but Marvel hired him back to run a series of original graphic novels starring Thanos.

The first three novels tell one long story of Thanos battling Annihilus. They are titled: Thanos: The Infinity Revelation (2014), Thanos: The Infinity Relativity (2015) and Thanos: The Infinity Finale (2016). Starlin drew the first two books, but brought in Ron Lim to draw the third (all inks by Andy Smith). Marvel was definitely banking on the combination of Thanos + Starlin + Infinity to once again = $$$$. For his part, Starlin brought in elements from the contemporary Marvel cosmic titles, using the Annihilators and Guardians of the Galaxy teams.

Between the graphic novels Starlin authored tie-ins; first came Thanos Annual (2014), drawn by Ron Lim and inked by Andy Smith; set following Thanos' defeat by Captain Marvel, it has Thanos encounter his future self from The Infinity Gauntlet, who tries (and fails) to enlighten his younger self.

Next came Thanos vs. Hulk #1-4 (2015), drawn by Starlin and inked by Andy Smith; finally there was Infinity Entity (2016) #1-4, drawn by Alan Davis and inked by Mark Farmer. The collaboration between Starlin/Davis/Farmer seemed a happy one as soon after they reunited for the mini-series Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy.

Just this month, Starlin/Davis/Farmer united yet again for Thanos: The Infinity Siblings, yet another original graphic novel. According to Starlin, this graphic novel is actually setting itself up as the middle part of a trilogy (the earlier Revelation/Relativity/Finale being the first third). How many combinations of 'Infinity __________' can Marvel publish? I suppose we'll find out. The new graphic novel is quite good and, for the first time, shows Starlin taking an interest in Thanos' brother Eros as Eros finally matures and demonstrates some careful long-term planning - and the two brothers are even united in common cause. Starlin once again demonstrated some good faith to other creators as he utilized the costume & thralls Hickman & Cheung had given Thanos during their Infinity.

Starlin remains somewhat short-tempered when interviewers ask him about Thanos, but if he truly means to continue his current storyline over the next few years, I'm all for it. Keith Giffen aside, I haven't found that Marvel has any authors willing to grant Thanos the wit, intellect and sense of wonder that Starlin imbues his creation with. Thanos is best left in Starlin's hands, as other creators tend to simply retread The Infinity Gauntlet (and only the first 4 issues of the series at that).

Very shortly the feature film Avengers: Infinity War will reach theatres. The fortunes of that film will no doubt determine a portion of Thanos' future in the comics.

Starlin's Thanos, part 9 of 10: False Conclusions

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove; Part 6: They Bite; Part 7: The Holiest War; Part 8: Gazed Too Long

'The End' was an unusual series of Marvel titles which began in 2002 with Incredible Hulk: The End, an adaptation of a prose story Peter David had written about the Hulk's final days on a desolate, mostly-uninhabited Earth. Soon, Marvel began churning out additional 'The End' titles, often written by the present-day scripter of the character's home title. The control over these titles was somewhat suspect, as two entirely different 'The End' stories appeared for the Fantastic Four, but it was an interesting idea to imagine how Marvel's heroes would end up if their stories were ever permitted to end.

In 2003, Jim Starlin followed up The Infinity Abyss with Marvel Universe: The End (again scripting/penciling with Al Milgrom as inker). Unlike every other entry in the title series, this was not an alternate universe tale. Yes, virtually every major character in the Marvel Universe dies, but they are then brought back to life, not unlike The Infinity Gauntlet. And sure enough, Thanos and Adam Warlock were once again present.

The early issues of the 6-part mini-series deal with Akhenaten, an Egyptian pharoah possessing cosmic power from the Heart of the Infinite. When he's finally dealt with, Thanos inherits his power and is once again the most powerful being in the universe. Naturally, once again he realizes he can't handle the weight of all this power and gives up on it.

This led directly into a Thanos ongoing series in 2004. Starlin wrote & drew the first six issues with Al Milgrom as his inker. Thanos picks up immediately after Marvel Universe: The End but also picks up some loose ends from The Infinity Abyss. Thanos' primary motivation in this series is to seek redemption for what his Thanosi clone did over in Dan Jurgens' Thor. In the course of this, Thanos discovers Galactus is pursuing the Infinity Gems while a being who consumes entire realities spurs him on.

As Starlin has frequently chosen to ignore how other writers treated Thanos (likewise Adam Warlock), it is interesting to note how generous Starlin was in Thanos to pick up on the events of Thor. Also, the recap of Thanos' origin in the first issue makes no bones about identifying Thanos as an Eternal, something which Mark Gruenwald had come up with and which Starlin had previously distanced himself from; he even identifies Thanos as possessing a 'Deviant gene.'

The Thanos series did well enough but Starlin had a falling-out with Marvel after the sixth issue. Marvel chose to continue the series without him (bringing in Keith Giffen as writer and Ron Lim as artist) and Starlin politely wished Giffen well with the series. Giffen's Thanos #7-12 wound up building towards a new attempt to develop a Marvel cosmic line, resulting in the Annihilation event which would eventually birth Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning's Guardians of the Galaxy, stories which caught the attention of Marvel's new motion picture line, the ultra-successful Marvel Studios. More about that in our conclusion.

Next Thursday: Forever Infinite.

Starlin's Thanos, part 8 of 10: Gazed Too Long

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove; Part 6: They Bite; Part 7: The Holiest War

Although Jim Starlin spent the latter half of the 90s away from Thanos, the character himself lingered on. Previously, creators had been wary of dealing with a character whom they saw as Starlin's pet - but now that The Infinity Gauntlet had made Thanos one of Marvel's biggest villains there were many who wanted a shot at him. Unfortunately, creators other than Starlin (or Ron Marz) tended to fall upon the same old tropes Starlin had already thrown out in The Infinity Gauntlet - that is, they wanted Thanos to be worshiping Death and seeking power for himself.

Thanos appeared all over the place, even in Incredible Hulk/X-Man 1998 Annual, but there were a few appearances which were particularly notorious: in 1997, Mark Waid & Andy Kubert used Thanos as the main antagonist in their first year of Ka-Zar. Pitting Thanos against Ka-Zar, a non-powered jungle hero, irritated many of Thanos' fans. The other came in 2000's Thor #21-25 wherein Dan Jurgens & John Romita Jr. sent Thanos on yet another quest for cosmic power, this time using Thor's foe Mangog as his lackey (further upsetting Mangog fans, as the villain had previously been a threat powerful enough to end Asgard on his own).

At the same time, Starlin slowly crept back to Thanos. Peter David and Chriss Cross had begun a new Captain Marvel series, using Mar-Vell's son Genis as the new Captain Marvel, bound to Rick Jones as his father had been. The series went over well, and for their 11th issue, Jim Starlin came to play (along with Al Milgrom as his inker again). The story involved Genis meeting a version of Mar-Vell from another reality, giving him the chance to finally meet a version of his father. Bringing in Starlin for this tale continued to demonstrate how he was considered the definitive Mar-Vell creator. Shortly after, there was a sequel.

Back in his Incredible Hulk run, Peter David had written a run-in between Rick's wife Marlo and Death, herself - mostly to set-up one of his infamous puns ("a brush with Death"). David now brought Marlo's connection to Death into the fore of Captain Marvel via a two-part story in issues #17-18, drawn by Starlin & Milgrom. In this tale, Death is revealed to be hiding within Marlo's body while a being called Walker pursues her; to stop Walker come Thor and Thanos as Marlo's defenders. This was the first time Starlin had ever participated in a Thanos story he didn't write himself but David's Thanos was fairly on-point, serving as a chaotic neutral figure.

It was from this that 2002's Infinity Abyss was born. The title drew obvious lines back to Starlin's Infinity trilogy of the 1990s, but this time Starlin was writing and drawing the series (Milgrom again inking). Although Spider-Man, Dr. Strange and Captain Marvel participated in the story, the real stars were Thanos and Adam Warlock. As a cosmic tremor is felt, Warlock once again emerges from a cocoon (establishing a precedent for Starlin rebooting Adam every time he would return to the character). A cosmic custodian named Atlez is dying and Adam must defend Atlez's successor. Assisting Adam are his former Infinity Watch allies Gamora, Pip, Moondragon and, of course, Thanos.

The villains of the story are the Thanosi, clones Thanos made of himself and designed to combat different superhumans (Iron Man, Dr. Strange, Professor X, Gladiator and Galactus, to be precise). Thanos reveals his Thanosi included earlier models who he pit against Ka-Zar, Thor and the Avengers (referencing Steve Englehart & Jorge Santamaria's Avengers: Celestial Quest) but the doubles were faulty and tended to lapse into mindless destruction, so Thanos abandoned the project. It's a not-so-very-thinly disguised attack on how other creators had used Thanos. Even Gamora is allowed to criticize other writers' use of Thanos as, overhearing a Thanosi talk about worshiping Death, raising armies and gaining cosmic power, she notes Thanos has evolved past that point.

Jim Starlin continued to solidify his interpretation of his creation Thanos, the former tyrant now cosmic pilgrim. But other Marvel writers continued to oppose his wishes.

Next Tuesday: False Conclusions.

Starlin's Thanos, part 7 of 10: The Holiest War

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove; Part 6: They Bite

In the 4th season of the television series Angel, the creators came up with a different 'Big Bad' menace for their heroes. They conceived of the character Jasmine, a 'Big Good,' someone whose goodness makes them a threat to the heroes. It's a provocative idea, but ultimately Jasmine was simply evil; she claimed the ends justified the means, but it made it very easy to dismiss her as yet another 'Big Bad' because the program needed to hit the expected beats of an action-adventure series.

It is certainly possible for a good person to cause an evil to erupt through their actions. With my recent work in missions, I've learned about missionaries whose good intentions led to a new evil where they were. The idea that good is as bad as evil is a strange kind of infantile moral relativism that doesn't bear much scrutiny. But here we are: The Infinity Crusade.

So, The Infinity Crusade is not a subtle work. The villain is the Goddess, Adam's good half, who was glimpsed during The Infinity War. Just as the Magus was drawn from Adam's evil self, the Goddess was designed in imitation of Her, Adam's would-be mate. For most of the crossover, she dresses in armour with a page boy's haircut as an evident reference to Joan of Arc.

The Goddess' goal? To purge the universe of all life, that being the only means to eradicate evil. That's not a plan that calls for much nuance. To achieve her means, the Goddess mesmerizes many super heroes, appealing to those who are the most noble or spiritual. Once again, Thanos and Adam Warlock must save the universe while the rest of Earth's heroes are mostly ineffectual.

Jim Starlin teamed with Ron Lim and Al Milgrom again on this series, which felt even more rushed than The Infinity War (Lim takes some tremendous shortcuts in the final issue). However, this series did at least wrap up Starlin's Infinity Gauntlet with a full trilogy.

There are fantastic ideas in The Infinity Crusade, but the execution botches it. The heroes in the Goddess' thrall are little more than glassy-eyed zombies, so the series sidesteps any attempt at portraying how the heroes could be so easily ensnared. Some of the tie-ins delved into this territory, but there was little in the way of consequences in this series when what it really needed were some dramatic scenes of the heroes post-brainwashing as they grappled with how their virtues had been toyed with. Compare to Starlin's earlier Warlock series and how the Magus' Universal Church of Truth was grounded and see what might have been.

Basically, The Infinity Crusade asserts that if you're a religious person, you're a sheep. How much better to be like his pets, the totally-neutral Adam Warlock and totally-grey Thanos.

Enough of the plot; what about Thanos? It was in this event that Thanos was revealed as the keeper of the Reality Gem; as he'd demonstrated that he no longer wanted ultimate power, he was an obvious custodian. The scene which reveals this in Infinity Crusade #1 obscures Thanos visually (saving the big reveal) but it's obvious from Thanos' speech balloons. Which reminds me, I should have given props to Ken Bruzenak, who developed the distinctive speech balloons Thanos used throughout the 1990s. He'd had blue speech balloons back in the 70s, but the wavy lines around his balloons in the 90s added strength to his dialogue.

With the completion of his trilogy, Jim Starlin took a step back from Marvel Comics for a time, focusing on creator-owned work. But in the 21st century he came back with a vengeance.

Next Thursday: Gazed Too Long.

Starlin's Thanos, part 6 of 10: They Bite

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On; Part 5: The Power Glove

The Infinity War was and is a mess.

Joined again with Ron Lim (and inks by Starlin's old mate Al Milgrom), 1992's Infinity War attempted to escalate what Starlin had done in The Infinity Gauntlet. More tie-ins! More heroes! More subplots! It's amazing that The Infinity War reads as well as it does; the best that can be said for it is that it was a very well-coordinated event.

Dipping into his back catalogue, Starlin brought back Adam Warlock's other self the Magus, revealing that Adam had unwittingly driven all good and evil from himself, causing those abstract qualities to take on physical form (as they do in the Marvel Universe). The reborn Magus builds an army of evil duplicates of Earth's heroes (where they came from was buried in a Quasar tie-in) and wields five Cosmic Cubes - but he's willing to settle for more. In fact, the Magus would dearly appreciate it if Adam would give him the Infinity Gems. Fortunately, Thanos is here to save the universe!

The other saving grace of The Infinity War is, thankfully, Thanos. When Thanos begins to sense the Magus' threat he returns to his familiar costume and seeks out Adam's Infinity Watch for assistance. Meanwhile, the Magus' evil duplicates are replacing a few of their counterparts.

The evil duplicates ('doppelgangers') are the most visible problem with The Infinity War: they're not interesting. Tasked with designing 50+ new evil doubles, Ron Lim reduced most of the evil doubles into images that were basically the same as the heroes, only with sharp teeth. Some of the doubles (Spider-Man, Daredevil, Invisible Woman) went on to cause trouble in comics long after the crossover was done. But they're evil; they have no nuance and barely any dialogue. Added to this, many of the tie-ins showed the same dull fight of the heroes at Four Freedoms Plaza battling their doubles. As in The Infinity Gauntlet, characters who weren't Starlin's pets have very little of consequence to do, with only Quasar's tie-ins containing any significant developments.

It's the surprise heroism of Thanos which elevates the event. Thanos begins by simply being intellectually curious about the Magus' plans, but when he realizes the cosmic threat, he takes steps to stop him. This is basically how Thanos will be characterized in every Starlin story to come (and Keith Giffen's).

It's just a shame those evil doubles are so lame.

Still, at the same time Starlin wrote a wonderful Thanos solo story for the 1992 Marvel Holiday Special. In this brief tale (illustrated by Ron Lim & Terry Austin), Thanos is reminded of how he raised Gamora from childhood and recalls how she saved him from an assassin - at the same time, revealing to Thanos she would never be the ruthless assassin he hoped for. This story actually has some credit coming to it for the way Thanos is treated as Gamora's father in the current Marvel films.

Next Tuesday: The Holiest War.

Starlin's Thanos, part 5 of 10: The Power Glove

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest; Part 4: The Gloves Are On

And just like that, Thanos was everywhere.

Once a figure designated for Jim Starlin's use, The Infinity Gauntlet event and 6-issue mini-series made Thanos a top Marvel villain. But at the same time, Starlin was deconstructing Thanos into a character who would never serve as a menace in a story like The Infinity Gauntlet again.

In retrospect, it's remarkable that a plot which had been running in a low-profile series like Silver Surfer could rise up and become a major publishing event, earning a reputation as one of the best Marvel super hero crossovers ever told. Aside from Steve Englehart referencing the Cosmic Cube saga in an issue of Avengers, Starlin's Thanos epics seemed to exist in their own world, only barely infringing on the larger Marvel Universe. No longer.

Through the course of The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos attempts to use his newfound omnipotence to finally win Death's affections back, first by fulfilling his promise to her and eliminating 50% of all life in the universe (with a snap of his fingers). The remaining heroes, led by a resurrected Adam Warlock, attempt to stop Thanos, but even after he willingly reduces his power level, he easily mops the floor with them. Finally, Thanos loses the Infinity Gems to Nebula, who undoes all of Thanos' mischief.

In the midst of this, it becomes clear that Thanos' earlier defeats occurred because on a subconscious level, Thanos did not truly desire ultimate victory. And so, Captain Mar-Vell and Spider-Man were each permitted a chance to thwart him. In The Infinity Gauntlet, the Vision notes this quirk of Thanos' personality early on and during Thanos' fight with the heroes he almost loses while battling Captain America - until he realizes he was about to surrender and instantly rallies.

Now that this subtext has become the text of Thanos, Thanos is instantly a much more difficult character to write. Creators other than Starlin frequently want to replay another Infinity Gauntlet-type story - but now that Thanos knows he doesn't truly want ultimate power, why even bother telling another story that goes through the motions?

Some fans find Starlin's characterization of Thanos insulting; after all, Starlin has revealed that his pet creation can only be beaten if he wants to. It sounds like a schoolyard mentality. But then, following The Infinity Gauntlet Starlin wasn't particularly interested in having Thanos square off against the heroes for another curb stomp; now that Thanos realized he didn't actually want true power, he was free to find a new destiny. Infinity Gauntlet ends with Adam Warlock wielding the gems while Thanos has abandoned his old costume and taken up existence as a farmer - but Starlin had new ideas for the character.

The Infinity Gauntlet was drawn by George Perez and Ron Lim (when Perez failed to make deadlines), inks by Tom Christopher, Joe Rubinstein and Bruce Solotoff. Among the comics who tied into the event were Mark Gruenwald & Greg Capullo's Quasar, Terry Kavanagh & David Ross' Cloak and Dagger, Roy Thomas, Danni Thomas & Dan Lawlis' Doctor Strange, Peter David & Dale Keown's Incredible Hulk, and Ron Marz's Silver Surfer. Starlin had given up writing duties on Silver Surfer for the sake of The Infinity Gauntlet (bringing Ron Lim with him), but Ron Marz quickly proved to be sympatico to Starlin's concept of Marvel cosmic tales, and the characterization of Thanos in particular. Marz would frequently aid Starlin's tales in the years to come and remains one of two Marvel writers to touch Thanos whose work Starlin seems to approve of (Keith Giffen being the other).

The number of tie-ins for The Infinity Gauntlet was modest, but Marvel wasn't blind to the sales success the event had been; next time - and yes, there had to be a next time - the tie-ins would escalate. But for the moment, Starlin was writing Warlock and the Infinity Watch, a new series teaming Adam, Gamora, Pip, Drax and Moondragon as the guardians of the Infinity Gems. And who took the sixth gem? Starlin kept that secret for about two years...

Next Thursday: They Bite.

Starlin's Thanos, part 4 of 10: The Gloves Are on

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral; Part 3: Laid to Rest

In 1987, writer Steve Englehart launched the Silver Surfer into a new ongoing series, one which finally placed the cosmic hero into cosmic surroundings, pitting him in the midst of a new Kree-Skrull War and repeated clashes with the Elders of the Universe. In the course of the series, the Elders obtained the six Soul Gems which had lain dormant since Thanos' death.

When Jim Starlin arrived as the new writer of Silver Surfer in 1990, Englehart's use of the Soul Gems was like a blessing to him. Joining with artist Ron Lim (inks by Joe Rubinstein & Tom Christopher), Starlin wasted no time in bringing his pet character back: in issue #34, Death herself raises Thanos from the dead to correct a cosmic balance - that is, there is too much life in the universe. Thanos' mission is to deplete the universe's population by 50%.

The Silver Surfer proved a capable foe for Thanos, he being a stolid, honorable man like Mar-vell and Adam Warlock had been in earlier Starlin epics. The comparisons between the Surfer and Adam Warlock grew all the more during issues #40-43, during which Thanos faked his death and lured the Surfer to the bureaucratic Dynamo City for the reading of his will. The frustrations the Surfer found in Dynamo City recalled the kangaroo court the Universal Church of Truth ran in Starlin's Warlock.

Thanos spent issue #35 calmly explaining his rationale behind universal genocide, it being his contention that there is simply too much life to properly sustain itself. This was the first time Starlin attemted to grant Thanos a point of view, rather than simply lusting after destruction for Death's favour. These stories also saw the introduction of Thanos' floating chair, which would become a staple, and his teleportation technology which was first used in Warlock became a standard part of his equipment.

At the same time they were creating Silver Surfer, Jim Starlin and Ron Lim (with inker John Beatty) created Thanos Quest, a two-part prestige format comic book which marked the first time Thanos took a starring role. In order to fulfill his mission from Death, Thanos sets after the Soul Gems to obtain omnipotent power. Thanos easily fights his way through the Elders of the Universe and adopts the gems, renaming them 'Infinity Gems.' Ergo, Thanos' gauntlet is now the 'Infinity Gauntlet.'

It should be said, the Infinity Gauntlet is just Thanos' glove. The glove existed decades before the famous Infinity Gauntlet story. And yet, in decades to come many revisits of the Infinity Gems have involved Thanos' glove, for no good reason other than it being the form the six were wielded in previously.

Starlin brought his reliable Drax the Destroyer back from the dead, once again sent by Kronos to hunt Thanos. However, Starlin took advantage of the means by which Drax died to alter him; because Moondragon had killed Drax psychically, his new body has suffered tremendous brain damage, leaving him fairly, well -- stupid. In the course of this lengthy arc which ran from Silver Surfer #34-50 (then continued in Infinity Gauntlet), the Surfer and Drax were briefly drawn into Adam's Soul Gem by Thanos. Within the gem, the Surfer and Drax met Adam, Gamora, Pip and the others Adam had absorbed.

I should also mention that Nebula - the granddaughter of Thanos whom Roger Stern created after Thanos' death - suffered somewhat under Starlin's hands. Starlin was (and is) very protective of Thanos and wasted little time in pitting Thanos against Nebula, with Thanos pointing out how incredulous it is to think that a man who devoted his life to death would ever create life. Starlin's slight against Nebula was the first of many course-corrections Starlin would make.

The storyline Starlin had been creating in Silver Surfer proved to hold so much potential it grew beyond the scop of just one book...

Next Tuesday: The Power Glove.

Starlin's Thanos, part 3 of 10: Laid to Rest

Need to catch up? Part 1: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube; Part 2: Chaos Meets the True Neutral

There was a time - within my own lifetime - when the fictional universes published by Marvel and DC Comics seemed to be moving along a slow but steady path of progress. It had begun during the Silver Age when characters would move beyond their original status quos: Peter Parker graduated high school; Reed Richards and Sue Storm were wed; Tony Stark received heart surgery. This also applied to characters who died or retired - many deaths and retirements were intended to be permanent; after all, there was no want for lack of new characters to take an old one's place.

It was also an age where certain creators were provincial over how their creations were used and it was considered a good thing to respect those creators' wishes - that you should not write Elektra unless Frank Miller approved, nor should you write Thanos without Jim Starlin's consent. It was in this age that young people who had grown up as fans of the Silver Age Marvel Comics were ascending to positions of power and influence over the line of comics, people such as Jim Shooter and Mark Gruenwald. There was an increasing attempt to pin down how the Marvel Universe fit together, what it's laws were. There was also a zealousness (particularly for Gruenwald) to "tidy up" the Marvel Universe, to eliminate characters and places which seemed extraneous to the universe's primary protagonists.

For instance, in a series of back-ups found in What If, Mark Gruenwald & Ralph Macchio rewrote the backstory of the Titans, changing them from descendants of the Greco-Roman gods into a branch of the Eternals (the Eternals were created by Jack Kirby in 1977, years after Thanos and the Titans). I don't know what Starlin made of this retcon - fortunately, there's no good reason to bring up the Titans' origins, not unless the Eternals of Earth are involved.

It was in 1977 that Jim Starlin began to wind down what he had created for Marvel. It began as simply an effort to clean up his unresolved plots from Warlock, but through the events of Avengers Annual #7 & Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (written & drawn by Starlin, inked by Joe Rubinstein), he wrote Adam Warlock, Gamora, Pip the Troll and Thanos out of the Marvel Universe. Proving he could be a gracious collaborator with Marvel's other writers, Starlin fashioned this two-part epic from an idea which Bill Mantlo & John Byrne introduced in Marvel Team=Up #55 - that there were other Soul Gems beyond the one Adam Warlock possessed. In this story, it is revealed there are six Soul Gems, all of which have been located by Thanos. Unable to steal Adam's gem, Thanos instead siphoned some of its power during the earlier battle with the Magus; siphoning from all six gems, Thanos places the combined power inside a massive synthetic gem, with which he intends to destroy all the stars in the galaxy so that Death (who spurned him at the end of the Cosmic Cube saga) will again love him.

The first part of the story stands on its own fairly well - Adam learns of Thanos' synthetic gem and the Avengers (plus Moondragon and Captain Marvel, who have prior links to Thanos) join forces with him. The second half is more awkward as Spider-Man and the Thing journey into space to aid the Avengers. Starlin attempted to suggest that Spider-Man had received his powers so that he would eventually be present to assist in Thanos' defeat, but clearly no one has ever bought into that - if there were a higher destiny for Spider-Man, it would surely appear in a story dealing with someone from his own rogue's gallery - and it would have to be the "last" Spider-Man story 'cause where do you go from there?

In the course of the two-parter, Gamora was beaten to the verge of death by Thanos and Pip was rendered comatose; Adam absorbed both into his Soul Gem. Warlock died after his battle with Thanos, meeting his past self in an exact replica of the scene in Warlock where Adam absorbed his future self's soul. Finally, Adam's spirit briefly emerged from the gem to turn Thanos into stone, a fittingly cruel state of affairs for a man who worshiped death.

In 1982, Starlin put his other Marvel cosmic hero to rest in the first Marvel Graphic Novel: The Death of Captain Marvel. In that story, Mar-Vell is revealed to have developed cancer from exposure to the nerve gas in Starlin's last issue. Mar-Vell dies an unglamorous death in his bed on Titan - but Thanos' spirit appears to Mar-Vell to challenge him to one last fight, believing his foe should have a heroic death. This appearance of Thanos points to where Starlin would take the character in the future - a sardonic ex-conqueror who bears some grudging admiration for his enemies.

And that was it - the end of Thanos! That same year, Marvel published a prestige limited series called Warlock which collected all of Starlin's Warlock stories, including the two-part finale in the annuals. In 1985, Marvel reprinted all of Starlin's Captain Marvel as The Life of Captain Marvel. The fact that Starlin's stories from the middle of the character's publishing history were considered "the life" of the hero said much about how highly Starlin's work was regarded and the Cosmic Cube epic has been reprinted more frequently than anything else in Mar-Vell's mostly-overlooked series.

Although Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock were gone, their names were still valuable IP to Marvel, who created new characters to fit the name - although neither had powers or origins in common with their predecessors. Roger Stern's Amazing Spider-Man saw a new female African-American Captain Marvel the same year Mar-Vell died and the new Warlock (along with his evil father Magus!) debuted in Chris Claremont's New Mutants in 1983. Marvel didn't overlook Drax the Destroyer either; although Starlin left Drax alive, someone clearly thought the character had no purpose in the Marvel Universe without Thanos, so he died in 1982 at the hands of his own daughter Moondragon (and writer Jim Shooter). However, Thanos' legacy was seen as something worth preserving as Roger Stern created the villain Nebula as Thanos' granddaughter, a new Avengers villain. Mar-Vell's cosmic mentor Eon went on to become mentor to Mark Gruenwald's Quasar (and Quasar inherited Mar-Vell's role as Protector of the Universe).

And Jim Starlin? All of his Marvel stories had been wrapped up. Starlin's focus shifted to his creator-owned property, Dreadstar. In time, he went to DC Comics to write another Darkseid-like villain with his creation Mongul, then finally Darkseid himself in Cosmic Odyssey and spent some time on Batman, where he created the KGBeast and killed off the Jason Todd version of Robin.

However, in 1990 Jim Starlin returned to Marvel Comics and his most famous creation was close behind...

Next Thursday: The Gloves Are on.

Starlin's Thanos, part 2 of 10: Chaos Meets the True Neutral

Coming in late? Part 1 is here.

With his run on Warlock, Jim Starlin defined Marvel Cosmic.

Not that Marvel comics pre-1975 had been absent tales of heroes journeying into space to combat alien empires or journeying into metaphysical realms to encounter omnipotent cosmic entities. Marvel had even published two ongoing titles starring extraterrestrial heroes: Silver Surfer and Captain Marvel; but both of those titles were set on Earth. Further, Adam Warlock had been around in comics since his first appearance in Fantastic Four back in 1967 and starred in his own series from 1972-1973 - but even in that title, Warlock was based on Counter-Earth, an exact duplicate of the Earth. Starlin took Adam into space, to encounter not only evil empires but everyday folks and alien bars; further, the metaphysical entities who had previously been seen only in Doctor Strange became cosmic staples, with Starlin introducing the In-Betweener, Master Order and Lord Chaos during his Warlock run.

Warlock had been cancelled but revived in 1975 with Jim Starlin as writer, artist & colourist (inking him were Al Milgrom & Steve Leialoha). Starlin's run began in the pages of Strange Tales (for some reason) from #178-181, then resuming the original title's numbering with issues #9-15. I'm primarily concerned with Thanos in this series, but there are many elements in Starlin's Warlock which reappear in stories to come.

As I said above, Adam Warlock had been appearing in Marvel comics for about nine years when Starlin arrived, but he found Warlock to be a fairly clean slate. As an artificial man, Warlock had the potential for a perspective unlike those of Marvel's human protagonists. Starlin encouraged Warlock's state of philosophizing (a tradition going back to Stan Lee's Silver Surfer) but also gave him an indecisiveness which made it hard for Warlock to know how best to combat his enemies - and, of course, Warlock's worst enemy was himself.

The Soul Gem had been lying on Warlock's forehead since the 1972 series began, but Starlin established it was capable of more than the bursts of energy he normally used it for - it could also draw out souls from people's bodies. The first time Warlock does this, the gem acts of its own volition to absorb the soul of a Black Knight from the Universal Church of Truth; the second time, Warlock himself chooses to absorb the soul of the Church's Judge Kray-Tor. Throughout, Warlock realizes the gem possesses powers he doesn't fully understand and has been subconsciously preventing himself from accessing; Starlin would later make a lot of hay from this idea.

Also present is the adversary for this tale, the Magus, who turns out to be Warlock's future self, sent back in time 5000 years to found his genocidal Universal Church of Truth. Warlock has to somehow prevent himself from becoming the Magus but the Magus knows his every move before it happens: enter Thanos!

It's truly in these tales that Thanos solidifies into the character Starlin would write for decades to come. Readers of Starlin's Captain Marvel knew Thanos was a villain (and in a cute two-pager, Captain Marvel himself explains to the readers of Warlock what Thanos' villainy looks like), but Warlock is completely ignorant of him. Thanos is opposed to the Magus and so allies himself with Warlock, using time travel to undo the Magus creation by sending Warlock to the moment of his death so he'll absorb his own soul, rather than mutate into the Magus. Thanos is seemingly heroic as he engages the Magus in combat to buy time for Warlock, but the Magus realizes his destiny is to prevent Thanos from unleashing genocide - that he was created to stop Thanos' plans; by defeating one evil, Adam unwittingly permits another to exist. The Magus is undone, but the Church remains in a different form.

In these tales, Thanos was accompanied by his chief assassin Gamora, the deadliest woman in the galaxy. Gamora never really received a chance to show how capable she was in this run of Warlock, but there were hints of a stronger character to come - especially when Thanos sent Gamora to spy on Warlock so that she wouldn't realize he was plotting universal genocide. There was also a subplot where Drax the Destroyer appeared and destroyed Gamora's shuttle while en route to combat Thanos but Starlin didn't follow up on it, what with Warlock's cancellation. Adam's supporting cast was further expanded with the loutish, big-mouthed thief Pip the Troll, who latched himself to Adam on his adventures.

This series of stories was the first time Thanos appeared in a non-antagonist role, and although he and Adam Warlock are often thought of as nemeses to each other, they've actually worked side-by-side more times than they've fought against one another. Here, Starlin demonstrated Thanos had goals beyond winning Death's favour or seeking ultimate power for himself. The idea of Thanos as an untrustworthy ally would be mined again and again.

Next Tuesday: Laid to rest.

Starlin's Thanos, part 1 of 10: The Mad Titan and the Cosmic Cube

Next month the motion picture Avengers: Infinity War will debut, featuring as its antagonist Thanos. Thanos is considered one of the best Marvel super-villians, not only because of the amount of sheer physical power he can wield against Marvel's heroes, but also because of the strong characterization behind him. Principally, Thanos is an author's pet - that is, he flourishes best under the pen of his original creator, writer/artist Jim Starlin. Few other writers even attempt to mimic Starlin's view of the character.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be running a 10 part revisit of Starlin's work on Thanos with brief looks at what other authors did with the character during the period covered. We're at the beginning, which means we start with Thanos' first appearance: Iron Man #55 (1973), plotted & penciled by Starlin with a script by Mike Friedrich and inks by Mike Esposito.

On the face of it, audiences in 1973 would not have found Iron Man #55 a particularly remarkable comic; it was a fill-in issue and Starlin was still a young name in the industry. Further, although Iron Man had a solid reputation as one of Marvel's earliest Silver Age heroes, his series had fallen on hard times in '73 - there was even talk of merging his book with another low-seller, Daredevil. In comics of the day, there were many ambitious fill-in issues where the creators would try to insert their brand-new mythologies into the Marvel Universe; no one would think Drax, Thanos or Titan were destined to be among the most successful additions to the Marvel Universe of the 1970s - but that's how it turned out. Ofttimes it is less-visible comic books like Iron Man which are able to sneak something truly ambitious into the mainstream - so it was with Iron Man #55.

Thanos was not yet fully formed in his first appearance - most noticeably, his costume had blue gloves & boots and he bore shorts and bare arms - but the background was there: Thanos was introduced as "the mad Titan," born on the titular moon of Saturn to the wise old Mentor, but bearing a lust for war his father didn't share. Thanos is pursued by his implacable foe Drax the Destroyer and aided by his minions the Blood Brothers; further, Titan's moon-sized super-computer ISAAC puts in its first appearance. We also meet Titan's deity, Kronos, Mentor's omnipotent father, making him Thanos' grandfather. Although Kronos' personal connection to Thanos and cosmic might would suggest he'd be a major player in Starlin's tales, Kronos is consistently an impotent afterthought throughout his appearances; as will become clear when Starlin begins using other cosmic entities (Eternity, Living Tribunal), Starlin doesn't hold them in the highest esteem. As a fill-in story almost any super hero could have been summoned by Drax to deal with Thanos, but the use of Iron Man would prove helpful to Starlin later on as Iron Man was a very well-connected hero.

But the Thanos storyline finally found its home - and true critical praise - in the pages of Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel was a widely-disliked comic book at the time, as Marvel had only created the character so they could control a valuable trademark - while fans of Golden Age comics resented Marvel for pilfering the moniker of the beloved Fawcett Comics super hero. Many fan publications of the time held Captain Marvel in withering contempt, even after Roy Thomas & Gil Kane revamped the character into a red/blue costume with Rick Jones as his sidekick (Rick exchanging places with Mar-Vell as an homage to the Fawcett hero).

Starlin's first true Thanos epic involves the villain (now clad in his familiar blue costume with orange gloves/boots/fringes and eyes which glow from within his sockets) searching for the Cosmic Cube, an all-powerful device which had previously been a Captain America staple; Captain Marvel is involved because Rick Jones had been present in the Cube's previous appearance. Quickly, Mentor, Titan and ISAAC were reintroduced to Captain Marvel, with Mar-Vell's foe the Super-Skrull serving as a lieutenant to Thanos. In the course of battling Thanos, Mar-Vell becomes 'Protector of the Universe' by decree of the cosmic being Eon and he discovers Thanos' weakness - although Thanos claims otherwise, his power is linked to the Cosmic Cube itself.

Starlin's first Thanos epic ran from issues #25-33 of Captain Marvel and ultimately cast a large shadow over the character, to the point that Starlin is widely considered the definitive Captain Marvel creator, despite leaving after issue #34. Over the course of the series Starlin gained more control over the narrative, beginning with Mike Friedrich as scripter, until Starlin took full control of plotting & scripting as of issue #29; from then on, Starlin would plot & script his Thanos stories solo. Starlin was inked by Chic Stone, Dave Cockrum, Pablo Marcos, Dan Green, Al Milgrom & Klaus Janson. In the course of the story Starlin revamped the hero yet again, making minor alterations to Mar-Vell's costume, changing his hair from silver to blond and granting him the power of 'cosmic awareness'; the powers and costume which Starlin gave the hero would be the status quo authors would continue to revisit again and again in the decades which followed.

Comic books in 1973 did not crossover with the kind of frequency titles of today would. Even so, the Thanos epic was so strong it did get picked up in other titles while the main story was told in Captain Marvel. Over in Steve Gerber's Daredevil, Gerber connected the somewhat-shifty telepathic heroine Moondragon into Starlin's mythos with an origin flashback in Daredevil #105 (drawn by Starlin) revealing she had been raised from childhood on Titan by Mentor (causing a continuity hiccup when it was revealed Thanos killed Moondragon's parents - meaning he wasn't her peer in age). Starlin also drew Marvel Feature #12 with writer Mike Friedrich, featuring the Thing and Iron Man facing Thanos' agents the Blood Brothers (introduced in Iron Man #55). Finally, Steve Englehart tied into the epic in Avengers #125 (art by John Buscema & Dave Cockrum), a very natural crossover as Starlin was using the Avengers in the pages of Captain Marvel and the epic was big enough for the Avengers to battle Thanos' invading fleet between the panels of Starlin's tale.

At the time, there had been one one tale quite like Starlin's Thanos arc: the Kree-Skrull War storyline which Roy Thomas wrote in the Avengers (1971-1972). That epic had involved a massive line-up of Avengers, the Inhumans and Captain Marvel. Likewise, Starlin's Thanos epic teamed Captain Marvel with the Avengers, plus Drax, Moondragon, Mentor and Thanos' heroic brother Eros. Strangely, although Eros is Thanos' brother, he is always a side character to stories about Thanos. He would even join the Avengers in the 1980s, but Eros has never had the kind of popularity his brother enjoys.

Everything which is important to Starlin's crafting of Thanos can be found in the pages of the Captain Marvel epic: he worships Death itself, with Death appearing to him in the form of a beautiful woman; he is pursued by the dogged Drax the Destroyer, who is single-minded to the point of madness; Thanos seeks instruments of vast cosmic power so that he can control others and claim lives in the name of Death; Thanos is undone when he allows his foes access to the very thing which empowers him (in this case, the Cosmic Cube, which he abandons).

Starlin has admitted Thanos was inspired by Jack Kirby's DC villain Darkseid, who debuted three years earlier. Both beings worship death and destruction, both are physically large and imposing, both are prone to melodramatic soliloquies; as time goes on, Starlin's Thanos will become more distinctly unlike his inspiration.

Starlin remained on Captain Marvel only one issue past the Thanos epic for issue #34, in which Mar-Vell was exposed to nerve gas while battling the super-villain Nitro. Put a pin in that one, we'll speak more of it later.

At this point, the idea that Thanos subconsciously allowed himself to lose was nothing more than a subtext - but his defeat here would pave the way for the eventual revelation in Infinity Gauntlet that he did not actually want ultimate victory.

Next Thursday: Chaos meets the true neutral.