Thanos: The Infinity Finale Review!
Jondee here at Titan,
Jim Starlin brought back his creation Thanos with the annual, Thanos Annual #1 (art by Ron Lim), the limited series, Thanos vs. Hulk and the Infinity Effect with Alan Davis, and graphic novels, The Infinity Revelation, The Infinity Relativity, and finally The Infinity Finale with art by Ron Lim who worked with Starlin on Thanos Quest and then the limited series; Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, and Infinity Crusade. The cover has Thanos with an enlightened right eye and bleeding against a cosmic background. In Infinity Relativity, Annihilus has gained power to conquer the Posiverse. It opens with Thanos revived by Mistress Death. Skeleton warriors dress Thanos in his armor and he hears Mistress Death. She has him dip into the Infinity Pool where he witnesses the events of the past three months he was gone. Annihilus has killed Galactus and the Celestials. He heads over to the shattered moon, the last refuge of Earth’s heroes. Thanos takes down the Hulk to see the survivors; Thor, Doctor Doom, Silver Surfer, and Gladiator, among them. Meanwhile, Pip the Troll is infiltrating Annihilus’ palace. He is the trickster figure in cosmic events. Annihilus’ henchmen, Blastaar and the scientist Bultar who is locating the survivors. Thanos has a plan to take down Annihilus whom he calls the “Bug King.”
His plan involves a teleporter to make a sacrifice; there is Lockjaw, the Inhuman’s giant dog, and Nightcrawler. Bultar has found the moon base and the invasion has begun! The heroes go out to take on the insectoid hordes of the Negative Zone. Annihilus sends a blast from his mobile Death Star planet at Thanos and he manages to make it, but Nightcrawler has lost his head and a few limbs! Slowly, the heroes are taken down by Annihilus’ blasts. The only one left is Thanos. Pip has gotten past Annihilus’ guards and is slapping Adam Warlock awake. Warlock is the flawed counterpart to Thanos. His cocoon was seen in the Thor end credit scene. He wakes up and sweeps away the universe! Warlock finds himself alone and brings in Thanos against a stark empty background. To restore the universe, Thanos takes Warlock to the Above-All-Others. It is interesting to put such an almost divine figure into the bizarre Marvel cosmos; Eternity, the figure made out of space, Mistress Love, and Eon, the tree stump with an eye, a face, and hair. The universe is restored before Annihilus’ invasion, Thanos is able to summon his undead legions vs. Annihilus’ bugs. Warlock devolves Annihilus and it is revealed that Bultar is really Mephisto. Warlock punishes him by removing his mouth! Thanos is brought together with Mistress Death and there is one final part to the deal with the Above-All-Others. Starlin is able to bring the latest Marvel Universe, bring them all into a battle, and bump up into cosmic events. Ron Lim’s art can handle the cosmic sweep, battles, and all of the characters packed into this graphic novel. It’s great to see the team of Starlin and Lim back again to wrap up the Thanos trilogy. It will be interesting to see if the Avengers: Infinity War films bring the cosmic perspective of this series. Five Infinity Gems out of Five!
