Trade Of The Month: The Infinity Gauntlet

THE INFINITY 

GAUNTLET

WRITER

JIM STARLIN

PENCILERS

GEORGE PEREZ,  & RON LIM

INKERS

JOE RUBENSTEIN WITH TOM CHRISTOPHER & BRUCE SOLOTOFF

COLORISTS

MAX SCHEELE, IAN LAUGHLIN & EVELYN STEIN

LETTERER

JACK MORELLI

Just to be clear this is the graphic novel you should read after you see Avengers: Infinity War because it's actually based off of this story line. The movie is based off of this brilliant work by writer Jim Starlin. The visuals are inspired by George Perez & Ron Lim's art as well as the rest of the creative team. There's various reasons the Marvel Cinematic Universe has taken 10 years to lead up to this point and I'll tell you why.

First off I want to mention that I fell in love with Thanos and this story before it even started with Thanos Quest. Thanos Quest is his quest to collect the gems. He collects each one differently using all his impressive skills. Infinity Gauntlet starts with Thanos already having the gauntlet and gems. The biggest difference between his reason for collecting the gems in this and the movie is that in this he is doing it for love. He does it for his love of death. Mistress Death spared him so that he would kill half of all life in the universe. That's exactly what he does just for her love and affection. Silver Surfer instead of Hulk is the one to warn Doctor Strange that Thanos has this infinite power. After half the life in the universe disappears the rest of the superheroes like Avengers, X-Men, Alpha Flight, and more along with the help of Adam Warlock, from at the end of Guardians of The Galaxy Vol. 2, and Doctor Doom take the fight to Thanos. Adam Warlock has a plan that he consults with the elements of the cosmos and universe to aid. Nebula, the grand daughter of Thanos, in this, becomes a key player, which I'm assuming will also happen in the next Avengers movie. Adam Warlock gains the gauntlet and Thanos quietly goes away.

Instantly the art sucks you in. There is an astonishing two page spread of Thanos showing an example of his newfound power. This was a time when there was so much detail on the page it almost feels cluttered. You could spend a lot of time being enthralled by one page. The colors are strong, radiant, powerful, and intense. There is so much emotion conveyed in each character, expression, face, their eyes, brows, body language. The hair styles are of the times, 80s and 90s. The art is astoundingly well done and definitely stands the test of time.

The story all together stands the test of time. The biggest different is that Thanos is constantly using his power to impress and win the love and affection of Mistress Death. This allows him to be manipulated by Mephisto and he almost loses to the heroes in a bout to show off how strong he is without the power of the gauntlet. There's an ebb and flow to the intensity to this book. Since I'm such a fan of Thanos I have complex and complicated feelings because I want him to win the love of Mistress death but I also want the heroes to stop him from causing all this death and destruction. The only thing I was disappointed with was the ending and how peacefully Thanos just continues on a normal life on some random planet. To me not only does it not make sense but I want to see the villain completely defeated, destroyed, and humiliated. Somebody who causes that much death, destruction, and chaos deserves to be laid to rest. It doesn't makes sense for the character either. Why would he be at peace with just giving up? That's the one thing I didn't like. The visuals with the top notch dialogue and plot created a roller coaster of emotion and intensity that few have been able to capture and come close to creating which is why its known to be one, if not the most awesome and epic tales of Marvel and comics in general. I can't wait to see part 2 of this story told in the theater. Until then I'll keep enjoying this one and you should too. I strongly suggest that if you've seen the movie and want more or if you're any kind of comic book fan this is a must read and have for the collection.

Grade: STRONG BUY!!!