The Infinity Gauntlet by Jim Starlin

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Title: The Infinity Gauntlet.
Writer(s): Jim Starlin.
Penciller(s): George Pérez & Ron Lim.
Inker(s): Josef Rubinstein, Tom Christopher & Bruce N Solotoff.
Colourist(s): Max Scheele & Ian Laughlin.
Letterer(s): Jack Morelli.
Publisher: Marvel.
Format: Paperback.
Release Date: September 28th 2011 (first published July 1991).
Pages: 256.
Genre(s): Comics, Science-Fiction.
ISBN13: 9780785156598.
My Overall Rating: ★★★★☆.

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As we approach the grand finale to Marvel’s cinematic universe and its Thanos story arc with Avengers 4: Endgame, fans all around the world remain fidgety in hopes of finding out soon enough what will happen to their favourite superheroes as the nihilist villain Thanos continues his onslaught towards cleansing the universe no matter the cost. The Russo brothers directing these movies have so far stunned the world with one of the most shocking endings whilst delivering a compelling action-packed movie where the stakes were at their maximum peak. Drawing upon the original comic book story arcs on Thanos’ hunt for all the Infinity Stones, the movie does an incredible job in being concise and well-structured even when Disney had yet to have complete control on all the Marvel superheroes since their predicament forbidding them of having Fox’s X-Men and Fantastic Four or having complete control on Sony’s Spider-Man. However, the original story that gave fans one of the most epic crossover event of all time involves far more heroes than Disney could ever possibly introduce in one movie, with yet to be included heroes and villains such as the New Warriors, the X-Men, cosmic entities and so many other. The question is hence asked: What does it take to take down Thanos before it’s too late?

What is The Infinity Gauntlet about? The story follows Thanos after he acquires the Infinity Stones and successfully attaches them to his gauntlet. With his newly acquired godlike powers, he looks into seducing Mistress Death, the ultimate living embodiment of death within the Marvel universe who is either portrayed as a purpled-hooded beautiful woman or a skeleton. As he attempts various strategies that imply a twisted sense of humour and exaggerated use of power to get Mistress Death to fall in love with him—or at least to talk to him. Among his strategies to win her affection, he uses his powers to eliminate half of the living beings in the universe. This is when the guardian of the Soul World, Adam Warlock, leads the remaining of the universe’s greatest heroes in a war against Thanos. With different strategies up his sleeves, Adam Warlock, with the help of The Silver Surfer and Dr. Strange, look to dethrone Thanos from his newly acquired status as a God and to find a way to bring back all those who perished from this war.

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If you thought cosmic battles weren’t epic, leave it to Jim Starlin and his Thanos story arc to prove you wrong. Collecting issues #1-6 of the limited series, this story arc is jam-packed with action sequences involving countless heroes and villains whose reputation precedes them. This cosmic event doesn’t solely implicate the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, as the Disney Marvel movies portray, but actually brings together heroes and villains from all around the universe who are touched by Thanos’ ruthless decision to snap half the universe out of it. The story thoroughly investigates the consequences of all his actions and effortlessly highlights the insanity of his behaviour that is essentially oriented with the goal to capturing Mistress Death’s attention, even if she seems unimpressed by everything he does. It is worth noting that the odds that this story arc will be covered by the upcoming movie are slim and that the Russo brothers are likely to bring great changes to the original story arc to build their finale with the limited cards they have in their hands.

The artwork style is reminiscent of the 90s and doesn’t ever break away from it even with two artists having worked on this volume. As superstar George Pérez and co-artist Ron Lim drew Thanos’ hungry quest for power, they also do not hesitate to convey through their art the cosmic scale of this ultimate threat to the universe. In fact, the battles in this story arc include characters that have specific roles within the Marvel universe that you would normally take for granted, such as love or death. It was not only fascinating to see how they were all handled but to also see how they all react to Thanos’ decision-making and watch as their own issues are brought onto the table. What follows in this story are battles of grandeur that seek to re-establish the status quo. The colours are also incredibly flashy, often playing with primary colours in a psychedelic visual style that is easily observable in the various explosions of remarkable sizes. It’s safe to say that the poetic and extravagant dialogues go perfectly well with the volatile artwork.

The Infinity Gauntlet is an epic cosmic event that explores an alien’s self-absorbed, deep-rooted and blinded crusade to seduce Death no matter the costs to the universe and the beings that live within it.

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Did you know Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) are partially based on The Infinity Gauntlet story arc? While the movies aren’t entirely loyal to the source material, a lot of its screenplay draws inspiration from the comic book! Will you be seeing the 4th Avengers movie in theaters? How excited are you? 😀

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26 comments

  • Have you read Starlin’s take on Adam Warlock? Psychedelic seems his second name 😉

    I do wait for Endgame, as I think it will be a real endgame in more than one meaning – a goodbye to some of the actors and characters who’d been with us in MCU since the beginning… Really looking forward to the movie! 😀

    Liked by 1 person

    • As far as I know, no one beats Grant Morrison when it comes to Psychedelic. Dude has an insane imagination, even Neil Gaiman would be jealous. I haven’t however read any Adam Warlock-centric story. I’m a bit hesitant about checking out all the spin-offs/crossovers that were released within this event. I do have the huge Infinity story, but I might not have all the background plot lines from stories like Infinity War and what not to fully appreciate it hahah

      You’re definitely right there! I wonder what the MCU will be like post-Endgame. Especially now that they have Fox in their pockets now. I wonder if they’ll even dare tease the X-Men/Fantastic Four in Endgame, maybe as an after-credit scene or something. Endgame is soooo going to break massive records no matter what hahahah

      Liked by 1 person

      • I’m waiting for Wolverine in Endgame 😉

        As for Starlin’s Warlock story, it’s from 70. 😛 It’s worth checking out, Morrison learned from Starlin how to make a crazy storyline 😉 Starlin’s Warlock is one of a kind: bombastic, psychedelic, soap-opera-in-space type of thing 😉 I read it once, and it’s enough, but there’s no denying it’s a powerful and surprisingly thought-provoking story – despite its cheesiness 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

  • I read this and all the attendant crossover books so I got the whole story back in ’14. (I was going to say much later, but after checking, nope, it was that long ago, aye yi yi!)
    I only gave it 3 stars though. I’m glad I read it, as it was the first big comic crossover after some of DC’s universe cleanup stuff, but it never impressed me enough to go search out the torrents for the Infinity War and the Infinity Crisis.

    I am looking forward to the movie, as that will mean I can watch both parts together, all at once.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Ohhhh snap! You actually know what the original story is like. So you actually understand how insane it would be if Disney’s Marvel movies were to ever be loyal to the source material. There’s too much cosmic-level event going on to make this work in a movie. Which probably proves your point about why movies shouldn’t adapt any book whatsoever hahah

      I don’t think I’ll look into picking up all the little stories related to this huge one since there really is a bunch of them and that I’d rather do that for something DC related for now hahah

      Ahhh you’ll be having a solid 5+ hours of movie time in that case hahah There are rumours that Endgame plans to have an “intermission” in it… It’s likely to be THAT long hahahah Definitely excited for it no matter its length. 😀

      Liked by 1 person

      • Working backwards here.

        So Endgame might be Sound of Music length eh? I’m ok with that. Get it all out of the way instead of trying to make a trilogy out of it. They certainly have enough material if they wanted it.

        Infinity Gauntlet had the 40+ comics so the only way to really get a handle on it is to torrent the “complete” thing so it is curated for you already. I can’t imagine trying to find the individual comics in paper and read them now. That sounds like work.

        I’m honestly surprised that the MCU has attempted the Infinity Gauntlet already. I know it has been 10 years but still. I guess it is better to strike while the iron is hot instead of trying to create even more heros to shove into it.

        Liked by 1 person

        • It might actually be longer than Sound of Music but it remains to be seen what the final product will be like. And yes, I think a two-part Avengers movie was already ambitious enough. The end of this movie will also mark the end of many actors, inevitably, and the beginning of a new era for the MCU, so I guess we could say the length is justified.

          Oh yes, the inside of The Infinity Gauntlet volume I read here tells you the order of all the paperbacks worth checking out and there’s almost 30 different volumes to pick up if you want the WHOLE experience…

          Ah yes, but they did after all adapt the source material for the movies too, and worked without some key superheroes/villains too. Dr. Doom for example should’ve been quintessential to this run, as well as Silver Surfer, but they don’t have the rights for either of them. One thing is for sure, superhero movies aren’t likely to die away anytime soon hahahha

          Liked by 1 person

  • Laahaan!!! I feel I haven;t been here in ages! Lol.
    Oddly enough, my seven year old was giving me a detailed story about Thanos the other night. I wasn’t sure if he had it right or not but he was well int it!

    Liked by 1 person

  • Nice review. I guess talking about the Gauntlet’s the thing to do right now. I even talked about the series and event on my end. It’s a cool event overall.

    Liked by 1 person

  • Haha, guess what? This is on my reading pile…and I still haven’t got around to reading it! I intended to read after seeing Infinity War but alas as you know, I tend to get side-tracked with other things! Definitely going to prioritise it after I see Endgame, which I’m very much looking forward to – but to be honest, the excitement factor for the Marvel movies has diminished a little in recent years. I thing back to how excited I was for the first Avengers all those years ago and I don’t feel the same level of hype – I’m more interested in seeing in how the Worlds of DC unfolds at the moment as that’s in it’s relative infancy just like the MCU was back then.

    Once again another wonderful review Lashaan, those apt and beautifully written closing words about “poetic dialogues” and “volatile artwork” are inspirational. You’ve asked me in the past to teach you – I think it’s more a case of me being the pupil! Teach ME!

    Liked by 1 person

    • The whole Infinity War event is pretty huge too so I think there will be plenty of reading material for you to visit after Endgame. I do look forward to what Marvel will do after Endgame! But I can assure you that it’s no the same Thanos and the scale of this war is huge and implicates way more than what the movies could do.

      Hahaha you’re too kind, good sir. I still believe your writing style is much more exciting and poetic in itself! You always have great word selection and know exactly what you want to say to the 5th degree!

      Like

  • I read this comic years ago, shortly after finding the original six issues in a bundle for $6, and in decent condition too. Completely worth it. I really should re-read it some time before Avengers: Endgame comes out.

    Liked by 1 person

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