Next Big Cosmic Event:The Thanos Imperative

[TheCorpulent1]

Except that doesn't make any sense. "Because, well, he's Beta Ray Bill" means absolutely nothing. No one but comic fans know who Bill is.

 

[Dread]

Beta Ray Bill is basically "Space Thor". If you ever want Thor to show up in your space story, you may as well have Bill. No, he's nowhere near as big as Wolverine, but his appearance here is fairly random. He wasn't involved in any space event by DnA before, and he won't be involved in any space event by them again. He's just there because those team shots were cooler with him.

He has about one line an issue, and hits something, and that's it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Thor's as much "Space Thor" as Beta Ray Bill.

 

[Dread]

Historically, yes. Recently, I don't think so.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

That's the fault of myopic writers who don't appreciate how awesome Thor is in space.

 

[Dread]

I know. Quite a few "space" characters or species or concepts first came up in Thor's series in the 60's. Heck, I'd just like to see Thor do more in his own title but sit in Oklahoma and only deal with Norse stuff. What, Oklahoma has no crime? No super villains? Even Wisconsin has those!

Imagine a story about some villain who is successful in running a local organized racket because he never has to deal with any super heroes, and then Thor shows up because he's local now...it writes itself, doesn't it? There's no need to pigeon hole Thor into ONLY doing Norse stuff.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Throw in the Credit Card Soldiers and that would be a hell of an arc.

 

[NightBeetle]

The Thanos Imperative: Devastation #1 Preview

 

[Scourge2099]

Is Gladiator still Majestor of the Shi'ar Empire ?

 

[Specter313]

As far as I know, yes.

 

[Scourge2099]

Isn't he neglecting his duties then ? He should have sent the Imperial Guard after Blastaar instead of going himself. If he dies then doesn't that leave Deathbird as the only one left inline for the throne ?

 

[BrianWilly]

Eh, comic book royals do that all the time. Almost every one of them has some kind of evil, tertiary successor waiting to yank the crown from their still-warm corpse, but every one of them also loves being a superhero whatever chance they get.

 

[NDX]

I think he even said he's better suited for the field and will do so, majestor or not.

 

[sandwraith]

Hey, anyone got Devastation?

I'm trying to hold out on buying it because I'm hoping it will be included in the Hardcover in March (I think).

How was it?

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It was good. It's basically just Cosmo recruiting the Annihilators, but DnA did a good job with it.

Also, it's established that the Annihilators will only assemble when necessary, so Gladiator's free to continue as Majestor most of the time. It's also heavily implied that Gladiator is bored out of his mind with ruling and enjoys being with the Annihilators much more.

 

[sandwraith]

Makes sense. He seems to be a more realistic Hero-Monarch than say Black Panther or Namor. He actually HATES being king but does a damn good job at it.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I think he mostly just sees it as his duty because he can't trust anyone else to put the welfare of the people before their own political aims.

 

[misjuevos]

just finished the devastation book. glad gladiator is in the new stories. always liked him. i really didn't like the way the silver surfer was drawn he looked like he was made of water or too similar to stardust. i wanted a "silver" surfer. not an aqua surfer.

 

[Dread]

May as well report my review, with re-spoilers:

THANOS IMPERATIVE DEVASTATION #1: Running a few weeks later than originally solicited, Marvel's "space event" for 2010 limps into 2011 with this epilogue one shot. Is the fact that writers Danny Abnett and Andy Lanning are working on other projects for earth-based Marvel, such as HEROES FOR HIRE and an IRON MAN/THOR mini, taking a toll on the schedule of the space books? The shocking ending of THANOS IMPERATIVE is behind us now and the cast of space based characters left as survivors have to cope with yet another intergalactic status quo.

Spoiler

It turns out that Blastaar, Negative Zone warlord who had made an uneasy alliance with what was left of the Kree and Shi'ar empires to battle against the latest mutual threat, is still an old Fantastic Four villain at heart - set on conquest. Without Nova or the Guardians of the Galaxy, who can possibly oppose him from taking out the Inhumans and ruling the Kree? The Annihilators - coming soon to a subsequent mini-series! This one shot serves as a partial epilogue to THANOS IMPERATIVE as well as a prologue to Abnett and Lanning's next space work, ANNIHILATORS.

As the cover implies, another team of space heroes come together to stop the cosmic bad guys; only this time, they're the high powered A-team of Marvel Space. Silver Surfer, Gladiator, and Beta Ray Bill are just the tip of the iceberg. Miguel Sepulveda, the artist from THANOS IMPERATIVE, returns to handle pencils for this one-shot, with Rain Beredo handling colors (which rock in this issue). If the issue has any flaws, it is that the finale teases a subplot that could be similar to that of the start of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, which would be repetitive if the writers are not careful. The upcoming ANNIHILATORS mini-series will be quite a package; priced at $4.99, but containing 44 pages of material - two issues worth every month. Marvel decided to lump what would have been a separate ROCKET RACCOON AND GROOT mini-series in with ANNIHILATORS and sell both at a price that amounts to $2.50 each. While Marvel is cutting back on their space comics (canceling both ongoing titles last year and setting them up to exist as a series of mini-series), the audience has remained too loyal to abandon completely. It's been a branch of Marvel that has consistently delivered on epic sci-fi quality adventure for over four years now. Despite shifting Abnett and Lanning to the larger Marvel sandbox, it is outstanding that they're still allowed to continue their space opus. Fans who like great Marvel comics are the true winners.

The only demerits? Gamora is on the cover, but doesn't appear anywhere within; even Thanos shows up in the back of one panel. I did want some more development in the "what happened to Nova & Quill" department, but that may be for another mini. There are many other GOTG characters who have simply vanished; Jack Flag among them. I actually liked Jack Flag, and I think he was gone by IGNITION.

Still, I like the concept; the space-line's A-Listers in terms of sheer power. I did like that Beta Ray Bill at least got some lines and two pages of focus this time, as in THANOS IMPERATIVE he was just there. He feels like the most obligatory addition; there because he has his fans, but not a character Abnett & Lanning wrote in any way or sought to carefully insert into subplots. It's like SHADOWLAND #4 when all of a sudden, the street heroes are joined by Wolverine and he acts like he was there since the start. Still, an effective epilogue & prologue issue, and can't wait for ANNIHILATORS.

Part of me does think it was a bad idea nixing any possibility of a Nova Corps for now, given how DC is printing money with Green Lantern these days.

 

[sandwraith]

There were quite a number of loose ends in cosmic thta need tying up as I recall them. The Cammi-quest Drax was on still hasn't seen much light, the Tarcel-Saal Alliance (?) angle we will never see, The Fraternity of Raptors (playing the role of the Cosmic Assassin's Creed) and their Great Work, WTF happend to Kl'rt...and a number of other plot threads that demand answers. Granted, some of them weren't exclusively DnA plots but I think they need to be addressed at one point or another.

 

[Dread]

Part of me thinks the decision to can NOVA and GOTG may have been more abrupt than the writers planned, and I wonder how much of a shuffle is going on with the space books. Sales for THANOS IMPERATIVE were lower than for WAR OF KINGS, but remained more or less steady at 29k per issue. While that was low enough that ANNIHILATORS and ROCKET & GROOT are being merged into one book, they're still being sold. The space line existing as a series of mini's besides two ongoing titles may be the norm. Especially since Marvel wants to get DnA further into the earth based camp, such as on HEROES FOR HIRE.

HEROES FOR HIRE #1, BTW, debuted within the Top 60 last month with over 30k. While that's nothing to dance about, it is a better debut than SPIDER-GIRL or YOUNG ALLIES got. However, it may merely be the same people who were buying THANOS IMPERATIVE and NOVA merely followed their writers.

 

[fifthfiend]

Makes sense. He seems to be a more realistic Hero-Monarch than say Black Panther or Namor. He actually HATES being king but does a damn good job at it.

This really makes me want to see a Gladiator / Namor throwdown.

And by "throwdown" I mean Gladiator punching Namor in the face while explaining exactly how much of a ****** king he is.

 

[misjuevos]

Or gladiator grabbing namor by the throat and just fly into space, done deal.

I also wondered where kl'rt was. It's a shame the cosmic universe is shrinking after the big resurgence. We got so many things going on in space. I was hoping for a couple books from the cosmic viewpoint. Like watching the inhumans as the kree rulers or gladiator as shi'ar monarch or how the skrulls rebuild their empire.

I think the annihilators looks like a good idea and I'm excited, but who will they fight? this powerhouse team can run through almost anyone. The team is full of brute strength so I hope it's not telepaths or a virus they end up fighting. I guess the sentry could show up but I think it would be too weird. I guess it will just end up being "monster of the week"

 

[sandwraith]

Or gladiator grabbing namor by the throat and just fly into space, done deal.

I also wondered where kl'rt was. It's a shame the cosmic universe is shrinking after the big resurgence. We got so many things going on in space. I was hoping for a couple books from the cosmic viewpoint. Like watching the inhumans as the kree rulers or gladiator as shi'ar monarch or how the skrulls rebuild their empire.

I think the annihilators looks like a good idea and I'm excited, but who will they fight? this powerhouse team can run through almost anyone. The team is full of brute strength so I hope it's not telepaths or a virus they end up fighting. I guess the sentry could show up but I think it would be too weird. I guess it will just end up being "monster of the week"

The beauty of it is that this team has Defenders-like potential to be so fuelled by testosterone, they'll be at each others' throats A LOT. So that takes care of like, 1/2 of the series' content.

 

[JewishHobbit]

They're fighting the Dire Wraiths, beyond that, who knows.