Next Big Cosmic Event:The Thanos Imperative

[IFryKids]

I don't think they wrote the Wraith mini, so they get an out on that one.

 

[SouLeSS]

You're right. In fact, Kieth Griffen was the one that wrote Annihilation, Lanning and Abnett only wrote the Nova mini. Then they wrote the nova tie-ins and main story in Conquest, Grillo-Marx wrote the Wraith mini.

Either way, the Wraith mini was one of the weakest parts of all things Cosmic since Annihilation.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

It really was. Sad too, given that Grillo-Marxuach made me fall in love with Super-Skrull in his Annihilation mini. How he went from that to AC: Wraith, I don't know.

 

[NightBeetle]

THE THANOS IMPERATIVE #1 (of 6)
Written by DAN ABNETT & ANDY LANNING
Penciled by MIGUEL SEPULVEDA
Cover by ALEKSI BRICLOT
THE NEXT HUGE MARVEL COSMIC EVENT IS HERE!
The dangerous and mysterious fissure known as The Fault has opened, and the dark forces of a rival universe where there is no death are pouring through to claim ours! Nova, The Silver Surfer, Quasar, Gladiator and more of the greatest cosmic champions of the Marvel Universal line up to stop them, but it could be more than even they can handle. Luckily, Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon and some of the galaxy’s underdog, never-say-die heroes have a plan. It’s a crazy plan. It’s called...Thanos!
Welcome to the end of everything, brought to you by acclaimed writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning and superstar artist Miguel Sepulveda (THUNDERBOLTS)! So grab your blaster and find out why critics like Ain’t It Cool News raves “(Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning) succeed in producing the most entertaining super hero comic books on the stands today.”
48 PGS./Parental Advisory ...$3.99

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Man, this looks like it may possibly be the best cosmic event since Annihilation. The heroes of the cosmos lining up behind Thanos, the new avatar of Death, to prevent a Lovecraftian bioverse from spreading its cancerous life through the Fault into their universe? Hell f***ing yes.

 

[SouLeSS]

You're goddamn right it's going to be the best event since Annihilation. Man I can't wait.

 

[NDX]

I am almost tempted to buy the singles issues for this one. I can only see good coming from this. And the art is going to be really good with Sepulveda on pencils.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I'm really looking forward to seeing Nova, Quasar, the Guardians, and the Silver Surfer working together again.

 

[Lucien]

This is looking glorious!

After the events of Son of Hulk, is the Surfer no longer Galactus' Herald. He flung him across the universe and I havn't read anything of either since.

 

[Scourge2099]

Is The Thanos Imperative Annihilaton 4 ?

 

[SouLeSS]

Sorta.

War of Kings wasn't really Annihilation 3, just the third big cosmic event as of the relaunches.

 

[Dread]

Well...ANNIHILATION led into ANNIHILATION CONQUEST, which led into WAR OF KINGS, and then now THANOS IMPERATIVE. I think what has made the space saga so cool since 2006 is while every "event" draws on the prior one, the prior event has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Unlike the Marvel mainstream event, it never drags on longer than 6-7 months (unlike CIVIL WAR or SECRET INVASION, which drug on for almost a year each). Keith Giffen started the whole shebang and Abnett & Lanning have taken it over. They didn't start out with their strongest stuff but have easily improved as they went along.

THANOS IMPERATIVE seems to be the big shebang. It has a big centerpiece in Thanos. It has their big stars from their two ongoings, Nova and Star-Lord front and center. It follows after WAR OF KINGS with Queen Medusa involved and it even has Silver Surfer, who is a big name despite being as flat a character as his board. Not many characters can pull off being bland AND emo (Surfer seems to cry about everthing), but Radd pulls it off.

I understand why other events didn't want to focus on the same heroes as ANNIHILATION, but it has been years and I am looking forward to Nova and Quill, and the Guardians, being fully involved again. The interesting thing is Thanos may not exactly be the villain, since the "Cancerverse" at the other end of the Fault, complete with their "Evil Quasar", is a bigger threat. Much like ANNIHILATION, Thanos may be somewhat of a nefarious ally of convenience for the heroes.

 

[Docker2.0]

Can't wait for this event. Realm of Kings has been "not as exciting" as Annihilation.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

I think War of Kings was more DnA's attempt to try and give the cosmic landscape a larger scope when they got the chance. They de-emphasized the main cosmic characters--who are, let's face it, pretty much fringe characters as far as the rest of the Marvel universe is concerned--and focused on the Shi'ar (X-characters) and the Inhumans (FF/Avengers characters). But DnA are also really good writers, so they rolled it all into a story that made sense and moved the plot of the general cosmic landscape forward by introducing the Fault at the end of it. Pretty ingenious.

Now The Thanos Imperative re-introduces some of the super-huge cosmic heavy-hitters (Thanos, the Surfer, Quasar) and unites all of the characters and plot threads from War of Kings and the Annihilation events, plus throws in some alternate universe Avengers at a time when the Avengers franchise is bigger than it's ever been. The stage is pretty much set for The Thanos Imperative to be the biggest damned cosmic event since The Infinity Gauntlet. Which is completely. F***ing. Awesome.

 

[NDX]

Can't wait for this event. Realm of Kings has been "not as exciting" as Annihilation.

From the start Realm has felt like a setup to a bigger thing. I just didn't expect a good portion of that setup to come from Guardians of the Galaxy.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Throwing Thanos at the creatures from the Vault? Sign. Me. Up.

I'm curious about how Blaastar and Ravenous feel about the Fault.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Nova, Quasar, the Guardians, and the Silver Surfer working together again.

Gladiator will be there too!

 

[TheCorpulent1]

No one cares about Gladiator.

 

[Dread]

I think War of Kings was more DnA's attempt to try and give the cosmic landscape a larger scope when they got the chance. They de-emphasized the main cosmic characters--who are, let's face it, pretty much fringe characters as far as the rest of the Marvel universe is concerned--and focused on the Shi'ar (X-characters) and the Inhumans (FF/Avengers characters). But DnA are also really good writers, so they rolled it all into a story that made sense and moved the plot of the general cosmic landscape forward by introducing the Fault at the end of it. Pretty ingenious.

Now The Thanos Imperative re-introduces some of the super-huge cosmic heavy-hitters (Thanos, the Surfer, Quasar) and unites all of the characters and plot threads from War of Kings and the Annihilation events, plus throws in some alternate universe Avengers at a time when the Avengers franchise is bigger than it's ever been. The stage is pretty much set for The Thanos Imperative to be the biggest damned cosmic event since The Infinity Gauntlet. Which is completely. F***ing. Awesome.

Hey, now, it can't be as big as INFINITY GAUNTLET, because that had Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man, and Wolverine showing up (among others).

Basically, WAR OF KINGS was an exercise to bring in other character and elements who was always involved in space, but kept in their own corners of it. The Shi'ar stuff usually happened in X-Men books, even though other books dealt with space. The Inhumans were usually either spin off's of the FF or involved in their own thing, even though their history ties in with the Kree. So Abnett & Lanning saw the chance to bring it all together (as well as resolve some dangling plot threads for Vulcan) and took it.

ANNIHILATION CONQUEST I think, if it makes sense, tried too hard to duplicate ANNIHILATION. You had a villain usually known for being in another franchise as the big bad, there was focus on characters who were at best C-Listers who saved the day. The difference is ANNIHILATION caught that lightening in a bottle the way CONQUEST didn't quite match. To be fair, Keith Giffen has way more experience at his craft. Even at that, I wouldn't call CONQUEST a failure. I loved what it did with Ultron. It naturally launched the STAR-LORD and thus GOTG stuff. The stuff with Warlock (the Technarch) was fine, and the art was often lovely. In retrospect, considering all the stuff that has happened to Adam Warlock/Magus since, it is almost surprising that High Evolutionary hasn't popped up since. And, to be fair, Nova was more involved in that then he was with WAR OF KINGS, even though I loved his title's WOK stuff. He even helped fight Great Ultron briefly at the end.

THANOS IMPERATIVE I see as a good back to basics formula. We have the involvement of past space heavies like Thanos and Magus (even Maelstrom is making cameos). We have the new space stars, Nova and Star-Lord featured front and center, at least seemingly. We also have Silver Surfer, who is flat as a board but still a space hero nevertheless (Richard Gere can feature him in all the movies he likes, the Surfer will never be that big again). We'll have continuing developments from the Inhumans, but I do agree it will be good to see Quill or Nova or one of the regulars get the defining battle again.

 

[random_havoc]

didn't want to dig out the inhumans thread, so I thought I'd post this here while it's on my mind. Just read the inhumans issue that comes out next Wednesday.
When you get to it, what do you all think about how abnett and lanning are

Spoiler

making Medusa into a villain? A matriarch killing off her subjects by covertly arranging terrorist acts simply to affect popular opinion seems a lot like a Dr Doom move to me.

 

[TheCorpulent1]

Doesn't bother me.

Spoiler

I never liked her anyway, and you can chalk any wonky behavior up to her going off the deep end because of Black Bolt's death.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Thanos returns?!!? Woo-Hoo!!!!

 

[NDX]

When you get to it, what do you all think about how abnett and lanning are

Spoiler

making Medusa into a villain? A matriarch killing off her subjects by covertly arranging terrorist acts simply to affect popular opinion seems a lot like a Dr Doom move to me.

I like it.

Spoiler

I think it's a good development and shows how she was really like this and Black Bolt kept her reigned in (at least, I always thought she was a vicious ****). I think it will be an interesting confrontation if/when Black Bolt does return.

 

[Brainiac 8]

Spoiler

Yea, I'm thinking that Black Bolt's death unhinged her...although, she has been sort of jerky like...always.

 

[Iron Man]

Gonna start reading through everything cosmic since it was relaunched with Annihilation soon. I've kept up with Nova for the most part and loved it, but I've never read everything in order as a big picture, so I can't wait to get started.

 

[Colossal Spoons]

Enjoy!