Thanos: Infinity Abyss

(Marvel, 2002)
™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Adam Warlock. Thanos. Gamora. Pip the Troll. Other heroes, too. Infinity. Sounds new and innovative. Just like Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War, Infinity Crusade, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch. OK, maybe it’s not so innovative.

This is a fine tale on its own merits, but it suffers from too much “been there, done that.” We just had a cosmic Avengers mini-series featuring Thanos (which the story acknowledges). Do we need another already?

Writer and artist Jim Starlin knows these characters as well as anybody, but he’s going to have to take seriously unexpected turns to breathe new life into this concept. Some plot threads are starting to develop, involving the incarnations of Warlock and different sides of Thanos. As of this issue, however, there is no payoff.

The art, with inks provided by Al Milgrom, is clean and bright and full of detail. The story shows promise of innovation, but will readers get it? They’ve had one or two too many of these rides already.

— Jack Abramowitz

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