Review: Thanos #1

Writer Tini Howard has come a long way from winning a Top Cow Talent Hunt in 2014 to recently signing an exclusivity deal with Marvel. Although this is a rare event for the House of Ideas, it does prove that the publisher plans to entrust Howard with the future of many of their A-list characters beginning with the Mad Titan, Thanos. Following two fan favorite and critically acclaimed Thanos series written by Jeff Lemire and Donny Cates respectively, this series focuses on events before the Infinity War. In fact Howard’s narrative is set before the Infinity Stones are collected into the Gauntlet, going back even before Thano’s deadly Black Order was completely formed, known at this point in time as the Butcher’s Squadron. Instead of delving further into the Infinity narrative or even the events after Thanos’ death at the hands of his adopted daughter Gamora, Howard decides to write a prequel to all of these chapters in the Mad Titans saga.

Howard goes to extreme lengths to show us a Thanos that we have not seen before, a multi-faceted character that is an obsessed lover, a military leader and ultimately a lethal enemy of life and destroyer of peace. We are getting in at the start of his Black Order, the sinister and fiercely loyal group of assassins that will go on to serve as Thanos’ elite personal mercenary unit. Howard shows her prowess as a brilliant storyteller, particularly adept at character driven narratives as she examines Thanos’ obsessive relationship with Death. She allows us to see Thanos through the eyes of his followers who see him as not only a strong leader, but as a guru of sorts, championing a philosophy of violence and dominance. In using Gamora as narrator Howard gives the narrative an emotional depth that might otherwise be diminished. There is a dark sensibility to her words,Â howeverÂ Howard occasionally injects a bit of levity to keep the narration from becoming too heavy or morose. The dialog is likewise evenly balanced, containing just enough darkly comedic beats to keep the tone from becoming oppressive.

The action is beautifully choreographed, well paced and woven into the overarching narrative providing tight bursts of kinetic energy at precisely timed intervals. There is an operatic feel to Howard’s writing, an intense sense of drama that carries through from cover to cover. It not only opens the main characters to us in a way that allows us to feel for them, it makes us care about an ultimately doomed species in a minimal amount of pages. This is due in large part to Howard’s brilliant character work, much like previous Thanos scribe Jeff Lemire’s take on the Mad Titan. These two writers share not only a similar approach to character driven storytelling, but intensely emotional narratives that humanize even the vilest of villains. This approach gives us a unique perspective on these characters, particularly effective in their work on Thanos.

Visually, Ariel Olivetti’s dynamic style works hand-in-glove with Howard’s story. He perfectly captures the darker tone of the narrative here, often in subtle, detailed renderings of the characters and a deep understanding of anatomy and facial expressions. Olivetti’s page composition and inventive use of panels keeps pace with Howard’s lively narrative. There are several splash pages that are just gorgeous examples of how these visually powerful pages should be used to punch up the pace. Olivetti is at his eye-popping best when rendering these intense story moments, for example there is a page depicting Thanos choking the life out of a much smaller opponent that is worthy of being a poster. Antonio Fabela’s unique palate choices are intense without being garish, adding an electricity particularly to the space sequences. The entire book looks amazing from the opening panels set against a field of stars to the very last page, we are left wanting more.

All in all this is an engrossing and exciting debut issue that could have easily fallen into the mindless movie tie-in category, However in the hands of Tini Howard it becomes a must read. The narrative delivers on multiple levels, the characterizations are complex, layered and authentic. The visuals are intense and imaginative, while the action is explosive at times, the pace ebbs and flows with precise dramatic timing. This is shaping up to be a solid next chapter in the ongoing Thanos saga. 4/5!

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer- Tini Howard
Artist- Ariel Olivetti
Colorist- Antonio Fabela
Letterer- VC’s Joe Caramagna