The Might of Thanos

Thanos is alive, and in Guardians of the Galaxy #25, the team has to band together and somehow figure out how to defeat him. However, the issue starts out with something else: a look at the Guardians of the Galaxy of the future. Starhawk is concerned that the past is not safe, since the “error” isn’t accounted for. He brings this concern to the council of all future Guardians of the Galaxy. Starhawk believes that the error comes exactly from the current time period, when the modern Guardians of the Galaxy were formed. He then notes that he found something new in the historical records: Star-Lord talking about Thanos. Back on the Universal Church of Truth’s homeworld, the Guardians arrive to check things out in response to the telepathic messages Moondragon received from Martyr. Drax the Destroyer senses Thanos, and they bump into Gamora, Major Victory, Cosmo, and Mantis, running away from him. Gamora gives the sad news that Martyr is dead, and Thanos starts ploughing into them. This leads to a massive melee, since Moondragon cannot believe that she has been parted from her love once again and wants revenge. The battle ends when Star-Lord whips out the Cosmic Cube, having realized that, because of the Magus’ illusion, he never got to use it that one last time. Thanos stops being feral and collapses, though he first delivers the ultimatum that everyone and everything will die for having brought him back. Back in the future, Starhawk says that Thanos is the error and that history is not safe again. Then, in the present, the reunited Guardians mourn the loss of Martyr and Adam Warlock, and Star-Lord makes a rather unfortunately fateful statement about what the worst thing is that could happen.

Well, the Thanos Imperative is all set up. And the main plot point that Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have been setting up from day one on this series, about the future tense and all that stuff, will finally be resolved. It’s great work on their part that they’re tying together the classic and the modern Guardians teams. I guess I can’t be too upset about Thanos being feral, since that obviously has some kind of plot significance that will be explained in the Thanos Imperative. However, I will find him much more frightening once he has all his mental faculties back. In the end, the main complaint I have about this issue is one that a lot of people hae had about the series since day one, since it’s one of the only possible complaints you could make: its treatment of Martyr. The poor girl lost her girlfriend, got her back by losing her powers and becoming an avatar of death, then died. And this is after all the crap that’s happened before to her, with her brother and becoming Quasar, you’d think she’d get a break. As an avatar of death, she’ll almost certainly be coming back later, so I guess we can just hope she’ll get treated better later. Brad Walker’s art was also a welcome change from Wesley Craig’s. While I still wish Paul Pelletier were back, it’s nice to see stuff that isn’t so ridiculously stylized all the time, since that kind of art really doesn’t fit this book. Unfortunately, he’s still got trouble with Drax’s lips. Oh well. At any rate, I really hope that this book isn’t actually going to be canceled. I hope that it’s really just a hiatus with the Thanos Imperative, since I love this book so much. I’ve had so much fun reading it, so please let this just be an actual hiatus. Abnett and Lanning forever!

Plot: 9.0 Art: 8.8 Dialogue: 9.1 Overall: 9.0