Thanos Rising
Issue 1
Writer: Jason Aaron
Artist: Simone Bianchi
So, when it comes to the Cosmic Side of things, I’m a complete noob. I don’t know whose who or what’s been going on. However, since Marvel Now, the only comics I collected where the Marvel UK collected editions (which normally feature 3 comics in a single issue). So when I heard they were bring out Guardians of the Galaxy comic, I said to myself “I have to buy that comic.” After also finding out that Nova was on issue 1, I rushed out and bought it. So this whole cosmic line is new to me. I’ve been hearing about some continuity errors (especially over at GotG) but that doesn’t bother me. When I read that Thanos would be getting his own five issue mini, I just had to buy it. I knew very little about these characters so all these origins benefited me nicely. That’s enough of my starter to the Cosmic-Verse.
The Cover
Obviously, the first thing people notice about a comic is the cover. It’s pretty much one of the most important things in terms of us buying it. But anyway, the cover sums all the issue as a whole. We have this very Dark Image which at first may be hard to make sense of things. But you’ll soon find yourself staring into Thanos’s right eye. It has this very creepy atmospheric look to it and almost sinister. It’s possibly the perfect way to begin a comic.
The Introduction
There’s not a lot that can be said about the first page. It’s pretty much the same image we’ve seen in Nova #1 and GotG #0.1. However, I would say it’s a nice way of linking up all the comics otherwise it can feel pretty lazy. It’s just an empty image of a single planet.
Moving on, we get this introduction to Thanos. We know we’re on the Titan right now and we get these images of building the anticipation for our main star. When we finally do see him, it’s the best image in the comic. On top of that, we get a narration on why he has come. It simply says, he has come home. The image however surrounding Thanos compliments the cover. The cover was there to start the anticipation and this was there to execute the final blow. Around him are the ruins of Titan. Images that remind me of those from Fallout 3 where everything is dirty and the world look bleak. Thanos then tears away some grumble and we see a tombstone. The words “Tom remember who is he” are on this panel and the mystery deepens. We see a man in pain throughout these pages. A perfect way to start a comic. It has a mystery, reasons on why the character is there and the narration clear on the background of this story.
The Second Act
We are shot back many years later and witness the birth of Thanos. His father who is A’Lars goes straight to his son and holds him. The mother, whose name is Sui-San holds the baby next and takes one look at him, she stares at him in fare and tries to kill him. A’Lars takes the baby off of her and she gets injected so she can calm down. She shouts “Don’t you see Death in its eyes.”
This helps give Thanos a more human feel as opposed to the one we see in later day marvel.
The art again however outshines the script. It has a very gritty feel to it. The colouring is dark, but not too dark that you can’t see a thing. The image of Baby Thanos’s Grotesque face seems very surreal. The red eyes however give this image a creepy atmosphere.
We cut to a few years later and Thanos is now a kid. He sits drawing and some other kids walk up to him. At first, this seems like it would follow the conventional route of the kids bullying because he is different. But this takes a twist when they ask him to play with them. A touching moment throughout the comic giving Thanos the childlike character which we have not seen before.
It then cuts to Thanos trying to talk to his dad. Thanos asks if he can look into his family files to see how his parents met. Of course, his father doesn’t listen to him which leads to a rather sad scene where we see Thanos speak to his mother a mental asylum. He explains that he is planning to ask a girl called Cythera to be his girlfriend.
We are then thrown into a scene where a few girls watch Thanos play while they talk to him. A mysterious girl then begins to talk to them. One thing I forgot to mention was that everyone thought that Thanos looked the way he did due to a mutation. This new girl however says that it’s more than a simple mutation.
The next scene is of all the kids in some sort of science class dissecting a lizard like creature. Thanos brings himself to the conclusion that he can’t cut it open and so he runs out. This of course is a character building moment where the scene is making a contrast between the Thanos of then, and the Thanos of now. The new girl then starts talking to him. Thanos explains maybe he isn’t cut out to be a scientist, in which the girl takes him to her special place where she likes to think.
The coming of Thanos
Thanos goes into cave with a few friends. The cave however, turns out to be unstable and so it collapses. Our young hero (or Villain, take your pick) tries to find his way out of the cave and find his friends. However, in possibly one of the most horrifying images in comic history, we see all his friends’ dead. Their decaying bodies being eaten by the lizard like creatures. At first, Thanos very upset by this and says he wants to be left alone. Then the mysterious girl comes along and pretty much tells him to give them hell. And in a final image, we see Thanos slaughter the creatures.
The Verdict
Well, this was a busy comic. A lot happened, and most of it was only really there to build up character. If anything, this seemed more like a prologue than anything else. However, the art really does shine through. The style matches perfectly with the rather bleak back story of Thanos. What happens to him fits in perfectly with the art style. Now as for the ending, it ended on a great cliff-hanger. I can’t wait to read issue 2 now. So overall, I’m going to give this a 9/10. I would highly recommend this comic if like me; you know nothing about Thanos (Which is possibly why I enjoyed it so much).