Saturday Splash Page #90

 

"Flashy Entrance", in Thanos Imperative: Devastation, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Miguel Sepulveda (artist), Rain Beredo (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

Following up on Thanos Imperative, the one-shot set the stage for the next bit of cosmic action the Abnett and Lanning writing team had planned. Set against the backdrop of Blastaar launching a sneak attack against the Kree-Inhuman Empire, we see Cosmo the Spacedog going around recruiting different heavy hitter space characters - Gladiator, Quasar, Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill, Ronan the Accuser - for a team-up of problem solvers.

Turns out, just before he went off to (not) die alongside Nova in an attempt to keep Thanos in the collapsing Cancerverse, Star-Lord tasked Cosmo with recruiting a team of the biggest badasses he could get to protect the universe. Because Peter Quill tried it once, and could only recruit what Cosmo describes as, 'team of misfits and outcasts and also psychopaths.' The big shots weren't interested, but now, after the entire universe nearly fell to extra-dimensional creature hosting mirror versions of everyone, there's a bit more perceived need.

I don't think Beredo's coloring does Sepulveda's art any favors, as it seems to make facial expression land in the uncanny valley, and the Silver Surfer looks more like a multi-faceted piece of quartz someone tried spiffying up real good.

This resulted in the two Annihilators mini-series, but I was much more interested in the Rocket Raccoon and Groot back-up stories in each (see Sunday Splash Page #62.) I hoped at one point we might see those two characters pull together the other surviving members for a group to handle slightly less massive threats, or else handle the big threats with a bit more finesse. As much finesse as you're going to get, given Rocket's love for large firearms. 

Either way, I guess the minis didn't sell, because Marvel handed Guardians of the Galaxy to Bendis of all people - because when I think of writers to tell rollicking outer space adventures, I think Brian Michael Bendis - and things progressed (degraded) from there.

Saturday Splash Page #88

 

"Mar-Evell", in Thanos Imperative: Ignition, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Brad Walker (penciler), Andrew Hennessy (inker), Wil Quintana (colorist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

In April of 2010, Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy both ended (temporarily dropping the number of ongoing series I was buying from Marvel to 1). The next month, the last hurrah of the late-2000s, Abnett and Lanning-written Cosmic Marvel run kicked off with this one-shot, which picks up where the two ongoings concluded.

War of Kings ended with the formation of The Fault, a giant rip in the fabric of the universe. It was discovered that on the other side was a universe much like the 616, except there was no death. A universe entirely overtaken by life, filled to the bursting by the Many-Angled Ones. A Cancerverse, looking to spread.

Nova pursues the Cancerverse version of Quasar back to the Fault, and finds millions of Universal Church of Truth worshipers waiting to use their lives as a beacon. Curious how the end of millions of lives attracts more life, like diffusion, flowing from high concentration to low. But the interlocked nature of death and life was a recurring thing throughout Abnett and Lanning's Guardians of the Galaxy run.

The Guardians of the Galaxy deal with the fact Thanos is alive again, and really pissed about it. Drax isn't happy either, having gone to a lot of trouble killing Thanos in the first place. Neither is Moondragon, since Thanos' first act was murdering her girlfriend. And the damaged Cosmic Cube Star-Lord used to deck Thanos the first time is out of juice.

(Keep that last point in mind, it'll be relevant next week.)

Boiled down, though, the one-shot is all about the last page reveal of the high priest, so to speak, of the Many-Angled Ones. Good old sainted-ass Captain Mar-Vell, apparently strong enough now to burn Adam Magus to ash with zero effort. (I quite enjoyed seeing a version of Adam Warlock get incinerated. Points to Abnett and Lanning for giving me that at long last) This sets up Thanos versus Mar-Vell, for the fate of the universe, again. But this time, with Thanos in the position of having to defend it from life run amok.

The Positions Are There, Who Wants Them?

This is a strange time to be thinking of this, with Thanos Imperative a half-year in the rearview mirror, but do you think there's an Avatar of Life or Death in the Marvel Universe right now?

Adam Magus/Warlock is dead (for now). Drax the Destroyer is dead. Phyla-Vell is dead. Thanos is. . . well, not dead, since he can't die, but trapped within a collapsed universe that is itself, dead. Thus, he's not in the Marvel Universe right now. Until some writer decides they want him, then he will be. That did seem like a dismissal notice Death gave him, though.

That takes care of all the characters holding those roles recently. It could be there's no need for one right now. Things were thrown out of whack when Drax killed Thanos in Annihilation, but Thanos subsequently returned, then killed his successor and Drax, before getting stuck elsewhere. Things could be back in balance and Death and Life have retreated to their corners, so to speak. It could be they only select a representative when they actually need one, because the balance is shifting against them, or because they want to make a power play. After the nearly disastrous intrusion from the Cancerverse, everyone wants peace and quiet for awhile.

Still, for kicks, let's consider some options. Maelstrom acted as a manipulator in service of Death (or Oblivion, which I'm guessing is both the same and different). Thanos was brought back, why not Maelstrom? Annihilus (or his offspring, I don't know how Hickman presented it) is up and running. He's in the Negative Zone, but I doubt it's hard to convince him to swing back into the Marvel U. to cause trouble. Death could always go big, draft someone like Galactus or Ego, but bringing in entities on that level might make things awkward with other Abstract Representations.

Magus said the Phoenix Force served as Avatar of Death at some point, which seems strange. I thought Phoenix' job was to keep the neutron galaxy in the M'Kraan Crystal from destroying the universe, which seems like Avatar of Life stuff. I guess he meant when it went Dark Phoenix and destroyed a star system. It abandoned Rachel Grey, maybe to join Hope Summers, maybe it ran to Jean's corpse for the inevitable resurrection, I don't know. I gave up on the X-Men years ago. But sure, why not Hope? All those folks who thought Bishop was crazy for trying to kill her sure will be embarrassed! Or she could be the Avatar of Life. Keep it ambiguous, but the X-Men (and all sorts of abstract Entities) are trying to jerk her one way or the other. Or maybe Hope for Life, Franklin Richards and his reality-altering powers for Death. You can't tell me there aren't entities that would love to use his powers for their own ends.

I was going to suggest one of those "Worthy" from Fear Itself, but they'd be better choices for an Avatar of Life. They gain strength from people's fear. Henry Fonda (in Once Upon a Time in the West) may have been right when he said 'people scare better when they're dying', but I imagine if they're dead, the fear goes with them, and so, the power. So, Avatar of Life. They might seem scary, but Drax was an Avatar of Life. Adam Warlock was the one who seemed to approach it more as helping and inspiring people, or patching holes in the fabric of space-time. Drax settled on destroying what was going to kill people before it could kill them.

If Life wants a slightly less crazy representative (or one that doesn't already serve another master), maybe Quasar. He's the Protector of the Universe, which he seems to regard as protecting life. He and Maelstrom used to tangle. I was going to suggest the Silver Surfer, after he defended the Wraith Queen and encouraged the Annihilators to bring Wraithworld back from Limbo, but there's the whole "serves another master" issue.

Maybe Moondragon? Her father served Life, so did Adam Warlock, who was a friend. She's not quite like either of them (she takes a wider view than her father, a more cynical one than Adam Warlock) so she'd do things differently. She was possessed by the Dragon of the Moon, a servant of Oblivion, so her representing Life might be interesting. Plus, Phyla became Avatar of Death to save Heather (good intentions, bad idea), but Heather's already seen how nuts people who worship life can be (her run-ins with the Universal Church of Truth) so she might have misgivings, especially if she was chosen, rather than choosing. It could happen. These Abstract Entities don't show much respect for the mortals who carry their water.

If they could actually use him, Rom might not be a bad choice. Given how he'd occasionally flip out and start murdering Wraiths, he'd be more of a Drax-type, but that's fine. Not currently an option, and I don't think Ikon's shown enough yet to take the role in his stead.

I guess they could go really off the wall, pick Daredevil. He's a lawyer, defending people so they don't spend their lives in prison (or get executed). Protecting life, plus he's run up against an Elder of the Universe and Mephisto, so he's done the cosmic scene before. He started questioning his sanity shortly after the Mephisto thing, then started being Bullseye, which isn't encouraging, but maybe he has a better handle on it now.

OK fine, forget Daredevil. Just have him fight ninjas in an dark alley while his girlfriend dies again. We'll go with Hellcat instead. Patsy Walker's adjusted to the weird, horrific stuff in her life a lot better than Murdock has. She even has vaguely-defined magic powers. Those should come in handy.

No rush, I suppose. Nothing much is happening now, but I imagine Life and Death will need someone in the future. Doesn't hurt to start considering the options now.

Too Busy Working For The Weekend To Save The World

During Thanos Imperative: Devastation, there was only member of the Annihilators that was against joining initially, Beta Ray Bill. He was busy helping to rebuild the damaged world of Navis Koana Five by using Stormbreaker as a post driver. Bill's argument was the people need help rebuilding their lives, not a bunch of high-minded ideals. Cosmo's counterpoint was there isn't much point in rebuilding if there's no one to stop the next problem that would destroy everything. That seemed to sway Bill.

What I remembered was in the first issue of the current volume of Avengers, as Steve Rogers goes around recruiting everyone, there was one guy who said no: Wonder Man. He was helping clear out rubble leftover from the devastated Solider Field. Not quite construction work, but they have to clear out the rubble before they can rebuild.

I guess the point is to contrast that kind of work with what superheroes normally do. Helping to rebuild damaged homes and businesses is something concrete where heroes can help*. As opposed to being a peacekeeping force where the job is stopping world-threatening (or universe-threatening) problems. If the heroes succeed, odds are the public never realizes it, which limits their appreciation of the work. If the heroes fail, and people's lives get wrecked, then what good were heroes anyway? Then there are the arguments that heroes invite attacks by villains just by existing, the concerns about vigilantism, the accountability concerns, etc.

Then there's also the fact both examples used a strongman type character, but I think that boils down to them being well suited for that kind of work, and there's an bit of intimidation when the really strong person says they aren't interested (or they think you're out of your mind). It gives the objection more weight, adds more character conflict to the story.

* Then you get into the issue of whether they're taking jobs from qualified professionals, and so maybe they should butt out.

What Happened To The Guardians Who Survived?

One thing I was left wondering by Thanos Imperative: Devastation is what happened to the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy?

We know Cosmo's putting together the Annihilators Star-Lord dreamed of. We'll find out what Rocket Raccoon and Groot are doing once the Annihilators mini-series starts. Adam Warlock, Phyla, and Drax are all dead. Star-Lord's probably dead, or if he's alive, he's trapped in a dead universe with Nova and an extremely cross Thanos. In which case he wishes he was dead.

That leaves Moondragon, Gamora, Mantis, Jack Flag, and Major Victory unaccounted for. The easy answers are Moondragon went back to Titan to mourn her father and girlfriend, and Jack Flag probably went back to Earth. I can't imagine Steve Rogers cares about the unregistered bull that got Jack thrown in the Negative Zone Prison. Gamora's likely back to roaming the universe, looking for suitable challenges to her skill. Or she could set up a little kingdom on some world, gather some people to her. That's what she was doing when Annihilation started.

The two I'm having a harder time predicting are Mantis and Major Victory. I think it'd be kind of fun if Mantis had decided to travel with Gamora. They're disparate characters, beyond one being quiet and generally reserved, and the other being more loud and open. Gamora's been described as lacking direction or purpose. Mantis believes she has a purpose (to be the Celestial Madonna), but hard telling when (or if) that'll ever come to fruition. Putting the two of them together could be fun.

I don't imagine that's the case, though. More likely Mantis would go find some place to be alone and meditate or something. As for Major Victory, I have no clue. He's from a different universe, and from the future of that different universe. I suppose he could go to Earth with Jack, maybe pay a visit to Justice at the Avengers Academy. A team-up with a younger version of himself from a different universe who never became an astronaut and so never survived to the 30th Century*. He was at Knowhere when Thanos Imperative wrapped up, so he have gone literally anywhere in the universe.

Perhaps Rocket Raccoon will fill us in.

* I guess they could still do that with Vance. A superhero might make a good astronaut, if his powers can serve as inertial dampeners or something. It'd be strange, though, if some writer just decided, "Hey, I'm sending Justice into space so he can become Major Victory in a 1,000 years!" Maybe he'd become Major Justice instead?

The First Of Probably Many Cosmic-Themed Posts

Sometime around when Thanos Imperative was winding up, I got the idea to do some big post that would draw a thematic line through Marvel's cosmic events of the last few years. It seemed like, with Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy canceled, Cosmic Marvel was down to just Thanos Imperative, and so it was probably the grand end. I'm still not convinced it isn't, since I'm not sure Annihilators is going to qualify as an "event" comic.

Obviously, that post hasn't materialized, for a variety of reasons. One of which is I haven't felt like I've put all my thoughts together. The other is, there seem to be enough thoughts one post would be too big. So I'm going to try doing smaller posts, hopefully dealing with different ideas, and once I've done that, maybe I can do a summary post somewhere down the line. Hope springs eternal.

The reason I even thought about trying it was because I felt the threats of Annihilation and Thanos Imperative served as mirrors of each other. With Annihilation, the natural expansion of the Marvel Universe is taken as a threat by Annihilus (or used as an excuse to rally his followers), and he proceeds to invade the Marvel Universe, intent on killing everything. With Thanos Imperative, it's another universe encroaching on the Marvel Universe, trying to eliminate death.

The first story was started by a natural event - universal expansion - and had the villain succeeded would have resulted in an empty, lifeless universe, save for Annihilus. The latter story was propelled by an unnatural event - the obliteration of death - and, if Mar-Vell had succeeded, would have meant the universe would have been stuffed full of life, until it, like the Cancerverse, was to the point of bursting. Which doesn't sound so bad, except there won't be room to move, or enough resources to go around, but people won't be able to die, so, in theory, they'd suffer endlessly*.

It's like two of the theories for the universe. One theory says everything slowly breaks down, and eventually all that's left is a vast space, empty save for a few stray particles that either can't break down any further, or haven't yet. The other says the universe will eventually collapse in on itself, then there'll be another expansion, and things will start over**. But they prove the point Maelstrom made to Drax and Phyla once: Whether it's life that's too strong or death, it leads to a bad end, either way. Only difference is the particulars.

There are other mirroring aspects. In each case, Thanos played a key role, first helping Annihilus, then appearing to submit to Mar-Vell. But in each case, it was Thanos' tendency towards treachery that turned things. He had a failsafe to release Galactus, and his submission was just a way for Death to get close enough to Mar-Vell to destroy him. Also, the three heroes who went to confront Annihilus (Nova, Star-Lord, Phyla-Vell) and survived, all appear to have died at Thanos' hands. Phyla died before Thanos Imperative officially kicked off, but it was what announced his return to the field, so I think it can count. So when they fought against death, they lived. When they were fighting against Life, they ended up dead (or presumed dead). Killed by the Avatar of Death, no less.

I'm still trying to work out how Conquest and War of Kings fit in. Once I do, I'll be able to talk a little more about them. This is just the stuff I've sorted out so far.

* The way Sepulveda drew the Cancerverse doesn't really back up that assertion, since it appeared to be a barren, rotting universe, without many people. Then again, maybe everything was on the front lines, trying to pour out through the Fault into the new universe, like those Sooners trying to get into the opened frontier.

** I got that idea because I remembered Mightygodking described a Legion story where they fought the Time Trapper that was essentially that debate, as a superhero fight.

I'm Sure We've Discussed Endings Before, But. . .

How much does the ending of a story matter to your enjoyment of it? A good ending on top of a good story is a plus. I don't think a good ending can salvage a story if the beginning and middle didn't interest you. if what's come before didn't make me care about the characters, or the stakes, then it's unlikely the ending will have any impact, assuming I haven't given up on the story already.

What about when you really enjoy the story, then feel like the ending fumbled? As you might guess, this relates to Thanos Imperative. I'd been loving it for the first five issues. The interplay between the characters, the raising of the stakes, the surprises, some of the ideas being thrown out, I was having a great time. I wouldn't place it on par with Annihilation, but it was on par with Annihilation: Conquest, maybe even a little better*.

Then the last issue came out, and I already detailed my dissatisfaction with that on Saturday. I still like the first five issues, but the ending's taken some of the shine off. Still, I'm not sure my dissatisfaction is largely with how the ending leads into future stories, rather than strictly judging it as the end of that particular story if I look at it that way, it fares a little better, though there are still some internal inconsistencies that irritate me.

I'm sure the old saw about the journey being more important than the destination could be dusted off here, and it's probably apt. Even though where I wound up was a dud, the trip getting there was fun, so I should take what I can from that**.

* Conquest had some outstanding mini-series leading to it, Giffen and Timothy Green's Star-Lord one in particular, while Thanos Imperative had Ignition, and that's it until Devastation comes out. Overall, Conquest was better, but judging strictly by the main event, it's closer.

** I've never successfully applied this to actual traveling. If the place I visit is a letdown, I always wind up wishing I hadn't bothered. traveling does cost more in time and money than reading does, though.

The Cosmos Is Saved With A Thud

If I told you that the more I think about Thanos Imperative #6, the more I hope there was editorial interference, would that give you a suitable sense of my disappointment?

The Cosmic Cube bit still irritates me a little. The idea that there was only enough left in it for one shot (used to stun Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy #25) was presented as fairly critical through the last six months or so of Guardians of the Galaxy, and even earned mention in Thanos Imperative: Ignition, that Star-Lord abruptly telling Nova there might actually be enough for one or even two more uses felt like cheating. It only irritates me a little because, in terms of Thanos Imperative, its impact is small. It just happens to be the tool Star-Lord's going to use to help Nova try and keep Thanos in the Cancerverse until it self-destructs, as opposed to say, stealing one of Rocket Raccoon's unfeasibly large guns. It strikes me that Abnett and Lanning present abruptly present the Cube as not being exhausted, because its powers provide a potential out for Nova, Star-Lord, and Thanos' apparent deaths (or their being trapped in a sealed off, dead universe).

The more I think on it, the more Richard's taking all the Nova Force is what bothers me, because it served so little purpose in story, but seems to take a toy away from future writers. Rich tells the Worldmind to give him all of the Nova Force, uses it to throw off the attacking Revengers, and that's pretty much it. Thanos' plan to destroy Lord Mar-Vell kicks in before Rich can reach him, so we never see if the extra power would have given Nova a better shot against Mar-Vell. Presumably it helped some against Thanos, but we didn't see that fight, so there's no evidence the extra Nova Force made any significant difference there. All it did was take the Nova Corps off the board*. In theory, that'll be a set-up for future stories ("Who protects the spaceways with the Nova Corps gone?"), but personally, I'd like to see the remainder of the Corps carry on as best they could, without Richard Rider, or most of the Nova Force. Those kinds of stories, where the supporting characters try to carry on without their big gun, can be a lot of fun.

I also didn't understand why destroying the Many-Angled Ones - by killing their Avatar - caused the Fault to close. I follow the armies of the Cancerverse dying. They were connected to the Many-Angled Ones, so one dies, both die. The Fault was a tear in the Marvel Universe caused by the Inhumans Terrigen bomb, which lead to space between universes. At the other end, was the Cancerverse, presumably with a tear of its own, perhaps caused by the shockwave of the T-Bomb. I guess maybe the destruction of all those beings caused a disruption that made the Fault close.

The last issue reads like Abnett and Lanning had a checklist of stuff that needed to be done, or in place by the end, and things were twisted as necessary for them to happen. Maybe they were edicts from on high, maybe the story got away from DnA, and they had to jerk things back on course a tad abruptly, I don't know. I like their work, I want to give them benefit of the doubt.

That's part of my problem. The other part is, and maybe I haven't thought enough about it, I don't feel this conclusion provided the basis for more interesting stories. The thing about Annihilation, Annihilation: Conquest, or War of Kings was after they were done, things were different in a way I wanted to see how the writers would take advantage**. Now frequently, I didn't feel they did take advantage, because Marvel's endless event cycle seemed to bring us around to the next Big Thing before the writers had a chance to explore the repercussions of the last Big Thing, but the potential was there.

I'm sure part of my issue is I'm used to seeing the changes presented through Nova and Star-Lord's eyes, and they're dead (absent, at least). But the Fault's been closed, the Nova Corps are gone, there were no upheavals in the ruling powers amongst the major space groups. The Guardians are minus Star-Lord (and Drax and Phyla), but the team's soldiered on through greater apparent losses. There wouldn't appear to be an Avatar of Life or of Death active in the Marvel U. It feels like things were taken away, without anything being added, which is disappointing. I'm hopeful the Thanos Imperative: Devastation one-shot will fire me up again, but right now, I'm not seeing it.

* It's kind of callous for Rich to order the Nova Force drawn away from the other members, considering they were fighting in space at the time. It's fortunate Quasar was with them, so he could use his Quantum Bands to save all of them, because otherwise that would have made them slightly dead. Unless they were relying on a life-support system in their uniforms, but I'm not clear on whether that's a property of their uniform or the Nova Force, and either way, they'd be floating, depowered, in the middle of a huge battle.

** That's the same silver lining I tried to find with Civil War. I wanted to see how writers would use the post-CW status quo.

A Smattering Of Thanos Imperative Related Thoughts

- It's been noted throughout Thanos Imperative that while Thanos is vital to saving the universe, he's also Thanos, and is really dangerous as well, especially since he seemingly can't die. If he can be brought down, he could be locked up, but Thanos is pretty smart, he figure out how to escape eventually. So convince Thanos to stay behind in the Cancerverse when things are done. Death will have returned to that universe (assuming Thanos succeeds in killing Mar-Vell), but it's still a universe filled to the bursting with life. It'll take time to get things back on an even keel, and an angry Avatar of Death could speed things along. Plus, the Death in that universe is different from the Death in the Marvel Universe, so it's a whole new Death for Thanos to cozy up to and impress with large amounts of killing.

- The idea that Death and Life are connected isn't a new one, nor is the idea that it could be ugly if either one grows too much stronger than the other. Still, I like how connected they've been in this cosmic struggle. For Life to win out, Mar-Vell still needs to kill someone. For Death to balance the scales, that same person has to live, whether they want to or not. Death also needs Mar-Vell to die, but it's to be expected that death would play a part in its own victory.

- Before Thanos killed him, Drax was described as an Avatar of Life. Adam Warlock was considered the same before he became the Magus, and perhaps afterward as well. He still worshiped life. First off, it makes me wonder if Phyla could have averted what's coming by killing Drax, since he's an Avatar of Life, or if it had to be Adam specifically. I'm guessing the latter, since Drax didn't have grandiose schemes of destroying Death. He's quite the practitioner of Death, after all.

- Which brings me around to the second point. Adam and Drax were both Avatars of Life, but they went about things very differently. Drax protects/serve life by destroying the Avatar of Death. Adam Warlock, at least in this incarnation, protected life by trying to seal the Marvel Universe up, so things outside the universe couldn't get in and wreak havoc they might intend. To that end, he took control of the Universal Church of Truth, so that 1) they'd stop interfering in his work, and 2) he could use their resources to do his work more effectively. Contrast that with Drax, who might work with teams, but tends to operate alone when it comes to Thanos. Drax fights Death with death, Adam was fighting life, with Life (the belief energy of his followers). Drax actively sought out his target, while Adam reacts to problems. A tear in the fabric of the universe appears, Adam and the Guardians (or the Church) go there and close it up. When Adam tried to act to avert the disaster, going after Emperor Vulcan before the War of Kings destroyed the universe, he was soundly thrashed and sent packing. Adam Warlock helped set Thanos' return in motion, because he was worried his Magus personality would emerge and need to be stopped. He set aside his personal distaste because he perceived a greater threat. When he reached Thanos during Annihilation, Drax couldn't wait two seconds until Thanos had freed Galactus to kill him, and thus jeopardized the entire universe. He was too focused on the immediate problem, and didn't think of the larger picture. I can't decide whether he'd begun to do so in Thanos Imperative or not, because Thanos is an ally at the moment, but he might be the bigger problem. It would be interesting if he adopted Adam's approach, and it got him killed.

Maybe there's something there about Drax representing the so-called lizard, brain, the basic, emotional responses, while Warlock is the more reasoned, logical portion. Both of them are a part of us, as living beings, and life comes in many different forms, so it makes a certain amount of sense there would be more than one Avatar of Life, and they'd address different problems, or have different approaches.

- These days, there only seems to be one Avatar of Death at a time. There was Thanos, and Drax killed him, so there was no one for a time. I think Moondragon becoming an actual dragon, as the Dragon of the Moon grew stronger, was a step to fill the void, but Ultron stepped in (in a sense, Ultron, unknowingly, filled Drax' role for a moment). Then Phyla took the job to get Moondragon back, until she was killed by Thanos, as he reemerged. Maelstrom's been around, but doesn't seem to have a physical presence, he's more an intangible puppet master. But Death, whatever form it takes, ends the same way. The person is dead, all the way dead (as opposed to mostly dead), and it doesn't matter whether Thanos disintegrated them, they were hit by a bus, thrown from a bridge, died of old age, whatever, end result is the same. It can take many forms, but they all wind up in the same place.

From An Abstract To An Evil Choo-Choo, What A Step Down

I want to talk about the Galactus Engine. It's a giant thing, looks sort of like a train with centipede legs, has Galactus' skull on the front. It burst through the Fault from the Cancerverse at the end of Thanos Imperative #2, and it's been slugging it out with regular Galactus and all the other high-level cosmic "Abstracts" since then.

The Silver Surfer said it's the Galactus of the Cancerverse, weaponized, which I'm guessing means this was done to Galactus, rather than it's the form he naturally took in that universe. I'd also guess Mar-Vell was behind it, but why? I can understand trying to shut Galactus down. It's a universe where no one will ever die, so they'll need all the habitable space they can get. Galactus devours worlds, including ones people could live on. So they stop him from doing that. It might take some time, but he can't kill them, and eventually he'd exhaust his energies and be overwhelmed. It raises two questions for me, though:

1) Was Cancerverse Galactus offered immortality before he was weaponized, or no? I could see Galactus rejecting the offer, recognizing the fundamental wrongness of a universe without death. That's even though he's clearly a survivor. Survived the death of his universe, keeps on going no matter how little he may enjoy what he does to survive. Still, he's been portrayed as a fundamental power in the universe, one who bridges the gap between Eternity and Death, maintaining a balance between them. That could make him either too powerful, or too aware of the risks in the offer to accept. Or perhaps no offer was made at all. He may have been regarded as potentially useful, but too dangerous to extend the Many-Angled Ones' gifts to.

2) At any rate, now he's an engine. What's he running on? What's the engine providing power for? The engine probably provides power to destroy their enemies. As for what it runs on, I wonder if Galactus can draw energy from things that can't die? I don't believe the freedom from death extends to actual planets, but what of the people on them? Would their bodies resist being broken down into the energy he consumes, or would their consciousness persist even after they were turned into pure energy? Galactus tried eating the Elders of the Universe once, after they tried killing him. He ate them even though they couldn't die, but it didn't take, and they escaped, though Death erased some of them from existence.

But since the inhabitants of the Cancerverse can't die, could they serve as an eternal fuel source for the Galactus Engine? He breaks them down, and draws some energy from it, but they regenerate, so he breaks them down and draws energy from them again, going on forever. In the end, it's just adding a middleman, because I'm betting it's the Many-Angled Ones that empower the folks, so it's probably their energy the Engine would be running on.

Thanos Has To Love Death By Staying At A Distance

I'm on a Thanos Imperative kick, and may be for the next few days. I've been giving some thought to Thanos bemoaning his fate in Thanos Imperative #4, after he survived Drax' anti-matter charge assassination attempt. He said that Death had rejected, that he could never be by her side again. Considering how often Thanos proclaims his love for death, that's a big deal for him. He even goes so far as to say that's she's merely using him for her own ends, the same as she's doing with the Guardians of the Galaxy.

I think he's looking at it the wrong way. Thanos has always been trying to do things for Death to prove his love for her, and earn her affection in return. Kill this group of people, conquer this world, gather the Infinity Gems. The thing is, Death never needed any of that stuff. That half of the universe Thanos killed with the Infinity Gauntlet? They 're all going to die someday, anyway. Thanos may have sent them along to Death sooner, but she would have claimed them eventually. He gave Death nothing it couldn't have taken on its own.

Now though, Death needs Thanos. Mar-Vell can destroy her utterly, as he did the Death of his universe, and her only defense would be an Avatar of Death powerful and wily enough to beat Mar-Vell. Phyla could have spared him this (that might have been interesting, her facing off with an evil version of her pop*), but I think when she failed to kill Adam Warlock before he could become the Magus, Death realized she needed a more experienced hand. Who better than her most devoted Avatar?

This is actually Thanos' best chance to impress Death. This time around, he's not some guy trying to impress her with flashy stunts, that stuff is in the past. Now he's her knight, and his immunity to death is her boon to him, like a nice horse or an awesome sword. She's asked Thanos to slay the dragon threatening her realm because he's who she trusts the most. It's not as though there aren't other insanely powerful mass killers she could have drafted. There's Maelstrom, Morg, the Tyrant (if he isn't still alive), there's probably a dead Kang somewhere she could have hauled in, but no.

Yes, it's rough that he can't see a way to be reunited with Death. But Thanos had it pretty easy in this relationship. He did something, and could say he did it because he loves her, even though it's something (conquering, killing, taking power) he'd do anyway. But where was he when the Grandmaster had stolen her power and taken control of her realm for his stupid games? Thanos didn't set things right, Hawkeye did**. This is harder for Thanos, because it involves doing something he doesn't want to - live - because it's what she needs him to do. That's how it is with these things. The knight wants to stay with his lady, but he goes on the quest on her behalf, because he does love her. Talk is cheap.

If Thanos wants to look on the bright side, he can consider the possibility that Death may be able to rescind the immortality she's granted him once the danger is averted. Their separation may not be forever like he thinks.

* I'm not sure it's as interesting as what we have, with Thanos getting to play the hero, even though he still represents Death, and Mar-Vell as the villain. Probably better as is, since we avoid any potential Daddy issues stuff that would like have been played out with Phyla vs. Mar-Vell.

** By getting the Grandmaster so fixated on a game of chance he stopped concentrating on keeping Death imprisoned. Go Hawkeye!

The Nice Thing About Having An Evil Mastermind On Your Side

Said Evil Mastermind can usually come up with good plans to defeat your enemies. The Evil Mastermind probably has plans in mind to screw you over as well, but if you're lucky, they'll wait to unveil those until after your enemies are dealt with.

Case in point, Thanos. At the end of Thanos Imperative #5, Thanos and the Guardians of the Galaxy are battling Cancerverse Mar-Vell and his Revengers, mystically-enhanced versions of Thor, Ms. Marvel, Captain America, Iron Man, and Giant Man*. Mar-Vell and Thanos are enemies, regardless of which universe each hails from, so they squared off. It's at the end of the issue that Thanos drops the bombshell: He isn't here to destroy Mar-Vell, he's here so Mar-Vell can grant him death. Since Thanos is the Marvel Universe's Avatar of Death, that's precisely what Mar-Vell needs to do to rid the Marvel Universe of Death forever, thus enabling his masters to gain a stronger foothold in the Marvel U.

As "Oh, crap!" moments go, that was a good one. I was pretty surprised, and definitely worried - until I remembered this is Thanos. During Annihilation, even when Thanos was Annihilus' research and development guy, he installed a failsafe so he could cut Galactus loose if he needed to turn on Annihilus**. From what I recall of Thanos Quest (his hunt for the Infinity Gems), it was largely Thanos appearing to take one approach to victory, but really having another strategy in mind entirely. Back-up plans and duplicity are part of who he is.

Right before Mar-Vell and Co. showed up, he was trying to psychometrically determine how the Necropsy goes. That's the ritual Mar-Vell used to destroy his universe's Thanos (destroying Death in the process), it's what he'll use to destroy this Thanos, and it's what Thanos has to use to destroy Mar-Vell if he's going to reset the balance and thwart the Many-Angled Ones. The problem was he spent a page and a half trying unsuccessfully to get the Guardians to scram***, and by the time he abandoned that strategy, Mar-Vell had arrived. There was no time for him to discern what he needed to do. He and Mar-Vell are evenly matched, but the Guardians are massively outclassed power-wise, so the odds they could drive off the attackers long enough for him to figure it out are slim.

The beauty of this is Thanos will get Mar-Vell to show him exactly what he needs to do to Mar-Vell. It can work because he didn't warn the Guardians, and they know how angry he is about being alive again, about how even Drax with an antimatter charge couldn't kill him. They haven't yet seen any indication Thanos can be killed, but if there was something that could do it, a mystical ritual designed to eradicate Death would be a pretty good bet. So they're going to be convincingly distraught, which sells it to the bad guys.

It took me until today to realize Thanos can pull this off because he knows the Necropsy really can't kill him. Prior to that, I figured he was banking on his power being sufficient to escape being the subject of the ritual, and instead sacrifice Mar-Vell.

* Quasar teleported in with the rest, but I didn't see him during the fight.

** Don't feel too bad for Annihilus, though. He was planning to double-cross Thanos, too.

*** It occurs to me now, but it's interesting that he would tell them to leave, rather than simply killing them. None of the Guardians of the Galaxy present have the means to kill him. It's iffy whether Mantis and Cosmo can shut his mind down if they combine their powers. He doesn't think he needs them, and he's Thanos. Yet he gave them the opportunity to run, which would get them out of Mar-Vell's line of fire.

I'm Hoping Cancerverse Scarlet Witch Is Nice

I had this idea while reading Thanos Imperative #3. The last page of #4 may have killed it, but I think there's still a chance it could happen.

In the third issue, the Scarlet Witch of the Cancerverse reports to Mar-Vell that one of their teams of heroes picked up a signal, went to investigate, and hadn't been heard from since (that would be the Cancerverse Defenders, who were destroyed by Thanos in the previous issue). Wanda requests leading a team to investigate, which Mar-Vell approves. She even throws a little dig at Cancerverse Iron Man about not doing his work properly.

The idea I had was that the Witch was going to be the one organic being in the Cancerverse somewhat resistant to the influence of the Many-Angled Ones and their Avatar, Lord Mar-Vell. In the Realm of Kings one-shot from last year, she's the one who releases the Marvel Universe's Quasar after he'd been captured by her teammates.

The way I figured it, Wanda has used magic in the past, and seemed to be invoking the names of beings like Ch'thon, which sounds like the sort of thing that might be related to these Many-Angled Ones. So that history of interactions with them would give her a certain level of immunity. Not enough that she turns down the immortality they offer, but maybe enough she maintains her own mind, isn't so slavishly devoted to Mar-Vell as the others are. She can play at it well enough; that time she spent in the Brotherhood under Magneto probably taught what bossy savior-types like to see in their subordinates. The whole time, though, she'd be looking for an opportunity to turn the tables. She might be working with the Artificial Intelligence Resistance, or she might be operating solo.

Either way, she'd have to be patient, because until someone or something came along that could kill Mar-Vell, there was no way to turn things around. But with Thanos, an honest to goodness Avatar of Death on the scene again (albeit one from a different universe) there'd be a chance. She couldn't just slip off on her own, so she makes it seem she's being the dutiful solider, even takes the time to make it look like one of the truly loyal (Iron Man) isn't doing his due diligence.

The whole thing is sporting a major leak after the end of the fourth issue, since she and her squad have shown up and War Machine's already shot the Vision in half. There's still hope, though. For one, Wanda's hanging back near the hole her team just burst through, as the rest of the "Revengers" charge in. She could be staying out of the line of fire, or preparing to shoot her former allies in the back while they're preoccupied with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Second, she didn't bring along anyone who is actually a threat to Thanos. The most powerful member of her squad is War Machine, and enhanced by Lovecraftian horrors or not, he's not beating the Mad Titan*. So bringing a group ultimately too weak to do the job could be her way of appearing loyal to Mar-Vell, while actually working to undermine him.

I think it'd be kind of nice for the Scarlet Witch, who hasn't had the best go of it in the Marvel Universe the last six years or so, to be the only one who didn't let the power corrupt them. To be risking her neck working amongst her former friends to find a way to set things right. We'll see, though I'll have to wait a couple of weeks.

* We know they can't beat Thanos because he can't be killed now, but in theory Wanda wouldn't know that, so she couldn't work it into a plan.

It's Never Too Early For A New Avatar Of Death

For those of you reading Thanos Imperative, do you think there's any chance the anti-matter charge Drax slapped on Thanos' chest in issue 3 actually killed him?

Normally, I wouldn't buy it, even with Drax stating 'Kill confirmed.' Thanos is on the cover of next week's issue, and the event has his name in the title. Also, he was only brought back from the dead a few months ago, and it's been suggested he may be, I'm not sure "immortal" is the right word. It may still be possible for him to die, but it's harder than it used to be. He might still be able to die, he simply can't be actively killed. In which case they'd have to wait until he kicks it of old age. Plus, he's the only character having much success killing beings from the Universe That Can't Die.

But there's a part of me that argues it would be a pretty big shake-up to the story. Bring Thanos back, make him a big deal in the story, then kill him before he does anything of significance other than talk about how to fix things. Having Drax lose control (or lose sight of the bigger picture, however you'd like to put it), and kill Thanos when they needed him would neatly mirror Annihilation as well. it's the kind of ugly reversal the cosmic Marvel events have utilized before*. It would up the difficulty level that extra bit, force Star-Lord to try and find a substitute for the Avatar of Death.

There's even a argument in favor of it. Cancer-Vell needs to kill the Avatar of Death (Thanos) in a specific ceremony (the Necropsy). Best I can tell, Thanos has to be killed there, in a specific way. That's why he ordered his followers to capture all the anomalies (like Major Victory and Namorita) rather than simply killing them on sight. If Thanos was actually killed, then Mar-Vell can complete his ceremony. More than likely, Death will tap somebody else for the job (Drax, perhaps, since he likes destroying so much), and the plan continues. Plus, whoever would take Thanos' place isn't someone Mar-Vell's likely to be expecting. let's hear it for the element of surprise.

I expect Thanos will have survived Drax' attack, probably largely unscathed. Knowing Thanos, he'll probably laugh at Drax' failure, while simultaneously being angry that he survived. But there's always a chance they'll surprise me.

* With Annihilation you could point to Drax killing Thanos or Galactus being weaponized by Annihilus. Conquest, maybe the point when Adam, Phyla, and the High Evolutionary believe they're safe, only to find the Phalanx waiting for them. War of Kings, it was probably when Lilandra died.

Considering A Thread From Nova That May Have Been Dropped

Last year, Garthan Saal showed up briefly in Nova #26. Garthan Sall was the last person before Richard Rider to house all of the Nova Force, and it drove him mad, since he didn't have the Worldmind along to help him. Saal was talking to Malik Tarcel, who had taken over for Richard as Nova Prime, only to be roundly thumped by Gladiator in the early stages of War of Kings.

Since then, Saal's made nary an appearance. Today, I was thinking about that and a couple of other threads Abnett and Lanning have started in the cosmic books that haven't paid off as yet. I was thinking perhaps these will be more of those storylines we never see any resolution of. You know how that goes, the book's direction gets hijacked by bigger events, it's canceled, the writers leaves, the writer decides to go a different way. It happens.

Then it occurred to me, what if Garthan Saal is from the universe on the other side of the Fault? The Fault itself didn't exist yet, but there were other tears in space-time before then. The Guardians of the Galaxy had been dealing with some of them in the first arc of their title. Once the war started, there were even more, caused by Vulcan and his reckless use of Nega-Bombs. At the same time this story was going in Nova, Adam Warlock had been sealing up just such a hole in Guardians of the Galaxy. That was a large rupture, and Warlock handled it before anything emerged. However, with possibly multiple large rips in the universe, it's possible a few smaller ones were missed, or were deemed low priority. If so, there's an opportunity for someone to come on through. Garthan Saal perhaps.

We know the other universe has versions of characters common in the Marvel Universe, so there could easily be a Garthan Saal. There's no death in the universe, so no matter how crazy the Nova Force might have driven him, he couldn't have been killed. He could easily still be active in that universe, and could be acting on orders from the higher powers in his universe, or he could have simply seen a tear in space and decided to investigate. Remember, he may be as crazy as the 616's Saal was, so that might seem a perfectly reasonable idea.

Super-Villain Team-Up To Save The Universe

Idea: Get Annihilus involved in the Thanos Imperative. He's coming back in the pages of Fantastic Four this month. OK, this should technically be Annihilus the 2nd, who was born at the very end of Annihilation. The last I saw of him after that was War of Kings: Ascension, where it was revealed his regent was using the Cosmic Control Rod to keep Baby Anni in an infant state. The two Raptors killed the regent, took the Control Rod, and gave it to Blastaar as an offering for treaty. I'm a little disappointed he's back this way. I would have preferred he make a big splashy comeback in a cosmic book, but whatever. He's back, might as well use him.

If there's anyone other than Thanos who would want to stop the elimination of death, it ought to be Annihilus (assuming this one has a similar philosophy to its father). Thanos loves Death, and couldn't stand to see her destroyed. Annihilus has been prone to describing himself as 'The Death Who Walks', and shouting 'All Life Is My Enemy!' as he pummels some poor schmuck of a hero. It'll be hard to be walking death if there is no death, and it would be rather frustrating to regard all life as a threat, and never have any hope of eliminating it.

You could probably do a comedy story about that if death was eliminated, where we see Annihilus going to anger management classes, or therapy to deal with his issues of regarding everyone around him as a threat. 'What you have to understand, Anni, is all those people around you aren't planning to hurt you. You don't need to kill them to be safe.' Well, a better writer than me could make something funny out of it. Maybe if Marvel hadn't canceled the Mini-Marvels.

Back to the original topic. Throw Annihilus II into the mix. Play off the fact that he's the offspring of the one who nearly wiped out the universe. Is he angry at Nova for killing his dad, or grateful because it offered him an opportunity*? Does Blastaar try and waste him on sight, or does he rein himself in, biding his time? Could he be convinced to yield the Cosmic Control Rod to Anni 2 if necessary? Would the Kree object to his involvement after the damage wreaked on their empire (or would they be enraged if the Inhumans didn't care, focusing on the larger threat)? Would Galactus hold a grudge over being made into a weapon for Annihilus I**? Speaking of Annihilus I, his plans went beyond what Thanos expected, and it riled Thanos he'd been played. It was his failsafe in the containment shackles on Galactus that lead to Anni the 1st's downfall. Any trust issues there? Might Thanos think he can mold this Annihilus into a useful lackey, or would he try to use him for a suicide run straight off, just to eliminate a possible threat? Thanos probably figures he can trust the heroes he'll work with to honor their word, but Annihilus could be another matter.

It might complicate things, adding another variable into the story, so perhaps it's something better saved for after the Thanos Imperative. I think it has potential, though.

* I can't imagine Annihilus the First would have allowed any children to last long had he survived. Talk about a living threat to his power.

** Where do you think Galactus stands on all this? No death means more life, ought to mean more planets with usable energy for him. But it also means more beings to resist him, and he has plenty of trouble with the resistance he already deals with from Earthlings and such.

Happy Reunions Which Are Followed By The Punching Of Villains Are In Now

If the solicitation for this month's Nova is accurate, he, Darkhawk, and Quasar will be hustling Earthward to warn all the heroes there about the horrific creature about to emerge from the Fault and eliminate death in their universe.

I'm hoping Namorita will be out of that 'self-protective fugue' she was in at the end of last month, and come along as well. She can't survive in space on her own, but there's no reason the Nova Corps couldn't hook her up with a space suit (maybe even a bit of the Nova Force?), or Quasar could make a protective bubble.

My reason for wanting this is simple: If Namorita goes back to earth, she can have a reunion with her mother, who was dead the last 'Nita knew (and 'Nita is dead as far as Namora knew). It's easy. They arrive on Earth, head right for Reed Richards and explain the situation. It's dire enough they round up everyone, and since the X-Men and New Avengers know Atlas isn't really a bunch of crooks, and can be quite formidable, they show up.

Plus, we both the X-Men and Atlas involved, Namor ought to put in an appearance, so we might get a panel of him gobsmacked at seeing his 'little cousin' back from the dead. How often do we have the opportunity to see Namor struck speechless? The speechlessness would be followed with Namor no doubt being furious at whoever is playing a trick on him until Nova or Darkhawk can explain what happened.

My goal with this would be Atlas goes into space to help, pitting whatever is coming through the Fault against the two coolest teams in the Marvel Universe*, Atlas and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The universe saved, 'Nita heads back to earth for some bonding with her mom, and we get a mother-daughter butt-kicking, crimefighting team.

Which is not something I can recall too many examples of at Marvel or DC. Wonder Woman and Hippolyta have worked together on several occasions, and I think Jean Grey had to work with Rachel at some point**. Supergirl and her mother worked together during World of New Krypton, right? I can't think of any others, so there could be an opportunity for some fun stories. It could involve typical Atlas stuff, or defending the scattered people of Atlantis stuff, or old-school New Warriors stuff. How does 'Nita react to having a mother again (and being alive in a world where she died making the error of appearing in a Mark Millar written comic)? How does Namora handle having a daughter older than she remembers, who's been through even weirder adventures than Namora has? I'm just throwing possibilities out there, you can suugest your own.

* Fine, two coolest active teams in the Marvel Universe, since NextWave seems scattered to the four winds.

** There was an issue of Excalibur after Colossus left the X-Men where they were both on Muir Island and had a nice talk, but they didn't fight Acolytes together.