The Infinity Gauntlet TPB
Cost: $28
1991 was an interesting year for comic books: the industry’s biggest artists were poised to leave Marvel Comics and form Image; the tsunami of die-cut-holo-foil-wrap-around-cover issues had not hit yet; Superman wasn’t dead yet; and there were no Spider-man clones. Yes, in many ways 1991 was the calm before the storm that was the mid-nineties, in which the industry self-imploded. There is a lot of horrible stuff from this time, but some of it was good back then, and still can hold its own now.
One such storyline is The Infinity Gauntlet, a six issue mini-series written by Jim Starlin that chronicles the tale of the super-villain Thanos who uses infinite power (by obtaining the titular gauntlet) to destroy half of the sentient life in the universe. Opposing him are a host of Earth’s heroes, cosmic entities, and even Dr. Doom (who despite being a megalomaniacal despot himself, doesn’t want to see his own people erased into oblivion, a pre-cursor no doubt to him crying in the ASM 9/11 issue).
The storyline is tight and accessible for new readers (a year of special issues and Silver Surfer books led up to this, but they are not required reading for the miniseries), something that current big event books could learn from (I’m looking at you Final Crisis). The art by George Perez and Ron Lim is masterful storytelling and the change in artist does not disrupt the flow of the artwork. Legend Perez’s abilities as an artist were celebrated even back then but Ron Lim is no slouch. Lim has since fallen into obscurity but he is a consistent, quality artist that always was just shy of the recognition that he deserved (even back then he was always pegged at the #7 or 8 spot in the Wizard Top Ten Artists page).
This team can tell a story, a skill that many of the “top” artists of today are sorely lacking. If I have one minor quibble in terms of continuity I have always been bugged by the Hulk jumping out of Thanos’ way on page 10 of issue #4, only to completely disappear until issue #5. Many of the other heroes are killed or defeated by Thanos, but the Hulk never is, suggesting that the creative team simply had too many characters to think about and forgot to follow up on the Jade Giant’s appearance.
Viewed alone the story is a great big-event-cosmic-crossover, however, it is weakened in some ways that its sequels, Infinity War and Infinity Crusade, are vastly inferior and, in some cases, nigh-unreadable. So should you rush out and purchase this 17 year-old super-battle? Well at 6 issues it takes about 2 hours to read and costs $28, well worth the price of admission, however, you should know that you could probably do some digging and find the single issues on ebay for much cheaper. Also be well warned that if after reading this you feel the need to purchase Infinity War or Crusade; you might as well light your money on fire. If you are really curious to find out what happens next just read the Wikipedia entries.
One such storyline is The Infinity Gauntlet, a six issue mini-series written by Jim Starlin that chronicles the tale of the super-villain Thanos who uses infinite power (by obtaining the titular gauntlet) to destroy half of the sentient life in the universe. Opposing him are a host of Earth’s heroes, cosmic entities, and even Dr. Doom (who despite being a megalomaniacal despot himself, doesn’t want to see his own people erased into oblivion, a pre-cursor no doubt to him crying in the ASM 9/11 issue).
The storyline is tight and accessible for new readers (a year of special issues and Silver Surfer books led up to this, but they are not required reading for the miniseries), something that current big event books could learn from (I’m looking at you Final Crisis). The art by George Perez and Ron Lim is masterful storytelling and the change in artist does not disrupt the flow of the artwork. Legend Perez’s abilities as an artist were celebrated even back then but Ron Lim is no slouch. Lim has since fallen into obscurity but he is a consistent, quality artist that always was just shy of the recognition that he deserved (even back then he was always pegged at the #7 or 8 spot in the Wizard Top Ten Artists page).
This team can tell a story, a skill that many of the “top” artists of today are sorely lacking. If I have one minor quibble in terms of continuity I have always been bugged by the Hulk jumping out of Thanos’ way on page 10 of issue #4, only to completely disappear until issue #5. Many of the other heroes are killed or defeated by Thanos, but the Hulk never is, suggesting that the creative team simply had too many characters to think about and forgot to follow up on the Jade Giant’s appearance.
Viewed alone the story is a great big-event-cosmic-crossover, however, it is weakened in some ways that its sequels, Infinity War and Infinity Crusade, are vastly inferior and, in some cases, nigh-unreadable. So should you rush out and purchase this 17 year-old super-battle? Well at 6 issues it takes about 2 hours to read and costs $28, well worth the price of admission, however, you should know that you could probably do some digging and find the single issues on ebay for much cheaper. Also be well warned that if after reading this you feel the need to purchase Infinity War or Crusade; you might as well light your money on fire. If you are really curious to find out what happens next just read the Wikipedia entries.
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