Continuing from
http://www.statueforum.com/showthread.php?t=10519
Classic Trades Reviews
Sam Wilson’s Review
Yup, we’re doing cosmic week. Yeah, we got a little death obsessed for a minute there, and yeah,
Infinity Gauntlet is all about death, and well, “Death”, and purple guys who want to be with “Death”, but whatever. Wktf is offsetting the “death” thing a little bit with his review of
Silver Surfer: Judgment Day (hmm, still sounds a little “death” related). Hey, you know what? Maybe we are a little death obsessed. Or maybe we are “Death” obsessed, like that purple dude, or maybe wktf just likes stories about shiny dudes. Maybe I always wanted to be an astronomer (or an astronaut, we drank an awful lot of “Tang” growing up). Whatever the case, this week is cosmic week, so sit back and enjoy the reviews. Oh yeah, and check these books out on your own when you get the chance, I think you’ll enjoy them.
Infinity Gauntlet
Marvel Comics
Written By: Jim Starlin
Drawn By: George Perez and Ron Lin
Thanos: Total Di$#
The Infinity Gauntlet is a marvel crossover centering on Thanos, the Mad Titan and his third attempt at absolute power (and to win the favor of “Death”, as in “Lady Death”). The first time he made that play he tried to get a hold of the cosmic cube, and ended up seeing it shattered to pieces by Captain Marvel (
Captain Marvel issues 25 – 33). The second time he came up with an intricate plan involving Magnus, Warlock, the Avengers, Captain Marvel and a whole bunch of soul gems (
Avengers Annual 7 and
Marvel Two-In-One Annual 2). Once again, he failed and this time Warlock died, his sacrifice leaving Thanos turned to stone, trapped forever. Or maybe not?
Fast forward a few years to Silver Surfer (2nd series) issues 33 – 38. Thanos gets resurrected by Lady Death. He tricks the Silver Surfer into thinking he’s dead, again, and goes on a quest for the Infinity Gems (detailed in Thano’s Quest issues 1 and 2). The Infinity Gems are objects of great power held by the most powerful beings in the universe, and they consist of the following gems: the soul, the mind, power, time, reality and space. Together they give the holder infinite power, thus making him (or her) a god.
Thanos Quest, and
Silver Surfer (2nd series) #50 are both direct lead-ins to the
Infinity Gauntlet series (but are not included in the tpb). Anyway, Thanos gets the gems, puts them on a gauntlet, thereby becoming a god by his own hand. So what does he want (besides the whole infinite power thing)? To win the hand of the only woman who ever caught his eye, Lady Death.
Infinity Gauntlet opens up with Thanos and his new lackey, Mesphisto (this happened in Silver Surfer, 2nd series #45) conversing over what Thanos should do with his newfound godhood. Flash over to Earth, the Silver Surfer comes crashing through Dr. Strange’s window to warn him of an impending danger, the end of the universe, brought upon by Thanos. Meanwhile, back in space Thanos is trying to win the affections of Lady Death. He tries to show how cruel he is by mangling, yet allowing to live, his supposed granddaughter Nebula. He captures his brother Eros and turns him into a plaything. He makes a grandiose shrine to Lady Death, yet nothing. She seemingly scoffs at his petty attempts. Then Thanos does something completely off the scale, he wills half the universe’s population gone. Deceased. Dead. Flash back to Earth, Spidey’s spider sense is going off the scale. Planes come crashing into the city because the pilots have vanished into thin air. Captain America calls an emergency assembly of the Avengers to find out who is still around. All the while this is happening, Adam Warlock and his companions Pip the Troll and Gamora are being reincarnated and assembled. Warlock eventually makes his way to Dr. Strange to convince him he has a plan to end Thanos’s madness, and must lead all of Earth’s heroes into battle. So it begins.
So what makes
Infinity Gauntlet any different from other big marvel-wide crossovers like
Secret Wars? Well for one thing, half of the heroes are gone from the get go. The only X-man you see is Wolverine. This leaves a lot of airtime to underused characters such as Dr. Strange, the Silver Surfer and Adam Warlock. Also, we get to see popular characters do really cool things, like the Hulk (who is in “smart hulk” aka Dr. Banner mode), Thor (the Eric Masterson Thor) and Captain America (who has one of his most character defining moments, ever). The art is top notch, no one can draw a team book like George Perez, and Ron Lim does a fine fill in job after George bows out of the last couple of issues (Ron Lim naysayers can kiss my a#@).
Infinity Gauntlet is an intricate, galaxy-spanning story that is kept tight enough it never looses itself in the cosmos. It is newly reprinted in tpb form with a cover price of $24.95, or you can try and track down the original issues at your local comic shop or eBay, I can guarantee it will be worth your while.
Wktf’s Review
The Silver Surfer: Judgment Day OGN HC or SC
Marvel Comics
Concept, plot and art: John Buscema
Scripted by: Stan Lee
Per Stan’s intro, the story behind this book is that comics legend and industry giant, the late and great John Buscema, “wanted to create his own Silver Surfer story, and he wanted to illustrate it is own way – using only one illustration to a page!” So, Buscema did just that, plotting and drawing each page and leaving the final scripting chores to Stan. Marvel claims, by making each page a full-size illustration, that they broke the barriers of the graphic novel format with this work. This may well be true, the book was published in 1988, a full four years before Superman #75, the first comic I recall being done all in full page spreads. But that’s hardly the reason to buy this book.
The reason to buy this book is that Buscema who, along with Jack Kirby, created with Stan the most wondrous Surfer stories of the Silver Age, poured his heart and soul into this effort. Here we have a story that spans the cosmos of space as well as the depths of Hell and does it by providing a series of pages nearly each of which is worthy of being full sized framed poster. In fact, I was delighted to see that the very last page of the Surfer soaring through space is the same as the framed poster, signed by John Buscema, I bought at Marvel Islands of Adventure Theme Park that I now have hanging in my game room!
The plot and story hook is great. Who are the most powerful influences in the Surfer’s life? Galactus, of course, who transformed Norrin Radd into the sentinel of the spaceways, and Mephisto, ruler of the stygian depths who’s been bent on acquiring the Surfer’s snow-pure soul since they first met in Silver Surfer #3. Mehpisto manipulates Nova and the Surfer into a conflict that forces Galactus to move against both his former and current herald, ultimately resulting in the Surfer’s surrendering his soul to the prince of evil who also takes Nova’s soul as a bonus. Mephisto’s air-tight plan gives him exactly the result he desired. It was perfect in every way…except one: he did not anticipate having to face the ire of Galactus, himself. The real treat to this story is the pitched battle between these two very different elemental entities that shakes the fabric of space as Galactus seeks to reclaim both his heralds from a most unwilling and angry Mephisto. Rock ‘em Sock ‘m Robots was never like this!
This story is a quick and fun read, despite its being over 60 pages long. I must say the weakest part of it is Stan’s script which is a bit overblown and bombastic at times. But, hey, this is Stan after all. And, when it comes down to it, the real creative hero here is John Buscema who gives us a seminal work that highlights his greatest powers as one of the premier artists of the Marvel Age.