I thought I might as well start with what some consider one of Marvel’s best events. The Infinity Gauntlet was released in 1991. I actually didn’t get around to reading this until 2008, I believe. Columbia, TN actually had a comic shop for a bit and I ended up getting the six-issue series there. Unfortunately, that comic shop isn’t around anymore. I think the owners got tired of moving from place to place. This event has also been felt in other media like video games, animated series, and most recently, the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Prelude

Infinity Gauntlet comes from the mind of writer, Jim Starlin. He made a name for himself in the 70’s with the cosmic side of Marvel. He revamped characters like Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) and Adam Warlock. He also created the character who’s also the villain for this event: Thanos, the Mad Titan. He was a major threat to the Marvel Universe in the 70’s until he was defeated and killed by Adam Warlock himself. This was back when most of these guys actually stayed dead. Starlin had an on-off relationship with Marvel at the time, so he ended up doing things with DC for most of the 80’s. If you’re wondering, he’s the guy who created Mongul (kind of a ripoff of Thanos and Darkseid), wrote Batman: The Cult, and killed off Jason Todd.

Silver Surfer #35-50 and The Thanos Quest were some good reads.

In the early 90’s, Starlin returned to Marvel to work on Silver Surfer. He also revitalized the characters he put a stamp on like Thanos, Adam Warlock, Drax the Destroyer (he created him too), and others. His time on Silver Surfer is pretty much a prelude to the event itself. In Starlin’s run on the series, Mistress Death brings Thanos back from the dead so he can wipe out half the life in the universe. Thanos then gets his own mini-series called The Thanos Quest where he finds all of the soul gems which get renamed to the Infinity Gems (or Stones in the MCU). He then attaches them to his Gauntlet and starts to screw around with Surfer and some of the other cosmic members.

The series was released between July and December of 1991. Of course, Starlin wrote the whole series. It ended up having two pencillers, though. George Perez was meant to draw the whole event, but he had to bow out at #4. Ron Lim, who was already doing artwork for Starlin on Silver Surfer, came in to do the rest of the series. The inkers were Josef Rubinstein, Tom Christopher, and Bruce Solotoff. Colors were handled by Max Scheele and Ian Laughlin and the lettering was done by Jack Morelli. Finally, the main series was edited by Craig Anderson. So, what does a purple dude need to do in order to get some lovin’?  Apparently, destroy the whole universe!

The Main Event

So, what is he trying to say there?

We start out with Thanos playing with the new power he’s gained. He then tries to court Mistress Death with all sorts of stuff from creating statues to Having Nebula (Thanos’s supposed granddaughter) trapped in an eternal state of torture. Alas, Death isn’t pleased. Meanwhile, the Silver Surfer makes it to Earth and informs Doctor Strange about everything Thanos has done. Back at Thanos’s new fortress, Mephisto (who’s decided to cozy up to the new god that is Thanos) reminds Thanos that he hasn’t completed Death’s mission: wiping out half the universe. Thanos finally carries out Death’s wishes and wipes out half the universe with a single snap.

The repercussions are felt all over the universe. Heroes and villains are missing on Earth, disasters are popping up everywhere, and Intergalactic wars are brewing. Imagine the Left Behind series only without Kirk Cameron or Nicholas Cage. Thanos also teleports his brother, Eros (Starfox) from Titan to screw with him a bit. He tries to woo Death more, but it’s apparent that she’s just not into him. Thanos gets so angry that he lets out a wave of destructive energy throughout the universe. It messes up Earth so much that it causes a new Ice Age.

Luckily, there is some hope. Adam Warlock, as well as Pip the Troll and Gamora the Assassin, return from the Soul World (located in the Soul Gem, it’s kinda weird) and take new bodies. Warlock contacts Dr. Strange and gets him to assemble what’s left of Earth’s heroes. He, Surfer, and Strange then go into the cosmos and meet with the powerful cosmic characters like Galactus, Eternity, The Living Tribunal, and some Celestials. They ain’t happy about Thanos’s new godhood either, so they make plans to take him down.

Warlock coordinates an attack on Thanos’s fortress with Earth’s heroes going in first. His pretty messed-up plan is to use them as bait so Thanos can screw up. Unfortunately, The fight goes how you would think would go with Thanos trouncing them. Most of Earth’s heroes are displaced in time, transported elsewhere, or just killed. Thanos wasn’t even using a fifth of his power when he did this. Next, the cosmic characters attack and they almost destroy everything with their blows. Thanos uses the full force of the gauntlet and is still able to take them down. He then decides that he’ll take the place of Eternity who’s basically the living embodiment of the universe… weird. When Thanos leaves his body for this process, Nebula snatches the glove off him and uses it to heal herself.

While Thanos not having the glove is good, Nebula is as about as nutty as he is. She tries to kill Thanos, but he ends up getting saved by Warlock of all people. Adam is somehow able to sway Thanos into joining what’s left of their squad (Surfer, Strange, Dr. Doom, Drax, Firelord, Thor, and the Hulk). Warlock’s squad return to Thanos’s fortress and try to get the gauntlet away from Nebula. They’re able to talk her into rewinding time so Thanos’s destruction never happened. This also turns her back into a weird corpse, but she’s still able to have control of the gauntlet. Luckily, Warlock used that time to go back into the Soul Gem and wrestle control away from Nebula. In the end, it’s Warlock who ends up with the power. Thanos supposedly dies via suicide, but we find out he eventually becomes a farmer at the end of the story. While the universe is saved, Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer do wonder what Warlock himself would do with the gauntlet.

The Tie-Ins

There weren’t too many tie-ins to the event. If this came out these days, something tells me every book would somehow be pulled into the event. Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, Sleepwalker, Quasar, Cloak and Dagger, and The Incredible Hulk were the only ones that tied into the event. There was a Spider-Man issue that has Spidey interact with Thanos for some reason, but it plays no role into the event itself.

• Silver Surfer #51-59 – Since Surfer (can I call him that?) was a major player in the event, a lot of his issues centered on the event itself. It was all pretty good for the most part. We got to see how the disappearances affected the Kree Empire, for example. We also got a couple of two-parters that really got into Surfer’s head. Ron Marz had taken up writing chores after Starlin left the book and he was doing it good. I can see why Marz was later chosen to helm Green Lantern.
• Doctor Strange #31-36 – Dr. Strange’s issues also tied right into the event since he too was a major player. His issues also answered questions on how some of the surviving heroes ended up being in the last battle. #36, which was an epilogue, actually had him go up against Warlock himself since Warlock considered doing some big things with the Gauntlet. Unfortunately, some of it is also not that great to read. Some of the artwork isn’t that good either. They’re not bad, but they’re not that good either. Also, I’m not a big fan of Strange, so it may just be me.
• The Incredible Hulk #383-385 – These three sort of tied into the event. They basically showed what Hulk was up to before, during, and after the event. He had to go up against the Abomination and also had to face some weird mutant who was using the chaos in New York to spark even more trouble. They were pretty entertaining reads. You can rarely go wrong with Peter David especially at this point. Some stuff here doesn’t exactly match up with the main series, so I have to dock them down a grade for that.
• Quasar #26-27 – This one kind of ties into the event.  We basically see what happened before the snap. We do see Surfer and Warlock in a page but that’s about it. It mostly deals with Quasar going to Enos’s funeral and facing Thanos. Thanos uses the gauntlet to create former Quasars… I think. I wasn’t a fan of this character nor the tie-in, so I just skimmed through them. Moondragon looked hot, though!
• Cloak and Dagger #18 – This was one I couldn’t find on Marvel Unlimited. From what I can gather, it involves the three teaming up with Ghost Rider or something. Mephisto’s also involved.
• Sleepwalker #7 – Finally, here’s another one I couldn’t find on MU. From a review I found on the issue, I wasn’t missing much. Who the heck is Sleepwalker, anyway?

Review/Conclusion

So, what do I think of  The Infinity Gauntlet? I can see why someone wanted to make a movie out of this story. Reading it now, it’s still one of my favorite Marvel events. I’m not sure if it’s up there with the best comic events, but it could be. Starlin takes the Marvel Universe and screws with it a little bit. He couldn’t do too much, but he did enough. When we get to the disappearances, it really gets good. When I read this way back when, I hadn’t had any knowledge on Adam Warlock or any of the other cosmic heroes. Seeing how it all fits together is cool. Heck, seeing beloved heroes and cosmic beings being torn a new one is still pretty shocking to see. I know folk had to have been surprised when this was coming out.

The writing was pretty good. You get to see why Thanos is called “The Mad Titan” here. Each issue brought more and more craziness out of him, and it wasn’t like he wasn’t messed up beforehand either. I also liked the return of Adam Warlock. If you hadn’t kept up with the character, Warlock wasn’t much of a saint either, so seeing him scheme and plan on besting Thanos was cool. At this point, I haven’t read more of what happens afterwards, but I know it’s probably going to be crazy for Gold Boy.

Even though they aren’t the main stars of this event, Earth’s heroes get a good showing here. You get to see them go up against something they have no chance of beating. Most of them get a good showing like Strange, Surfer, Warlock (he’s technically an Earth hero) and Hulk. Captain America also has one of his best moments here when he’s the last man standing against Thanos’s destruction. It’s just an awesome moment for him and one I hope we see in Avengers: Endgame.

The artwork is good. That’s really all I can say about it. George Perez and Ron Lim turned in some stellar work. Even though their styles are a little different, they fit well together. The colors and inks helped out there. It also helped that Starlin had a hand in how the art would go. Of the two, though, I kind of thought Lim was the better artist here. That’s not a knock on Perez who had great artwork here, but I did feel that Lim had a better handle with Starlin himself. Heck, even Perez said something similar to this in an interview.

I actually don’t have any egregious things to say about the event as a whole. I do have small qualms and nitpicks, though. Some of the tie-ins weren’t all that great like Quasar and some of Doctor Strange. While the main series is pretty good, it can get a little weird at times. That’s just Starlin for ya especially when he’s playing with these characters. Other than those things and even smaller nitpicks, this is a good event.

I don’t do ratings on my other blog, but I’ll change that up here. Infinity Gauntlet as a whole gets a 4.5/5 from me. The main series is almost flawless while the tie-ins are good for the most part. I definitely recommend this event. If you’re curious, also check out what came before with these characters. Well, that’s all I got for this one. Next time, I may do the sequel, Infinity War, or just something else. Until then, Peace, God Bless, and if your crush doesn’t like you, just look for someone else.

The Infinity Gauntlet: 4.5 out of 5 Gauntlets