There was an idea. To bring together a group of remarkable people. To see if we could become something more. So when they needed us, we could fight the battles that they never could.

With Infinity War just mere days away, it's appropriate to look back at the event comic that started it all.
Event comics are just plain fun combining all the characters you love and follow to team up against a greater threat. In this case, that threat is the mad Titan Thanos. His goal? To use the Infinity Gems eradicate the universe all in order to woo Death herself. Problem is that Death has no interest in Thanos whatsoever, this makes him angry and cause massive destruction. All of this gets the attention of the heroes and that's when the war starts! So many great battles here told in excellent artwork. And it even shows how high the stakes are with popular characters dying and the earth in chaos. This is a good book to read, but it's not for anyone that's just beginning in Marvel. Even those who only know the movies will be lost, since characters, relationships, and plot points are pretty different from the movies. Still if you're a fan, this is definitely on the recommended reading for Marvel. Infinity War will be out this week and I'm excited!

Great story. Occasionally dull writing.

Re-read this and felt nostalgic, remembering how much this story blew my little mind when I was a kid. I collected every issue and the waiting was interminable. Reading it again now, I still enjoy it. I like the mix of over-the-top cosmic-isms and basic human weaknesses, and I can forgive everything that requires some degree of forgiveness, especially in light of the incredible ambition of much of the story.

I liked this better than Watchmen. That's saying something. One of the best.

The motivation for Thanos is literally a teenage-themed guy-wants-to-impress-girl. Maybe this appealed to the primarily male, teenage audience in the early 1990s or maybe rejection by the girl was the limit of existential dread immediately following the end of the Cold War. There isn't much drama because we're repeatedly reminded how invincible Thanos has become followed by one scene after another of Thanos demonstrating invincibility in the face of increasingly powerful forces. Any advantage the united forces against Thanos possess is granted because Thanos deliberately weakens himself to make the event more challenging and (again) impress the girl.

Spoiler

The only reason Thanos loses the gauntlet is because, according to Adam Warlock, he didn't believe he deserved to have it anyway. So the defeat of Thanos was inevitable.

The lead-in to the big battle is interesting. We see Thanos wipe out half the population of the Universe, leaving humanity in particular shaken and horrified because they have no idea what precluded the event. We see a brief struggle for power over who will lead the counterattack. We see the inkling of a masterful plan by Adam Warlock through his insistence that he requires the participation of certain players (though this is thunderously anticlimactic because no one really plays a significant role).

The battle itself is repetitive. The aftermath is... well, it certainly doesn't resolve the problem of there being a single entity with the power to destroy the universe with a snap of its fingers. That power just changes hands and we're expected to trust it. Ehhhhhhh. No. Destroy the Gauntlet and disperse the stones, folks.

If you want to read this for a portion of the source material, jump right in. If you're looking for a bit more drama and character development that doesn't lean on 40 years of preceding comic books, go see the movie.

I am confused by the positive reviews. The art is fantastic -- yes, sure, lots of complex compositions and dynamic panels. But, the story... is there even a story? It is: 1) boy gets ultimate power, 2) boy talks about having ultimate power, 3) repeat 2 again and again and again, 4) heroes et al fail to wrest ultimate power from boy, 5) girl wrests ultimate power ! !, 6) mysterious figure wrests ultimate power, 7) the end.

There just isn't too much of a plot here, with fighting mixed in, and then many, many HUGE EXPLOSIONS. The fanboy cosmic philosophy is not really more than catchphrases.

I am comics fan; I just didn't think there was much in the way of content here.

I likd the story even if it is redundant especially when they mention for the 60th time that thanos can not be defeated and they still manage to defeat him. The fact that nebula can pick up the gauntlet but can’t comprehend its powers is still mindblowing to me.I mean that’s what comics are right?
There was plenty characters that were unknown at least for me, i liked the idea of the observer and i adored adam warlock (wish he was in the movies tbh). Thanos was very philosophical concerning the extend of his powers and the universe itself.
The art in itself is not my cup of tea bc i would define it as "old" and some of the bubbles were hard to decipher bc there was no contrast btw the bubbles and the strips.

concerning the adaptation of the comic, i really liked the fact that they kept Thanos living a normal life in a foreign planet, and his motivations are way better in the films tbh. the snaps gave me chills lol

The best marvel story there is..

It was slow starting and would have rated 2 stars if it remained that way but a very strong conclusion pulled it up to 3 or 3 and a half stars.

The Infinity Gauntlet: The Musical

Spoiler

Thanos man, Thanos man
Thanos man hates Warlock man
They have a fight, Thanos wins
Thanos man....

Nebula man, Nebula man,
Nebula man hates Thanos man
They have a fight, Nebula wins
Nebula man...

Warlock man, Warlock man...

Which is to say, any book that can be summed up by substituting the names in a They Might Be Giants song isn't as compelling as everyone seems to think it is.