Thanos, possibly the most evil individual in the Marvel Universe, is back…and he’s out for vengeance on all who would oppose him. Unfortunately for the Mad Titan, he’s also heading for an unexpected reckoning…with his family. Take an ongoing walk on the dark side of the galaxy, following the deadly trail of destruction left in the wake of…THANOS!

The last I saw Thanos he was being fought against in Civil War II and I thought he was jailed after that. Maybe I’m wrong?

The comic is broken up into two parts. We get to see a gathering in some different ways, the first of the world of Thanos and the other is those who will rise up against him.

Writer Jeff Lemire lays out the tale in an almost poetic way using a lot of captions to catch new readers up on what’s going on in the world of Thanos and he does it in such a way that new readers should be able to catch up with everything. We dive into the world of the Black Order and see what they’ve been up to while Thanos does his thing. And of course that just means the return of Thanos who quickly reasserts himself as the badass that he is.

Then there’s the other half of the story, the folks that will be clashing with him. The less I say the better but for folks who know Thanos’ story, none of it is a surprise. But, one character in particular is introduced in a way that shows off his arrogance and really puts things out there.

What is a surprise is who is helping that ring leader and what we discover at the end of the comic. That one I’ll leave for folks but it has me really interested in seeing what comes next. How Lemire weaves everything together is great and it all flows really well. There’s a classic Marvel spacer opera feel to it, and out of everything that has debuted with Marvel NOW! this really stands out and there’s been solid series released so far.

Mike Deodato helps that with some fantastic art that has a look to it that feels like something you’d see in a sci-fi film. Things aren’t clean and polished, there’s a slight dirt about it. It just looks solid and Thanos especially comes off as imposing and really powerful compared to who he goes up against.

Thanos is a force of nature who can tear through his opponents with ease and we see here his leadership in quite a few ways as he reasserts his dominance. It’s a solid debut and I can’t wait for the next issue.

Story: Jeff Lemire Art: Mike Deodato
Story: 8.65 Art: 8.65 Overall: 8.65 Recommendation: Buy

Marvel provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review