The Infinity Gauntlet is the major event book Thanos is known for, so naturally with Infinity War coming out in three weeks, this was a must read comic to understand Thanos as a character. The story, written by Jim Starlin and pencilled by George Pérez and Ron Lim, was first serialized as a six-issue limited series from July to December 1991 and ties in Thanos' quest for the infinity gems that dates to the 1970s. It's obviously a tad different than the upcoming Infinity War film. And although the film does draw inspiration from "The Infinity Gauntlet" comic, it seems it may focus more on Jonathan Hickman's 2013 "Infinity" storyline.

Infinity Gauntlet mainly centers on Thanos' quest to woo Mistress Death by impressing her with his nihilistic cosmic powers. In addition to the Avengers, there are a lot more players that I wasn't really familiar with including Adam Warlock (who plays a huge role in the comic), Eros (aka Star Fox) and Eternity. Reading this will give you a better handle on the neat nods featured in the upcoming Infinity War movie, like how Gamora mentions Thanos could "wipe out half of existence just by snapping his fingers." In the comic, Thanos does just that in the opening chapter. That's pretty wild and horrific.

The Good: The storyline is epic. It was fun to have some of my favorite Avengers together. Infinity Gauntlet gives us a good understanding of just how powerful Thanos is and how dangerous the infinity gems are. The artwork is insane. The colors are eye-popping (colorists Max Scheele and Ian Laughlin must have had a blast).

The Bad: Story telling feels a bit dated. Also, given this is a cosmic event, I wanted a little more heart to the story line but it was interesting seeing Thanos so sadly and pathetically trying to woo Mistress Death (she is really hard to please). I think the narration felt flat at times and often, it comes off as a bit too heady. Still, this is a classic for a reason. And I do recommend it for fans of the MCU. ( )

This story is truly ridiculous but fun to read nonetheless. It's interesting seeing which parts they took for Avengers: Infinity War and which they decided not to keep. ( )

De seneste ti år er der kommet en jævn strøm af Marvel film, der både kan ses hver for sig og som en del af et samlet univers i stadig udvikling. På den måde afspejler filmene tegneserierne - de risikerer i parentes bemærket også at blive fanget i den samme fælde med alt for mange indforståede krydsreferencer – som der er kommet en fornyet interesse for. I Danmark er Fahrenheit og Faraos Cigarer gået sammen om en række nyudgivelser, og en af de første er Jim Starlins The Infinity Gauntlet fra 1991, der var en kraftig inspirationskilde for de to seneste Avengers-film.

Det er den gale titan Thanos, som Starlin selv opfandt tilbage i 1970’erne, der sætter gang i handlingen. Forud for albummet har han haft held til at samle de seks evighedssten og placere dem i den kosmiske handske, der har givet bogen sit navn. Thanos er blevet bragt tilbage til livet af Death, der er Marvels personificering af døden, og han prøver desperat at vinde hendes kærlighed og respekt. Desværre imponerer det hende ikke, at han udsletter halvdelen af alt liv i universet med et fingerknips.

På jorden ankommer Silver Surfer og lidt efter Adam Warlock. Den sidste har en plan for at besejre Thanos, men det kræver, at han mobiliserer både helte og skurke til en desperat offensiv. Ikke nok med det, han påkalder også personificeringerne af andre kosmiske kræfter som Den Evige, der udtrykker universets bærende principper, Orden og Kaos, Kronos, Love og Hate osv. Selv Galaktus indrulleres i kampen mod Thanos, der har fået guddommelige kræfter og derfor udgør en trussel mod hele universet.

Det er svært ikke at sammenligne filmen og bogen, og den sammenligning falder ud til filmens fordel. Historien er strammere fortalt, og det hænger meget sammen med Thanosfiguren, der i filmen er en gal bæredygtighedsaktivist. Det er langt ude, men fungerer som præmis for figuren, mens Starlin igen og igen skriver, at Thanos er blevet en gud uden at vise det. Hans angivelige overlegenhed står i skarp kontrast til hans jamren over Deaths afvisning og det forhold at Warlock får ham udmanøvreret til sidst. Filmen holder sig også klogeligt fra at bruge de personificerede kosmiske principper, der mere fremstår som et resultat af Marvels storhedsvanvid end som interessante karakterer.

Når det er sagt, så er der alligevel meget godt at hente i serien. George Perez og Ron Lim har leveret lækre tegninger, og efterhånden som Warlocks plan folder sig ud, bliver historien mere og mere interessant. ( )

About the first 850ish pages followed the main story straight thru starting with the Silver Surfer prologue issues, Thanos rising mini-series, and then the Infinity Gauntlet issues. Very well done and I love the way these are placed together so well. Frequently when you have an even and the tie ins are added to a collection the writer and artist are different than the main event so the pacing and feel of their contribution doesn't fit well. Here with Starlin writing almost all of these issues Marvel did a great job of avoiding that problem.

Definitely came away feeling like I have a much better understanding of Thanos and impressed with some of the best writing of the Silver Surfer I've seen. George Perez puts some of his best art work I've seen into the Infinity Gauntlet story. And, as one would expect, it looks great on the larger pages of the omnibus format.

The last few hundred pages contained some one shots where were good and then some aftermath issues which were good or mediocre. The Spider-man one shot was surprisingly good IMHO.

Overall very well done and recommended. A must read if you are into the cosmic Marvel universe. Thank you Marvel for numbering the pages. ( )