When Thanos Met Gamora In Thanos #1
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
Gamora is leaving a message for someone. In it, she tracks back through her life, starting with when she first met the Mad Titan, Thanos. He was already a warlord back then, commanding an army from Zero Sanctuary. However, his soldiers were becoming restless, as they felt that Thanos was underusing them. He would have missions for them, but they were more slaughters than battles. Of course, they don’t know the truth. Thanos is doing all of this to serve his Lady Death, and he also prepares for war with Magus and his Universal Church of Truth
Thanos #1 takes us back to the earlier days of the Mad Titan’s reign of terror. He is already known across the universe, and his reputation is a deadly one. However, he feels lost and empty, and he fears he is losing his connection to Death.
Much of the comic is told from the point of view of Butcher Squadron, a sort of precursor to the Black Order containing Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, and a few others. Their boredom and restlessness poses a threat to Thanos should he completely lose the faith of his crew.
This all leads to Thanos’ first encounter with Gamora, which isn’t identical but definitely took some cues from the flashback to their first meeting in the Avengers: Infinity War film. It has a nice twist to it that does somewhat alter what we know about this relationship.
Ariel Olivetti’s artwork is downright beautiful. It shows all the subtle expressions in the Mad Titan’s cragged face, and Olivetti also succeeds in giving the world a vivid texture which makes you feel like you could reach out and touch this world. The color work of Antonio Fabela works overtime to add more tone and atmosphere to this menagerie of killers and conquerors.
Thanos #1 offers a promising start to this backstory miniseries about Thanos and Gamora’s relationship. The Mad Titan was at a crossroads even then, and, of course, Gamora had nowhere else to go. It all comes together, making for a compelling tale. This one gets a recommendation. Check it out.
Thanos #1 comes to us from writer Tini Howard, artist Ariel Olivetti, color artist Antonio Fabela, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artist Jeff Dekal, and variant cover artists Olivetti, Gerald Parel, Gerardo Zaffino, Ron Lim with Israel Silva, Alan Weiss, and Joe Rubenstein with Jason Keith.
