Avengers vs. Thanos

This is a fun book, collecting all of Thanos' original run of stories (pre- resurrection ), mostly written by his original creator, Jim Stalin. Be warned, however, that they are very, very old, and it shows. This was written during a time when the target audience for comics were children, who wouldn't have had the disposable income to purchase every consecutive issue of their favourite series, or every tie-in issue of this early example of a Marvel "crossover" event. Likewise, this was way before the advent of recap pages and TPB collections of complete story arcs. As such, in-story recaps abound, with characters going out of their way to explain the same things over and over again in every single issue. The dialogue too, while awesome in a purely nostalgic/retro kind of way, is extremely overblown and melodramatic. The fact that stories weren't written to eventually be collected, as comic book story arcs almost always are now, also means that this is a very disjointed read, where plot threads from one title are never resolved, and another series begins in the middle of a story that seems totally unrelated. These may seem like minor quibbles to some, especially those who are used to the style of old comics, but many people will be drawn to this book from seeing the post-credits sequence of `Avengers Assemble', or in the run-up to the next Avengers movie, and those people may not quite be prepared for what this book actually is. Be warned!That said, if you can get through the often tedious dialogue, and abundance of repetition, you'll find that this is good dumb fun, with some absolutely stunning, weird and sometimes almost psychedelic artwork from the likes of comics legend, Jim Stalin. The story is also surprisingly deep and philosophical for such an old comic (relatively so, at least), which was basically, in those days, disposable children's reading. My only other problem (and this one really is a "minor quibble") is that this isn't really an Avengers book, despite the title. The main protagonist is mostly Captain Marvel, followed by Adam Warlock, and neither of these two were ever official Avengers. The Avengers themselves only star in one or two issues. The title, `The Avengers vs. Thanos', was blatantly used to lure fans of the movie.In the end, I was conflicted as to whether I should rate this book a three or a four. As an item of curious retro nostalgia, it's pretty awesome, and excellent value for money as it contains high quality reprints of many rare and important (in the Marvel continuity) comics. The incredible art in itself is almost enough to make me want to give it a four. But, considering that this book was basically put together to lure fans of the movies to the comics, I have to be pragmatic and stand it up to today's standards. And, on that note, I yawned a lot, I struggled to get through many pages, and the age is crystal clear for anyone to see, so I have to give it a three. But it's still great fun.

Jim Starlin's marvelous, over four decades long Thanos/Warlock/Infinity saga begins here, with Captain Marvel.To fully understand this magnificent cosmic-proge-scifi-superhero-space-opera saga, here's the reading order:1973-1976:- Captain Marvel #25-34 (collected in Captain Marvel by Jim Stalin: The Complete Collection; also in Avenger versus Thanos)- Marvel Team Up #55 & Avengers Annual #7 & Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 & Warlock #9-15 (all collected in Marvel Masterworks: Warlock 2; also Warlock by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection)1982:- Death of Captain Marvel1990-1994:- Silver Surfer #34-38 (collected in Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos)- Thanos Quest #1-2 (also in Silver Surfer: Rebirth of Thanos)- Silver Surfer #44-50 (collected in Infinity Gauntlet Omnibus, and in Silver Surfer Epic Collection: Thanos Quest)- Infinity Gauntlet- Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1-6- Infinity War + Warlock and the Infinity Watch #7-10- Warlock and the Infinity Watch #11-16- Silver Surfer Homecoming- The Silver Surfer Warlock: Resurrection #1-4- Warlock and the Infinity Watch #17- Infinity Crusade + Warlock and the Infinity Watch #18-22 + Warlock Chronichles #1-5- Warlock and the Infinity Watch #23-31- Warlock Chronichles #6-8(A little pause here for summa summarum: The Infinity Watch Vol. 1 (TPB) collects Warlock and the Infity Watch #1-22. The Infinity Watch Vol.2 (TPB) collects WatIW #26-42 and Warlock Chronicles #6. Missing issues of #23-25, and Warlock Chronichles #6-8, are part of Thor: Blood and Thunder saga, collected in it's own TPB)2002-2004:- Infinity Abyss- Marvel Universe - The End- Thanos #1-6 (collected in Thanos Redemption)2014-:- Thanos Annual #1- Thanos vs. Hulk- Thanos: The Infinity Revelation- Thanos: The Infinity Relativity- The Infinity Entity #1-4 (TBP collects also Thanos Annual #1)- Thanos: The Infinity Finale- Thanos: The Infinity Siblins- Thanos: The Infinity Conflict- Thanos: The Infinity Ending

Brilliant book. Highly recommend it. Love the Adam warlock story and captain Mar-vell story. Thanos is brilliant in this. Of to read the next installment and on to infinity stones.

Missed some of these stories first time round, so ncie to have in one sturdy volume.This (to my mind ) was Marvel's most creative period, and some of the stories, concepts, Art wasbrilliant !! Much better then most of the far currently being served up.This is Jim Stalin (finding his feet ) in writing grand sweeping cosmicosyssey's, some of it is dated and later stories have more polish & style, this is still a great ride !!Can reccomend to anyone who wants to get a head start on Avengers 2, where it seems THANOS is set to takecentre stage.

Starlin is astonishingly inventive, fitting time-travel, doppelgangers, classic mythology, and insane ethical quandaries in asingle story.jIm Starlin as dynamic eye for composing a scene and a softer, more organic approach to figures, with realistic faces whitin psycadelic space backgrounds.this is a great collection of the early appearances of Thanos and his first confrontations with Captain Marvel, Adam Warlockand the Avengers. An epic story with great complexity, and great art to follow. Unmissible.

My son loves it

Essential reading for all Avengers/Thanos fans! This trade is a great collection of silver age stories.

Probably quite ground-breaking in its time, I must admit I got bored before I got to the end of this thick collection. Storyline and dialogue frequently veers the wrong side of cheese, there are still a few interesting ideas in it.