The Infinity Gauntlet
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The Infinity Gauntlet The Infinity Gauntlet is an American comic book storyline published by The Infinity Gauntlet Marvel Comics, consisting of an eponymous, six-issue limited series written by Jim Starlin and pencilled by George Pérez and Ron Lim, that was published from July to December 1991, and a number of tie-in books into which the storyline crossed over. Since its initial publication, the series has been reprinted in various formats and editions. The roots of the series date to concepts developed in comics Starlin wrote and drew for Marvel in the 1970s, primarily Thanos and the Infinity Gems. Starlin returned to Marvel in 1990 as the writer for Silver Surfer volume 3 beginning with issue #34, assisted by Lim on pencils. Their storyline developed through the next sixteen issues and the two-issue spin-off limited series The Thanos Quest before concluding in The Infinity Gauntlet. Fan- favorite artist Pérez drew the first three issues and eight pages of issue four before his busy schedule and unhappiness with the story led to him being replaced by Lim. At the start of The Infinity Gauntlet, the alien nihilist Thanos has collected the six Infinity Gems and attached them to his gauntlet. With their combined power, he becomes “like a god” and sets out to win the affection of Mistress Death, the living embodiment of death in the Marvel Universe. When Thanos uses his powers to kill half of the living beings in the universe, Cover to Infinity Gauntlet third edition TPB Adam Warlock leads Earth's remaining heroes against him. After the Infinity (2011). Gauntlet is stolen by Thanos' villainous granddaughter Nebula, Thanos aids Art by George Pérez. the remaining heroes in defeating her. Warlock ultimately obtains the Publication information Infinity Gauntlet and uses its power to undo the death and destruction caused Publisher Marvel Comics by Thanos. Schedule Monthly The series was a top seller for Marvel during publication and was followed Format Limited series by two immediate sequels, The Infinity War (1992) and The Infinity Crusade Genre Superhero (1993). The story's events continued to be referenced in-story for decades. Publication date July – December The Infinity Gauntlet remained popular among fans, warranting multiple 1991 reprint editions and merchandise, with its themes and plot elements adapted into video games, animated cartoons, and film. No. of issues 6 Main Thanos character(s) Contents Creative team Written by Jim Starlin Publication history Background Penciller(s) George Pérez Development Ron Lim Publication Inker(s) Josef Rubinstein Tie-ins Collected editions and reprints Tom Christopher Characters Bruce N Solotoff Synopsis Letterer(s) Jack Morelli Lead up Plot Colorist(s) Max Scheele Epilogue Ian Laughlin Reception Editor(s) Craig Anderson At release Collected editions In later years Legacy in comics 1st Ed TPB ISBN 0871359448 (1992) Merchandise 2nd Ed TPB ISBN 0785123490 Adaptations (2006) Notes References 3rd Ed TPB ISBN 0785156593 (2011) External links HC Edition ISBN 0785145494 (2010) Publication history Omnibus (2014) ISBN 078515468X Deluxe TPB ISBN 1302915959 (2018) Background Jim Starlin introduced Thanos, a main character in The Infinity Gauntlet, in Iron Man #55 in February 1973. He developed the character as a villain in Captain Marvel, a monthly comic he wrote and penciled for Marvel Comics through July 1974.[1] This storyline became known as the "First Thanos War".[2] Starlin left Captain Marvel shortly after finishing the Thanos story.[3] In 1975, Starlin began writing and illustrating Strange Tales, where he took over the story of Adam Warlock and made significant changes to the character and developed the concept of the Infinity Gems.[2] He reintroduced Thanos first as an ally, then as an opponent of the hero in a storyline known as the "Second Thanos War" that ran until 1977.[2][4] Because of their close publications dates, the two Thanos Wars are sometimes considered to be one storyline.[1] Both are considered "cosmic" stories and led to Starlin being known as a "cosmic" writer.[2][5] Starlin quit his regular work for Marvel after concluding the Second Thanos War,[6] but occasionally returned for short projects like The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel and creator-owned work such as the cosmic-themed Dreadstar through the 1980s.[7] He also did high-profile work for DC Comics, such as Batman and Cosmic Odyssey.[5] In a 1990 interview, Starlin described himself as the only writer who had been allowed to "play" with Thanos,[8] although other writers had scripted some tie- in chapters of the First Thanos War.[9][10] George Pérez is a popular artist known for drawing comics featuring large casts. He came to prominence in the 1970s while working on Marvel's The Avengers before leaving the company to work for DC on comics such as New Teen Titans, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Wonder Woman.[11] In 1984, Pérez entered into an exclusive contract with DC, which was later extended an additional year.[12] Development In 1988, Steve Englehart was writing Silver Surfer and one of his storylines involved the Infinity Gems and Mistress Death. He asked to do a follow-up story where Mistress Death uses Thanos to get revenge on her enemies, but editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco did not know who Thanos was. After the character was explained to him, DeFalco liked the idea so much he wanted to save it for a big summer crossover instead. At the time, he indicated he wanted to format it like "The Evolutionary War", a 1988 crossover spread across the annuals of several continuing series instead of being contained in a limited series.[13] Because of his ties to the character, Starlin was invited back to Marvel to write the story.[14] Inspired by the work he had recently read from Wilhelm Reich, Carlos Castaneda, and Roger Zelazny, Starlin wanted to purposely add multiple layers to his characters instead of letting them be one-dimensional.[15] He started writing with the expectation that this would be the last Thanos story "at least for a while" and was midway through the story before deciding to make Thanos an antihero.[16] He began writing Silver Surfer with #34, cover dated February 1990.[7] To organize various plot and character points, Starlin made notes on 3-by-5 cards and pinned them to a large piece of plywood hung on his wall.[16] His first four issues reintroduced Thanos and was seen as the first act of the new Thanos storyline. Initially, Starlin and editor Craig Anderson planned for the story to remain Series writer Jim Starlin in contained within the pages of Silver Surfer. However, Marvel had recently been 2008 purchased and the new owners mandated all intellectual property be exploited to maximum potential.[16][note 1] To capitalize on the excitement surrounding Thanos' return, the start of the second act was spun off into the two-issue limited series The Thanos Quest, released in September–October 1990.[16][18] The plot then continued in Silver Surfer beginning with #44.[18] In Silver Surfer #46, Starlin reintroduced Adam Warlock and his supporting cast. He included these characters because the editors told him a different writer wanted to use them, and they would let him unless Starlin wanted to use them first. Starlin was not impressed by the other writer's work, so he wrote Warlock into his Silver Surfer story.[14][16] Again, Starlin and Anderson planned to conclude the story in the pages of Silver Surfer, but the sales of The Thanos Quest were high enough to warrant another spin-off. After Silver Surfer #50, the plot moved to The Infinity Gauntlet.[16] Because of the time required to write the double-length issues of the limited series and coordinate tie-ins, Starlin had to leave the Silver Surfer series at #52.[19] The editorial staff did not oppose Starlin's plans to kill major characters, which he believes was partly because Anderson did not share many of the details with his peers.[15] They did, however, limit which of "their" characters could have roles in the story. For example, X-Men editor Bob Harras only allowed Cyclops and Wolverine to appear. The rest of the X-Men cast were said to have died off-panel or were otherwise omitted.[20] This hesitancy was due in part to the relative newness of summer crossover events.[16][note 2] Early in 1990, Marvel writer/artist Jim Valentino learned Pérez's contract with DC Comics was going to lapse in August. He contacted Pérez by phone to see if he would ink a cover to Guardians of the Galaxy, a comic Valentino was currently writing and penciling. Pérez agreed, and Valentino told Anderson, who was his editor as well. Anderson passed the information to Starlin, who called Pérez and asked him to pencil Artists George Pérez (left, taken 2012) and Ron Lim (right, taken 2013) The Infinity Gauntlet. After working out the terms with Starlin and Anderson, Pérez agreed to the job. In a 1991 interview, Pérez speculated that he was asked because Silver Surfer and The Thanos Quest penciller Ron Lim was too busy.[12] Although Pérez had been a writer as well as an artist at DC, he agreed to work from full scripts on The Infinity Gauntlet because he was not familiar with the current state of Marvel's characters.[note 3] From the start, Pérez found this to be "a little aggravating, unnerving" because of the limits it placed on him. Starlin gave Pérez a suggested layout with each script to use as a reference, but Pérez ignored them with Starlin's blessing.