I'm a big fan of Thanos since way back. From his days fighting the late great Mar-vell, to his on-again-off-again bromance with Adam Warlock, to his philosophical tussles with the Silver Surfer and most especially that time he became omnipotent, killed half the universe to impress his girlfriend and then had to throw down with...pretty much everybody. Not many other characters come with a resume quite as awesome as that one.
It's pretty much a standing rule here at YouAreComic, put ol' Purple Puss in a book and we'll be buying it. So when Marvel gave the big guy his own series a few years back, done by such luminaries as Marvel's cosmic godfather Jim Starlin and our most beloved West Coast Avengers artist Al Milgrom, you better believe we were all over that!
Jim and Al didn't let us down, it was an awesome series, but I've got to say re-reading it recently Thanos #3 has got to be my favorite.
I mean you knew it was going to be good when you crack open the book and on the very first page you are treated to the veritable cosmic-comic-book-eye-candy that is....Sad Galactus:
All together now...Awwwwww!
It seems that underneath that awesome purple hat and unimaginable cosmic power beats the heart of a sad and lonely man. He never wanted to be the almighty 'Devourer Of Worlds' he was just a kid named Galan from the old country (the old country being the universe that existed prior to the big bang that created our own) when destiny, aided and abetted by Stan & Jack, came a-calling. It's not his fault that being reshaped into a giant, purple-skirted, conceptual, cosmic being gives him the munchies.
Galactus's sour mood is not improved when Thanos contacts him telepathically with the help of everyone's favorite bald, lesbian, cosmic hanger-on Moondragon. I would go so far as to say that he is dragged deeper into the doldrums when Thanos lures him onto the psionic plane and tries to murder him by becoming a giant cosmic octopus:
C'mon Glaccy, give me a hug!
That my comic-booking friends is awesome. Jim Starlin at his best (as always). That man doesn't know how to write a bad cosmically based comic-book.
The fun doesn't stop there though. Unsurprisingly Galactus shrugs of Thanos's mind tentacles as easy as pie, and understandably a little ticked off, grows to gargantuan proportions and tries to squish Thanos into sticky purple paste with one giant telepathic fist!
That's a killer visual. Al Milgrom is really firing on all cylinders throughout the issue but I think on that one panel in particular he hit it right the hell out of the park.
It's really a great issue that not only sets us up for a future confrontation between Thanos, the Big G and even bigger, even scarier cosmic entity. It also treats us to appearences by other Infinity Watch alumni Adam Warlock and Pip the Troll. I miss reading about those guys every month!
Especially Pip the Troll, I love that little guy. Any time he shows up it's like reading about a shrunken, shifty, drunk, cosmic Dean Stockwell. Know what I mean? Anybody? No? Nobody?
Okay then....so....um...Thanos, it's good stuff. You should go buy it.
See ya.
