The Thanos Imperative [Paperback]

Dan Abnett (Author), Andy Lanning (Author), Miguel Sepulvida (Author), Brad Walker (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 28, 2011 | Series: Thanos

The dangerous cosmic fissure known as The Fault has ripped opened a portal to the Marvel Universe, spilling out the demented forces of a horrific mirror universe where there is no death and life prevails unchecked - the Cancerverse! From this dark realm, the evil Lord Mar-Vell - a twisted version of the legendary Captain Marvel - leads his army to claim our universe for their own! Nova, the Silver Surfer, Quasar, Gladiator and more of the greatest cosmic champions of the Marvel Universal rise to stop them, but when even they cannot stop the forces of the Cancerverse, the fate of the universe lies in the hands of the cosmos' never-say-die underdogs, the Guardians of the Galaxy! Facing a threat like none other, Star-Lord and company cook up an all-or-nothing plan to bring their prisoner, the mad titan Thanos, into the Cancerverse to unleash hell! With everything on the line, the fate of the universe rests in the hands of one of Marvel's greatest villains!

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Marvel; First Edition edition (September 28, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0785149023
• ISBN-13: 978-0785149026
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.5 x 8.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dan Abnett is a novelsit and award-winnig comic book writer. He has written twenty-five novels for the Black Library, including the acclaimed Gaunt's Ghosts series and the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies, and with Mike Lee, the Darkblade cycle. His Black Library novel Horus Rising and his Torchwood novel Border Princes (for the BBC) were both bestsellers. He lives and works in Maidstone, Kent.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Event Comic March 21, 2011

By Patrick Harrington

Format:Hardcover

Realm of Kings went by and the threat of the Cancerverse coming into the main Marvel U wasn't completely taken care of. So now we get an all-out cosmic war to try and take on this threat. Both the Nova and Guardians of the Galaxy series were stopped to make way for this event. One would think that having Nova, the Guardians, Thanos, the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, the Ihhumans, the Silver Surfer, Beta Ray Bill, and every cosmic entity under the sun would be way to much to pack into what comes to 7 issues. DnA do a great job balancing all of the characters and moments to make everything flow and not seem like the story is just bouncing from big battle moment to big battle moment.

I'm not very familiar with Miguel Sepulveda's art but I think he really knocks it out of the park in this mini. There are great scenes on the frontline of forces battling at The Fault where all the big cosmic guys like Galactus and the Celestials are battling. There's another great spread of the Cancerverse unleashing the Galactus Engine on our heroes.

I don't like giving much away, so I haven't said much about the story. But it's the Marvel U vs the Cancerverse with the Guardians, Nova and Thanos going into the Cancerverse to battle the Revengers (Cancerverse Avengers) and other forces in a univrse that has destroyed death. they literally cannot die. So they have to find a way to kill these people or somehow close The Fault and save the universe. There are great space battles, great ground battle, and awesome chracters moments. Not everything goes how you think it might and there is plenty of death to go around. I won't reveal who, but some big people do die.

If you have been following the cosmic books that DnA have been doing the last few years then you're probably going to get this and if you don't, then you're really missing out. This is everything an event comic should be. If Marvel wonders why people don't get into their events, it's because they aren't enough like this one. It's phenominal.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A great cosmic Marvel story even if you don't like the Cancerverse April 27, 2011

By Kurt Conner VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Even when I don't love the story that Abnett and Lanning are telling, I love reading cosmic stories by Abnett and Lanning. This duo is responsible for the renewal of Marvel's cosmic side in recent years, with Annihilation Book 1 (Bk. 1), Annihilation: Conquest Book 1 (Bk. 1), War of Kings, and Realm of Kings. The Thanos Imperative serves as a nice stopping point, wrapping up threads from Realm of Kings in an emotionally satisfying way and earning the characters a little space to breathe.

The basic story is that the climactic explosion in War of Kings opened up an area called The Fault, where the boundary is thin between our universe and one in which death has been defeated (the Cancerverse), and while Realm of Kings explored that world a bit, this volume tells of all-out war between our world and theirs, with the raisin-faced avatar of Death being the only hope of victory. Although many of the battle scenes were more emotionally distant than I've come to expect from Abnett and Lanning, there are some chilling ideas here, like the state of the Cancerverse's Galactus, and the inevitable heroic sacrifices at the end are both consistent with the story's internal logic and emotionally merited - Abnett and Lanning aren't just killing characters to get a body count (Jeph Loeb, I'm looking at you - Ultimatum), they've laid the proper groundwork and chosen deaths that are meaningful and purposeful.

I generally don't find the Cancerverse very interesting (I've never been into Lovecraftian horror, which is the main characteristic of the realm), so this story isn't my favorite from Abnett and Lanning, but it's still terrific, and well worth a read by anyone who has followed this pair's earlier cosmic stories.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The Thanos Imperative June 14, 2011

By Enigma1969

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was a bit disappointed in the climax of this story that started out great in the War of The Kings. This version of Thanos was not the one that Jim Starlin created. Rather a mere shadow of that version. And the story moved an slow pace. The art work was nice but most of the time it was muddy and stiff. Lacking a sense of epic and cosmic appeal.

Not a bad story just not as good or rather great as it come have been.