The best analysis of Jim Starlin's Thanos.
ShapiroKeatsDarkMage
Member Posts: 2,428
It's a few years old, but i think it's a Worth read for Marvel Cosmic fans and Thanos fans, or for people who wants to know the character.
http://whenwillthehurtingstop.blogspot.it/2013/04/sir-thanos-rising-1-marvel-made-mistake.html
Really well written, professional quality article. I agree with his thoughts on Thanos, especially the differences between the character and DC's Darkseid(anyone who labels Thanos as a Darkseid wannabe has zero familiarity with the character and Jim Starlin's stories).
However, i think theres some fault on what he thinks how Cosmic comics should be.
I disagree. Things like Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5 and a bunch of other sci-fi stories shows that cosmic stories can be done with the tropes of action-packed pulp adventure stories, dramatic war stories and political intrigue stories tweaked with a outer space setting.
Heck, Silver Surfer stories can be compared to tv shows of the ''walking the earth'' genre like ''Kung Fu'', ''Fist of the Northstar'', ''The Pretender'' and, uh, ''Xavier Renegade Angel''.
Even many of Kirby comics were this same grade of re-hash. Sure they’re steeped in altered reality, the fantastic and over-the top visuals, but there firmly based on a kid-friendly smattering of older tales, mundane tales of other media, or like the author of the article himself said; mythology. Frankly, we have modern mythology, and the Silmarillion with Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian, or Seven Samurai are just as much a part of that as Camelot, Ivanhoe, Oedipus or Icarus.
Unfortunately, nearly all of the stuff we see in comics is unoriginal and borrowed from somewhere. Everything has an eye test. Doing a version of Game of Thrones or Saving Private Ryan in space works if its done right. To me, I call it cosmic more on a subjective feel. Honestly, just being bizarre and “Kirby” eque is almost an acceptable descriptive adjective on its own that needs little dissection. (or vivisection in Thanos case) For the most part, Cosmic is about space and adventure.
However, the core message of the article, that Thanos is supposed to be more epic and nuanced than being ''Jeffrey Dahmer in space'' is spot on. Thanos deserves better and the author really understands the character
I had similar complains when i read Thanos Rising. Marvel editors wants this simplistic re-invention of characters that only manage to disrespect the classic stories and the authors.
I see it all the time with things like Star-Lord being written as ''Han Solo meets X'' or Adam Warlock being ''Gandalf meets X''. They want everything simple. Thanos has only gotten worse until this point. Even since Aaron wrote him he’s been even more the generic “mustache twirling villain in the black hat” in comics, cartoons and videogames, more than even those ''My Friend Dahmer'' tropes. I’ll be honest, the current Thanos solo book by Lemire hasn’t showed enough yet on that front…the series has a solid plot and good showings from Thane and his companions, but the true characterization of the big guy himself is mostly still a re-hash of when Hickman was writing him.
I wonder what the author of the article thinks of the possibility of Adam Warlock being in the MCU. Personally i'm still unsure what to think about it. The only thing i can do is wait and see.
http://whenwillthehurtingstop.blogspot.it/2013/04/sir-thanos-rising-1-marvel-made-mistake.html
Really well written, professional quality article. I agree with his thoughts on Thanos, especially the differences between the character and DC's Darkseid(anyone who labels Thanos as a Darkseid wannabe has zero familiarity with the character and Jim Starlin's stories).
However, i think theres some fault on what he thinks how Cosmic comics should be.
“That’s what cosmic is all about. Cosmic isn’t about telling crime stories or action stories or thrillers in an exotic setting. Cosmic is about heightened reality, a form of storytelling defined by the absence of familiar referents, riven with symbolism, and steeped in fanciful mythology.”
I disagree. Things like Star Wars, Star Trek, Babylon 5 and a bunch of other sci-fi stories shows that cosmic stories can be done with the tropes of action-packed pulp adventure stories, dramatic war stories and political intrigue stories tweaked with a outer space setting.
Heck, Silver Surfer stories can be compared to tv shows of the ''walking the earth'' genre like ''Kung Fu'', ''Fist of the Northstar'', ''The Pretender'' and, uh, ''Xavier Renegade Angel''.
Even many of Kirby comics were this same grade of re-hash. Sure they’re steeped in altered reality, the fantastic and over-the top visuals, but there firmly based on a kid-friendly smattering of older tales, mundane tales of other media, or like the author of the article himself said; mythology. Frankly, we have modern mythology, and the Silmarillion with Lord of the Rings, Conan the Barbarian, or Seven Samurai are just as much a part of that as Camelot, Ivanhoe, Oedipus or Icarus.
Unfortunately, nearly all of the stuff we see in comics is unoriginal and borrowed from somewhere. Everything has an eye test. Doing a version of Game of Thrones or Saving Private Ryan in space works if its done right. To me, I call it cosmic more on a subjective feel. Honestly, just being bizarre and “Kirby” eque is almost an acceptable descriptive adjective on its own that needs little dissection. (or vivisection in Thanos case
) For the most part, Cosmic is about space and adventure.However, the core message of the article, that Thanos is supposed to be more epic and nuanced than being ''Jeffrey Dahmer in space'' is spot on. Thanos deserves better and the author really understands the character
I had similar complains when i read Thanos Rising. Marvel editors wants this simplistic re-invention of characters that only manage to disrespect the classic stories and the authors.
I see it all the time with things like Star-Lord being written as ''Han Solo meets X'' or Adam Warlock being ''Gandalf meets X''. They want everything simple. Thanos has only gotten worse until this point. Even since Aaron wrote him he’s been even more the generic “mustache twirling villain in the black hat” in comics, cartoons and videogames, more than even those ''My Friend Dahmer'' tropes. I’ll be honest, the current Thanos solo book by Lemire hasn’t showed enough yet on that front…the series has a solid plot and good showings from Thane and his companions, but the true characterization of the big guy himself is mostly still a re-hash of when Hickman was writing him.
I wonder what the author of the article thinks of the possibility of Adam Warlock being in the MCU. Personally i'm still unsure what to think about it. The only thing i can do is wait and see.
Post edited by ShapiroKeatsDarkMage on
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Comments
Dude is probably gonna bè trashtalked by Spider-Man and Star-Lord, outsmarted by Tony(to show again that he's a good guy and not the biggest douchebag of the mcu) and punked into the ground by Cap and Hulk with the help of a deus ex machina. Also he Will bè nerfed like Ultron and he Will not learn a lesson and become a farmer
My assumption was that setting up Thanos and the infinity war as the end of this meta-cycle was a chance to remake the marvel cinematic universe, much like the DC Crisis event, and recast everyone a decade or two younger. Infinity war would be key to rejuvenating the franchise(s) for the next generation, and Thanos is key to that, no more and certainly no less.
And in the same light, a story involving Thanos may not be a cosmic story.
I'm not really familiar with that era of comics though - they weren't widely available in the UK when I was growing up. I did regularly read Doctor Who Monthly (which was a Marvel publication at the time) and 2000AD occasionally. Both of those would probably qualify as cosmic quite frequently.
I want an Abslom Daak Dalek Killer movie.
By the way, i was not surprised to find out that Abslom Daak is a Garth Ennis creation.
I also agree that Thanos is likely to be little more than a big purple punching bag in the movie. But that is a problem with the medium. Movies have much less time to spend on character development than comics, books, or TV serials, and the heroes usually get the majority of it. Even more so when there are many heroes.
I think that perhaps there is a problem with today's writers not having lived through the 60s. Insufficient LSD.
"Gauntlet" really is the culmination of Starlin's work on Thanos as a character (he really could have left him retired as a farmer on that planet, and if we never saw him again, it would kind of been perfect), but that's just the end or climax of who Thanos is - it's not the entire story. Marvel, by trotting him out as a rote glowering supervillain for their next chain of blockbusters - and throwing his character development into the dumpster by turning him into a petty, thuggish space bully like DC's Mongul or Dragonball's Frieza - show how little they understand the character, and how little they understand the old stories they're currently trying to exploit.