THANOS LEGACY #1
Written by Donny Cates, Gerry Duggan
Art by Brian Level, Cory Smith, Jordan Boyd, Ruth Redmond, Clayton Cowles
Edited by Annalise Bissa, Jordan D. White
Published by Marvel Comics
Release Date: September 5, 2018

What kind of legacy follows someone like the Mad Titan? He’s wielded ultimate power. He’s destroyed countless worlds to consolidate power and control…but he’s seen his future and it broke him. What comes next for Thanos?

Donny Cates is ready to tell us, dear readers. In the first story in this issue, Cates lets Thanos tell his tale of how he plans to deal with the Cosmic Ghost Rider timeline, all the while trying to rationalize what future he can possibly have. This is some supreme contemplative Thanos, which I like. I’ve always enjoyed it when Thanos gets meta, as his extreme amount of power is almost boring when he’s simply prattling on about killing everything. As this issue progresses, especially in the final pages of Cates’ story where something I’ll simply call “the incident” occurs, I really enjoyed the tone the script took on. This is my jam when I think about Marvel Cosmic stories.

Brian Level and Jordan Boyd work together to create a great mood for this story. We are dealing with Marvel Cosmic and a giant purple main character, but the art captures Thanos’ crisis well. There’s humour to be found in this issue as well, and Level and Boyd sell it with the pencils and colour work. I found myself drawn in with the first bold image and the visuals never let me go. Level’s style has a lot of personality to it and Boyd matches that well with his colour work.

The backup story by Duggan, Smith and Redmond is a wordless tale that gives a glimpse into the fucked up relationship Thanos and Gamora have. Her childhood was not…normal in any stretch of the imagination, and with these few pages, these storytellers say so much. Without dialogue, Smith needs to really make sure there’s no doubt as to characters emotions and intentions and he absolutely nails it. Redmond’s colour work is dynamic and expressive and gives this short tale a lot of visual oomph.

I want more Thanos Legacy and I want it now. I’m doing my best not to spoil the contents of this issue, but I am WILDLY intrigued as to where they are taking this. These creative teams are not playing it safe by any means, and this truly feels like a comic where the balance of the Marvel Cosmic titles will shift…oh, and there’s Cosmic Ghost Rider using Hellfire in a way I’ve never seen before, so “must read”.

The Verdict: 9.0/10