It’s been a while since we had a really good, huge Thanos epic—and even longer since Jim Starlin wrote and drew the legend he created—so…Infinity Abyss goes under the “It’s about time” event category.
Since Starlin worked with his character, Thanos has had his ass kicked by Ka-Zar and engaged in some pretty out-of-character stuff in the pages of Black Panther. Infinity Abyss is, in part, Starlin’s reclamation of Thanos—and he does it via a pretty major retcon: Clones.
It turns out that the Thanos we’ve been reading about for many years isn’t actually Thanos. Nor is it one character. It’s five Thanos clones called “Thanosi” whose DNA were each modified based on people other than Thanos (e.g., Professor X, Galactus, Tony Stark, etc.).
In the panel above, Thanos explains not just how these Thanos-versions existed after Thanos himself was supposed to be dead, but also why they behaved so differently from actual Thanos.
One is short and cute.
Now, we learn that the real Thanos does in fact live–and he’s not into Death anymore.
The five Thanosi want to kill him and then kill the entire universe. They start by kidnapping Adam Warlock—hoping to gain knowledge from Warlock about an elder called The Anchor of Reality. If the Thanosi can kill the Anchor of Reality, then the universe itself will become unmoored and collapse in on itself.
Warlock is a space-insane-asylum and has reverted back into a cocoon, and he is under the care of Dr. Nil Rats.
You can’t fool me. That doctor is Jim Starlin. His name is even Starlin, backwards!
Gamora learns of both the existence of the Thanosi and that Thanos is alive and in hiding, and assembles a team to work with Thanos to fight the Thanosi. The Mad Titan is able to kill them all, and the Anchor of Reality is able to inhabit a new human host.
Eternity and his brother Infinity play a major part, and fuse into a single being at one point.
Along the way, there’s tons more of the “grand exposition” and cosmic themes–and deep philosophy–that are the hallmarks of Jim Starlin’s Thanos stories.
Also, Thanos cosplays as Galactus.
Good stuff!