Silver Surfer, Drax, and Starfox realize Thanos is not dead, while Thanos has successfully obtained all of the Infinity Gems and put them in the fashionable glove. And he recaps their powers, and then gives Surfer and Drax a beatdown.
He also revives Nebula and turns her into his zombie slave.
In the end he snatches them out of existence and puts them in the Soul Gem.
In issue #45, Mephisto appears and adds some detail to his own origin: He was created when the all-powerful entity that used to be the collective Infinity Gems killed itself.
As a result, he claims intimate knowledge of the Gems’ powers, and offers to serve as Thanos’ assistant in understanding their full power. Because his animosity against Surfer goes way back.
More wonderful cosmic work by Jim Starlin. The only thing that would make this better is if he drew the issues himself, but Ron Lim’s art is also perfectly suited for these characters.