Lately I’ve been trying to really get into graphic novels and see what all the hub-bub is about.
I’ve tried Spiegelman’s In the Shadow of No Towers, Watchmen, and even some Batman with Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.
All of them had their good and bad points, but I have to admit, none of them were really simply entertaining before I turned out the light at night.
So, in an effort to give myself some just plain fun reading, I was pleased to find, collected in graphic novel form, The Infinity Gauntlet from Marvel.
I had read the six-issue series back when it was originally published from July to December of 1991 and I’d really enjoyed it. Throughout the years as my piles of collected comics shrank, The Infinity Gauntlet books always found their way into the “save” box and back into my attic.
Here’s the quick and dirty plot synopsis: Power-hungry Thanos comes to possess the Infinity Gauntlet (a big glove with 6 jewels on it) that gives him God-like powers over everything and everyone. In an effort to impress Mistress Death he wipes out have of the universe’s population prompting our Marvel heroes to unite behind Adam Warlock to save the day.
There is, of course, plenty of fighting, lots of dialogue like “it matters not” and “prepare thyselves for battle most fierce” and by the end it’s pretty goofy, but it’s also a fun read.
(If you’re interested in more of the plot, there’s a good review here!)
OK, the art suffers a little at the end under Lim’s direction, and the plot’s kinda hokey, but for about a week I picked up a graphic novel and really enjoyed myself.
Reading it some 14 years later when I’m a responsible adult, husband and father, instead of a gawky college sophomore, I’ve certainly noticed more flaws, but basically The Infinity Gauntlet is a collection of better than average comics with some nice art and I’m glad to see it in a graphic novel format.
