Synopsis: Following on from the last month, we return to Jim Starlin and Joe Rubinsteins epic Thanos story. Very soon after Avengers Annual 7, Thanos recovered his wits and fought back against the Avengers that spoiled his plans. Taking out Thor and the others quite easily and taking the Soul Gem from the dead body of Adam Warlock. Moondragon subconsciously sent a telepathic call for help and the only person able to get it was Spider-Man.
Realising he is hilariously out of his depth, Spider-Man heads to the Baxter building and finds Ben Grimm, the ever lovin’ blue eyed Thing and explains the situation to him. Ben is somewhat sceptical about the whole thing, which when you consider his history is amazing. Knowing that Spider-Man has always been straight with him, he agrees to take him to orbit in one of Mr Fantastics new gizmos.
They find Thanos’ ship in orbit and are brought about by Thanos’ army. There is a brief fight, that very much goes the way of the two heroes, until Thanos negates the artificial gravity, lost in the zero gravity of space, the two are zapped quite quickly into unconsciousness. All the while the cosmic entities Order and Chaos commentate on this adventure.
We get a peak into the Soul Gem, where Adam Warlock is enjoying his peace and quiet hoping that it lasts. Spider-Man and the Thing wake up and see the captive Avengers. Thanos arrives and explains his plan to destroy Earth’s sun and tells them why. And if ever there was a bonkers reason for doing stuff here it is… Thanos is in love with Death. Not in a nihlistic or thanatos like way, I mean actually in deep, passionate, romantic love with the embodiment of Death. But after his failure with the cosmic cube, she dumped him and he’s doing everything he can to win her back.
To prevent this the Thing starts wailing on Thanos, who remains unimpressed and floors Ben with a single powerful punch. Then Spider -Man does something I think we can all relate to. He bottles it and runs off. Realising he is out of his depth, he panics, when he calms down a bit, he realises he was right and should get the Avengers free and let them face Thanos.
He frees them and they take the fight to Thanos, with a great page of the three T’s in battle. Thanos, the Mad Titan, The Mighty Thor and the Thing, Idol of millions.
Spider-Man, shaky on his feet after hurting himself freeing the Avengers, finds the Soul Gem, inside a larger globe and frees it, temporarily bringing back the spirit of Adam Warlock. Adam rages against Thanos and seemingly burns him, but it soon becomes apparent he has petrified him.
The heroes start to make their way home, after first burying Adam Warlock alongside Pip and Gamorra, inside the Soul Gem, Adam, Pip and Gamorra start to enjoy their final reward while Thanos lies trapped inside his own body, weeping for his lost love.
Notes: I enjoyed the hell out of this, it was fun, well paced and exciting, the only odd bit being Order and Chaos commentating on it. Seeing the Thing battle Thanos just added the cherry onto the cake that was last month. Starlin brings the story of Adam Warlock to a satisfying end and for now ends the threat of Thanos, both will not last. Both annuals are a solid peace of bronze age excellence and are worth seeking out.
Relevance: See previous post.
Next Time: How can the same ‘stuff’ happen to the same guy twice.
My Marvel Life 
I’m 50, have a kid of 17,we were watching the movies, I explained him how I got to know Thanos, via ‘el Asombroso Hombre-Araña’ Mexican pressing comic book of Spiderman; I had this special Annual with spanish subtitles. I kept it for years, then the 200 and something comic books of my beloved spiderman were lost through the years, the houses, the people, the growing up. I picked your blog on google, saw the scans, read the comments, it made me feel teenager again, I wish you the same, many years from now, Peace from Mexico.
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