Top of the Pile - 4/3/2013

Thanos Rising

Written by Jason Aaron

Art by Simone Bianchi

This week, Thanos Rising was the first thing I read from the comic shop. I picked up the Skottie Young variant cover from the shop and entered the digital code to read it on my iPad. And I have to say, I was a little disappointed.

For those of you who don’t know, Thanos is the bad ass of the Marvel Universe. He made a cameo at the end of the Avengers movie and has been at the center of most of the cosmic events Marvel superheroes have to deal with. And with Thanos Rising the story, related as a flashback, we get to see baby Thanos grow up to into a picked on sensitive tween. Most of the comic shows Thanos wanting to play with the other kids in the schoolyard and looking for his father's affections.

Written by Jason Aaron, this book doesn’t have the impact that I believe it should. It seems he’s trying to make Thanos into a sympathetic character by bringing up his misunderstood childhood. That’s not really something that needs to be done. Will this make Thanos that more evil as we see him become the destroyer? And if you’re a new reader to Marvel and don’t know Thanos, his true malevolence isn’t shown in this first book.

However, the art by Simone Bianchi is fantastic. He has a unique style that has a European flair. The characters have an emotional intensity that lifts from the page. And the detail in the backgrounds set the a space/science atmosphere. The colors by Simone Peruzzi also add a depth to the story telling. The different shades of purples for Thanos’ skin. He uses a lot of blues and greens in the book to give it a cool feel. But hopefully, the story will pick up and get a little more hotter in the color pallette.

This is a 5 issue limited series, so I’m going to continue picking them up. As for purchasing this book for a library collection, I think this is optional. There isn’t any real backstory for people to pick up on. And normals won’t know anything about Thanos, so unlike Spider-Man or Thor, it’s not likely a casual reader will pick up.