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A review by libreroaming
MARVEL's Avengers: Infinity War: Thanos: Titan Consumed by Barry Lyga
2.0
Disclaimer: I've always seen the MCU Thanos as an inferior, ill-conceived Malthus undergrad student to the more tragic comics origin. Largely because, while less sane, wanting to kill half the world with magical infinity stones as a "please date me" gesture to Death at least makes sense for the methods to achieve goals. MCU Thanos insisting that if you randomly kill half of all life it will let the overpopulation flourish instead of...any other methods, well, generously you could think he's just a genocidal maniac who wants the flimsiest excuse of what lets him kill untold millions. Or he's a total idiot who doesn't understand how biomes work.
Lyga tries to give a little bit of both. The prose as it stands is good, Thanos is a distinct character voice and the amount of brutality in some of the scenes lend well to his journey. But it's ultimately a boring venture, mostly because Lyga must write a character who is not sympathetic and also not very compelling. The prequel means readers know eventually where he ends up, but the stakes prior to it are slack. We know Titan is destroyed, but since Lyga was only able to give Thanos 1 friend and 1 love interest (that he talks to about a handful of times and there is no chemistry), there are no personal stakes. I will say the reveal where Thanos returns from his exile and discovers his father's plan after Titan's fate is already sealed is a great moment, but it's a blip 50% of the way through.
The moments where you might want more extrapolation: such as his recruitment of the Black Order or Gamora, are either mere notations or not there. I would say if you genuinely think MCU Thanos is an amazing and compelling character, Lyga delivers what the character is already drawn. But if you were hoping for a prequel to give some nuance to an otherwise flat character, this won't change your mind.
Lyga tries to give a little bit of both. The prose as it stands is good, Thanos is a distinct character voice and the amount of brutality in some of the scenes lend well to his journey. But it's ultimately a boring venture, mostly because Lyga must write a character who is not sympathetic and also not very compelling. The prequel means readers know eventually where he ends up, but the stakes prior to it are slack. We know Titan is destroyed, but since Lyga was only able to give Thanos 1 friend and 1 love interest (that he talks to about a handful of times and there is no chemistry), there are no personal stakes. I will say the reveal where Thanos returns from his exile and discovers his father's plan after Titan's fate is already sealed is a great moment, but it's a blip 50% of the way through.
The moments where you might want more extrapolation: such as his recruitment of the Black Order or Gamora, are either mere notations or not there. I would say if you genuinely think MCU Thanos is an amazing and compelling character, Lyga delivers what the character is already drawn. But if you were hoping for a prequel to give some nuance to an otherwise flat character, this won't change your mind.