Written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning
Illustrated by Miguel SepulvedaTHE THANOS IMPERATIVE is over…but who and what has survived? What happened to Thanos? What about Lord Mar-Vell and the Cancerverse? Who rules the Kree and the Shi’Ar? Is anyone left to guard the galaxy? And who will hold the shattered civilizations of the Marvel Universe together in this bleak new age? Find out from the creative team that delivered the cosmic event that IGN.com hailed as “Unbelievably incredible & unimaginably entertaining.”
DnA completely revolutionized the Marvel Cosmic U for a brand new audience with their massive space trilogy, and while the adventure certainly isn’t over yet, it looks like it’ll be slowing down for a tad in the fallout of the Thanos Imperative. But with another recent event epilogue not being up to snuff, how does Devastation play out?
Find out after the jump.
As an additional note, some mild spoilers are discussed in the article. You have been warned.
For anyone who has been a fan of DnA’s cosmic epic, it’s absolutely impossible not to get excited about the stories. The duo have consistently managed to keep their stories exciting and fresh with every plot development, and after the incredibly death sequence from the previous issue, it was debatable what could come from this issue. To find out that the issue featured the best character of the series – Cosmo the Telekinetic Dog – rounding up the Cosmic Avengers Annhiliators and ending with (spoiler whited out) the return of a Space Knight (!!!) equates to the best closing point to perhaps any event from the Big Two in the past year.
While initially one might ask why this simply wasn’t just Thanos Imperative #7, it becomes clear throughout the issue why the title chose to be a stand-alone one-shot/epilogue. This is a story that wouldn’t have worked as issue #7, especially after the original story ended with the death of the two biggest characters in all of the Marvel Cosmic U. As an epilogue tale, this works excellently because it’s a proper segue between this and what is to come while also wrapping up a few loose ends. Blastaar and his Negative Zone army see some closure, and all the speculation of a group of Cosmic Avengers is not only snarkly poked fun at but also re-titled and presented to readers hungry for more cosmic excellence.
DnA have proven themselves to be one of the best writing duos in comics, consistently showing the readers just how much love and care they put into their stories as the emotional impacts and character usage remains strong throughout. Cosmo makes for an excellent narrator, and this issue further proves why Cosmo is the greater fan favorite character than Rocket and Groot (sorry, guys). Sepulveda continues to provide the fantastic art that he did throughout the entirety of the Thanos Imperative event, and one could argue that this issue even looks better than the last. With gorgeous two-page spreads and fantastic shots of where the Cosmic Avengers have gone since the end of the war are all brilliant looks at the characters, and I’d wager that Cosmo and the Silver Surfer is a shoe-in for “Best Scene Of The Month” at this point.
And again – the (spoiler whited out) the return of the Space Knight is the best possible note to go out on, especially as it’s something that fans have been quietly remarking on/waiting for since the Cosmic U began anew. So if this means (spoiler whited out) the glorious return of fan favorite character ROM, I’d say we all owe Dan and Andy some high fives.
While the Guardians and Nova ongoings might be over, you can be assured that everyone at MC is incredibly excited for the coming Annhiliators story. It’s pretty much official and a golden rule of comic books at this point: if you see DnA on a book involving space, don’t ask questions – just get it.
Final Verdict: 9.4 – Buy
