The Thanos Imperative #3

*** (three of five stars)

Summary
During the fight at the edge of the Fault, one of the Abstracts falls to the Cancerverse creatures and the resulting psionic shock-wave knocks out Nova.  In the Cancerverse, the Vision is taking the Guardians and Thanos to Titan, where the sentient machines of this Universe who are revolting against the Many-Angled Ones have based their headquarters.  Vision explains that they have erected barriers that will block the Revengers' abilities to sense an anomaly like Thanos.  On Titan, Thanos learns the truth of this Universe.  Instead of dying, Captain Marvel made a deal of sorts with the Many-Angled Ones to cure his cancer.  Convincing the superhero colleagues around his bedside to join hands with him to share in the power he "discovered," he corrupted all of them.  They then performed a "necropsy" on board that Universe's version of Thanos' flagship, Sanctuary, killing the Avatar of Death and thereby fully releasing the Many-Angled Ones into that Universe.  In "our" reality, Lord Mar-Vell learns of Captain Marvel's death from Evil Quasar.  Meanwhile, Evil Scarlet Witch arrives to inform Mar-Vell of the death of the Defenders and assembles a strike team to return to the Cancerverse to investigate.  At the edge of the Fault, the Allied Council of War falls into bickering, something Nova ends.  He informs the Council that he believes the Cancerverse creatures are not focused on a straight invasion; Quasar agrees, noting that the "enemy elite" has been gathering particular individuals for unclear reasons.  Nova informs the Council that the Abstract who knocked him unconscious conveyed its dying thoughts to him and connected him to Namorita, via the "quantum bond" they share as a result of him bringing her from the Fault.  Through these two connections, he discovered that Namorita is being held on "our" Universe's Sanctuary, and assembles a strike team to take out the enemy elite and end the war quickly.  In the Cancerverse, all sides agree that Thanos must reverse the necropsy, though Thanos goads Drax into a confrontation before he departs, resulting in Drax killing him.

The Review
This issue is pretty good.  DnA spend a lot of time on exposition, but it's done in a way that isn't gratuitous and actually holds the reader's attention.  We have a pretty clear idea now of what the enemies want to do and what the heroes have to do to win.  It's a textbook third issue of a six-issue miniseries.

The Good
1) DnA do some really clever stuff here with continuity here.  First, I really dug the idea that Captain Marvel was the cause of the Cancerverse, opening the door to the Many-Angled Ones by agreeing to their "cure" for his cancer and spreading their infection to his colleagues in the superhero community.  Second, I like how DnA use what seemed at first to be a poorly made decision -- to "resurrect" Namorita in "Nova" -- and turn it into one of the key turning points in the series, with Nova using his connection with Namorita to track down the location of the "anomalies."  Great stuff.

2) I loved that Nova took charge of the situation as the various factions fighting the good fight on our side started squabbling among themselves.  I can't get enough of DnA showing how much Nova changed thanks to the Annihilation War, and I love when other characters notice it, as Quasar does here.  Also, Nova assembles a hell of a team.  Beta-Ray Bill, Gladiator, Quasar, Ronan, Silver Surfer.  Rock the flark on!  Sepulveda does a great job with that splash page, too, really conveying the awesomeness of the moment.

The Unknown
1) Was it me, or did the Cancerverse's Avatar of Death look a lot like Dr. Doom?

2) Thanos clearly goaded Drax to speed along his transfer to Sanctuary, though I guess we'll have to wait until next issue to find out how and why.

The Bad
1) Pet Peeve #2:  On the recap page, we learn that Vision brought the Guardians and Thanos "back with him through the Fault."  Um, really?  I mean, DnA were pretty unclear on how the Guardians knew how to enter the Fault at precisely the right location in issue #1, but I don't remember Vision appearing until they were already in the Cancerverse in issue #2.  So, either the recapper got his facts wrong, or DnA didn't do a great job of explaining how the Guardians and Thanos got into the Cancerverse in the first place.

2) At first, it appears that Ms. Marvel is the one to assemble the strike team, but, in the end, it's actaully Scarlet Witch.  I'm not sure if it's a dialogue or artistic error, but it threw me off a bit when later we see the Scarlet Witch (and, again, not Ms. Marvel) confront the Guardians.