In Working The Boxes we highlight any recent back issue purchases we've found buried in comic boxes or discovered on eBay that we think are worthy of further attention.

As it turns out, almost three decades later, Infinity Gauntlet holds up pretty well. It's of its time, sure, and not without its flaws, but the grand ambition and scale of the story - featuring a huge cast of characters - remains impressive, even if it doesn't quite hold together as it reaches its conclusion. The central character is, of course, Thanos, his lust for power clouded by his need for affection from Death (aka Mistress Death, the cosmic personification of the concept rather than the concept itself), which remains forever unrequited. Having collected the six infinity gems, attached to a gauntlet that imbues the wearer with omnipotence, he aims to wipe out half the population of the universe to bring about a cosmic balance, believing he can win Death's black heart through, well, more death. Obviously the Marvel Universe is stacked with heroes ready to thwart the villain known as the 'Mad Titan', and leading the universal defenders is Adam Warlock, a character whose history was inextricably linked with Thanos at that stage, and whose focus on the macro elements of the conflict and a disconnect with the micro means that he will lead lambs to the slaughter if it serves a larger cosmic purpose.

Characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Thor and Hulk all have roles to play, but are less involved as the story progresses, and bar a few moments where they get to shine, their effect on the course of the narrative proves to be minimal, and it really is down to Warlock, the Silver Surfer and, to a lesser extent, Doctor Strange, to save the day. But this is Thanos' story, and he often fits into the category of antihero rather than straight up villain as the finale looms, a relatively softer take on a character who in recent times has become a more unrelentingly villainous force of nature. There are hints that he sees the whole thing as a game, one he realizes he will eventually lose, his trademark grin reinforcing that impression; the journey towards ultimate power is perhaps ultimately more entertaining than reaching the destination.

Death and Mephisto move out of the plot without a lot of fanfare, which is a shame as their presence felt integral early on, with another familiar face moving ahead to shake things up in the last couple of issues. Although it remains Thanos' story, it would have perhaps been more satisfying if other members of the extended cast, who were instrumental in how the narrative played out in earlier chapters, got their due. In that sense, it's not as effective as it could have been, the often confused motivations of the lead character feeding through into the direction of the story itself. However, few writers have the ability to convincingly deal with such larger-than-life, often abstract characters, and Jim Starlin is definitely one of them; Infinity Gauntlet is generally highly entertaining cosmic mayhem, and has proven to be far more influential than anyone could have anticipated at the time.
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