Posted in: Comics | Tagged: ariel olivetti, Gamora, marvel, thanos, Tini Howard

Tini Howard and Ariel Olivetti to Explore Thanos and Gamora's First Meeting

Published Fri, 11 Jan 2019 12:28:18 -0600

Last updated Sat, 12 Jan 2019 00:30:18 -0600

This April, Avengers Endgame hits theaters–finally giving Marvel Cinematic Universe fans the answers they crave following Thanos's devastating finger-snap of doom at the end of Avengers Infinity War. It's a perfect time to sell some extra Thanos comic books, except– whoopsie! — he's dead! Gamora killed him during the Infinity Wars comic book series. Er… spoilers? But it's in the press release, so…

Anyway, the House of Ideas has the solution to their self-created problem. They're launching a new mini-series in April exploring the first meeting between Thanos and his adoptive daughter, Gamora. Tini Howard will write the series with art by Ariel Olivetti (and colors and lettering by some peons who don't deserve to be named in the press release, we guess… suck it, colorists and letterers… love, Marvel).

Said Howard in an interview on Marvel.com…

One of my favorite things about working with an existing character is confronting them, in the narrative, with the things we think about them when we're reading their stories. And Thanos is not okay. It's not really a secret to him, Thanos is brilliant — he knows he's crazy. But he's an insane person who is in charge of stuff, and that's pretty scary. But if everyone's too scared to ask him about it and he's not going to admit it himself… what kind of person would get him to confront his own madness?

That's where Gamora comes in. I'm a sucker for a smart girl and the big angry guy who becomes her father figure. When I put some thought into what Thanos and Gamora's early relationship would have been like in an interpersonal sense, not the thousand-yard-overview we get in the old books, I go back to 'True Grit.' Or I think of team-ups like Sandor Clegane and Arya Stark from 'Game of Thrones,' you know? These classic duos where nothing threatens the big bad guy — except for a kid. And it's not because kids are cute and vulnerable, it's because they're honest. And they don't have a full understanding of the world around them yet, so they're somewhat unaware of nuance and danger. And Gamora's even more dangerous than a regular child — because Thanos has taken everything from her. She's got nothing to lose. And they share a moment in the first issue that I won't spoil here — that answers the question: why her? Why Gamora?

You know, just the other day I saw some more of Ariel's pages and was so floored I had to stop what I was doing and send him a personal thank you. Ariel's great to work with. I'm very familiar with his work, so writing with him in mind feels less like typing words and more like composing a symphony. I can sigh out loud while I'm working, just thinking of the way he's going to render these pages. Ariel and I are on this incredibly dynamic wavelength right now where we're both having a blast with the book, and it feels great. The only thing better than getting to work with an artist you love is knowing that they're enjoying it!

Here's a cover, which Marvel's website is having trouble deciding whether it's by Jeff Dekal or Ron Lim. U-DECIDE, we suppose? Well, it looks like Dekal's signature.