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Infinity Abyss (2002 series) #1

on-sale: Jun 12, 2002
Jim Starlin

Infinity Abyss (2002 series) #1 cover

Story Name:

A mad calling


Synopsis

Infinity Abyss (2002 series) #1 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
This issue opens with a alien (who we will later learn is named Atlez) contemplating the end of everything.
And a bleeding Adam Warlock is with Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell), Dr Strange, Gamora and Spider-Man facing impending doom. His companions still try to fight the void but he numbly welcomes it. He thinks that Thanos would understand but the Mad Titan was the 1st victim 12 hours ago. He was lured to a distant star system by a transmission that promised a prize he had long been searching for. Warlock will continue to give voiceover intros to each of the main players as we see some events from those 12 hours.

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Adam gives us a potted history of Thanos:- His love for Death led him to seek power and menace the universe several times, culminating in his combining the Infinity Gems into the Infinity Gauntlet (in the mini-series/event of that name). But since then he has also save the universe several times. And lately he is rumoured to have retired to do research, actually a quest for something.
We see Thanos' space-ark Sanctuary approaching the above-mentioned star system as he realises there's nothing there for him. But something is teleported in and he recognises it as something he himself designed. He realises he's in a trap set by someone who knows him very well. And the device explodes into a miniature black hole which shreds his spaceship and collapses to nothing.

We also see the owner of a small supermarket suddenly sprout tentacles and then get enclosed in a white cube of nothingness. Dr Strange's astral form investigates and then returns to his Sanctum where he turns down Wong's offer of tea in order to fathom that and 2 other such incidents that he fears threaten reality.
Warlock tells us that the Master Of The Mystic Arts is dedicated to unravelling occult mysteries. He also founded the Defenders, and he and Adam have stood together several times.

Adam also relates how he himself got drawn into the situation by Pip The Troll, a self-declared scoundrel and rogue who would cheat anyone but would also go to any length to aid a friend. He tells us that Pip used to possess the Space Gem and its radiation has left him with the ability to teleport anywhere.
We see him arrive on the planet Degaitor in the Herculean Spire claiming to be psychiatrist Dr DeTroll and asking to see a patient of Dr Nilrats. 2 years ago he was brought in disorientated, uncommunicative and violent. He's was confined to a padded cell where he gave cryptic answers to questions including claiming to be fathered by 3 maniacs and that his mother was perverted science. He is of course Adam Warlock. Pip correctly guesses that he retreated into a cocoon and confirms that he was created by mad scientists. He's had an interesting life:- A martyred redeemer who later overthrew a galactic church and even later temporarily became 'god'. He's died several times and uses his cocoon to heal and re-emerge. Nilrats is starting to doubt Pip's own sanity but he shows him the cocoon ...
... and Pip teleports with it to a spacecraft lightyears away. The Troll starts to boast about how he had to fight through security guards to get the job done but the person he's talking to just grabs the lit cigar out of his mouth and crumbles it in a mighty fist. The fist's owner is (or appears to be) Thanos (but it's not his Sanctuary ship) who detects a severe psychic trauma within Warlock and says they need to contact someone to deal with that.

But meanwhile we get Adam describing the current Captain Marvel who like his father Mar-Vell has Nega-Bands which give him power and spaceflight. Also like his father he's paired with human Rick Jones. 1 inhabits Earth and the other the Microverse, but they can use the Bands to swap places.
And we see that now CM is in the real universe while Rick keeps mental contact with him from the Microverse. Genis-Vell's cosmic senses are guiding him to a spot in the asteroid belt where he finds another of the big white cubes of nothingness.

Warlock also tells us about Gamora, known as the most dangerous woman in the universe. She grew up as an orphaned ward of Thanos but when she was old enough she left him to become a galactic mercenary. Later she joined him and Pip in the Infinity Watch (after other adventures with them). She and Adam had a bond but he blew it.
So we now see her in the Baligiest spaceport looking for fun or employment. But she overhears that Thanos will be speaking to the Nihilist Sect at the Nietzsche Arena. She finds this intriguing for 2 reasons:- She thought he'd abandoned that Death-worshipping Sect that he founded. And she'd heard that he got killed battling Thor recently (Thor (1998) #25). So she decides to attend the rally. She sees an overly-armoured version of the Titan with even his face covered. Thanos makes a speech about ending all life to get rid of the chaos in the universe. But then he spots her and orders his followers to kill her. Gamora fights her way though the crowd until Thanos taps into the stadium's power grid to get energy which he fires at her. She barely makes it out of the place alive. Back in her spaceship she realises that this Thanos presents a threat to the universe. She needs to find out what's going on and she knows just where to go. (Next issue we'll learn that's Thanos' planetary homebase.)

But we return to New York where Spider-Man foils a fur robbery.  Adam tells us Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider and given the proportional abilities of a spider plus a spider-sense to warn him of danger. For some reason Warlock deems this unbelievable but he knows it's true because he's teamed up with the guy. Then the spider-sense tells Spidey something big's happening up north (next issue in upstate New York).

Warlock's next subject is Moondragon. Orphaned Earth-girl Heather Douglas was raised on Titan, moon of Saturn, where she developed telepathic and telekinetic abilities along with an annoying arrogance. She's been a member of the Avengers, the Defenders and the Infinity Watch.
Currently she's called on the Avengers to deal with an AIM base she's discovered. So we see her fighting alongside Captain America, Goliath, Jack Of Hearts, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Thor, Triathlon, Vision, Warbird, Wasp and Wonder Man. But a portal opens behind her and takes her away ...
... to the spaceship with Pip and Thanos. She dismisses the Troll as irrelevant but also thought Thanos dead. She also asks if this is about Quoi (son of Mantis in the Av: Celestial Quest limited series which strangely MD *wasn't* involved in), but it's the Titan's turn to dismiss an irrelevancy. He directs her to Adam's cocoon which he's been in for 2 years. He wants her to heal his trauma and resurrect him. She warns him this might not be a good idea, but Thanos insists that Warlock is somehow necessary to prevent a universal disaster. MD comments that he used to be all for universal destruction but he replies that he considers this reality belongs to *him* and he does what's necessary to protect his property. He shows her a gobbledygook scientific diagram and offers to let her examine his thoughts, but she declines that dangerous offer. He counters that a revived Warlock would make it less dangerous. Thanos leaves to attend to other matters. Moondragon and Pip discuss whether to trust Thanos who's purposes and allegiance are very variable. But the Troll persuades MD that having Adam on their side would be a good idea.

Thanos was listening and congratulates himself on involving Pip. Then he goes to another part of the ship and greets his 'brothers' as he shapeshifts down to a smaller version with a *very* large brain (think the Leader dressed as Thanos, but not green). He tells them their plan is proceeding. An ape-like Thanos refers to him as X and says Omega will be pleased but says he'll kill Moondragon if she causes a problem. X calls him Warrior and promises he'll get to kill someone soon. Then he asks Mystic if he can yet predict what the new Adam Warlock will be like. This Thanos sitting in lotus position has been studying Adam's previous iterations but his magic can't work anything out. The Thanos that Gamora saw, who they call Armour, appears on a screen to warn them about her. Warrior wants to hunt her down and kill her but X tells him to trust the plan and they'll achieve the oblivion of Doomsday.

We end with Atlez from the beginning commenting that if he has failed then the universe will pay dearly.

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Characters
Good (or All)
ADAMWARLOCK
AVENGERS
CAP
CMARVGVELL
DOCTORSTRANGE
GAMORA
JACKOFHEARTS
MOONDRAGON
PIPT
QUICKSILVER
RICKJONES
SCARLETWITCH
SPIDERMAN
THANOS
VISION
WASP
WONDERMAN
WONG
YELLOWJACKET
Plus: Triathlon (Delroy Garrett Jr.), Warbird (Carol Danvers).


> Infinity Abyss (2002 series) comic book info and issue index



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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Jim Starlin
Al Milgrom
Christie Scheele
Jim Starlin (Cover Penciler)
Al Milgrom (Cover Inker)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Jack Morelli.
Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: Joe Quesada.



Review / Commentaries


Infinity Abyss (2002 series) #1 Review by (August 9, 2025)
The cover calls this series Thanos: Infinity Abyss but the indicia and all online sites drop the Thanos bit, and I will follow their example.

This series was published 2 issue per month.

No points for recognising that Dr Nilrats is Starlin backwards.

This is the beginning of Jim Starlin's 3rd period of playing with his Marvel creations.
In the 1st 1973-77 run from Iron Man #55 to Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2 he created Thanos, Drax The Destroyer, Pip The Troll and Gamora and took over Moondragon and Adam Warlock and made them his own. He also introduced the modern Marvel version of Death. He and Thanos also took over a long run of issues in the series of the original Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell). Thanos also gathered together the 6 Soul Gems. MTIO An #2 left Adam, Gamora, Pip and Thanos dead, but Jim left Drax and MD to carry on.
He added a sort-of coda in 1982 with Marvel Graphic Novel #1: The Death Of Captain Marvel. The spirit of Thanos welcomed Mar-Vell into the afterlife. Drax and Moondragon were present at the funeral.
His 2nd run in 1990-94 lasted from Silver Surfer #34 to Warlock & Infinity Watch #31. He resurrected Thanos, Adam, Gamora and Pip and dragged Drax and Moondragon back in. Thanos renamed the Soul Gems as the Infinity Gems and they became the centrepiece of Starlin's saga. Jim also embraced Marvel's mini-series-with-multiple-tie-ins system to produce the Infinity Gauntlet, Infinity War and Infinity Crusade events. This time he left all the pieces alive for others to play with. Before the end he'd already handed Thanos over to his protege Ron Marz.
Now Starlin is beginning his 3rd run with the chars in this 2002 mini-series, and he's continuing his use of the word Infinity. But he'd already put his toe in the waters in the previous year by drawing Thanos in #17-18 of Peter David's Captain Marvel series featuring Mar-Vell's son Genis-Vell. Now this new series has all the old gang apart from Drax, plus Genis.

It is obvious that this series includes several different versions of Thanos. Later issues will explain what's going on. But the explanation will include a declaration that some of Thanos' earlier apps weren't actually him. So I'll leave untangling that for a later issue.
In the meantime the most recent apps of some versions of Thanos were 2000's Thor #21-25 and 1999's Deadpool #33 plus CM#17-19 and the Avengers: Celestial Quest limited series in 2001. (The order is determined by the Marvel Chronology Project.)

Adam Warlock has been missing since his 1998 mini-series and his 2004 mini also (note that hasn't even been published at this time but details compel the MCP to put it earlier than this current series). This issue says he's been in his cocoon for 2 years, (which compels the MCP overall chronology to put the 2nd mini immediately after the 1st).
The 2nd mini-series was a solo run but Gamora & Pip's last apps were in the 1st mini.
Genis-Vell was also in the 1st mini, just before his current link with Rick Jones was established in Avengers Forever #12. But he's managed to fit #0-31 of his own series in since then.
Moondragon's been in a lot of that series before turning up here.

Spider-Man's here after Peter Parker SM #37 and Punisher (2001) #2.

Dr Strange's last app was #1-4 of the 2001 Defenders mini-series.

The Avengers are in general here between #40 and #41 of their 1998 series.
Captain America was in #40 but his last app since then was with DrS in #1 of the Defenders.
Thor was in the Av:CQ series after #40 but his most recent app was Hulk Annual 2001.
Goliath is an 'imposter' (actually a split-off personality) who replaced the real deal in #38, and the situation won't be resolved until Annual 2001 after #43.
Scarlet Witch and Vision were also in Av:CQ.
The rest haven't seen action since #40 except Wasp who was in US Agent vol 2 #3 (with Cap).





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