Accompanying Thanos and Eros on their journey in this story is Kang the Conqueror. What made you want to bring him into this story? What kind of role does he play in the book?
Time, and traveling through it, are major elements in this first graphic novel and the others, so bumping into Kang along the way seemed quite natural. The Conqueror doesn’t appear until late in the first installment but plays a key role in moving the story along to the following two graphic novels (in which he will also appear). As always Kang enters the fray with his own agenda but soon finds that nothing goes as expected when dealing with the Mad Titan. He’s also instrumental in the change we will see in Eros. Actually this story is more about Thanos’ baby brother’s relationship with folks than it is the Mad Titan’s. But the two characters are linked by more than just their DNA. The insane quest Eros is forced upon has startling ramification for his big brother.
How would you describe the initial dynamic between your three main characters? It seems like trust would be a limited commodity between Thanos, Eros and Kang.
You think so? The truth is trust is nonexistent with this group. At some point or another each one of these characters screws the other before the trilogy comes to its end. We’re not talking about honorable gentlemen here. They’re all rogues. In fact, of all the characters in this tale, only two of them could be considered somewhat trustworthy: a new character called Ghost and Pip the Troll. When Pip’s one of the more honest folks around, you know you’re in for a rocky ride.
EXCLUSIVE: Art from Thanos: Infinity Siblings by Alan Davis and Ciane Dusk
What else can tell us about the antagonists and supporting characters of the story?
The story starts off with a huge battle, whose conclusion appears preordained. But then the unthinkable occurs, tables are turned, and the tale starts to get weird. Seeing I’m limited to one book a year, I’ve tried to jam as much strangeness into each of these graphic novels as the tales can bear. Along with Kang and the aforementioned Pip, there’s a new character called Ghost, who comes from a world where three separate intelligent life forms compete to be that world’s dominant species. Yeah, there’s a touch of politics hidden away within this tale. Eros also encounters a number of interesting characters along the journey he takes in this graphic novel.
Where and perhaps when are Thanos, Eros and Kang visiting? Will we see some familiar Marvel cosmic settings and empires? Or are you focusing on new settings and alien cultures?
Mostly it will be a new set of folks Thanos and company will be dealing with in this start off tale. An old foe does reappear, but he is linked to this new environment, which is set in Thanos’ future. There’s also some events, which take place in distant space realms in our own time. Like I said, I was trying to cram as much as I could into these stories, so they’re a bit all over the place.
There’s not much of anything in The Infinity Siblings that’s on the surreal side. We have quite a bit more along those lines in the two following graphic novels. The first story is basically a war tale and one of self discovery, in a bizarre sort of way. Humorous moments? Yes, there are a few, especially when Eros and Pip start interacting. I share the same point of view as do the Marvel movie makers, in that even the most dire of tales occasionally requires a touch of lightening up. Staying at one grim level throughout a story is a good way to produce a very boring story.
