Background Artist and character creator Jim Starlin introduced
Thanos, the antagonist for the storyline, in
Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973). After providing artwork for
Captain Marvel #24-25 (Jan. 1973 & March 1973), Starlin co-wrote #26 (May 1973) with
Mike Friedrich, which featured Thanos (albeit in shadow) on a Marvel cover for the first time and marked the beginning of what was later coined the "First Thanos War". After collaborating with Friedrich for #27-28 (July & Sept. 1973), Starlin then assumed sole writing duties for the remainder of the sweeping cosmic saga from #29-33 (Nov. 1973 - July 1974). Starlin completed one final issue, #34 (Sept. 1974), laying the groundwork for the eventual death of hero Mar-Vell before leaving the title. In 1975, Starlin began writing and illustrating
Strange Tales, in which he made significant changes to
Adam Warlock and developed the concept of the
Infinity Gems. Because of their close publications dates, the two Thanos Wars are sometimes considered to be one storyline. Starlin stopped doing regular work for Marvel after concluding the Second Thanos War, but occasionally returned for short projects like
The Death of Captain Marvel graphic novel and
creator-owned work such as the cosmic-themed
Dreadstar through the 1980s. although other writers had scripted some tie-in chapters of the First Thanos War. Artist
George Pérez was known for drawing comics featuring large casts. He came to prominence in the 1970s while working on Marvel's
The Avengers before leaving the company to work for DC on comics such as
New Teen Titans,
Crisis on Infinite Earths, and
Wonder Woman. Because of his ties to Thanos, Starlin was invited back to Marvel to write the story. He returned because work for him at DC declined following his controversial
Batman story "
A Death in the Family" (1988). Inspired by the work he had recently read from
Wilhelm Reich,
Carlos Castaneda, and
Roger Zelazny, Starlin wanted to purposely add multiple layers to his characters instead of letting them be one-dimensional. To organize various plot and character points, Starlin made notes on
3-by-5 cards and pinned them to a large piece of
plywood hung on his wall. To capitalize on the excitement surrounding Thanos' return, the start of the second act was
spun off into the two-issue limited series
The Thanos Quest, released in September–October 1990. In
Silver Surfer #46, Starlin reintroduced Adam Warlock and his supporting cast. He included these characters because the editors told him a different writer wanted to use them, and they would let him unless Starlin wanted to use them first. Starlin was not impressed by the other writer's work, so he wrote Warlock into his
Silver Surfer story. This hesitancy was due in part to the relative newness of summer crossover events. When it became clear Pérez would not be able to meet the deadline for the fourth issue, DeFalco asked regular
Silver Surfer penciler
Ron Lim to complete issue #4. DeFalco suggested to Pérez that he let Lim finish the rest of the series, and Pérez agreed. Pérez understood the decision, and later said he felt Lim should have been the artist from the beginning. He inked Lim's covers for the remainder of the series to show he bore no ill will to the change. When he saw sales figures for
The Infinity Gauntlet, Pérez realized he probably lost "tens of thousands of dollars" in
royalty payments by leaving the series, but he was glad he left when he learned a sequel was in development. Like Starlin, Pérez had begun the project believing it would be the last Thanos story, but management asked Starlin to write a sequel midway through
The Infinity Gauntlet. One aspect of the promotion was sending
direct market retailers a kit that included a letter explaining details of the series, a sign to put by their cash register, and a poster 18 inches wide by 36 inches tall. Marvel's promotional magazine
Marvel Age featured a cover story on
The Thanos Quest and a Starlin interview in issue #91 (August 1990), followed by a 7-page preview of
The Infinity Gauntlet #1 in
Marvel Age #99 (April 1991). The limited series was the cover feature on
Comics Interview #94 in March 1991, which included an 8-page interview with Pérez, and Starlin was interviewed about the series in
Comics Scene #19 in June 1991. Marvel initially planned to release a new issue every two weeks, but deadline problems caused it to be released monthly. Issues had cover dates between July and December 1991. Each one was available in both
comic specialty stores and
newsstand outlets, which included supermarkets and department stores. Although the cover artwork was identical, the edition sold in comic stores featured additional artwork celebrating Marvel's 30th anniversary in place of the
barcode found on the newsstand edition. Each issue was 48 pages and cover priced at $2.50 at a time when the average Marvel comic was $1.00 and 24 pages.
Tie-ins .|alt=The top third of issue 7 of Sleepwalker. The logo is red and black on a green background. The icon identifying the issue as crossover is blue with white text. Two sides of the triangle is formed by the top and right edges of the page. The sides are approximately one inch in length. To emphasize the connected nature of Marvel's comic books, some
ongoing series starring characters seen in
The Infinity Gauntlet had contemporary issues showing the main plot from a different point of view or explored consequences of certain events. These issues featured a triangle in the top right corner of their covers with the text "An Infinity Gauntlet Crossover". These
tie-in issues did not impact the plot of the limited series and could be skipped by readers without creating
plot holes. According to Pérez, Marvel's stance toward the tie-ins for its low-selling titles was "do it or else". Starlin remained uninvolved, allowing writers to choose for themselves which story elements they wished to use. to coincide with the release of
The Infinity War. It featured new cover artwork by Pérez and was enhanced with a foil logo. Later printings of this edition had alternate cover artwork from different artists and no enhancement. The suggested retail price was $19.95, five dollars more than the total retail cost of the individual issues it contained. In June 2006, Marvel issued a second softcover collected edition to coincide with
Keith Giffen and
Andrea Di Vito's
Annihilation, another cosmic-level crossover starring Thanos and the Silver Surfer. This edition used the cover art from issue #1 and had a
trade dress matching the first edition collections of
The Infinity War and
The Infinity Crusade which were released shortly thereafter. The month of release, it sold approximately 2,500 copies and was the 33rd best-selling comic collection according to
Diamond Distribution. Marvel also released a
Silver Surfer collection subtitled "The Rebirth of Thanos" in 2006 which included four of the lead-in issues of
Silver Surfer and both issues of
The Thanos Quest. A hardcover edition was released in July 2010 as the 46th entry in the
Marvel Premiere Classic line. Like other volumes in this line, it was available with two covers. The standard cover featured a cutout of Thanos from the cover of issue #4 on a black
matte background with the title in metallic red ink. The
variant cover, available only to comic specialty stores, featured the cover art for issue #1 reduced 50% against a black and red background. The variant edition identifies itself as #46 on its spine. In 2011, a third edition softcover was released. The first printing reused the artwork from the standard cover of the
Premiere Classic edition. Later printings reverted to the cover of issue #1. Sales of the collection spiked after Thanos appeared in a
post-credits scene of the 2012 film
The Avengers, causing
The Infinity Gauntlet to be the highest selling graphic novel in 2018. In July 2014, Marvel released a 1,248 page
omnibus edition of
The Infinity Gauntlet. In addition to the limited series, the hardcover also included the lead-up issues of
Silver Surfer,
The Thanos Quest, and the marketed tie-ins. It also included additional issues of
Incredible Hulk,
Quasar,
Silver Surfer, and
Spider-Man which had not been advertised as tie-ins, but were connected to the story. Comic book stores and the book market both offered a regular edition featuring the cover to
The Infinity Gauntlet #1, but comic shops could also order a
variant edition with cover art by Starlin. The first issue of
The Infinity Gauntlet was included in the initial wave of Marvel's "True Believers" line in April 2015. Consisting solely of reprints offered at a discount price, comic books in this line are meant to introduce newer readers to the most popular titles in Marvel's history. A new printing was paired with a "True Believers" reprint of
Silver Surfer #34 in April 2018. In March 2018, Marvel released an
Infinity Gauntlet slipcase set of 12 hardcover books. Material began with
Infinity Gauntlet Prologue and included all three
Infinity crossovers, their tie-ins, intervening material, and a 528-page "companion" hardcover. The
Infinity Gauntlet Prologue was released independently of the set at the same time. A deluxe paperback was released in February 2019. It contained the miniseries and additional content discussing the creation of the series. ==Plot==