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The Black Order: The Warmasters of Thanos #1-5
A Ordem Negra: Os Comandantes Guerreiros de Thanos
Os generais mais temidos do Titã Louco estão de volta! Agora, a implacável Ordem Negra foi enviada pelo Grão-Mestre para desestabilizar um império em expansão quase tão poderoso e maligno quanto eles - mas sempre há alguém mais poderoso e mais maligno, não é?
(Black Order 1-5)!
(Black Order 1-5)!
112 pages, Paperback
Published February 1, 2020
4 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
About the author
Derek Landy
253 books5,288 followersDerek Landy is an Irish writer and screenwriter. In addition to the bestselling children's/YA series of Skulduggery Pleasant books, a supernatural mystery series starring Skulduggery Pleasant, a skeleton detective, and Valkyrie Cain, a young female magician, he has written two screenplays that have been made into films: the IFTA award winning "Dead Bodies" and the IFTA nominated "Boy Eats Girl". Landy himself was nominated for an IFTA for Best Script.
He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List.
Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats. Occasionally he talks to real people, but only when he absolutely has to.
He doesn’t like to brag about all the awards he’s won, such as the Irish Book of the Decade, or the Red House in the UK, or all the other awards that he humbly displays on his mantelpiece. He is also far too modest to mention things like the first book being a Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of the Year, but would like to extend an invitation to Oprah to pop around one day for tea, in thanks for selecting his book for the Oprah’s Book Club Kids Reading List.
Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats. Occasionally he talks to real people, but only when he absolutely has to.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
June 23, 2019
Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Black Dwarf, Ebony Maw and Black Swan are Thanos’ five dreadlords – The Black Order. Awwww, sooo metal y’all! They tough, they hit stuff, they… boring. There wasn’t much to their “characters” when Jonathan Hickman was writing them and there ain’t much more added to them by Derek Landy!
There’s an evil space emperor (is there any other kind?) that the gang are tasked to kill – guess whether they do? So the book is one set of one-dimensional strong alien dudes against another, over and over, until the pages are all used up. Nova Centurion Rich Ryder shows up and goes all Red Lantern-y for no real reason.
Some of the issues are told from the perspective of the various members of the group though all they really show is how uninteresting they actually are (Black Dwarf knows poetry – whaaat the scary big dude has a sensitive side?!1… zzz…).
The Boremasters of Thanos are fine as the stand-in bad guys the good guys gotta punch but put them in the spotlight and you see there’s nothing to them. What an utterly dreary and pointless comic!
There’s an evil space emperor (is there any other kind?) that the gang are tasked to kill – guess whether they do? So the book is one set of one-dimensional strong alien dudes against another, over and over, until the pages are all used up. Nova Centurion Rich Ryder shows up and goes all Red Lantern-y for no real reason.
Some of the issues are told from the perspective of the various members of the group though all they really show is how uninteresting they actually are (Black Dwarf knows poetry – whaaat the scary big dude has a sensitive side?!1… zzz…).
The Boremasters of Thanos are fine as the stand-in bad guys the good guys gotta punch but put them in the spotlight and you see there’s nothing to them. What an utterly dreary and pointless comic!
September 8, 2020
Five issues of The Black Order doing nothing more than killing people nonstop. This was terrible. What was even the point?
August 3, 2019
Another example of quantity over quality. Derek Landy is literally taking a piss with these characters, you can tell he doesn't care about them, he writes them all as a bunch of buffoons.
Corvus Glaive for example, the cruel general of Thanos, is worried that the others members probably don't think he's funny enough, he's depressed because his life is humorless, apparently having a midlife crisis. Proxima Midnight is the wife of Corvus and she says the word war in every sentence. The Black Dwarf starts out his monologue by making a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, apparently Douglas Adams is popular in this universe. He's moping around because he loves Proxima, and people only see him as a monster. Then at some point in this pointless story the Order are fighting dudes with names like Punch-Fist and The Foot, lol. Nova shows up for some reason, the Order fights another villain, its villains against villains, the end.
If you're going to talk about the Black Order, why not start with a couple of origin stories? This book probably killed whatever interest people had from the Infinity movie, I not only disliked this book, I hated it with a passion, I always dug these characters and they really needed something special to make it work, shame, shame.
Corvus Glaive for example, the cruel general of Thanos, is worried that the others members probably don't think he's funny enough, he's depressed because his life is humorless, apparently having a midlife crisis. Proxima Midnight is the wife of Corvus and she says the word war in every sentence. The Black Dwarf starts out his monologue by making a reference to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, apparently Douglas Adams is popular in this universe. He's moping around because he loves Proxima, and people only see him as a monster. Then at some point in this pointless story the Order are fighting dudes with names like Punch-Fist and The Foot, lol. Nova shows up for some reason, the Order fights another villain, its villains against villains, the end.
If you're going to talk about the Black Order, why not start with a couple of origin stories? This book probably killed whatever interest people had from the Infinity movie, I not only disliked this book, I hated it with a passion, I always dug these characters and they really needed something special to make it work, shame, shame.
April 28, 2019
This was a marvel filler if there ever was one. Terrible. The characters deserved alot more.
March 22, 2022
Thanos is gone, leaving the Black Order adrift and purposeless. The Grandmaster has a job for them, but is more senseless violence really what these murderous misfits need?
I like the idea of this mini-series more than the execution, if we're being honest. Most of the Black Order are fairly flat characters, given that they were basically created just to look intimidating and then get beaten up - Black Swan's the only one with a discernable personality, and she wasn't even an original member. So each issue of this series focusing on a different character and getting inside their heads is a good move. It's a shame that they're all still kind of one note afterwards.
They go through the motions of wondering if there's more to life than murder, but by the time the series ends they're still in the same place morally that they were at the beginning. I wasn't expecting a huge revelation and the Black Order to become the White Order and go save the universe, but it did seem like an exercise in futility overall. The whole rebellion/save the universe plotline goes nowhere fast either, and is mostly there so that the Emperor character can make daft quips (which did make me laugh, I'll admit).
The artwork is predominantly Phillip Tan, who manages to contribute to 4 of the 5 issues in total, with some assistance from Harvey Tolibao and Carlos Magno. Tan's never the most reliable of interior artists, but he does a decent job of keeping his artwork legible - I've read books he's drawn before where it's been impossible to tell what's going on, so I'd call this one a win for him.
The Black Order have a lot of potential to be more than just those characters that got beaten up in Infinity, or on-screen in Avengers: Infinity War. While this mini-series is a fun diversion, it doesn't really tap into any of that potential.
I like the idea of this mini-series more than the execution, if we're being honest. Most of the Black Order are fairly flat characters, given that they were basically created just to look intimidating and then get beaten up - Black Swan's the only one with a discernable personality, and she wasn't even an original member. So each issue of this series focusing on a different character and getting inside their heads is a good move. It's a shame that they're all still kind of one note afterwards.
They go through the motions of wondering if there's more to life than murder, but by the time the series ends they're still in the same place morally that they were at the beginning. I wasn't expecting a huge revelation and the Black Order to become the White Order and go save the universe, but it did seem like an exercise in futility overall. The whole rebellion/save the universe plotline goes nowhere fast either, and is mostly there so that the Emperor character can make daft quips (which did make me laugh, I'll admit).
The artwork is predominantly Phillip Tan, who manages to contribute to 4 of the 5 issues in total, with some assistance from Harvey Tolibao and Carlos Magno. Tan's never the most reliable of interior artists, but he does a decent job of keeping his artwork legible - I've read books he's drawn before where it's been impossible to tell what's going on, so I'd call this one a win for him.
The Black Order have a lot of potential to be more than just those characters that got beaten up in Infinity, or on-screen in Avengers: Infinity War. While this mini-series is a fun diversion, it doesn't really tap into any of that potential.
March 5, 2020
Não conheço o histórico de trabalhos de Derek Landy, mas confesso que estava esperando nesse encadernado uma história bastante interessante ao estilo daquelas que era publicadas na época da Aniquilação, tanto da fase um quanto da fase dois. Mas o que eu encontrei foi mais uma história caça-níquel granjeando seguidores e leitores através dos filmes dos Vingadores e do universo cinemático da Marvel. Os desenhos de Billy Tan não são nada especiais, por vezes de difícil entendimento, já os desenhos de Harvey Tolibao estão descaracterizados, já que fazia um bom tempo que não via seu trabalho nas revistas da Marvel. O encadernado coloca a Ordem Negra, agora sob ordens do Grão-Mestre para causar a cizânia em um reino espacial que está expandindo seu domínio. Cada um dos cinco capítulos é contado sob a óptica de um dos integrantes da Ordem Negra, dando a impressão que poderíamos ter uma história interessante nesse sentido, que inovasse narrativamente, mas não é o caso. É o caso de abandonar esse encadernado para um próximo leitor que quiçá possa gostar desses personagens. Não é meu caso.
June 23, 2022
Ooof. Rough.
This wasn't even fun.
Is the art good? Yes. Can I draw it? Never. Does it work well for in graphic novel format to assist the story? No. It was rough to me and often times confusing. It was also really busy art so the eye didn't have a place to really focus on. You had to look all over the place.
The story was bland. In the end, it was truly just about killing as many people as possible. I didn't really think the Black Order was cool and I didn't learn anything new. I don't feel like it built their characters further either.
This wasn't even fun.
Is the art good? Yes. Can I draw it? Never. Does it work well for in graphic novel format to assist the story? No. It was rough to me and often times confusing. It was also really busy art so the eye didn't have a place to really focus on. You had to look all over the place.
The story was bland. In the end, it was truly just about killing as many people as possible. I didn't really think the Black Order was cool and I didn't learn anything new. I don't feel like it built their characters further either.
May 19, 2020
A good one shot about the 5 members of the Dark Order. Worth a read but is completely isolated from the ongoing marvel universe
October 5, 2023
This is great.
August 11, 2019
Great art (for the most part) and decent story marred by poor dialogue and futile attempts at humor.
So Black Order are these five cosmic psychopaths that Grandmaster sends in whenever he needs something destroyed. In this case it's a generic Empire with generic rebels. Three out of five issues are drawn by Philip Tan and it hooked me in fast. The other two have different art and the quality noticeably drops. The main shtick of the series is that each of the five issues has internal monologue from each of the main actors and it's predictably sad and brooding. Apparently being a murderous psychopath is not good for the soul. The leader of the group is sad that nobody gets his jokes (yes, seriously) and the rest are all highly reflective, too. The dialogue is not great either. Randomly inserted Godzilla references and the emperor himself eating a cute furry animal to show us how evil he is. This all sounds like satire and I'm not sure it's not. At times it definitely reads as such. I think this book needed much more editing than it received.
So Black Order are these five cosmic psychopaths that Grandmaster sends in whenever he needs something destroyed. In this case it's a generic Empire with generic rebels. Three out of five issues are drawn by Philip Tan and it hooked me in fast. The other two have different art and the quality noticeably drops. The main shtick of the series is that each of the five issues has internal monologue from each of the main actors and it's predictably sad and brooding. Apparently being a murderous psychopath is not good for the soul. The leader of the group is sad that nobody gets his jokes (yes, seriously) and the rest are all highly reflective, too. The dialogue is not great either. Randomly inserted Godzilla references and the emperor himself eating a cute furry animal to show us how evil he is. This all sounds like satire and I'm not sure it's not. At times it definitely reads as such. I think this book needed much more editing than it received.
December 4, 2019
I always thought Thanos was stupid.
March 11, 2019
Read in single issues. Only Derek Landy could get me to care about these guys. I honestly couldn't have told you the names of each of them before, but Landy captures their voices really well and I feel like I get what they're about.
March 19, 2022
In this 5-issue collection, Thanos’ cronies are galavanting across the galaxy and terraforming worlds in their villainous ways as they battle through heaps of space folk who exist to be battled through. A dimwitted planetary overlord gets wind of things and then more battling ensues. Each issue comes from the perspective of a different member of the Black Order.
Much like many comics of the current age, a 1-issue story is stretched to 5 to fill out the trade. There is a decent setup in the first issue and absolutely no payoff in the next four issues, save for the expected conclusion in the last few pages. Outside of those final pages, you could mix and match issues 2-5 around and make absolutely no difference to the story. The idea of being from a different perspective seems like a cool idea, except they all blend together. Lots of talking with little actually being said. Lots of fighting through mindless drones with no impact, including an appearance from Nova midway into the story.
The artwork overall is nice, but using modern digital colors where every single tiny thing on the page has to have its own color, so nothing actually stands out. The writing had a few humorous touches with the dimwittery early on until you realize it’s going to be the same thing throughout the book with this one character -- The kind that makes you wonder how someone so buffoonish has not yet been easily usurped. -- The rest is monotone.
Much like many comics of the current age, a 1-issue story is stretched to 5 to fill out the trade. There is a decent setup in the first issue and absolutely no payoff in the next four issues, save for the expected conclusion in the last few pages. Outside of those final pages, you could mix and match issues 2-5 around and make absolutely no difference to the story. The idea of being from a different perspective seems like a cool idea, except they all blend together. Lots of talking with little actually being said. Lots of fighting through mindless drones with no impact, including an appearance from Nova midway into the story.
The artwork overall is nice, but using modern digital colors where every single tiny thing on the page has to have its own color, so nothing actually stands out. The writing had a few humorous touches with the dimwittery early on until you realize it’s going to be the same thing throughout the book with this one character -- The kind that makes you wonder how someone so buffoonish has not yet been easily usurped. -- The rest is monotone.
August 2, 2019
The Black Order: Corvus Glaive, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, Black Dwarf, Black Swan.
Previously the heads of Thanos' forces, they now have been sent on a mission by the Grandmaster to assassinate Emperor Attican, a warlord who has overthrown many planets with his army of "Turned" soldiers. Obvious chaos and destruction follow their every move, but why are they following the commands of one of the Elders of the Universe when they worked so hard to get out from under the thumb of Thanos?
This title provides great insight into the thoughts of each member, even sometimes hilariously, (the inner monologue of Corvus Glaive asking himself if the others think is is funny had me holding my stomach at times...) but even battling a Turned Nova can't stop them from achieving their goal. Fulfilling their goal, they terminate their contract with the Grandmaster, opting to go off and find their own way, master-less in the galaxy.
Since coming on the scene a few years ago, these characters have shown up quite a bit. Despite the over-the-top violence and chaos, they are genuinely enjoyable to see. I hope Marvel lets them rest a bit... don't want burnout to happen.
A fun ride, but quick... maybe a little too quick. Recommend.
Previously the heads of Thanos' forces, they now have been sent on a mission by the Grandmaster to assassinate Emperor Attican, a warlord who has overthrown many planets with his army of "Turned" soldiers. Obvious chaos and destruction follow their every move, but why are they following the commands of one of the Elders of the Universe when they worked so hard to get out from under the thumb of Thanos?
This title provides great insight into the thoughts of each member, even sometimes hilariously, (the inner monologue of Corvus Glaive asking himself if the others think is is funny had me holding my stomach at times...) but even battling a Turned Nova can't stop them from achieving their goal. Fulfilling their goal, they terminate their contract with the Grandmaster, opting to go off and find their own way, master-less in the galaxy.
Since coming on the scene a few years ago, these characters have shown up quite a bit. Despite the over-the-top violence and chaos, they are genuinely enjoyable to see. I hope Marvel lets them rest a bit... don't want burnout to happen.
A fun ride, but quick... maybe a little too quick. Recommend.
February 5, 2021
Your enjoyment of this book will largely depend on two things - how comfortable you are with full-blown villains as protagonists, and how you fall on Derek Landy's writing style. Reading a lot of the other reviews, it seems that many people were turned off by both. For me, Derek Landy is one of my favorite authors, so of course I found it fun and humorous. It unapologetically shows off the Black Order in all their wickedness, yet allows quieter moments for us to understand them on a deeper level as complicated individuals. Corvus Glave in particular was fascinating to follow, and I really liked the section that fleshed out Black Dwarf. The art by Phillip Tan is fantastic, and I wish he'd been able to pencil the final issue. That said, the Black Order themselves feel directionless. I understand that was part of the point, as each issue has a different member questioning themselves, but even though they have a "goal" it feels like all that contemplation never really goes anywhere. Also, particularly towards the end their villainy hurts a lot of genuinely good people without any remorse, and though I knew full well this was a story about villains it still turned my stomach. It's ultimately a fun read, and I don't regret having it in my collection, but I would recommend doing what I did and waiting until you find it at a reduced price.
December 14, 2025
It is very rare that I read any Marvel comic that's not set on Earth. What happens in Marvels' outer space is usually a whole narrative of it's own, with various cosmic entities who never really get mainstream exposure like Marvel's top line heroes. It has become a bit of a niche and at times takes the reader a little bit of effort to understand the hierarchy of teams and powered individuals guarding the cosmos. However this book manages to avoid tying itself up with backstory and assumed knowledge, introducing to a fresh reader the team of protagonists which are carefully expanded upon.
As someone who picked this up off the back of the characters appealing in Marvel's cinematic universe I had a lot more fun than I expected with a rather simplistic and predictable story, but enjoyable characters.
As someone who picked this up off the back of the characters appealing in Marvel's cinematic universe I had a lot more fun than I expected with a rather simplistic and predictable story, but enjoyable characters.
August 19, 2021
The Black Order are on a mission to overthrow an emperor for their own gains…
What I liked -
The Black Order are a formidable team and this story gives each of them a moment to shine. Having each issue be from the perspective of a different member was a good idea and did allow for some good character progression.
What I disliked -
Whilst the idea to give a character the chance to shine per issue was good it didn’t really do much to progress the overall story and if anything holds it back a bit.
2/5
What I liked -
The Black Order are a formidable team and this story gives each of them a moment to shine. Having each issue be from the perspective of a different member was a good idea and did allow for some good character progression.
What I disliked -
Whilst the idea to give a character the chance to shine per issue was good it didn’t really do much to progress the overall story and if anything holds it back a bit.
2/5
August 30, 2019
I wasn't expecting much from this title and ended up with a decent yet unexceptional isolated adventure. It at least provides a relatively closer look at the specific motivations of the member of Thanos' Black Order, although they do seem a little lost without the Mad Titan to direct their violent efforts. Their opponent in this book isn't all that fascinating and feels like a caricature - the same flaw applying to the weird rebels that feel like they're from 90's comics.
March 9, 2021
It seems a lot of reviewers really didn’t like this. I thought it was fun. I liked that each issue was told from a different Black Order’s perspective, which led to character development. The art was good. I enjoyed the humor. I don’t know. I guess I’m just not as jaded as some readers are ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
July 24, 2021
Black Order aren't villains who are too interesting. Landy tries to give them some personality, dedicating an issue to each of them being the narrator while the larger story plays out in the background. The mini-series doesn't take itself too seriously, and doesn't do too much, but as some nice art and some fun moments.
December 20, 2020
I'm almost certainly in the majority here, these guys deserved better!
A collection of five of the most potentially sinister members of the Marvel Universe stripped down to mediocre offerings that have zero redeemable features.
A collection of five of the most potentially sinister members of the Marvel Universe stripped down to mediocre offerings that have zero redeemable features.
March 31, 2021
Far too cute. Except for Proxima Midnight and the Maw, all the characters take turns playing against type in their monologues. And the Maw is kind of one-dimensional in his. There wasn't real building here.
The designs are good and the story was a capable enough vehicle for a few turns.
The designs are good and the story was a capable enough vehicle for a few turns.
May 27, 2019
The Black Order without Thanos.
I really enjoyed the changing viewpoints of the narrator.
I really enjoyed the changing viewpoints of the narrator.
May 31, 2019
"Toda guerra es nuestra guerra" Muy entretenido y dinámico y con la incorporación de una componente más en La orden negra. Próxima Midnight es mi favorita.
September 16, 2019
Beautiful insight into The Black Order, filled with Landy's humour!
January 29, 2022
Sometimes it's fun to root for the bad guys. I enjoyed the story and the artwork very much. Crunch crunch crunch, I've been devouring the graphic novels like potato chips. Good times.
December 22, 2023
3,5/5. It was okay. Not that great of a storyline but a nice inside view of each members of The Black Order. Could have use a bit more dept or psychology to those.
February 29, 2024
Issue 3 was dope but all in all, it was pretty mid.
July 26, 2024
Podobało mi się, że narracja każdego zeszytu jest prowadzona przez innego człona drużyny, a przemyślenia Corvusa Glaive o tym, czy to on jest śmieszkiem drużyny to złoto.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews