Thanos (2003 series) #8

Thanos has entered as a pilgrim to the Kyln, a gigantic prison on the edge of the expanding universe, called the Crunch. It's death row prisoners are forced to do maintenance on the Kyln which extracts energy from the Crunch. It also allows pilgrims who believe their various gods exist beyond the edge. He was escorted in by Earthman Cole of the Omega Core police.

Now Cole's fellow Core member Swad complains that he should have been allowed to kill the Titan. They also disagree whether Thanos should be referred to as 'he' or 'it' - Swad is a believer who considers the Titan an abomination. Female Kika looks on in amusement until Swad starts to throttle his superior.

Thanos is still where we left him last issue on a viewing platform contemplating the awesome energies of the Crunch. Various aliens have been sent by someone named Moloka to round up all pilgrims, but they're unsure whether this 1 is actually Thanos as a Cleric claimed, because if it is then they want to leave him alone. He turns round and they realise he really *is* the infamous Titan and they start to back away. But he doesn't give them a chance because he blasts the connecting tunnel they were in, leaving many of them to fall to their deaths.

Moloka Dar survives at the far end of the tunnel with more minions, and Thanos strides through the air to interrogate him. Moloka tells him he's missed a 'party down below' and that the Maker saw past her own madness. But instead of elucidating he leads the Titan to his base. On the way he explains that the inmates require no guards to keep them in line. Instead they have been injected with nano-sentinels that will punish any infraction, possibly by death. And these sentinels also guide then in the work required. The system is almost unbeatable but the Maker succeeded and is gaining followers. However Dar is in a rival faction.

He now leaves Thanos with the Cleric who he met last issue who explains that there's a revolution going on. He takes the Titan to an inner sanctum, joking "Enter freely and of your own will". (But how does an alien at the edge of the universe know about Dracula?) Inside we see 4 chars around a glowing and hovering spherical machine.

Outside an alien female named Mynx notes the Cleric return without Thanos. She follows the Cleric and attacks him and breaks his leg. She forces him to to tell her where he took Thanos, and is unhappy to learn it was Maker's opponents. Then she slashes him as a warning message to them.

Back inside Thanos identifies 1 of the 4 beings as another Earthman with a cyborg eye he calls Starlord who he had heard was dead. The guy says *he* killed that identity off. The Titan also recognises Gladiator of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard who tells him that the inmates have taken over the prison, and that the Maker is also known as Cosmos or the Beyonder. The glowing sphere is a map showing Maker's holdings. Originally Maker put herself in a coma. She was brought to the Kyln in that state and was put in the maximum security heart of the Kyln, known as the Creche, to join its 2 other inmates. But she woke up and escaped. Now who knows what she'll do?

Thanos leaves them and finds the damaged Cleric with the message "We are inevitable" incised on his chest. The Titan heals the injuries to stop the whimpering and tells him to lead him to the Maker.