Sunday, 3 March 2013 in ,

Adam Warlock - Part 1: Him, Warlock Before Warlock


Forget the Avengers! Dispense with the Uncanny X-men! Sling Spider-man! The real gems in comics are often the odd, unsettling treasures that have a weird culty following, seem written by heavy-handed hitters and make very little sense at all (though LSD and a dog-earred seventies copy of Chariots of the Gods could help). One of these gems is Adam Warlock, a character I can remember trying to read in the 1970s as a child. Then, I loathed every aspect of Warlock: the unsettling art, the unintelligible cosmic stories and the fact that - despite his tremendous powers - Warlock just seemed such a moron who fought the lamest villains. Worst of all I just hated what he looked like: thoroughly artificial, blond haired, an orange plastic skin, the most awful costume ever and had a tiny jewel stuck in the middle of his head that seemed to fire some sort of laser beam. 

It wasn't helped by the fact that I only read the comic intermittantly whenever it was on a newsagent's shelf -  so I really had no clue about back-story or even what was even going on in the issue in my hands. It was confusingly weird and repulsive (I had similar feelings about DC's Jonah Hex's flap of mouth flesh!). Sean Howe in his fantastic Marvel Comics: Tge Untold Story, describes these type of seventies comics as "mind-fryings"

Decades later, Adam Warlock is one of the few comic book characters that I haven't tried reading again. So, armed with all the reprints I can find, I'm going to make a stab at reading as much of the seventies Warlock as I can over the couple of months. I'm hoping I'll push through the pain and enjoy these stories. Then again...

Warlock's adventures begin before he's actually Warlock and certainly before writer Roy Thomas transformed him into a messianic superhero, a sort of cosmic Jesus Christ in spandex. In the few issues before he becomes Warlock, "Him" spends so much time in a cocoon that you expect him to emerge as mothman or at least something Dr Who-exotic. But, no, he starts his comic book life as an orange skinned artificial man who has powers to summon ensnaring tendrils, the ability to travel via "solar vortex" and a "mind shield" that can protect him even from Thor's mighty hammer. The DK Marvel Chronlogy has this entry for Warlock in August 1967 (the same month that Electro assembled the Emissaries of Evil to fight Daredevil):


Concussion beams? Absorbing souls? Retreating into a Soul Gem in the middle of his own forehead? Oh dear...

Beehives & Him: Fantastic Four #66

What Lurks Behind the Beehive is a particularly odd Lee and Kirby Fantastic Four adventure published in 1967. The plot is utterly daft (and, if I'm honest, pretty dull even for a late sixties comic). Alicia Masters, Ben Grimm's girlfriend, is snatched by a group of scientists and teleported across the world by means of the "space warper" to a typically Kirby-esque secret base - the Beehive (a "somewhat sinister-seeming citadel") - in some mountains. She's been recruited to help a group of scientists - with names like Zota, Morlak and Shinski (one even has the obligatory pipe) - who faked their deaths in plane crashes. After an attack on the Beehive's control room, the scientists reveal that their prime purpose is to abolish war, crime and illness through the creation of a perfect race of humans. They recount years of experimentation which culminated in the creation of an embryonic life form in a "life-cell tank". When the life form reaches adulthood it smashes its way out of the lab (which sends all the guards and scientists into a crazy state of fear). This life form just seems to be a swirling mass of energy and the scientists simply attacked it with an "electro-shock tube". They tell Alicia that he radiates a blinding energy which means that they can't see him and that they require her help:
"Now I understand... You want me to get within reach of him - - since my eyes cannot be harmed by the blinding power he generates! And then  -- you want me to sculpt a statue of him - - so you know what he looks like!"
Alicia guesses. Why they simply couldn't set up a video camera isn't explained; for some reason they want a statue of the creature. She's fitted with a rather fetching green scuba-looking outfit with a box of clay strapped to her back. One of the scientists, Hamilton, breaks "Citadel discipline" to escort the blind Alicia into the tunnels where the creature is lurking (it's not really explained - presumably some sort of tunnels). Hamilton reveals more of the story and tells Alicia that the creature has powers beyond the scientists' understanding. They are warned off by the creature who creates a faming barrier. While the Fantastic Four prepare to rescue Alicia, the final panel of the issue has Alicia and Hamilton about to confront the creature - and sensing a presence of hatred reaching out.

What Lives Within the Cocoon: Fantastic Four #67

In the next FF issue, pro to-Warlock is introduced as "The Creature in Lock 4!" A little more is hyperbolically explained by Hamilton:
"We dared to tamper with Nature's greatest secret -- we tried to create a new form of life - - but we couldn't control it!
The scientists' plan isn't complex at all: once they know what this creature of unimaginable power looks like, they'll be able to destroy it. Suddenly Hamilton completely loses his nerve and starts firing at where the creature is. Alicia urges that they give the creature a chance and makes the observation that the creature may just be frightened and confused. After Hamilton's bullets ricochet back, Alicia tries to communicate with the creature. Tendrils rise up and ensnare Hamilton but Alicia is allowed to get closer to the creature. Meanwhile Morlak is revealed to be an aspiring world conquerer who only wanted a new breed of living beings so he could rule over mankind (one of the other scientists belatedly realises that Morlak is in fact mad).

Using a "vacuum car" the scientists set up a trap using an "anti-gravity transmitter" to create an "ultronic wave" to fire the creature into space. When Alicia finally meets the creature he tells her that he escaped from the scientists as he realised their intentions. There's a wonderful sequence of panels drawn from the creature's point of view where Alicia comes closer and reaches out her hand so she can "see" what he looks like. The creature is a giant cocoon and Alicia explains for the benefit of readers:

"You - - You have no form! You are encased within something - - something that tingles with life - - and yet is not alive!"
It tells her that it is about to be born and temporarily weakened. Hamilton arrives and now reveals that he knew the creature would look like a cocoon and is in the "ultimate transitional phase" before metamophosising into something unstoppable. Hamilton, too, then decides to tell Alicia that his intention all along was to turn humanity into slaves. The cocoon dissolves into energy, causing a rockfall that kills Hamilton. By the time the FF rescue Alicia and escape, the creature has transformed into a glowing orange man with blond hair and gold underpants. He confronts his makers, telling them he knew their evil plans and that he will leave the planet for a millennium. He describes himself as a tiger to the flea-like existence of the scientists and then leaves, destroying the Beehive. Proto-Warlock's final words are enigmatic:
"Mankind will never know that I have saved it from the menace of this human beehive... But, some day, a half-remembered legend may tell of the time... The time a cocoon burst open - - proving in one cataclysmic moment that the child - - is father to the man!"

And, with that, he disappears in a flash of white.

Him & Her & a Couple of Norse Gods: Thor #165


It's a couple of years before pro to-Warlock would return to a Stan Lee written Marvel comic. Thor, Balder and Sif happen to encounter "Him" in an Advanced Science Research Center". Him finds himself inexplicably re-born on Earth once more out of a cocoon - which looks more like an Egyptian mummy rising from a sarcophagus. When Thor encounters Him, he explains bombastically:

"I am less than human - - and far, far more than Man! I was created by those who sought to father a new all-powerfull race - - But they were evil and I destroyed them. Now, only I remain - - I who have no name. I who musy be known only as - - Him!"

The story of Him's origin is slightly retconned omitting any mention of Alicia or the Fantastic Four (though it could be argued he wasn't really aware of them at the time). Him tells Thor that he sought a destiny among the stars (which seems to have turned his underpants red) before being caught in a deadly "space trap" of colliding meteors and formed a cocoon around himself for protection.

At this point the reader is told what happened next which is slightly jarring ("Note: the preceding was just to show you that we know how Him git back to Earth, even if our little cast of characters does not!"): the Watcher is shown to be the creator of the space trap, which is an experiment to study stray meteors, and uses something that looks like a hand-held cosmic catapult to send Him back to Earth. Him turns out to be quite an unpleasant character who refuses to listen to Thor - stating "I am Him! I am law and truth unto myself!" For some reason he immediately decides that Sif will be his mate - which angers Thor. Sif realises that Him is like a child - but that doesn't stop him carrying her off in a solar vortex to a distant dimension.

Thor and Balder follow but are ambushed by a character called Haag which enables Him to completely run off with Sif. Thor has a complete tantrum and swears vengeance.

Crush Him Fore'er: Thor #166

In the concluding issue of Thor, the Norse god succumbs to the  berserker rage (a crime in Asgard) and spends the issue fighting Him. Once more, proto-Warlock uses tendrils to ensnare Balder so that he doesn't have to fight him. Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, simply bounces off Him without a scratch. Him doesn't comprehend why Thor is angry and places Sif in a bubble he calls "aero-space" while they scrap. He explains that it is his "mind shield" that protects him from Thor's attacks. Eventually, Thor beats Him and the orange-skinned super-being decides to cheat and use his "deadly mind power" to throw boulders at Thor. Despite this, Thor reaches Him and beats him up so that Him hides within his cocoon form. Thor hurls the cocoon into space while declaring:

"Now shielded from all harm, he floats out beyond the stars... There to drift for an hour... or an age... Till the cocoon doth open once again!"


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