Warlock altered almost beyond recognition as soon as Jim Starlin took over the title in 1974. Counter-Earth, Man-Beast and the superhero-messiah elements are played down. There's a deeply metaphysical problem introduced, Warlock gets a serious adversary and a change of costume - but it's the cosmic setting with its a rich detail that is most engaging. While the aliens and monsters often have a comedic function they never attain the childishly simple New-Men from the Counter-Earth stories. Starlin was clear that he wanted to develop Warlock as a very different title:

"I made a conscious effort to avoid going down that avenue because I had basically taken Captain Marvel, a warrior, and turned him into sort of a messiah-type character. So when I got to Warlock, I said to myself, 'I got a messiah right here to start off with, where do I go from there?' And I decided a paranoid schizophrenic was the route to take." (Back Issue #36, p.6)

From the second issue of Starlin's run, Strange Tales #178, Warlock gets some blurb - presumably to enable a casual or first time reader to get to grips with the weird stuff happening in the issue:


It's also during this short run that Gamora, a character who recurs in cosmic stories and even looks likely to be in upcoming The Guardians of the Galaxy movie makes her first appearance.

Madness shall surely prevail: Strange Tales #178

From the first page it's clear that the title is going to be tremendously different. It's qualitatively better in every aspect. The layouts are complex and dynamic (no traditional panelling here), the tone radically different - it feels far more modern than than the series so far (which, at times, had an almost early-sixties artistic feel). At first the reader is confronted by a lizard-in-a-spacehelmet character called Sphinxor who relates Warlock's history through friendly, colloquial banter. [This type of narrative framing device reminded me a lot of the way Tharg was used in 2000AD.] After this recount, the issue shifts to the present with a dynamic sequence of a space-suited woman running across a cosmic scene chased by brutish-looking aliens. She stumbles across a beefy-looking Warlock and, draped around his ankles, tells him that "I've crossed a dozen galaxies to find you! A thousand worlds, a billion people seek your aid!" The aliens chasing the woman tell Warlock that they are Grand Inquisitors of the Universal Church of Truth and that they have marked the woman for termination. Warlock becomes involved - offering protection - but, during the skirmish, the woman is killed. In order to discover why this has happened, there's a disturbing sequence where  Warlock uses his soul gem ("Thus dark jewel draws its strength from the sinister chaotic ends of infinity...") to reanimate the woman's corpse. The dead woman - in a superbly-drawn sequence - explains how the Universal Church of Truth worship a being called the Magus and that planets can find peace only by joining the Church. Anyone outside the Church is a heretic and attacked. At this point the Magus manifests itself and attempts to "Enlighten" Warlock by transporting him to a nightmarish place (reminiscent of the weird dimensions drawn by Steve Ditko in Doctor Strange) - that turns out to be inside his own soul gem.

Warlock's fractured personality is first presented as the secret of the Magus.

Magus tells Warlock that there his secret is buried within Warlock's soul gem and taunts him by telling him that his actions are only what Warlock fears to do (the implication is that true universal harmony can only be attained through totalitarian control). Warlock quickly realises that Magus is actually... himself: he understands that his soul is split in two and that one part of him is ravaging the universe.

It was going to be a long journey: Strange Tales #179

Death Ship adds another new element: narration by Warlock himself. Floating in space, Warlock is captured by a warship belonging to the Universal Church and held as a prisoner among a number of non-humanoid aliens - including a giant floating eye. Another power of the soul gem is demonstrated: Warlock scans the minds of all the aliens and enables him to understand their languages. They explain to him that they come from worlds that refused to join the Universal Church and due for termination. Warlock also meets a cigar-smoking troll named Pip (who will become his companion for a time). The aliens call on Warlock to lead them to their freedom but he declines and there's a Kirby-esque tale recounted of Grak and Brak the cavemen - the purpose to illustrate Warlock's belief that "The strong must always lead and exploit the weak!" He does help the aliens revolt and ends up fighting Autolycus, the ship's captain. Autolycus nearly defeats Warlock - but the soul gem sucks the life out of him and Warlock describes the gem as humming "in glutinous satisfaction".

The vampiric soul gem takes its first victim.

He suggests that the gem is responsible for the Magus. At the end of the issue Warlock is accompanied by Pip in a small space shuttle to search out the Magus. There's a little more about the Universal Church presented. Although the Magus is the head of the Church (literally) there is a temporal Matriarch who exerts a tremendous degree of control.

We're all heroes in our own minds: Strange Tales #180

June 1975's Strange Tales has Warlock - in upgraded costume: high-collared cape held together by skull clasp and the lightning bolt insignia removed - visiting Homeworld: "The birthplace and control centre of the galactic Universal Church of Truth". Almost immediately, Warlock is involved in a fight with four "black knights" of the Church. Afterwards, he struggles to keep the vampiric soul gem under control and fails in his attempt to remove it from his head. Warlock realises that he does not exist without the soul gem:

"So all the years I've worn this gem, it's been slowly and subtly sucking my soul into itself... until I am nothing but a hollow shell dependent upon it for life itself! Separated from the gem, I am like a puppet with its strings cut. In other words, that gem has become my lifeforce and I... its prisoner!"

He visits the Matriarch who tells him that the Magus is not part of a fractured soul or personality - the Magus is Warlock's future self! Shortly afterwards Warlock finds himself in a sham inquisition presided over by a four-armed bobble-headed creature called Kray-tor. After a trial, Warlock is found guilty. While this is happening, Pip meets up with Gamora who explains she is either going to join Adam Warlock's fight against Magus or kill him. Warlock escapes his restraints and - using the soul gem - attacks the court and sucks Kray-tor's soul. Eventually, it is revealed that everything that has happened has been orchestrated by the Matriarch in order to brainwash Warlock in "The Pit".

According to Karen Walker's article in Back Issue #34, 1000 Clowns wasn't well-received in the Bullpen. Roy Thomas is quoted as saying: "I don't recall the story well, but I do know that what I objected to was not Jim's treatment of me, but the rest of Marvel's staff. I appreciated his kind feelings to toward me, and I share them back... but I don't like to see personal laundry of this type aired in a Marvel comic" (p.9).

I'm now quite insane: Strange Tales #181

1000 Clowns, issue 181, is a thinly-veiled satire of Marvel itself. "The Pit" where Warlock is brainwashed is the Marvel Bullpen and many of the clowns well-known Marvel staff: Len Wein, Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin and Marv Wolfman. Readers would have guessed this at the time when the lead clown, Lentean calls Warlock a "True Believer" - the famous Stan Lee catch phrase - and the operators at "The Pit" obviously cariactures of Marvel staff. The purpose of the satire is obvious, too: Warlock is given a clown's make-up so that he "look like everyone else", he's shown a renegade clown crucified and pelted with custard pies, he witnesses the daily collapse of a tower of rubbish (that contains diamonds). The operators discuss the difficulties they have in re-progamming Warlock and complain about the strength of his free will. The Matriarch explains that Warlock should be convinced that he should join the Church in order to struggle against cosmic anarchy. In order to escape the world of his brainwashing, Warlock has to go through the door of madness. Through assuming an insane view of reality, Warlock realises his altered consciousness will enable him to provide him with the means of defeating Magus. At the end of the issue, in a "Wizard of Oz" moment, Magus reveals himself: he looks like an older, thinner version of Warlock - with an afro.

He is a Watcher: Captain Marvel #39

July 1975's issue of Captain Marvel involves the trial of Uatu the Watcher for becoming involved in - rather than simply observing - events. Flashbacks of the Watcher's appearances in Fantastic Four and The Avengers are shown. One of these is to show the Watcher causing Him's cocoon to return to Earth from space which led to the battle with Thor.

AGE OF ULTRON #6 = ★★★★✩

BATWOMAN #19 = ★★✩✩✩

I'm finding it incredibly difficult to enjoy Batwoman these days without J H Williams' artwork (or, at the very least, layouts). Very little seems to happen. It all seems to be about the DEO, the state organisation that Kate Kane works for, wanting to discover the identity of Batman so they can take him down. It looks increasingly like I'm going to drop this title before too long.


CAPTAIN AMERICA #6 = ★★★★✩

This is simply crazy-man, Remender weirdness - and I love it. Cap fights for his adopted son, Ian, by launching a one-man attack on Zola's base in Dimension Z (or wherever this is). Romita does a great job - especially when Cap kills Zola's daughter (he's beyond losing his mind and has a version of Zola's head growing in his chest - or did before he ripped it out last issue). Who knows how this will all join up with the regular Marvel continuity.
DAREDEVIL #25 = ★★★★★

Stunning. Awesome. If you're not reading this comic - you should be. Daredevil goes up against an adversary that seems to have similar powers to himself. Just read it!
JUSTICE LEAGUE #19 = ★★★✩✩


Uh? Surely I've read this before? In fact, I swear I watched an animated movie version of this plot-line. The Bat Cave gets broken into and someone steals something that Batman has kept hidden in case members of the Justice League went rogue. The villain reveal at the end seems hyperbole. The back-up Shazam story by Johns and Frank is the real gem. It deserves its own title.

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #19 =

Bit of a crisis for the Legion. Mon-El gets beaten up by a weird green lantern-type villain with a giant floating eye.

NOVA #3 = ★★★✩✩


My teenage son liked this a lot and thought that it was a good replacement for the cancelled Blue Beetle he was reading. Aside from Ed McGuinness' art - which I think suits this child-centred narrative - this is a pedestrian story. There's nothing awful about the title, just nothing you probably haven't read before.
THE SUPERIOR SPIDER-MAN #8 = ★★★✩✩


It might be how I'm feeling but this was the first Dan Slott Spider-man comic that I didn't totally enjoy. The reason why? At the end of the last issue everything was set up for a battle between The Avengers and Spidey. It could have been an epic, big-arsed fight but ended up being speedily resolved in just two pages by Cap hitting Spidey in the face with his shield. Talk about the opposite of decompressed! Doc Ock now realises that there's some residual of Peter's consciousness remaining and there's a great cliff-hanger. Ramos, as always, excels. (Probably, this is an excellent issue - I'm just sorry that the opening fight was so... lame!)

WONDER WOMAN #19 = ★★★✩✩

How much longer is this storyline go to go on for? Something else happen, please!

Volume Three collects issues 33-37 and ends Rick Remender's run on Secret Avengers. The robotic evolutionaries, The Descendants, initiate their plan to create the Singularity where humans and robots merge by releasing a nanite gas. Half the Secret Avengers are blown up while the others travel to Dimension 666 to collect an Orb of Necromancy from undead Avengers. There's an epic battle on the streets of New York that involves Spider-man and the (real) Avengers make an appearance. This volume ties up the story arc deftly: there's a real sense of a fitting conclusion.

Other writers would have taken the Singularity and the "life" of the robots far too seriously - but Remender uses them to tell a great story not to carry out any metaphysical posturing.

There's a lot to enjoy about this volume - all three in fact: Remender's odd-ball humour and comic use of minor characters, how he writes dialogue between characters (particularly the banter between Captain Britain and Hawkeye) plus Matteo Scalera's art. If I have any reservations it's that the first chapter (issue 33) is drawn by Andy Kuhn and a little too blocky and cartoonish in comparison with Scalera (though I like Kuhn's layouts better and do like his art a lot).


SCORING 
✩✩✩✩✩ = Awful.
★✩✩✩✩ = Poor.
★★✩✩✩ = Average.
★★★✩✩ = Good.
★★★★✩ = Very good.
★★★★★ = Excellent.

All-new X-men 10 = ★★★✩✩

Bendis. Issue 10 of the old/new X-men is a typical Bendis comic. Yes, there's a couple of pages of action: a mutant bank job. Yes, there's multiple narratives that tie together. Yes, there's a great deal of standing around talking. And there's a lot of standing around talking. And a lot of word balloons. Stuart Immonen makes the issue look amazing, though.

The Hypernaturals 10 = ★★★★★

Thinkwell realises he's being manipulated by someone/thing that's re-written his memories. In this issue we get a good look at the Quantinuum AI mainframe and find out about Side Space and the possible existence of sentient life there. Every issue of The Hypernaturals has been excellent - and this is no exception. It's all gearing up to the conclusion (of the first arc: I'm hoping they'll be more Hypernaturals). What's so great about this title is the detail of the world-building Abnett and Lanning have gone into. Really is an enjoyable comic.

Age of Ultron 4 = ★★★★✩

Two Avengers are killed, the location of Ultron is revealed (sort of) and the heroes head for The Savage Land to carry out Nick Fury's end of the world plan. The narrative has picked up and stuff actually happens in this issue (though I'd love someone to do a sixties or seventies version of AU over one or two issues). Bryan Hitch's artwork is less consistent here: he does great cityscapes but in some panels the characters look a little rough. Now Bendis is mentioning the future I'm wondering if we're going to see some sort of Marvel Universe reboot).

 Action Comics 19 = ★★★✩✩

After the publicity DC's given to Andy Diggle's run on Action Comics (how embarrassing then for DC to have him walk out even before the first is published) it needed to be good... well, at least as good as Grant Morrison's. First thing: does Superman's costume now magically appear? He doesn't just wear it under his Clark Kent clothes? Second: what's infrasonic? Why does it hurt Superman so much? Third: if Lex Luthor's such a genius then why does he need a psychiatrist? The actual story - besides all the fighting with giant mechanical war machines - is pretty standard: Luthor infects Superman with some form of virus that begins to alter his DNA. Tony Daniel seems to like drawing (virtually) whole-page panels.

The Superior Spider-man 7 = ★★★★✩

Really good issue - AGAIN! Ock-Spidey goes up against Cardiac and Peter Parker manages to begin to communicate. Ramos is getting quite cartoony again with his artwork (take a look at how The Avengers are drawn at the end of the issue). Next issue looks like it's going to be pretty awesome: Spidey Vs. The Avengers.

Animal Man 19 = ★★★★✩

After the interminably Rotworld arc, this is a treat of an issue. The sequence where Buddy Baker goes back into the Red is excellent and the issue ends terrifically. I think Steve Pugh's artwork is absolutely great. His characters are drawn really well and convey a real sense of grief. I'm hoping Animal Man will carry on like this (though we need some traditional villains in there).

Green Lantern 19 = ★★★★✩

Another title that is qualitatively better than it's been for many issues is Green Lantern. While Hal is still about to kill himself so he can become a black lantern, the issue focuses on Sinestro and his relationship with his home world of Korugar. The First Lantern turns up to fight Sinestro and there's a world-shattering ending (literally). Hopefully the (next) final issue of John's run on GL will be as good.

Swamp Thing 19 = ★★★★★

Loved this. Now the Rotworld arc is over and there's a new creative team - Charles Soule and Kano - there's a chance for Swamp Thing to tell some great stories. This issue sees Alec Holland carrying out his role as avatar of the Green and beginning to realise his inhumanity. He heads to Metropolis and encounters The Scarecrow who hits Swamp Thing with one of his chemicals. Holland's fears - which are played out among the buildings of Metropolis - are not being able to control his powers and the Green going wild. It's the return of Swamp Thing to the DCU that I like the most - particularly when you see that Superman turns up at the end. Soule is someone I've not read before (he seems fairly new to comics) but I'm certainly looking forward to seeing where he takes this title. Kano is great - as always.


SCORING 
✩✩✩✩✩ = Awful.
★✩✩✩✩ = Poor.
★★✩✩✩ = Average.
★★★✩✩ = Good.
★★★★✩ = Very good.
★★★★★ = Excellent.

Six months after having his own title cancelled, Adam Warlock returns in 1974 in three issues of The Incredible Hulk written by Gerry Conway and Roy Thomas. Using the pretext of Hulk returning to Counter-Earth, Marvel ties up the super-hero Christ narrative. As this is a Hulk comic, the persecutive shifts from Adam Warlock and we get a slightly different character presented. Warlock is less uncertain and the Christ-parallels are deliberately played up. We see superhero versions of the Last Supper, the abandonment on the cross and the Resurrection. At last, there's a sense of closure to the Man-Beast/Counter-Earth storyline. Through death Warlock attains a sense of cosmic awareness that causes him to leave Counter-Earth.

...And Adam Warlock Will Live Again: The Incredible Hulk #176

In June 1974’s The Incredible Hulk, Trapped in a rocket, Hulk crashes once more on Counter-Earth where a less wolf-like President Man-Beast has Warlock prisoner in a stasis capsule. The New-Men have particularly awful names like Snakar, Weezil and Lizhardus. Warlock isn't actually in the issue except for the end, rescued by The Recorder (the name Memorax seems to have been dropped). Somehow President Man-Beast has captured him and some serious torture has been taking place. The art - especially of Man-Beast and his New-Men - is simplistic and awful (it's by the usually respectable Herb Trimpe - though Hulk is classically drawn here).

It's done. Warlock is dead...: The Incredible Hulk #177

After a great double page recap, President Man-Beast (just for readers unable to remember the symbolism, we're told by Jerry Conway: "Look at him... the Satan of this Counter-Earth... the Lucifer of the fallen New-Men") is told that Warlock has escaped. For some reason this is a great blow to Man-Beast's revenge on the High Evolutionary, so he tags Hulk with a microtransmitter and allows him to escape in order to find Warlock. When Hulk does find Warlock, he's become a revolutionary leading the good New-Men from a base in an abandoned power terminal.

Hulk plays the part of Judas at Adam Warlock's last supper.

Weirdly, there's even a panel that recreates Christ's last supper - this time with Hulk cast in the Judas role. As Warlock tells his followers: "Please promise: if anything happens to me... you'll gather like this... in my memory" Man-Beast initiates "Operation: Betrayal" and activates the transmitter causing Hulk to go crazy with pain. Man-Beast himself turns up and there is a fight which results in Hulk transformed back into Bruce Banner and Warlock is captured. At the end of the issue, Warlock is placed on a machine resembling a cross and executed. Before the execution, Man-Beast, in the guise of President Carpenter, asks the American people if they want Warlock freed or killed. There's another Christ-like echo when Warlock cries out: "High Evolutionary -- Why have you abandoned me?"

Warlock abandoned on the cross.

With his death, Warlock becomes the cocoon - which we're told is "life's end". There's an odd sequence where a couple of civil servants - Ben Vincent and June Volper - become suspicious about what's happening inside the White House. Although they play an important part in the eventual defeat of Man-Beast, they seem too realised for characters that never appear again.

This is Warlock's time of passing: The Incredible Hulk #178

Following Warlock's execution, Hulk takes the cocoon and the New-Men plus the human disciples mourn his death. While Hulk seeks revenge on Man-Beast, Warlock is resurrected. Just as Hulk is about to kill Man-Beast Warlock turns up and devolves Man-Beast to a wolf. Warlock has been altered by his resurrection and appears more cosmically aware: he sees other worlds where he has to fight the Man-Beast. After he launches himself into space the narrative voice asks:

"He leaves the gathered with an unvoiced question... A question once asked by Ray Bradbury in a poem too few people know... "Are there mangers on far worlds?""

Even the Hulk is left to peacefully ponder this contemplatively. Thus, the first tale of Adam Warlock ends. It's odd that the High Evolutionary plays no part in the Hulk comics: it's almost that as soon as he sent Memorax (The Recorder) to observe Warlock, he takes no further interest in what happens to his "son".

It's quite possible that Warlock could have ended here as a weird comic with a small cult following (like Steve Gerber's Omega the Unknown). Forty years later it's clear that the Adam Warlock presented up to this point is only a start. Jim Starlin's involvement, six months later crystalises the definition of the character...