Adam's imaginary staff vs. Thor's imaginary girlfriend:

So far I've read them out of order, written about them out of order, possibly posted them out of order; and now I just recently picked up from the quarter box two chapters of Blood and ThunderI hadn't read before. Today, part four, "Clash" from Warlock and the Infinity Watch #23. Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Tom Grindberg, inks by Bob Almond and Harry Canelario.

Picking up from the last chapter, Thor and his imaginary girlfriend the Valkyrie (misspelled on the third page!) have just walloped the Silver Surfer; but Adam Warlock and Pip the Troll just showed up. They really could've used a footnote here: Warlock wants to help the insane Thor, even though Thor nearly beat him to death way back in Thor #166.

Warlock sends Pip to get the rest of his Infinity Watch, then asks Thor why his only remaining friend isn't even real. Adam can see the Valkyrie with his Soul Gem, but the gem doesn't affect her, since she's merely a "mental construct." Rrrrreally shouldn't call a guy's girl that, and Thor takes offense.

Possibly a little afraid, Warlock admits to himself that he's no longer the man he was the first time he fought Thor: he was more naive, more physical, and more shirtless back then. This Warlock fights with far more guile, staying ahead of Thor until the Surfer regains consciousness. For his part, the Surfer is a little suspicious of Adam, since he considers him a bit shifty, not an unfair assessment.


At one point in the fight, Thor takes away Adam's staff-walking stick thing, and tries to break it, to no effect. Is that new? Hadn't seen that before.

Then, as part of the book's regular plotline, we get a few pages of big bad Count Abyss putting his evil plan against Warlock into motion. I have no idea what he's up to, or if he's been seen lately; and he kind of looks like he should be giving He-Man or the Thundercats the hassle.

While Adam knows he and the Surfer are no match physically for Thor, he gambles that a karmic blast from his Soul Gem could knock him out. No dice. Thor knocks the Surfer out, and Warlock is forced to take control of his board to get them out of there. The Surfer isn't really OK with that, but considering they would've died otherwise...Warlock, always practical, has their next course of action:

I don't think I have the next chapter, although we'll pick up another one later. Still, and I don't know if Blood and Thunder was ever collected, but the contrast between Andy Smith and Tom Grindberg's art, along with the artists for the other two books involved, could have been jarring.