Not quite 23 pages of pummelling, but close:

Sometimes, the writers in a big crossover event are unwilling participants, dragged into a huge multi-book event while their own plotlines are derailed. (This happens to Peter David all the time.) And sometimes, the crossover writer and the book's writer are the same guy; and in this case, the foundation is laid for a future crossover. From Warlock and the Infinity Watch #21, "The God and the Brute" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Tom Grindberg, inks by Bob Almond.

Running up to the end of Infinity Crusade, the Hulk and Drax are part of the assault on the Goddess's Paradise Omega, when they run into Thor. Knocked away and unable to fly, the Hulk recaps the crossover while falling into the planet's atmosphere.

While currently severely brain-damaged, Drax the Destroyer was still pretty tough, and he also had the Infinity Gem for power. Moondragon, working as the Goddess's "temporal-head," tries to get Thor to leave the pointless battle, but Thor refuses. In fact, Thor also breaks the Goddess's control...but keeps fighting Drax. Moondragon reports to the Goddess, who isn't surprised; explaining that Thor's spirit is too strong to tame (which Moondragon is curious about...) but that Thor is also quite insane. Still, the Rapture is only minutes away...


Thor and Drax wail on each other most of the rest of the issue. Drax may have been simple, but he had a single-minded determination, possibly a throwback to his old Thanos-fighting days. And Thor isn't acting like himself, being smug, brutal, and just as determined as Drax. That fight may have continued to this day...if the sun hadn't gone nova...


I don't know what Grindberg has been doing lately; but I kind of like his Mignola-style work here. The already exaggerated physiques of Thor and Drax are turned up well past eleven here; which may or may not be to everyone's taste. This was a quarter-book find, along with some of the other Blood and Thunder chapters that we'll hit later; but since I had already read Infinity Crusade, it was like finding a bonus chapter or a DVD extra scene. And Warlock takes this issue off, not appearing at all.