Geez, Norrin, Homer Simpson has to go back to his old job less often than you.

Reading this one, I swear I could hear a cartoon bear mom imploring everyone to "roll it back!" But, some changes from this series maybe stuck? From 2018, Infinity Countdown #4, written by Gerry Duggan, pencils by Aaron Kuder and Mike Hawthorne, inks by Aaron Kuder, Terry Pallot, and Jose Marzan Jr.

After nearly being taken over by Ultron, the Silver Surfer seemingly ditched Adam Warlock mid-fight, as Ultron was about to launch rockets (which seems so old-school!) at the entire universe, spreading himself like an infection. The Surfer wasn't chickening out, though, as much as running to get his old boss to eat Ultron's planet: Galactus turns him down flat, since he was currently the fresh-maker er, "Life-bringer," and eating a planet...would be bad? Like him falling off the wagon?

Meanwhile, on Xandar, the Nova Corps is both surprised and mildly annoyed that Richard Rider and the Guardians of the Galaxy both survived the Chitauri and had the no-longer-planet-sized Power Stone. They may have lost Ant-Man, though...I'm pretty sure he turns up later, but couldn't tell you how: "But the important thing is, we're okay," says Rocket. Gamora wants to put together a new Infinity Watch, and Rich gives it a second, to see if maybe they did it and could go back in time and confirm...? No? All right. Rich has to take off, since his younger brother was now part of the Darkhawk-related Fraternity of Raptors. They briefly seem like they're going to pass the Power Stone like the Beastie Boys pass the mike: Gamora suggests maybe not taking it back into enemy territory, so Rich leaves the Stone with Star-Lord, although Gamora then firmly asks for it, followed by the Nova Corps claiming it was their property. With a saxophone blast, Drax takes the Stone, pissed at all of them. Then, Star-Lord is asked to consult for the Collector and Grandmaster, who have acquired the Reality Stone. Or rather, a Reality Stone: Phyla-Vell and Moondragon from a neighboring reality show up for it, explaining each universe's Reality Stone was hidden in the figurative next universe over. It didn't work here, so Star-Lord gives it to them; and they leave with a cryptic remark about "who Requiem is." (You'll be able to guess when they show; and it's not a secret for long.)

Warlock was unable to stop all of Ultron's rockets: he was rocking the half-Hank Pym face there; it's very Cyborg-Superman. I think elsewhere in the series Hank gets really got, like pretty definitively killed? His soul eaten, maybe? They briefly kind of tried to play up the metaphorical connection between Warlock and Ultron, as "sons of man." The Surfer arrives with Galactus, which Ultron laughs off; thinking it was a scam, since it was now well known that the Guardians had a fake-Galactus mech; but this was the real deal, who changes from gold to his traditional purple as he eats the planet. The rockets are destroyed, and Warlock shoots the Soul Gem out of Ultron's hand...by shooting his hand off; although the robot presumably still escapes. But while that disaster had been averted, was the price too high? Galactus now again hungered, and the Surfer was again forced into service as his herald. Which seems to happen a lot, when the Surfer doesn't have his own series? Well, like I keep saying, it's work, man. Gotta keep workin' it. Read more!

I feel like Alan Davis was given a memo, "Draw Star-Lord more like Chris Pratt." I wonder if that's still the case, or if they're like no, draw Star-Lord like whoever now...From 2017, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mother Entropy #1, written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Alan Davis, inks by Mark Farmer.

Weirdly, while I think Knowhere cop Dietz is based on John C. Reilly as Nova Corpsman Rhomman Dey; I only see a little Zoe Saldana in Davis's Gamora. His Groot is great, though: super-expressive. This mini-series leans heavily in the movie characterizations along with the looks: the team has saved the universe, or at least a planet or two, more than once; but they're also broke, irresponsible, and prone to questionable decisions. To make some quick cash, Drax was selling his blood, to be used as a drug, until Gamora shut that down.

On the verge of cutting and running out; the Guardians get a job offer from the cops, to transport a creepy alien monk and his "Mother Stone" home. The monk tells them, their holy scripture says no more than five people can be around the stone at any given time, or something terrible and unspecified will happen. Gamora and Peter are both "whatever" to that, but the monk dies shortly thereafter of a heart attack, leaving them worried how that delivery was going to go. But they don't have time to worry, as Pip the Troll teleports in to steal it! Drax and Gamora know him, even if it's left at that: their time with the Infinity Watch, for example, is not gone into. For that matter, Pip is still able to teleport, even though he hadn't had the Space Stone in years.

Still, there's no time to dwell on that either, as five Guardians plus one troll make six, and the Mother Stone does...something.

This was a little five issue mini, which came out around about the same time as the second movie. I got it on the cheap, but just about anything Alan Davis is worth checking out. In fact, I had to check to make sure I hadn't blogged it yet!
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The real star is that epic codpiece-face.

How that never caught on, I don't know. From 1993, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #19, "True Believers" Created and written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Tom Grindberg, inks by Keith Williams.

This is somewhere in the middle of the Infinity Crusade crossover: I liked Infinity War better, but this is still pretty good. Pip the Troll is comic relief as usual, as he is chased down by earth's heroes...and forcibly bathed. The end of the issue implies Pip may hold a grudge, though. Elsewhere, the Celestials, Galactus, and Adam Warlock all seem uneasy: they know there's more to the Goddess and her plan than they can presently see. Thanos may be in that same boat, but more proactive, as he's doing the math and bringing in "storage unit #D-666." (The D is for Dreadnaught!) And in her realm, Death seems to be watching the Goddess as well and pieced together her endgame, and laughs...

On the Goddess's side, Sister Moondragon administers a little tough love on Gamora, for the crime of being a Doubting Thomas. The Silver Surfer visits Titan to convert them to the Goddess, but finds Eros, Mentor, and the other Eternals there seemingly entranced. Moondragon calls the Surfer back, for a mission, seemingly unconcerned to that mystery.

I don't know if I would have appreciated this issue's art at the time: Grindberg's Mike Mignola-style was far afield from Ron Lim's work on Infinity Crusade. I like it now, though!
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It's been eight years, but we're up to chapter 3!

Look, we'll finish "Blood and Thunder" sometime. Maybe. Today we're up to chapter 3, in 1993's The Warlock Chronicles #6, "Aftermath!" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Kris Renkewitz, inks by Pat Redding.

We open with Moondragon using the Mind Gem and her own telepathic powers, to try and unlock the memories of the amnesiac Maxam. It's less than successful, although she suspects his mental defenses and his powers were given to him. While Pip is willing to trust Maxam, since he helped out against the Goddess; Gamora is not. She had a vision from the Time Gem, of Maxam standing over Adam Warlock's body. She's willing to kill Maxam rather than take the chance, but Adam is willing to wait and see what happens; which she calls "a grotesque fascination with the man, almost like a death wish!" She may be not wrong...

Shortly thereafter, Maxam and Moondragon watch Drax the Destroyer...blow a mean sax. She recaps a bit of his history (which would be completely alien to his movie fans!) as he used to be her father...before she accidentally killed him, and he was resurrected with brain damage. Moondragon sounds like she's trying to rehearse a conversation she doesn't want to have, and knows isn't going to go well. After a slightly less uncomfortable conversation with Adam, Maxam talks to Pip, who decides to take him to a bar in New York City. A country bar.

Warlock checks out his Orb of Eternity, and sees Thor, and notices something wasn't right. (Namely, the imaginary Valkyrie with him.) Eternity appears to him, and Adam suspects Eternity wants something from him; but Adam wants something as well: he was trying to put superhumans in his debt, so he could call in the favor later. The usually emotionless, often dour Adam seems remarkably smirky about this.

On Monster Island, Gamora is increasingly fed up with everyone just doing whatever, but notices the depressed Drax, who wasn't invited to go with Pip and Maxam. At the country bar, the requisite fight breaks out, and Maxam is surprised at the locals' bigotry: either it wasn't a thing wherever or whenever he was from, or he just didn't remember. Although, it is hinted that he does remember anti-paranormal racism, and may be somewhat uncomfortable with the thought that he could be a mutant. No time for that now though: Adam calls Pip to transport him, into space, where Thor was about to kill the Silver Surfer! (EDIT: In 2010 when we looked at the next chapter, we wondered why Pip had a cowboy hat and western outfit!)

We'll get to the end of this crossover someday! "Blood and Thunder" is collected...but don't, like, go nuts or anything. It's not the worst Marvel crossover I've ever read, but keep in mind I've read some doozies...

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A fill-in wouldn't have been unexpected here, but the plot rolls on.

When we last saw Count Abyss, we saw his origin (and Jim Starlin's last issue on the book!) as Warlock and the Infinity Watch prepared to invade his dimension and rescue the kidnapped Lady Maya. This issue, they meet some new allies, then catch a ton of beatdown, in today's book: from 1994, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #32, "Heart and Soul" Written by Richard Ashford, pencils by Patrick Olliffe, inks by Keith Williams.

Warlock and the Watch run into Darklore and Meer'lyn, whom Warlock had met in Warlock Chronicles #1, where I believe Darklore had made an attempt to swipe the Soul Gem. Which, perhaps not coincidentally, was what Abyss wanted now: although virtually omnipotent from selling his soul to the Zalkor, years without it left him empty and craving one. In the best comic book or horror movie tradition, the Watch split into pairs to attack Abyss's castle and demons, and Abyss wipes the floor with each and every one of them. Warlock is the last to go, as the Soul Gem seemingly cuts the juice on Adam, all the better to jump ship to Abyss...but the issue ends with a quote from John Paul Jones: "I have not yet begun to fight."

I didn't recognize Ashford's name, but a quick search indicated he had been an assistant editor for Marvel: he may have been pulled in in a hurry to serve as interim writer, and does a good enough job keeping the plot going. We'll get to the next issue later, which featured new writer John Arcudi, who would stay on the book until it concluded with #42, with the exception of #36.
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In 2001, Apocalypse Now Redux was released, with an additional 49 minutes of footage. That's like finding almost another half of a movie in there! Similarly, we just found a whole bunch of additional chapters to this one today, but I'm not as enthusiastic about that: from 1994, Thor #470, "Ruins" Written by Ron Marz, pencils by M.C. Wyman, inks by Mike DeCarlo.

In chapter nine of "Blood and Thunder," Thor and his formerly imaginary girlfriend Valkyrie have arrived at Asgard, which is currently pretty wrecked. Still, an enraged and insane Thor is intent on wrecking it up some more; and it's up to Warlock and the Infinity Watch, along with Dr. Strange and the Silver Surfer, to stop him. It does not go especially well, as they're all beaten pretty badly, mostly because there were still four parts left to this thing? The hell...ugh, I'm going to have to go back and edit, since I thought this was a nine-part crossover, and it was actually thirteen! This isn't the last chapter, it would end with next month's Thor #471. Crap, I think I forgot it wasn't just Thor, Silver Surfer, and Warlock and the Infinity Watch, but also the Warlock Chronicles. I think I completely missed those, but it seems like it still read okay.

So I thought I had blogged this whole crossover, but I may have only blogged eight of thirteen? With a couple of issues leading up to it. Urrrrggg...anyway, Strange and Warlock try a combined "karmic-mystic attack" on Thor, which Warlock was worried he would find a counter for: yeah, the Power Gem, in about two seconds. Gamora has a better showing, but is downed when Valkyrie throws Moondragon at her. Although Sif and Beta Ray Bill are on their way, Pip has to act quickly, and grabs the Surfer and teleports them, Thor, and Valkyrie, to Thanos! We've seen that chapter, but I think I'm still missing a chapter between this and the end! Well, considering I started covering this crossover back in 2010, I guess maybe we'll get to all of them sometime.
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"The End" Week: Guardians of the Galaxy #27!

Comics are weird. Most other media, if something was cancelled like three times inside of ten years, it might not be considered viable. Today's title was cancelled in 2010 with issue #25,in 2017 with #19, and in 2015 with this issue: Guardians of the Galaxy #27, written by Brian Michael Bendis, art by Valerio Schiti. (It features "The End?" on the cover!)

Star-Lord has returned to his home planet Spartax, where he had been elected president, to replace his father; but the announcement may have attracted more problems: the Chitauri and the Kindun. The former are pretty much cannon fodder (and portrayed very much like they were in the Avengers movie) while the Kindun is controlling a living planet and looking for revenge on Thanos. Which he plans on getting by killing Gamora, which doesn't sound like it would do that much to Thanos. I'm not sure killing Gamora would be easier than killing Thanos himself, for that matter. Especially since she, and Kitty Pryde, are currently cosmically powered after the Black Vortex crossover. I didn't think anyone kept their upgrades after that one, but Gamora is flying around with glowing swords, and Kitty can change to a blue form that...does something, presumably.

While the rest of the team kill a mess of Chitauri, Gamora confronts the Kindun, and offers him the chance to leave: if she really was of Thanos, she would've murdered him outright. Somewhat surprisingly, Kindun seems to go for it, and he and the Chitauri retreat. Still, Gamora leaves the team, since she feels her relationship to Thanos has put them at risk. Back on Spartax, Star-Lord's approval rating is surprisingly not hurt by the alien invasion; and as he considers taking the job Kitty tells him she's there for him to be the best version of himself he can be. (Also, since Kitty was a super-hero veteran by that point, she tells him sometimes team members have to take off for a bit sometimes.) He wasn't going to be president, though: this was the last issue before Secret Wars. (Yeesh, 91 covers for nine issues? Again, comics are weird.) Sight unseen, I'd hazard a guess that Kitty and Gamora were both depowered by the time the next Guardians series started, or pretty shortly thereafter.
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What the hell, here's Nightcrawler in space too.

Bill Willingham is best known for Fables, which is I think was Vertigo's best-selling title for most of its run. And I haven't read it, but I'm still a fan of his since he wrote two really fun Nightcrawler comics: X-Men Unlimited #49, and today's book from 2015, Guardians Team-Up #6, written by Bill Willingham, art by Diogo Saito.

It's the "648th Quinquennial Blade-Fighting Championship," and while the Kree's Haracon the Ghostmaker will be defending his title, two new contenders are moving up the ranks: Nightcrawler and Gamora! Nightcrawler tells the announcers a story, that he been kidnapped by pirates as a child, worked his way up through the ranks, and said pirates may be betting big on him, or against him. (There's a fun bit with one of the announcers, a fan who absolutely doesn't give a damn about anything except swordfighting!) He also wins his matches without killing (which is seen as an "exotic taboo" for "primitive backwater worlds") or using his powers...yet. Gamora, however, is not worried about facing him in the semi-finals; probably because he's not their real target: their entry in the tournament was a ruse, to get at war criminal Haracon.

After capturing Haracon, Gamora gives Kurt a ride back to earth "since your puny, wimpy teleportation power couldn't get you to earth all by yourself, I felt obligated." There, he talks her into drinks, since why not? A super-fun done-in-one, absolutely grab it if you see it. Although like Kurt, I'm pretty sure Gamora would wipe the floor with him if the fight went the distance.
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I'm a little bit beat this week, but had time for Star-Lord's origin recap from Marvel Spotlight #7, "Tears for the World Called Heaven" Written by Doug Moench, art by Tom Sutton, with a Frank Miller cover. I had no idea it was a Miller cover, until I saw the reprint info. The rest of the issue didn't do much for me, but here we are.

This is more just a reminder that I have some of the black-and-white Marvel magazines with Star-Lord stories, that I need to dig into at some point. That said, I did knock these out real quick:

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How does he know that's wine?

Maybe I should've saved this one until Valentine's Day, but from 1994, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #29, "Poison" Written by Jim Starlin, art by new series artist Pat Olliffe. (He did art for most of Untold Tales of Spider-Man.

This issue, Count Abyss continues his campaign against the Infinity Watch, through his lovely agent Maya. Maya claims to secretly be part of the resistance against the interdimensional tyrant, which may be a lie; but Abyss hasn't filled her in on all of the plan: although she had an antidote, Abyss says there is no cure for the contents of that bottle, which Maya and Adam Warlock share in a ceremonial "toast of agreement."

Maya and Warlock are immediately smitten, much to the surprise of the rest of the Watch; and the chagrin of Warlock's erstwhile girlfriend Gamora! I don't know if they were a couple at that time, since Warlock had lost both his good and bad halves--the Goddess and the Magus, respectively. Gamora seems plenty jealous, though.


Although it had been been sidetracked by the "Blood and Thunder" crossover and Infinity War, Abyss had been plotting since #16! I'm not sure what his endgame was, but I do still love that bottle of wine.

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Spinosaur: Myth or Hoax? (From the J.Jonah Jameson school of headline writing.)

On Twitter yesterday, comics legend Walt Simonson mentioned his pick for Thursday night's TV viewing: the newest episode of PBS's Nova, "Bigger Than T.Rex" "Meet Spinosaurus—the lost killer of the Cretaceous and the world's largest carnivorous dinosaur ever." Neat, but that's weird...I seem to recall reading something of that nature recently. But what?

Oh, yeah: from 1991, Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #36, "Footnote to Infinity" Written by Roy and Dann Thomas, pencils by Dan Lawlis, inks by Andrew Pepoy. Clea throws a surprise party for the good Doctor (with guest-stars the Scarlet Witch, Doctor Druid, and Strange's kid brother Baron Blood!) to celebrate him helping save the universe from Thanos in Infinity Gauntlet! Most of the guests don't recall being wiped out of existence then brought back, but still, any excuse for a party.

Unfortunately, as often happens, the party is broken up early, by the sudden appearance of Pip the Troll and Gamora, who have come to get Dr. Strange, since together they may have to kill Adam Warlock! He had the godlike powers of the Infinity Gauntlet, and wasn't above abusing that power a bit: juggling planets, and pranking earth scientists by retroactively creating the "Great Annihilator" near the center of the Milky Way, and gigantic fake dinosaur bones "seeded" in Wyoming! Warlock had been himself created by earth scientists, so he may have been working out some issues there.

Strange doesn't think that's much to be worried about, but Warlock is just getting warmed up: next, he will "send out emanations" to wipe out ambition and competitiveness, making every living soul "good." Strange is appalled, since at the very least this would wipe out the choice to be good, as in free will; and challenges Warlock. Luckily, Strange brought his A-list magic items, like the Orb of Agamotto and the Wand of Watoomb; but even with those it's a losing battle, as Warlock turns five of the six Infinity Gems on Strange: Time, Space, Reality, Mind, and Power. Strange realizes the sixth gem, the one that spent years with Warlock, is key: Soul. Working through it, Strange shows Warlock a vision of the future, reducing all life to apathetic, pointless shells. Warlock realizes his error, and recants, and asks Pip and Gamora to be his "moral compass."

Before Strange is returned home, he's visited by a pissed-off Eternity, who has no intention of letting Warlock keep the Gauntlet. How could he take it from him? In trial...but that would come later. Strange returns to his party, none the worse for wear.

So, is spinosaur nothing more than a prank from god? Yeah, I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess "no."

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"Rocket."

Bendis took over writing the Guardians of the Galaxy comic, and I want to say he started writing Rocket Raccoon as...a little more violent, than the previous versions of gunslinging space varmint had been? Apparently, Bendis writes RR as if Jason Stratham was doing the voice, and "BLAM! Murdered you!" is his current catchphrase. Which sounds like something fifteen-year-olds playing Xbox Live would yell at each other, except nicer.

Anyway, since I hadn't read the new Rocket Raccoon #1 yet, we went with Bendis's version here, and used Rocket as a somewhat horrible little monster.

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