Somehow, I'm used to these guys having a more antagonistic relationship than they do here: today, Lord Chaos and Master Order seem like Waldorf and Statler, settling in to watch another trainwreck of a show play out, maybe engage in a little light heckling. From 1993, the Warlock Chronicles #2, "Rescue" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Tom Raney, inks by Keith Williams.

I don't think I had this issue before, but we have blogged most of this limited already; and like most of the series, this was an Infinity Crusade crossover. The aforementioned Lord Chaos and Master Order (and I'm mildly dismayed I got that right first try and didn't use Lord Order/Master Chaos) are watching Adam Warlock, who is trying to ready himself to face his "good" feminine side, the Goddess. Warlock had also been ordered to divest himself of 5 of the 6 Infinity Gems, and gets a visit from Eternity, who isn't wild about his picks to get them. Gamora, sure, she's awesome; Drax and Pip and Moondragon, eh, they'd do, even Warlock keeping the Soul Gem was acceptable. But the protector of the Reality Gem...(No spoilers! It feels kind of obvious, but I don't think that cat would get out of the bag entirely for some time.)

Adam spends most of the rest of the issue tripping balls in a reality distortion; which c'mon, he oughta be used to, that's a Starlin fave! He crashes back into reality at Thanos's secret sanctuary; where the Mad Titan is like, geez, Adam, get off the floor, have some dignity...Thanos also recently had another visitor, the Goddess, who he pretty definitely already recognized; Adam confirms it without wasting time hemming or hawing or trying to cover his ass. Adam is teleported back to Monster Island, where the Infinity Watch...is not; while Thanos makes preparations, to get strapped for battle. (He was getting his Warhammer-esque battleship, Dreadnaught-666; and there's really the feeling that Thanos felt he had outgrown that sort of thing, like he thought it was cool when he was like 12 or something.) Read more!

I scanned one panel from this one, about 15 years ago, for an out-of-office post: long since time for a proper blogging! From 1991, Silver Surfer #48, "Confronting One's Maker!" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Ron Lim, inks by Tom Christopher.

Even though Thanos has just gotten the Infinity Gems and the entire multiverse was in danger, the Silver Surfer pauses on the way to earth with Drax the Destroyer, with the need to attend to a personal matter. He likewise sidesteps former fling Nova, on the way to see her boss and his former master, Galactus. Galactus notes the lack of deference in the Surfer's tone, as much as suggesting he check himself. The Surfer pauses, then presses on, for details of their initial alliance. To Galactus, what's to discuss? You saved Zenn-La and got a surfboard. Quit your bitching. It was a good deal for you.

Was it, though? A recent encounter with an alien murderer caused the Surfer to realize, he didn't seem to feel guilty for his part in Galactus destroying "hundreds of worlds," a death toll doubtless in the billions. (I was going to say that was from a seemingly throwaway story in SS Annual #3, but that story had as many pages as this one!) And a recent encounter with Adam Warlock had revealed "Alterations! Modifications! Tampering!" Someone had quite literally changed the Surfer's mind, and he had a pretty good idea who: Galactus. Who makes no bones about it: he needed his herald to do certain things, that Norrin Radd would not have been capable of. Without hesitation, the Surfer asks Galactus to "undo (his) handiwork," which warrants a somewhat gentler caution from Galactus: you sure about that? Your funeral...

There is no flash, no Kirby krackle for this change; merely as Galactus puts it, "a subtle epiphany." The Surfer is fine, for a moment, before the metaphorical blood seems to literally appear on his hands. And it's a lot. He sinks into a sea of blood, seemingly lost forever, until pulled out by Galactus. Galactus offers to put the mental barriers back, but the Surfer again refuses--is that three times he's denied Galactus this issue? I feel like that could be a Christ-metaphor in itself; no shortage of those here. Pulling himself together, the Surfer warns Galactus of the menace of Thanos, but he is as yet unimpressed.

After the Surfer resumes his journey to earth, Galactus calls Thanos out, he knew he was there. Thanos warns Galactus to stay out of it, and to underline his point, wipes away the world Galactus was about to eat, like it never was. His feeding cancelled, Galactus isn't done with the mad Titan. But closer than Thanos would think, in the Soul Gem, Adam Warlock tells the collected denizens within that he would be returning to battle him...

The cover of that one is still one of the most striking images of the Silver Surfer ever, y'ask me. As evidenced by the fact I knew exactly where I had this trading card of it! Let's check out the back:

Also, it's no laughing matter, but I find it darkly hilarious the Surfer thought he was fine--for about three seconds. "I feel nothin--OH CHRIST, BLOOD! BLOOD! AAAGH--!!"

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Forty years younger? Sign me up!

I mentioned this series back when we talked about Threshold, as "another of DC's periodic attempts to relaunch some of their classic space hero stable." This one does kill off a guy that would be central in Threshold, but does bring back another character possibly best remembered for his house ad, which didn't feature him in costume! From 2006, Mystery In Space #2, featuring "A Question of Resurrection" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Shane Davis, inks by Matt "Batt" Banning; and "Reconnaissance" Written and penciled by Jim Starlin, inks by Al Milgrom.

Aging space hero Captain Comet gets jumped and nearly incinerated in the first issue of this series, but after an encounter on a mysterious asteroid he is resurrected--as is the Weird, from the Starlin/Wrightson miniseries of the same name. Neither realize the other is involved for several more issues, as they work the case from different angles on the far-flung Hardcore Station, from the Starlin mini-series of the same name! (I was confusing Hardcore Station with the old Chris Sprouse miniseries Hammerlocke, another title perhaps more remembered for a house ad than anything!) On the Comet side, it's a detective story also trying to revamp and revitalize the character: I don't know if he was usually portrayed as in his sixties, but he's de-aged back to his twenties. He picks up some new powers like teleportation but loses some of his super-strength, since he remembers that didn't really kick in until his late thirties...While trying to track down what happened to his old body, Comet visits his pal, aged space detective Star Hawkins. Star is later murdered, but leaves Comet a message in his own blood: "You" That doesn't sound good!

The Weird side, is super Jim Starlin-y, as the popeyed-oddball tries to get his bearing on his own resurrection; and there is a Pip the Troll type, and the baddie Deacon looks like a cross of Lord Papal and Monalo from Dreadstar. It's a bad religion, the "Eternal Light Corporation," which proclaims in a later issue that it's "the true path to enlightenment and fiscal responsibility." Starlin takes a pretty dim view of organized religion, and takes the Weird on a Warlock-like trip through it; but the Deacon is over-the-top. Still, I tend to agree with Starlin on that one; the Eternal Light Corporation just barely feels like parody.

Note to self: I'm missing #1, #3, and #7 of this; keep an eye out. Not like the Weird's though, hopefully...

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I read this one new, but pre-internet, pre-Wizard, I'm unsure of how it was received. From 1988, Batman #421, "Elmore's Lady" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Dick Giordano, inks by Joe Rubinstein.

This one starts almost casually dark, then keeps on going: a serial killer had been murdering women in Gotham, and while he hadn't gone to the papers or left a calling card like 98% of Batman's other foes, he had picked up the name "the Dumpster Slasher," since he left his victims there. Previously, a young social worker that Batman had just met was found dead, so he wants this one. With little clues except some fiber evidence, Batman notes the pattern of the killer, and that a new victim should have been found by now. Gordon hopes maybe the killer has moved on.

Meanwhile, recreational drug user/burnout Elmore dumpster dives for food, and gets accosted by some thugs. Batman saves him in passing, and suggests he get home, but Elmore declines, since he was diving for two now, as he was just married. Batman, bless him, does not immediately question "how in god's name..." until Elmore mentions he met the little lady at another dumpster, two streets over. There should be a sound effect for the sinking feeling Batman just felt, and he's right: Elmore's "bride" is a corpse, the missing latest victim. Elmore helpfully recounts how they met: two guys tossed her in the dumpster, then drove off in a red van with a dragon and a hand on the side.

Although Batman feels bad for Elmore, he still has to call the cops, meaning Elmore was probably on his way to the asylum. (Presumably not Arkham, unless he had a record? No, at the end of the issue, Batman assumes he's gone there. It occurs to me Bats probably could've got Elmore off the streets before this...) But Bats recognized the van as belonging to a Chinatown street gang, the Red Dragons, who aren't about to let him poke around their ride and maybe plant something. Batman kicks the tar out of them, save the last, who opts out of a beating, letting him take a look. Finding dried blood, he asked where the Dragons were Friday night: the grey bar motel, busted after a rumble, with their van in police impound. The last Dragon then lets Bats know, he needs one favor...

(The next panel after that is Bats waving so long in broad daylight, which I thought was forbidden by DC for some time...) Batman has put some pieces together: the killers are using vehicles from police impound. All from the same officer's shift. Seeing Batman asking for him, the officer makes a panicked phone call: his deal of loaning vehicles for a hundred bucks and no questions asked wasn't supposed to bring any heat. He sets up a meet. Meanwhile, Batman is on his way to the cop's apartment, when he has to stop a mugging. By the time he gets there, the building is on fire, but the cop was already dead. But the cop left a message, scrawled in his own blood: "Cugino." Italian for a male cousin, so that's the next stop, for a little (super-illegal) search. Cousin Vito comes at him with a knife and gets slapped down, but has a partner: the much larger Branneck. Who knows his rights: Batman had no right to be there, and he has to back off.

Vito seems shaken and ready to skip town, but Branneck is working on a scheme, to both discredit Batman, and bring their total to an even dozen...

Giordano's art is always great, but I wonder if it wasn't dark enough for this story. Of course, we do see Batman in daylight more than once, too.

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The free comic apparently didn't seal the deal, but I appreciated it?

I'm nowhere near the first blogger to bring today's book up; but it's one I have fond memories of unrelated to the issue itself! From 1980, Superman in "The Computers That Saved Metropolis" Written by Cary Bates, pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Dick Giordano. Cover and prologue art by Ross Andru.

This was a giveaway comic from Radio Shack, with Superman doing his level best to pitch the TRS-80--which, according to that article, was outselling the Apple II until 1982! For some reason, my dad, a junior high principal, had this in his office; and I probably read it a hundred times; yet I don't think I've ever seen a TRS-80 in person: our schools had Apples. It's weird to imagine a world where instead of Apple Stores, Radio Shacks are still a thing...there would be more cheaply made remote-control crap, anyway.

The bad guy here isn't the competition, though; it's Major Disaster, who for years (possibly until just now...) I thought he had been created specifically for this comic: he first appeared in Green Lantern #43 in 1966. Besides having a sweet A-V set-up--presumably a kickback from the good people at Radio Shack--MD had a fairly decent scheme, using a tornado to seed Metropolis with "microscopic Kryptonite crystals!" Not to merely kill Superman, or weaken him, but to impede his control of his powers. As he lays out his blackmail demands, Disaster also knocks out computers citywide, to keep Superman from getting help from them...lot of math involved in being Superman, apparently. But, the two little TRS-80's and some punk kids might just help him save the day.

Superman captures Major Disaster, and brings him in on live TV that then turns into an ad for TRS-80's. But he also announces that the Kryptonite crystals had worn off, which seems like a mistake: it worked pretty well short term there. And Kryptonite was easier to find in those old issues than...geez, than this comic. I feel like I must have picked up another copy in the last forty years; but I'm not positive. Now, if I could find another copy of Captain America and the Campbell Kids, another one from dad's office. It had art by Kupperberg, Trimpe, and Romita; but I think Starlin and Giordano is a bigger get. Wonder if they got a free TRS-80 out of the deal...I'm going to go ahead and guess no.

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That had to be tough to draw all issue.

Getting in touch with your feminine side is rarely so literal, as in today's book: from 1993, the Warlock Chronicles #5, "Perspective" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Kris Renkewitz, inks by Keith Williams.

Within the psyche of Adam Warlock's "good," feminine side, the Goddess, our hero has come to try and figure out her endgame. He was not expecting to appear literally split in half, though: his self-image was usually constant. Warlock meets the Wise Woman, an aspect of the Goddess, which would make her a splinter of a splinter of his own mind? She explains herself as the Goddess having used many aspects over the centuries, which also troubles Adam: in Marvel time, he was just barely older than Franklin Richards! But no time for that, since the Goddess may be near winning.

Adam has to take the traditional journey of enlightenment, seeing through the Goddess's eyes her childhood, stamped on by the masculine and evil Magus; than danger and salvation, again at the hands of the Magus. Then, why not experience the worst aspects of motherhood: pain, then abandonment. Can Adam choose a different, better path? By the time it's offered, it's too late to choose, welcome to "the inevitable darkness."

Finally, Adam gets to see the Goddess's ultimate goal, which is revenge on the universe and everything in it. The Wise Woman has a final piece of advice, "accept her."

I'm not sure if Adam was an "old soul," as it were; or if he had been repeating time loops or some such. Warlock's tombstone, prior to his resurrection in Infinity Gauntlet, had the dates 1967 to 1977, but with Marvel's sliding timeline I don't think he was even ten; which makes stifling the Goddess for centuries a mean feat... Read more!

Sometimes I'm ahead of things on this blog, and sometimes it's like, did I even read a comic last week? Well, since I was looking at the new "Mar-Vell" figure the other day, why not take a look at a not-especially recent comic with him? Sort of. From 2000, Captain Marvel #11, "Together Again for the First Time!" Written by Peter David, pencils by Jim Starlin, inks by Al Milgrom.

Starlin art is the big draw on this one, since I find myself not in the mood for David's usual shenanigans: Rick Jones acts like a childish lout throughout the issue, the subplot with Marlo and a ghost at her comic shop seems to eat so many pages, and some of the wordplay and callbacks aren't as clever today. But, after an encounter with the Silver Surfer, Genis finds a rip in space and gets sucked into it despite Rick's advice of "hey, maybe don't." In another reality, Mar-Vell has finished his final battle with Thanos, but does the Mad Titan have a final trick up his sleeve? Actually, no: he's bleeding out, but still canny enough to take advantage of any opportunity. Conversely, Mar-Vell seems mad as hell.

Even though rookie Genis had been instructed by veteran Rick on how to avoid a "classic misunderstanding brawl," it takes a while to get Mar-Vell to stand down: Genis explains he died of cancer, which this Mar-Vell had as well, and he wasn't expecting to survive, either. They only have a few moments, before Thanos arrives, looking far different than Genis expected. (I have to wonder who's idea this was; or if Starlin didn't want to draw classic Thanos for whatever reason.) Thanos mocks them both, obliquely, noting they would have to seal off the rift before both universes bled out like him. Mar-Vell embraces his 'son,' telling him he's proud of him. Genis returns to his universe, seals the rift, doesn't explain squat to Rick, and surprises Moondragon with a kiss. (That feels a little invasive now!)

Meanwhile, after sealing his side, Mar-Vell returns home (to Titan?) to die, but it's worse than that: he'll die alone and unremembered, since Thanos had already killed everyone in their galaxy before he was stopped. Mar-Vell had saved the rest of the universe, but they would never know. Still, he's comforted to know someone would remember him. Until he died: Genis was killed off in Thunderbolts #100 of all places. I know I have that, but can't recall it; I'm pretty sure it's not a great end. Also, I re-read this before I posted it (for a change...) and caught a typo, that Mar-Vell died of cancel. I don't think anyone's died of that; not yet anyway...
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Sometimes I post from a comic to remind myself it was really good. Or really bad. Other times, it's to remind myself I've bought the same goddamn comic like three times. From 1992, Marvel Comics Presents #111.

Technically, since the bar code is on his cover, the lead feature must be Ghost Rider and Werewolf (by Night) in "Return of the Braineaters, part 5 of 6" Written by Chris Cooper, pencils by John Stanisci, inks by Jimmy Palmiotti and Ken Branch. Werewolf biker gang girl Lupe has an attack of conscience, and double-crosses her gang to save a kidnapped child. Dan Ketch finds her before she dies, and an enraged Ghost Rider tears into the gang leader, Scuzz; but he may not have time to kill Scuzz and save the child.

Both covers have the "An Infinity War Crossover" corner tag, for a Thanos eight-pager: "Betrayal, part 4 of 4" Written by Jim Starlin, art by Shawn McManus. Mistress Death has promised her undying love to ol' chinface, if he'll just do one little thing: kill her "tormentor," Adam Warlock! They were on the same team here, Warlock completely unsuspecting--maybe--but Thanos is too much the schemer to take even his beloved at face value. Then, he even wonders if that meeting with Death happened at all, or was it just wishful thinking? Sadly, Thanos opts to not murder Warlock; but I don't know if Death called him out on that later or not.

The second lead feature is what I keep buying this for: Wolverine and Typhoid Mary, in "Typhoid's Kiss, part 3 of 8: Over Exposed" Written by Ann Nocenti, art by Steve Lightle. Logan and the innocent Mary Walker are investigating a secret lab full of animals, and after brutally beating a guard, Logan tells about the biggest lie I've ever seen: "I never kill." Whaaaaat? Later, watching some of the Project's videotapes, Mary shifts over to Typhoid, and comes onto him hard. Wolvie wants to protect poor defenseless Mary; which Typhoid finds laughable. Man, I really need to find the collection for this one; I'm still not sure I've read all of it.

Lastly, an Iron Fist single, "Menace of the Mad Abbot" Written by Joey Cavalieri, pencils by Alex Morrisey, inks by Brad Vancata. It's the recently revived Fist against creepy cultist Thanademos, who is able to revive the comatose to create an army of mummy-looking slaves. Pretty quick, but not as bad as some shorts. Still, I glanced at that panel there and thought it was going to have disco mummies; that would've been something.
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Our fourth annual Ghost Rider Annual...

...and yet I don't think we've seen a number three yet, they're numbered like Milk & Cheese! From 2008, Ghost Rider Annual #2, "A Town Called Mercy" Written by Simon Spurrier, art by Mark A. Robinson, color art by Raul Trevino.

The helpful recap page brings us a bit more up to speed on the current Ghost Rider status here: Johnny Blaze had discovered Ghost Rider was really a weapon of Heaven, bonded to him by the rogue angel Zadkiel. I'm not sure if Zadkiel's motives were clear, but Blaze wanted revenge for the wreck of his life. This month, Blaze visits the small town of Mercy, Idaho; which has recently become a combination of the Aokigahara "suicide forest" and the Mothman: suicidal people have been drawn there, and their bodies were sometimes found after an "angel" sighting. The town is not especially enthusiastic about the increase in tourism; a deputy tries to warn off Blaze, who doesn't scare, but has a dream about an angel of mercy, then wakes up to see a girl go into the forest. Blaze follows, but is stopped by the deputy, then the sheriff; but hearing a scream Blaze transforms into Ghost Rider: they find the girl, dead; her dying words that something cut her.

Going out hunting for the 'angel,' the sheriff sends the deputy back for ammo when his piece is empty, then asks Blaze if he thinks suicide should be a mortal sin. Blaze defers to answer that, but says he does think the deputy's gun was loaded earlier...and he had seen blood on the sheriff's hands before he got to the dead girl. The sheriff reveals himself to be a frankly terrifying fallen angel--with a very Evangelion design, I thought. The angel very nearly kills Blaze, who is just frustrated that if he dies, Zadkiel would go unpunished. The returning deputy manages to distract the angel enough for the Rider to down it; then it tells its story: a former gatekeeper of Heaven, he did not fight Zadkiel, but was punished for questioning if suicide should be a sin. He felt those who had already suffered enough should be allowed into Heaven, and was cast out for it. The angel had been sending those souls to Heaven, and could've sent Blaze there to face Zadkiel, but he can't if Blaze doesn't fight him: "Otherwise, it's suicide." The scorched angel is no match for the Ghost Rider, and is killed after a short fight.

For good measure, or to eat up space, this one also features a reprint of Ghost Rider #35, "Death Race!" Story and art by Jim Starlin, with additional inks and finishes by Al Milgrom, Mike Nasser, and Steve Leialoha. Ghost Rider has to beat Death, or "Death Ryder," in three races. It's pretty good! Although it was issue #35, for little reason it's set between issues #13 and #14, except that I guess more weird stuff happened earlier in the series. Jesus shows up, have to race Death across the desert, whatever...(Actually, it's because Johnny was a bit more in control at that time.)
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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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This was Starlin's last issue, and he made it as Starlin as possible.

It also opens with a quote from Woody Allen, but don't hold that against it: from 1994, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #31, "Abyss" Written by Jim Starlin, pencils by Pat Olliffe, inks by Bob Almond and Nichols.

We looked at #29 some time back, and saw Warlock and Maya enthralled with each other after drinking from that cool-ass bottle of wine. Presumably Maya gets kidnapped the next issue, since she's missing here and Adam is consulting the "Orb of Eternity" to better know his enemy, Count Abyss. (I suspect Eternity gave him the Orb to keep Adam from barging in whenever.)

The Orb gets surprisingly chatty recapping the history of Milos Abyss, who had been an archaeologist and scientist, but merely one of many. Still, his field of expertise was Zalgodian history, and knew more about that ancient race than any of his people. When a derelict ship is discovered, Abyss could read their star charts, and knew he could use that knowledge to get to "Zalkor, the bestower of unlimited wishes." And all he had to do to start was kill his crewmates. The "murderous academic" made his way to an ancient space station, where he found the Zalkor!

By completing an ancient ritual (and sacrificing his soul) Abyss was able to bargain with the Zalkor for unlimited power, with which the now Count Abyss was able to conquer the universe! His universe, anyway. The Orb points out that the Zalkor's power fades further away from his own dimension. Abyss now wanted Warlock's Infinity Gem, since he now coveted the return of his soul...or maybe a new one. Warlock knows full well what the love potion had done to him, but also thinks Abyss has made a tactical error, since "Adam Warlock never does what is expected of him." Indeed, Adam gathers his Infinity Watch, to invade Abyss's realm: Pip claims he can't teleport somewhere he hasn't been, but Warlock says the Orb gave him "a taste of that reality." But they may be spotted upon arrival...

It's a shame that Starlin had to leave mid-storyline--offhand, I'm not sure if he would receive any credit or left any plot notes for the next writer--but he was busy with his new creator-owned book, 'Breed at Malibu. That would go on to have three mini-series, but I've never read it!
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