Post by Mongo the Destroyer on Jun 30, 2019 1:28:58 GMT -5
Hey guys! The folks on the Discord know that I have become sort of an Adam Warlock mark and decided to read through his entire library? Who is Adam Warlock? He’s a super hero who’s got a surprisingly interesting history (and not too hard on the eyes, eh?). Since I read through all this I figured I’d share the order with you and give a little summary to each section (in spoilers). So come with me as we review the Adam Warlock Saga (up until June 2019).
Abbreviations used:
WatIW – Warlock and the Infinity Watch
DS:SS – Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme
MS:MK – Mark Spector: Moon Knight
SS/W:R – Silver Surfer/ Warlock Resurrection
GotG – Guardians of the Galaxy
GotG V2 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
GotG V5 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 5
“Him”
Fantastic Four 66
Fantastic Four 67
Thor 163
Thor 164
Thor 165
Thor 166
So this was how Warlock debuted. He looked like Rocky Horror (before Rocky Horror did) and his name was “Him.” 90% of his early stuff was edgelording actually seeing him as some way to build his mystique. It did not work. Warlock was made by a bunch of scientists to create the perfect (and controllable) human. It didn’t work out and Warlock noped out of there, later he tried to kidnap Sif because being a monster of the week is a GREAT way to start out being a hero. These aren’t good and have little impact on future works, not recommended.
Counter-Earth
Marvel Premiere 1
Marvel Premiere 2
Warlock 1
Warlock 2
Incredible Hulk 158
Warlock 3
Warlock 4
Warlock 5
Warlock 6
Warlock 7
Avengers 118 (Warlock 1 frame cameo, can skip)
Warlock 8
Incredible Hulk 176
Incredible Hulk 177
Incredible Hulk 178
After drifting through space for a while in his regeneration cocoon (oh yeah, he doesn’t die very easily) Warlock got picked up by the High Evolutionary. Evolutionary was in the process of creating his own planet earth, but with booze and hoo- wait, I mean with no violence or evil. Unfortunately an earlier creation, the Man-Beast came and screwed that up and made a normal earth with no super people to stop him. Warlock volunteered to go to be the messiah to this world in need of a savior. For his troubles Evolutionary gave Warlock the Soul Stone- this is its first appearance. As you can see things didn’t go as the young and naïve Warlock had planned. Props to the Hulk crew for finishing the story after Warlock’s ongoing got cancelled. This is a good read and helps to set up why Warlock is so emotionally distant- because he went all-in here and really ate it.
The Universal Church of Truth
Strange Tales 178
Strange Tales 179
Strange Tales 180
Strange Tales 181
Warlock Vol 1 9
Warlock Vol 1 10
Warlock Vol 1 11
This is probably the most important early story in the Warlock Saga. Warlock is cruising around the universe and finds out about an evil space cult that is taking over. To his surprise the head of the space cult is….HIM!? This is the debut of Magus, who is Warlock’s future in some timelines, and is very evil. Warlock ends up realizing the only way to really stop Magus from ever coming is to kill himself, so he zaps a little into the future and blasts himself with the Soul Gem- which this storyline established pretty much kills somebody dead. Now only months remain for Warlock…
Countdown to Death
Warlock 12
Warlock 13
Warlock 14
Warlock 15
Marvel Team-Up 55
Avengers Annual 7
Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2
Marvel Two-in-One 62
Marvel Two-in-One 63
With a limited time left to live, Warlock ponders his life and tries to do what little good left he can. He’s able to sort of do what he wants since he already knows he’s going to kill himself eventually. These stories let loose and have fun, plus the art isn’t bad- and the original ongoing is un-cancelled. I really enjoyed this little notch and it had been my favorite up to this point. Obviously this ends with Warlock zapping himself with the Soul Gem- but then there’s a couple more stories added on at the end because I didn’t know where else to put them, including a girl Warlock named “Her” trying to resurrect Warlock to bone him (I’m not even close to kidding).
Infinity Gauntlet
Silver Surfer Vol 3 46
Silver Surfer Vol 3 47
Silver Surfer Vol 3 48
Infinity Gauntlet 1
Quasar 27
Infinity Gauntlet 2
DS:SS 32
Silver Surfer Vol 3 52
Infinity Gauntlet 3
Silver Surfer Vol 3 54
Silver Surfer Vol 3 55
Silver Surfer Vol 3 56
Infinity Gauntlet 4
Silver Surfer Vol 3 58
Infinity Gauntlet 5
Silver Surfer Vol 3 59
Infinity Gauntlet 6
This is why I started even reading Warlock. The Infinity Gauntlet story is the original version of what the Infinity War movie is about. Thanos has a gauntlet and grabs all the Infinity Gems in order to become god. As it turns out Warlock isn’t dead at all and is now a Jedi in the “Soul World” a heavenly world inside of the Soul Gem. He and his crew come back to stop Thanos and save the universe. Also, Her asks Warlock to run off and have sex with her; he says he’s got better things to do. Eventually, as seen above, Warlock gets the gauntlet and becomes god. That’s the ending, the story ends with Warlock as the master over everything, cool, right?
Warlock and the Infinity Watch
Silver Surfer Vol 3 60
DS:SS 36
WatIW 1
WatIW 2
WatIW 3
WatIW 4
WatIW 5
WatIW 6
As it turns out, nobody actually likes Warlock as the supreme power of the universe. The larger cosmic beings take Warlock to cosmic court and it’s decided he lacks real life experience and therefore is somehow less qualified for his position than Thanos was. As a hero, Warlock abdicates his position under the condition that he can choose who holds the gems. Using his godly powers he picks what he feels is theoretically the best holders of the Infinity Gems. And so the Infinity Watch is formed. They end up fighting the Man-Beast again because this guy doesn’t know how to die.
Infinity War
WatIW 7
Infinity War 1
Infinity War 2
Infinity War 3
Marvel Comics Presents 108
Marvel Comics Presents 111
WatIW 8
Quasar 38
Infinity War 4
Wonder Man 14
Silver Sable and the Wild Pack 5
Alpha Flight 111
Infinity War 5
Fantastic Four 369
WatIW 10
Infinity War 6
Fantastic Four 370
MS:MK 44
Just as soon as the Watch is getting their bearings, Thanos shows up to tell them everything is gonna suck real soon. You see, off-camera, when Warlock was the master of the universe he pushed out the good and evil in him so that he could rule completely off logic. This turned out to be a terrible idea since his evil side is Magus. Magus has devolved an incredibly detailed plot and becomes the holder of the Infinity Gems. Everyone is screwed; can Warlock and his team stop all this? This is the beginning of Jim Starlin’s attempts to turn Thanos face, too bad the rest of Marvel’s writers keep forgetting.
Warlock and the Infinity Watch II
WatIW 12
Cyberspace 3000 6
Cyberspace 3000 7
Cyberspace 3000 8
WatIW 14
WatIW 15
Quasar 50 (Warlock cameo, can skip)
SS/W:R 1
SS/W:R 2
SS/W:R 3
SS/W:R 4
Marvel Swimsuit Special 2
WatIW 16
WatIW 17
With the Infinity War won the Watch return to their island. Warlock is still in a coma and ends up fighting in some really terrible other reality for a few issues. It’s about at this point that it becomes clear that the Infinity Watch doesn’t really do…..anything. Like it’s in the name, their only job is to watch the Infinity Gems so any trouble they have comes to them, they don’t like solve crimes or anything. Once Warlock wakes up Pip the Troll convinces the team to horribly (and sexily) abuse their powers and then some new superhero just shows up and has amnesia but tries to kill Warlock- this is how they make new friends. Hmmm, I guess it makes sense why the other superheroes don’t like the Infinity Watch.
Infinity Crusade
Infinity Crusade 1
WatIW 18
Warlock Chronicles 1
Infinity Crusade 2
Warlock Chronicles 2
WatIW 19
Infinity Crusade 3
Warlock Chronicles 3
WatIW 20
Infinity Crusade 4
Warlock Chronicles 4
Infinity Crusade 5
Warlock Chronicles 5
WatIW 22
Infinity Crusade 6
Hey remember how Warlock’s evil side that was expelled off camera tried to take over the universe? As it turns out his good side is too good and wants to cleanse the universe of evil- but…y’know….everyone is capable of sin so that means total genocide. Although the actual story of the Infinity Crusade is sort of silly, this storyline has the debut of Warlock Chronicles; which is a really good ongoing and probably the strongest book of this set. Also Pip the Troll becomes the ruler of the universe for a few minutes.
Starblast
Quasar 53
Starblast 1
Quasar 54
This is a storyline that revolves around Quasar’s girlfriend and some cosmic tattoo she got, I think. Either way after testing Quasar’s ethics, Warlock tells Quasar he’s too busy to help in this storyline because he’s taking part in…
Blood and Thunder
Silver Surfer Vol 3 86
Warlock Chronicles 6
WatIW 23
Thor 469
Silver Surfer Vol 3 87
Warlock Chronicles 7
WatIW 24
Thor 470
Silver Surfer Vol 3 88
Warlock Chronicles 8
WatIW 25
Thor 471
…Blood and Thunder! Thor was acting weird at the end of the Infinity Crusade and as it turns out he’s TOTALLY LOST HIS MIND. Have you ever wondered what it would look like if everyone tried to stop Thor on a crazed rampage? This series covers that exactly. Thor is out to destroy Asgard, so you can’t really blame Warlock for telling Quasar he was busy, right? While Warlock and Silver Surfer try to stop Thor by any means necessary, Beta Ray Bill and Sif try to cover everything up before Odin finds out and exiles Thor from Asgard forever (even if that means stopping Warlock and his crew!)
Warlock and the Infinity Watch III
Marvel Swimsuit Special 3
WatIW 26
WatIW 27
WatIW 28
WatIW 29
WatIW 30
WatIW 31
WatIW 32
WatIW 33
Incredible Hulk 418 (Warlock cameo, can skip)
Silver Surfer Vol 3 94
WatIW 34
WatIW 35
WatIW 36
WatIW 37
WatIW 38
WatIW 39
Cosmic Powers Unlimited 1
WatIW 40
WatIW 41
WatIW 42
Now that things have calmed down the Infinity Watch are able to slow down and focus on…Infinity…..Watching. Warlock and Moondragon try to help Maxam figure out who he is and why he tried to kill Warlock- that was a terrible mistake. Man-Beast shows up again, because now he’s got just the biggest hate boner for Warlock. And a big-bad introduced maybe a year earlier finally enacts his plan by having Warlock fall in love; that’s the entire plan. Eventually the gems all disappear and a typhoon destroys the island, such is the end of the Infinity Watch. It’s a wild ride to the end that starts out rough but finishes really well.
The Ultraverse
Rune/Silver Surfer 1
Curse of Rune 2 (Warlock mentioned, can skip)
Curse of Rune 4
Rune Vol 2 Infinity
Rune Vol 2 1
Rune Vol 2 2
Rune Vol 2 3
Rune Vol 2 6
Rune Vol 2 7
Ultraverse Unlimited 1
So some back story: Marvel started working with a smaller company called Malibu (which they eventually ate) and loaned out some characters to them. The problem is that Malibu reads like it was written by a teenager who insists it’s not a phase, mom. So if you like violence and nudity I guess this is the universe for you. Anyway, it turns out that the Infinity Gems were stolen by some vampire named Rune from the Ultraverse. Warlock travels after him but totally ends up in the wrong time period and misses out on all the action and how the Gems return to the normal Marvel universe (really). Instead we get to see Warlock’s new power of stealing placement on comic covers even when he’s barely appearing in the story and Rune’s new power of not even showing up in the comic that bears his name. It’s…not good.
Warlock and the Infinity Watch IV
Warlock Vol 4 1
Warlock Vol 4 2
Warlock Vol 4 3
Warlock Vol 4 4
Infinity Abyss 1
Infinity Abyss 2
Infinity Abyss 3
Infinity Abyss 4
Infinity Abyss 5
Infinity Abyss 6
“BUT WAIT!” you interrupt my writing, “You said the Infinity Watch was done!” That is correct astute reader. These are actually two unconnected stories that take place years apart. However, over the course of the two stories, Warlock ends up working with all the members of the Infinity watch again, so I like to think of it as the Watch being reunited. The second story, “Infinity Abyss,” is Jim Starlin’s attempt to retcon other writers ignoring his Thanos face turn- it fails but we get a nice story out of it as well. The first series isn’t great but it helps establish some characters who’ll be real important later (it wasn’t intentional, just worked out that way).
The Adventures of Thanos
Marvel Universe: The End 1
Marvel Universe: The End 2
Thanos 1
Thanos 2
Thanos 3
Thanos 4
Thanos 6
Continuing off of Infinity Abyss, we find Warlock and Thanos working together to save the universe. It’s an interesting turn that’s fun because Warlock is sort of watching to make sure Thanos doesn’t suddenly into a nihilistic nutbag again. By the end of the series Thanos was supposed to be established as a full on good guy, too bad none of the other Marvel writers paid attention to it, lol.
Things Get Weird
She-Hulk 7
She-Hulk 8
Warlock Vol 6 1
Warlock Vol 6 2
Warlock Vol 6 3
Warlock Vol 6 4
These are two stories which are actually separated by a fair bit of time I think. The first story is about She-Hulk becoming a cosmic judge. She’s called to rule on a case that Warlock has kept open by sending heroes in to get the crap beaten out of them by the bad guy. It’s actually a lot of fun. The second story is about another Warlock being made by the same scientists who made the first one. It’s funny because the day before I started reading this we had been talking with Kira about Marvel bringing in women/minorities to replace current heroes. As it turns out in a twist ending, Warlock Delta is a woman. But unlike Warlock she seems interested in taking care of earth issues- too bad no other writer has picked up her stories, she’d be a good addition to the Avengers, I think.
Annihilation: Conquest
Annihilation: Conquest – Quasar 4
Annihilation: Conquest 1
Annihilation: Conquest 2
Annihilation: Conquest 3
Annihilation: Conquest 4
Annihilation: Conquest 5
Annihilation: Conquest 6
I told you that the storyline of Warlock Vol 4 introduced characters who we’d deal with later, now is later. This is the follow-up to the Annihilation event in which the Negative Zone bad guys from Warlock Vol 4 try to take over the universe. In the power vacuum that’s created after they’re defeated a new race arrives on the scene to enslave everyone in space. Warlock and a rag tag group save the day and form the……
Guardians of the Galaxy
GotG V2 1
GotG V2 2
GotG V2 3
GotG V2 4
GotG V2 5
GotG V2 6
…Guardians of the Galaxy! Sensing that things might be very problematic for the universe, Peter Quill calls together the folks who helped during the Annihilation: Conquest storyline to protect the universe from being ripped apart. Their first enemies are the returned Universal Church of Truth and themselves. Themselves? Yeah, as it turns out, Peter and Mantis actually brainwashed everyone into joining, that doesn’t go over very well.
War of Kings
GotG V2 7
GotG V2 8
GotG V2 10
GotG V2 13
GotG V2 14
GotG V2 15
GotG V2 17
GotG V2 19
With the Guardians in tatters, the storylines split up. Adam/Gamora go to deal with the Universal Church of Truth (How did they even come back? I don’t think it’s ever explained) while the others deal with separate issues. However, everyone comes back together to stop a huge Kree/Shi’ar war that threatens to destroy everything. Warlock is able to save the fabric of the universe by grafting it with an old timeline that had been cut waaaay back in the original Warlock ongoing: the timeline in which Warlock becomes Magus.
Thanos: Infinity
Thanos: The Infinity Revelation
Thanos: The Infinity Finale
Thanos: The Infinity Siblings (Warlock cameo)
Thanos: The Infinity Conflict
So two notes for this one: (1) I don’t know the exact timeframe when these all take place so I lumped them together. (2) There’s a missing story in the middle because that features a Warlock from a different universe. Either way, these represent Thanos’ main writer, Jim Starlin taking back his toys and spending a hundred pages per book telling us how we’re supposed to play with them. But by the end of it he gives in and sets things up so that the way Marvel has been writing Thanos and Warlock work within his vision. So although it’s a rough start the ending is pretty satisfying. OH ENDING!? I MEANT CLIFFHANGER! The last chapter of this epic comes out in October.
Infinity Countdown
GotG 150
Infinity Countdown: Adam Warlock
Infinity Countdown Prime
Infinity Countdown 2
Infinity Countdown 3
Infinity Countdown 4
Infinity Countdown 5
Warlock awakens to Kang the Conqueror saying he needs Adam to go get the Soul Gem. Meanwhile we learn the locations of the other gems as folks are gearing up for some big happenings. This is a pretty entertaining series and might actually be better than the series it was the precursor to. Either way this is all build up to…
Infinity Wars
Infinity Wars Prime
Infinity Wars 1
Infinity Wars 2
Infinity Wars 4
Infinity Wars: Soldier Supreme
Infinity Wars 5
Infinity Wars 6
Infinity Wars: Fallen Guardian
…Infinity Wars! This is a really nutter storyline. Part of Gamora’s soul is in Soul World, which really sucks now (keep in mind it’s been somewhat corrupted for a while). She’s going crazy trying to retrieve her missing soul piece to the point where she straight up kills Thanos and tries to kill others as well. Eventually she gets what she wants but it turns out she’s still crazy and is willing to sacrifice the universe to some monster in the Soul Gem so that she can rebuild the universe out of the material it leaves after eating everything. Yeah, that’s a lot of random words strung together. In the end Warlock gets all the gems but doesn’t become god again because that’d be weird, right?
Continuing Adventures…
GotG V5 1
Silver Surfer: Black 1 (Warlock cameo, can skip)
GotG V5 Annual
At the reading of Thanos’ will his lackeys suck everyone into a black hole as a diversion to steal his body. Silver Surfer gets everyone out but they’re scattered across time and space. Warlock saves a planet from a semi-benevolent god figure because uh….down with the patriarchy? Anyway there are probably more adventures on the horizon for a super cool super hero like Warlock!
And that’s the adventures of Adam Warlock so far! He’s gone through a lot of changes over the years and his powers have never been clearly defined (aside from resurrection). But his stories are usually a lot of fun to read and come in generally manageable doses, so I totes recommend him as a character to check out. I hope these summaries and orders have whet your appetite and that you check out the wild world of Warlock in the future!