I
was just a kid in the ‘70s, but I remember them as trippy times for comics. No
creator was trippier than Jim Starlin, and no characters were trippier than the
ones he worked on. While the beginnings of Adam Warlock were with Lee &
Kirby (created as the character Him in Fantastic
Four), Starlin and other writers morphed and grew Warlock into the space
spanning, cosmic demi-god he became.
Warlock
by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection includes Strange Tales #178-181, Warlock
#9-15, Avengers Annual #7, and Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2. While
Starlin would return to the character frequently in subsequent decades, this
book collects a brilliant contained story, with a beginning, middle and end.
There are some side trips, but they all add up to an extremely satisfying, and
surprising, conclusion. Starlin introduces some classic characters in these
stories, including Pip the Troll, Gamora daughter of Thanos, and Drax the
Destroyer.
 |
| The Magus and his 'fro |
In the first half of the book, the antagonist is the Magus, a future
version of Warlock (with the trippiest afro you’ve ever seen). The Magus runs
the Universal Church of Truth, an evil mind control organization. Starlin must
have had a negative experience with religion as a child, as evil churches and
clergymen are themes he revisits repeatedly in his work. For the second half of
the book, Thanos was front and center as the villain who wants to destroy half
the universe to please his mistress, Death. I didn’t understand that as a kid
and I still don’t, but it is rather horrifying, then and now.
In these stories,
Warlock’s journey concludes in one of the coolest rock-n-roll endings ever, crossing
over between Avengers Annual #7 and Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2. When I read
these books as a child I hadn’t read the Warlock stories that led up to them (nor
would I have fully understood them) and they still blew my mind. It would have been fine if Marvel had left Adam
Warlock where he was at the end of this epic, but I understand that Starlin
made him a popular character through these tales and there was more of his saga
to tell. In the meantime, while definitely products of their time, these stories
still hold up and provide a thinking man’s version of a cosmic superhero. It
was great fun to revisit them and they are highly recommended.
Grade: A
Worth your valuable time: Unequivocally.
