Adam Warlock is one of those secondary Marvel characters that talented people sometimes get a chance to play with, often with great results. Originally named Him and created in Fantastic Four # 66-67 by some mad scientists, Him vanished for a while after killing his creators and then reappeared to fight a certain Asgardian in Mighty Thor # 166. Him had decided he needed a Her for a companion and chose Sif, Thor’s girl-friend. The Thunder God was miffed and gave him a sound thrashing. After this defeat, Him retreated into his cocoon and didn’t re-emerge until Amazing Adventures # 1 which is the issue that kicks off this collection.

Perhaps it was the name Him, with a capital H, that inspired Roy Thomas to get all biblical with the character. The story goes like this: the High Evolutionary, having evolved into a god-like being in one of those grand metamorphoses that were all the rage in the seventies, decided to make a better Earth with better men. On the far side of the Sun, he made Counter-Earth and then evolved life on it at a speeded-up rate. This was tiring and he fell asleep at a crucial point. His old nemesis, the Man-Beast, evolved from a wolf way back in Mighty Thor # 135, ruined his plans out of pure spite. Devilishly, he introduced hatred and violence into the soul of man and so the old Earth’s history was repeated, albeit without super-heroes as Man-Beast didn’t want any competition. Him had befriended the High Evolutionary and so set out to act as the new Earth’s saviour and restore the dream, albeit with more fisticuffs than the biblical messiah used as this is, after all, an action comic.

It all started pretty well, with Roy Thomas scripting and Gil Kane drawing, but it soon lost its way under lesser talents. To be fair, this was a tricky theme, especially in the USA where Christianity is very strong. Although Adam Warlock got his own mag after a couple of issues it only lasted for eight and the story had to be wound up in The Incredible Hulk # 176-178. It wasn’t a bad story and it set the scene for greater things to follow.

Jim Starlin took over the character with Strange Tales # 178 and really followed on with the quasi-religious theme. Adam Warlock encounters an evil empire of religious fanatics devoted to a Man-God called the Magus. He makes it his mission to topple the Church of Universal Truth and defeat its leader. This gets complicated. As there are a number of surprises along the way, I will not spoil the plot for any comic fans who haven’t read it yet. Suffice to say that it’s all very cosmic and one of the greatest epics in the history of graphic storytelling. Jim Starlin is a brilliant artist and an even better writer. The Magus epic was almost bound to be followed by a sense of anti-climax but not so. True, there is a brief interregnum of quieter tales, including a comedy troll yarn, but then another cosmic episode occurs, tightly linked to the preceding stuff. Again, however, Adam Warlock couldn’t sustain his own mag and his tale concludes in those of other heroes.

There are some stories any comic fan worth his salt should have read, classics of the genre. ‘Watchmen’, Kirby’s ‘Fourth World’ stuff, Alan Moore’s ‘Swamp Thing’, the ‘Dark Knight’ stories of Batman, and Jim Starlin’s ‘Adam Warlock’. Therefore this volume really is… Essential!

Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/ ( )

Many of the Marvel comics of the 70s featured metaphysical concepts and characters. While most of these efforts failed, Jim Starlin's Warlock melded these ideas within the worlds of prose science fiction and the Marvel universe. The Essential Warlock Volume 1 collects all these star-spanning stories. Starlin's vision, elevate Warlock from a forgettable, ill-defined character (the previous mediocre adventures are also included in this volume) into a fascinating exploration of good vs evil, past vs future, and love vs hate, all along a backdrop of space opera and intergalactic religious wars. Some heady stuff for a seventies Marvel comic. Starlin's art and writing, though clunky at first, evolve alongside the ambitious story. The one downside to this collection, beyond the often terrible stories that precedes the good stuff, is that the black and white remove some of the extra worldiness of the work. Seemingly inspired by [a:Kirby|10299|Jack Kirby|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1206594751p2/10299.jpg]'s Fourth World, Starlin's magnificent Warlock saga emerged as one of the finest comics of the decade. ( )

This Marvel "Essential" edition collects the 70's era adventures of a strange, quasi-mystical hero named Adam Warlock. It was an experimental time for mainstream comics and Marvel was consciously searching for new talent and new kinds of stories to tell. The 576 pages of this collection cover two very distinct storylines that divide the material pretty much in half.
The first section is written by Roy Thomas and, primarily, drawn by Gil Kane. It casts Warlock as a blatant Christ figure (with golden skin and a Ziggy Stardust costume) defending Counter-Earth from the evil machinations of the Man-Beast who seeks to sow hatred and violence. These stories are not without interest, but lean towards the didactic and date very badly. Luckily, Gil Kane's dynamic art is always a pleasure to behold.
The second half of the book is far more succesful. When writer/artist Jim Starlin took over, the emphasis switched from heavy-handed allegory to a combination of psychedelic space-opera and large-scale super-hero action with a slight satirical edge. The results are a trippy pop-art masterpiece. The first new storyline brings Warlock into conflict with the Universal Church of Truth, a false religion led by a figure called The Magus, who turns out to be a 5,000 year old version of Warlock himself, only with silver skin and an afro (I'm not making this up). At this time a strong supporting cast is introduced and the hero is provided with a great ally/antagonist in the mad, death-worshiping Thanos (glimpsed in the end credits of The Avengers movie).
Starlin's art is some of the best of the 70's and still holds up beautifully. Sadly, to keep the price relatively low, Marvel publishes the "Essential" editions in black and white. However, it is still possible to appreciate the elegant layouts and incredible level of detail without the colour. If the entire book was Jim Starlin's version of Warlock it would easily have rated 5 stars.
For fans of more conventional super-heroics there are appearances by Spider-Man, The Thing, Captain Marvel and The Avengers and their collective battle, side by side with Warlock, against Thanos is the stuff of comic book legend.
These stories of one of Marvel's most unusual heroes are highly recommended to anyone who likes comic books and graphic novels, especially those who enjoy vintage storylines or want to explore the more offbeat corners of the Marvel universe. ( )