Adam Warlock

Adam Warlock, originally known as Him or Adam, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character's earliest appearances were in Fantastic Four #66–67 (cover-dates Sept. 1967 and Oct. 1967) and Thor #165–166 (June–July 1969). He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and significantly developed by Roy Thomas and Jim Starlin.

Adam Warlock Warlock 9.jpg Warlock #9 (Oct. 1975) Cover art by Jim Starlin Publication information Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance As Him: Fantastic Four #66-67 (Sept.–Oct. 1967) As Adam Warlock: Marvel Premiere #1 (April 1972) Created by Him: Stan Lee (writer) Jack Kirby (artist) Adam Warlock: Roy Thomas (writer) Gil Kane (artist) In-story information Alter ego Originally Him; changed to Adam Warlock Species Artificially created human (Cosmic being) Team affiliations Guardians of the Galaxy Infinity Watch Partnerships Gamora Pip the Troll Notable aliases Magus Abilities Superhuman strength, speed, agility, and durability Flight Energy manipulation and absorption Matter manipulation Expert in magic Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books, the character has appeared in over four decades of Marvel publications, and starred in the titles Marvel Premiere and Strange Tales as well as five eponymous volumes and several related limited series. Adam Warlock has been associated with Marvel merchandise including animated television series, and video games.

Section heading
Contents

Publication history
1960s to 1970s	Edit The character's origin was shown in Fantastic Four #66 (Sept 1967) in a story written by Stan Lee and pencilled and co-plotted by Jack Kirby.[1] The character also appeared in Fantastic Four #67 (Oct 1967) and Thor #165-166 (June–July 1969). Because his role in the Fantastic Four story was minor, sources disagree on which issue is the character's true first appearance.[2] Writer and then Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas and penciler Gil Kane significantly revamped Him as the allegorical Messiah Adam Warlock in Marvel Premiere #1 (April 1972).[3]

In 2009, Thomas explained he had been a fan of the soundtrack to the musical Jesus Christ Superstar and sought to bring the story to comic books in a superhero context: "Yes, I had some trepidation about the Christ parallels, but I hoped there would be little outcry if I handled it tastefully, since I was not really making any serious statement on religion... at least not overtly."[4]

Choosing to use a preexisting character while keeping the series locale separate from mainstream Marvel Earth, Thomas created Counter-Earth, a new planet generated from a chunk of Earth and set in orbit on the opposite side of the sun.[5] Thomas and Kane collaborated on the costume, with the red tunic and golden lightning bolt as their homage to Fawcett Comics' 1940s-1950s character Captain Marvel.[5]

The story continued in the series The Power of Warlock, which ran eight issues (Aug. 1972 - Oct. 1973),[6] with some plotlines concluded in The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #176-178 (June-Aug. 1974).[7]

In a 2009 retrospective survey of the character, writer Karen Walker said the series

... continued the story of Adam's attempts to drive the Man-Beast [a fallen-angel figure] out of Counter-Earth, but drifted toward standard superhero stories with pseudo-Biblical references injected into them. Warlock spends much of his time trying to convince the High Evolutionary not to destroy the planet, and the rest of his time battling the Man-Beast and his minions. Although the concept of a superhero savior was still present, it often came across as forced, and certainly contradictory to the idea of a pacifistic savior. It is questionable whether the concept could really work in a medium driven by physical conflict.[8]

Section heading
In 2009, Thomas explained he had been a fan of the soundtrack to the musical Jesus Christ Superstar and sought to bring the story to comic books in a superhero context: "Yes, I had some trepidation about the Christ parallels, but I hoped there would be little outcry if I handled it tastefully, since I was not really making any serious statement on religion... at least not overtly."[4]

Choosing to use a preexisting character while keeping the series locale separate from mainstream Marvel Earth, Thomas created Counter-Earth, a new planet generated from a chunk of Earth and set in orbit on the opposite side of the sun.[5] Thomas and Kane collaborated on the costume, with the red tunic and golden lightning bolt as their homage to Fawcett Comics' 1940s-1950s character Captain Marvel.[5]

The story continued in the series The Power of Warlock, which ran eight issues (Aug. 1972 - Oct. 1973),[6] with some plotlines concluded in The Incredible Hulk vol. 2, #176-178 (June-Aug. 1974).[7]

In a 2009 retrospective survey of the character, writer Karen Walker said the series

... continued the story of Adam's attempts to drive the Man-Beast [a fallen-angel figure] out of Counter-Earth, but drifted toward standard superhero stories with pseudo-Biblical references injected into them. Warlock spends much of his time trying to convince the High Evolutionary not to destroy the planet, and the rest of his time battling the Man-Beast and his minions. Although the concept of a superhero savior was still present, it often came across as forced, and certainly contradictory to the idea of a pacifistic savior. It is questionable whether the concept could really work in a medium driven by physical conflict.[8]

Marvel Premiere #1 (April 1972). Debut of Him as Adam Warlock. Cover art by Gil Kane and Dan Adkins. Writer-artist Jim Starlin revived Warlock in Strange Tales #178-181 (Feb.-Aug. 1975).[9] Warlock's adventures became more cosmic in scope as Starlin took the character through an extended storyline referred to as "The Magus Saga".[10]

The reimagined title continued the numbering of The Power of Warlock and began with Warlock #9 (Oct. 1975) and ran seven issues. The bimonthly series was initially written and drawn by Starlin, but was eventually co-penciled and inked by Steve Leialoha. Some plot threads were concluded in Marvel Team-Up #55 (March 1977), Avengers Annual #7 (Nov. 1977) and Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (Dec. 1977).[11]

Starlin, in a 2009 interview, recalled,I had quit [the cosmic superhero series] Captain Marvel over a dispute at that point, but I settled the dispute with Marvel and I was going to come back [to that title]. But [a different team was in place]. So Roy [Thomas] asked me [what character] I wanted to do. So I went home that night and pulled out a bunch of comics. I came across, in the Fantastic Four, Him, and came back the next day and said that's who I wanted to do, and that night I started working on it... I had basically taken Captain Marvel, a warrior, and turned him into sort of a messiah-type character. So when I got to Warlock, I said to myself, 'I got a messiah right here to start off with; where do I go from there?' And I decided a paranoid schizophrenic was the route to take.[12] Artist Alan Weiss recalled in a 2006 interview there was a "lost" Adam Warlock story, which if completed would have been reminiscent of the Jonathan Swift novel Gulliver's Travels.[13] Portions of it were printed in the second volume of Marvel Masterworks: Warlock. The remainder of the artwork was lost in a New York City taxicab in 1976.[14]

Warlock's adventures were reprinted, with new Starlin covers, in the six-issue limited series Special Edition Warlock (Dec. 1982 - May 1983).[15] This reprint series was itself reprinted, with yet another set of new Starlin covers, as Warlock vol. 2 (May-Oct. 1992).[16]

Although regarded as deceased at the time, Warlock made a brief appearance in Marvel Two-in-One #63 (May 1980).[17]

Modern iterations	Edit Eleven years later, Starlin revived the character and two members of his supporting cast in the miniseries Infinity Gauntlet #1-6 (July-Dec. 1991).[18][19] This plot development was a continuation of a larger storyline that began with the resurrection of Thanos in Silver Surfer vol. 3, #34 (Feb. 1990).

Following the events of The Infinity Gauntlet, Warlock and several compatriots starred in the series Warlock and the Infinity Watch. Initially written by Starlin and drawn by Angel Medina, it ran 42 issues (Feb. 1992 - Aug. 1995). Its plots tied directly into the limited series Infinity War (June-Nov. 1992) and Infinity Crusade (June-Dec. 1993).

Warlock starred in several limited series, including Silver Surfer/Warlock: Resurrection #1-4 (March–June 1993); The Warlock Chronicles #1-8 (July 1993 - Feb.1994); and Warlock vol. 3, #1-4 (Nov. 1998 - Feb. 1999), by writer-penciler Tom Lyle.[20] The character was featured in the intercompany crossovers between Marvel Comics and the Malibu Comics "Ultraverse" in the one-shot Rune / Silver Surfer (April 1995 in indicia, June 1995 on cover); Rune vol. 2, #1-7 (Sept. 1995 - April 1996), and the two-issue Ultraverse Unlimited (June and Sept. 1996).

Following the unrelated, 1999-2000 series Warlock vol. 4, featuring the alien cybernetic character Warlock of the New Mutants team,[21] Adam Warlock co-starred with Thanos in the limited series The Infinity Abyss #1-6 (Aug.-Oct. 2002); Marvel Universe: The End #1-6 (May-Aug. 2003; first four issues biweekly); and Thanos #1-6 (Dec. 2003 - April 2004). A version of the character starred in the four-issue limited series Warlock vol. 5 (Nov. 2004 - Feb. 2005), by writer Greg Pak and artist Charles Adlard. After appearances in Annihilation Conquest: Quasar #1-4 (Sept.-Dec. 2007) and Annihilation Conquest # 1-6 (Nov. 2007 - April 2008), he was a key character in Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, #1-25 (July 2008 - April 2010), The Thanos Imperative #1 (June 2010) and the Ignition one-shot (May 2010).

The character appeared in Thanos Annual #1 (July 2014),[22] and in the original graphic novels Thanos: The Infinity Revelation (August 2014)[23] and Thanos: The Infinity Relativity (June 2015),[24] written by Jim Starlin; Warlock appeared in the graphic novel Thanos: The Infinity Finale as well as in the connected mini-series The Infinity Entity (both published in 2016), also written by Starlin.[25]