Well, a few months after Warlock's final ish disappeared from the spinner-rack, Boisterous Bill Mantlo and Jocular John Byrne got the bright idea of teaming Adam with Spidey. Thing was, in Warlock's final ish (August 1976), Judo Jim Starlin had hit Adam with a truly cosmic problem--he'd literally outgrown the universe! What might have been a several-ish storyline was quickly remedied by Bill and John, Adam was whittled down to size, and he and Spidey teamed up against The Stranger. This is a milestone tale, as it reveals that there are more "soul gems" than Warlock's in existence. That little bit of innovation would later lead to the Infinity Gem Gauntlets, Wars, and more throughout the 1990s. MTU #55 (December 1976) also introduced a new god-like character known as The Gardner, who'd become a major player in Marvel's cosmic universe.
Whew! And that's only the beginning of the way-out wonders Cosmic Week has yet to offer!
After taking a peek on John Byrne's message board, I see that he actually had nothing to do with Adam's "getting better" size-wise, it was all Mantlo. Byrne stated he was merely the "art robot" on that tale (a well-programmed one, I might add), and was disappointed in Mantlo's "solution" to Warlock's plight. I agree, Boisterous Bill could have been more creative with Adam's size-problem, but I s'pose he wanted to get right into the "meat" of the story since he had only one ish to tell it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I should have mentioned a couple'a things in the post: the cover art is by Dave Cockrum (I know, it's signed, but I should'a mentioned it--beauty, eh?) and the scans aren't from a copy of MTU 55 but an issue of the 80s baxter-paper Warlock reprint series.
Man I miss those days! Bryne was every where & doing every thing in epic style. I just wish Cockrum could had drawn as fast & as much as Byrne. I was bummed the way they ended Warlock though. Too great a character like the Silver Surfer to put into cold storage! In fact I'd rather seen Warlock leave earth with the Surfer & Capt.Mar-Vell, Starlord or Starhawk. Then see them even a few years later come back as the Cosmic Three/Titans.
ReplyDeleteByrne's run on Team-Up was great and made even more so by the fact I could get them nearly every month on the spinner racks! I thought Dave Hunt was a great inker and they both did some sterling work on this series!
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Yeah, I could tell these scans had the dayglow brilliance of that damn Baxter Paper. There's nothing like newsprint to soak up the ink and give you texture and smell...
ReplyDeleteI have "SPIDER, SPIDER ON THE MOON!" Comic book. Wounder what it's worth?
ReplyDelete