Complex of God to the Emerald City

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- IF THE ORIGINS OF ADAM WARLOCK YOU WERE recounted? (Marvel Masterworks Warlock Volume 1 and briefly narrated at the beginning of Volume 2)
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Once upon a time ... a team of scientists who wished improbes create a new perfect.
In a bizarre cocoon so was born "Him", mature and nest and its major powers, but empty of all the experience necessary for full development ... However, this demigod golden skin could quickly develop moral and emotional meaning in contact with the very touching Alicia Masters.
The events embriquant, Him eventually anyway by unleashing its terrible power of its creators, then exiled for a time away from the contaminated soil which he was born.

Subsequently, Him was forced to a new spatial breakaway after a futile confrontation brief with the powerful Thor. Beaten, he turned néamnoins more noble and pure as the god of Thunder. But again, Him external afflictions isolated himself in his cocoon, a regenerative process which enables it to escape each time more mature, but also more human.

Our strange traveler met later the High Evolutionary, creator of a shameless copy of the purified Earth, however any aggression. A dissenting creature named Man-Beast there yet taking a vile pleasure in heckling the fragile utopia Him valiantly proposed interfere. And to help him in his task, he was entrusted with the Gem of Soul, jewel vampirizes the life force opponents, coveted object which is also one of the famous Infinity Gems ... If its excesses pride led Him to be crucified, he rose fast enough and powerful enough to finally eradicate evil.
It is here that Him became the providential savior of humanity, thus he became the nominee Adam Warlock, and it is from there that the story takes place you will live. And it starts at a mile a minute on the floor steep a distant planet, with tracking down unfaithful by the terrifying Universal Church of Truth, an empire run by the enigmatic Magus.

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Roy Thomas and Mike Friedrich and leave a plan Adam Warlock walled up in messianic delusions, until it came the designer and screenwriter James P. "Jim" Starlin.
Imperial out of his short, yet memorable run on Captain Marvel cosmic Detroit author monopolizes the creation of the Lee / Kirby duo into a whole decidedly more ambitious.

Both say right away: you can skip the previous volume. Not that the latter is inherently evil (the last part is very very good), just not necessary to address this volume 2 which is itself more clearly higher.

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The book collects the following episodes:

- Strange Tales # 178-181: Warlock confronts the shadow of an elusive opponent.
- Warlock # 9-15: Destiny is a little fox who can hardly escape.
- Marvel Team-Up # 55: Alongside Spider-Man and the Gardener, Warlock faced abroad.
- Avengers Annual # 7: A former ally reveals his game and threatens the stars.
- Marvel Two-In-One Annual # 2: Following direct the previous issue here is played sublimation.

All that was published on our soil in magazines Strange Adventures No. 54-59, The Spider (LUG) No. 6 and Strange Origins Special No. 244 and 247.

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Starlin draws so bluntly in his obsessions, giving the character of Adam Warlock dimension with any other, this time, aspirations, a strong personality, social relations and a new destiny.
The destiny is also one of the fundamental themes of this run because, after Captain Marvel makes a warrior being transformed gradually into a sort of cosmic deity, for Warlock, Starlin was holding a messiah and decided to make a paranoid schizophrenic seeking to escape its inevitable future. Warlock was almost a god, so it was interesting to make a man.
We later find quickly enough the theme of duality, not only personified by cosmic entities are Chaos and Order, but also, and essentially, by the hero himself. And protean dualism in Adam Warlock has three branches. First of psychic first, with that irrepressible urge guilty and suck the soul of the attackers, as if to fill his. Then physics, with the mirror effect referred to it bluntly opponents. And finally metaphysics, by attacking a person who necessarily destroy.
This leading us to another major theme addressed is that of redemption. As the story scrolls, one sees indeed Warlock evolve in full Gnostic quest; the latter seeking to purge its past actions and to come through the same sacrifice of his life. We can therefore speak of cosmic suicide, giving the narrative a high mystical content.
The magnitude of such an approach resonates directly with the megalomania of characters encountered while developing in parallel a learned discussion on power. For Warlock despite himself undergoes the influence of what he condemns. Then think back to those few words of Nietzsche who said "that fights the dragon becomes too dragon himself." A gear where the Yin resists somehow yang.
This megalomania, the author also pushing into the treatment of his boards. Where Captain Marvel was an archetypal hero of ancient source, Warlock would be biblical source. What better way then to build on the work of the Florentine Renaissance fascination with the sacred, of death and of the human body to sublimate the tragic moments? He masterfully prove it during a board of episode # 10, up to start his own Pietà four figures. Starlin will even use the duotone on these symbolic passages to enhance the impact of the speech.
It is interesting to note the same obsession of the sacred as religion is severely castigated in the first pages of the run (see how violently use The Universal Church of Truth to establish its order). So, not content to divert some super-heroic codes and concepts, Jim Starlin attacks the worship and caress the divine.
But where Starlin strikes the strongest, it is perhaps the insinuation of doubt that grows the reader advance in the story. Doubt in the search for identity Warlock, doubt through the realities that cross, doubt about the nature of the character.
With these endless passages in virtual realities, temporal, dimensional - well before the tide Matrix and surely inspired by the novels of Philip K. Dick with his mock reality - one comes to wonder if Warlock is where it's supposed to be. Especially when said protagonist meets all of the strangest symbolic characters as each other. One thinks of this particular space shark, this court parody bursting with grotesque creatures (a giant eye, a huge mouth on legs, faceless characters, and gondola this enormous carapace facies rigged with two pairs of arms ridiculous) , or to traveling companion who is no other than a troll ... (which will also be the breath of comic depicts universe). It is therefore perhaps no coincidence that one episode is called "A Tale trollish". As is perhaps no coincidence that the saga seems to have been built as a tale for adults with his unstoppable conclusion.
The result is a fabulous journey as inner odyssey, which strangely reminds us that of Dorothy in the movie The Wizard of Oz. An analogy that Warlock would therefore be the key to teenage dreams, Magus embody the Magician impostor, and the Gem of Soul correspond to the Emerald City ...
Then all the Marvel Universe that could be interpreted as a schizophrenic projection of the mind of Adam.
Further: Adam Warlock himself, would it not finally become direct avatar of ambition of writer? One thinks Grant Morrison with his constructions rubik's cube (Animal Man, The Filth), which recognize the influence of Starlin.

In these pages, so there is a constant amusement species from Starlin divert clichés and concepts. He cheerfully plunges into extravagance with this cosmogony inspired the lines and referenced; some very good references of his time he brews galore, with an undeniable talent. This will inevitable and avowed comic book influences as the mighty Jack Kirby's "Fourth World", where the villain Darkseid will cleverly imitated in a character declaring as "the dark side". But also to the imaginary creations of Steve Ditko and objectivist; Starlin considerating not "his" Manichaean characters altogether, but as beings composed in shades of gray. The author also sign copies of the episode "1000 clowns" to his spiritual master, with a crazy environment actually recalling certain dimensional escapades of Dr. Strange.
But it would be just the rider to remember that this rascal of Starlin also draws shamelessly in the famous cycle of the Eternal Champion Michael Moorcock (Elric, ambiguous is a powerful sorcerer-king, whose vitality depends on its absorbing sword of souls. It is the Stormbringer's pawn cosmic forces named Order and Chaos, and features an unusual skin color ...) A very strong scene (also its roots in the ring of Sauron) also uses the metaphor addiction when Warlock separates moments of his "precious" Gem of Soul ...
The bulging veins of the saga are traversed ergo heroic fantasy, the fantasy heroic well among the stars ... or elsewhere.

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Starlin has brilliantly met the challenge of the estate providing a strong plot, deep, revealed thrilling from the first moments. The committed reading, it really boils see how Warlock will leave his adventures; the author knowing alternating moments philosphiques, Shakespearean plot twists and action scenes with a crazy class. The clash with the Black Knights, for example, when a mad titan which explains life Warlock blows of sayings in the mouth: it gives a moment of quite grandiose anthology. But Starlin knows multiply SF delusional universe and charismatic characters, which granted the adventure continued interest. And actually issue charisma Warlock is a sacred leap forward! Jim Starlin has now also made a cerebral character physics, complex in its approach to life, and whose psychology is developed at the discretion of the blows of fate and difficult choices. So much so that it becomes a real bomb in the making, and rightly so.

If a good first part of the story is based on the identity of the hero's nemesis, the suite is more fragmented with a voltage falling slightly. However, good technician of the story is that the author continues to inject insane situations and villains of choice, ensuring a tasty reading. The saga still knows a passage périclitant with Marvel Team-Up written by Bill Mantlo and somewhat drawn by John Byrne, finally uncomfortable with other people's cosmological fevers. Fortunately the last act of supreme performance, with a return to Starlin captain of the bar to a final clash that will put the small world Marvel boiling.

Regarding the graphics, the line appears immediately Starlin powerful and pleasant; the author making use of angles and poses that glorify the human body without complex. Then finds all the influence of his research on Renaissance art.
As for the stage, it proves chiadée. The artist diversifies the framing and effects boxes which are strips, stacked, playing a set abyss, deconstructed, sometimes even in chronological board ... however, regrets some vignettes slightly below, surely botched by lack of time.
Finally inking, provided by Starlin himself or stooges, knows his side varying intensity to better support the emotional and burdensome situations. Form and content are sustentant each other.

Ultimately, by reshaping the Warlock so megalomania of Starlin bursts. One feature that many gladly forgive him given the more than convincing result. The author therefore uncapped his own vision of life and laying the foundations for the way an entire Marvel cosmic pan supported by the graphics and narrative qualities of his stories. In short, a paragon of the genre.

Philosophical tale, tragedy Corneille, space opera flamboyant, unpacking references, creative roundup ... "Warlock" is all that at once. Would we not then in the presence of the largest cosmic epic Marvel? It is tempted to answer in the positive. Therefore, we begin to dream of film adaptations leading to Infinity Gauntlet, another highlight of the work of Starlin ...

For food lovers, know that the collection is enriched by sketches, blankets, some biographies, especially the magnificent plates of the "lost episode"; all bathed in exceptional reproduction that offers a whole new dimension to the drawings. The connected Marvel Masterworks are quite expensive, yes, but these are luxury products, and this one in particular is essential.

In short: Buy it, Orion!

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Bonus track # 1: Powers and abilities
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In addition to his physical Apollo, Adam Warlock possesses agility, endurance and resistance in superhuman proportions. Just as it is possible, if stuffed of cosmic energy, or press to raise close to 40 tons tightly packed (in comparison, the already Herculean strength Spider-man is valued at around 10-15t). Moreover, this great cosmic energy our golden superhero manipulates a bit like a Silver Surfer for example, releasing powerful rays of energy through his hands, which certainly défriseront more an enemy.
Warlock is also very comfortable in the air, since it can fly at supersonic speeds in atmosphere and space travel without respiratory assistance to even more crazy speeds.
Then, the being that is in phase with some cosmic consciousness also has téléphatiques powers and a good degree of intuition. And on rare occasions (in case of extremely serious injury, for example), it is able to weave quickly around him a regenerative cocoon still mysterious today ...
As for the Soul Gem he holds, he can use it for different purposes, starting with the absorption of vital force.

Finally, note that, over its pérégrénations Adam has built a strong experience of fighting with bare hands, and reveals also a self-taught philosopher accomplished.

Source: Marvel

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Bonus track # 2: Musical accompaniment
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Because a good space opera without music would be a bit of a sushi dish without Otoro, here are some musical suggestions:

- Hello Everything - Squarepusher
- BO The Keep - Tangerine Dream
- Including 01011001 - Ayreon

But perhaps you prefer to read in the company of Imperial silence one who let you down in the immensity of the work to provide the best dizziness ...