Marvel "Cosmic" Stories

[SJS4]

So after seeing Avengers a while back I dug out my old "cosmic Marvels" to start reading again. Mainly referring to Silver Surfer (3rd series, issues 1-100), Adam Warlock and the various Infinity Gem stories, and Quasar (was one of my favorites way back when).

I finally got through all the back issues and just finished the final issue of Warlock and the Inifinity Watch and low and behold I notice that its "to be continued in Rune/Silver Surfer" (in Ultraverse...?!?). I never even noticed this before (I was kinda "blah" toward the end of the series and wasn't too sad to see it canceled after Starlin left).

I had already picked up the Thanos miniseries (started by Starlin but finished by Giffen/Lim) and had picked up the "Annihilation" mini series since I had read that it was sort of the current version of the "cosmic superhero crossover event."

But after noticing the Rune mention I went back and checked out Rune and yeah right there on a lot of the later covers was Adam Warlock. I always wondered WTF happened to him within Marvel...it looks like somehow he ended up in the Ultraverse?? Weird...but I did notice that he appears in the Thanos mini series I mentioned early, and that mini series mentioned his appearance in an earlier series which I have now picked via hardcover (Marvel: The End)

Anyway I bought the Rune back issues now and am planning to read those. But holy crap does anyone know if there is going to be some other weird cross over I should be out buying? I am essentially trying to fill in the gap from the end of Warlock and the Inifinity Watch and the "Annihilation" mini series. I already have Marvel: The End and the Thanos mini series, as well as the Rune comics. I am mainly interested in storylines involving Adam Warlock and/or Thanos as I always found those characters more interesting then the rest (I only bought Surfer because it seems to be so tied into Adam Warlock and Thanos, and when Quaser was canceled I was glad to see it go because it got pretty dumb with the whole New Universe tie-in).

Anyone else have any thoughts on these series?

[Chiclo]

There was a forgettable mini (5 issues?) called Infinity Abyss that focused on Thanos. It takes place shortly before Marvel Comics: The End. Another one is the Avengers: Celestial Quest.

Silver Surfer/Green Lantern featured the Mad Titan. He teams up with that chump Kyle Rainier. There was a Darkseid/Galactus "The Hunger" one shot as well but that featured neither Thanos nor Warlock.

Some other 90s Thanos goodies would be the 6-issue Cosmic Powers mini-series, Secret Defenders 12 to 14, the forgotten Cosmic Powers Unlimited run (of which I think Thanos only appeared in the first issue) and a hard-to-find one shot called -if I remember right- Silver Surfer Dangerous Artifacts. For the sake of completion, Thanos appeared in a Ka-Zar run and a Hulk/X-Man annual. Those stories are horrible. There was also a three issue story arc in a Thor comic in the early 2000s where he thwarts one of Death's ex-boyfriends. In the same vein, he appears in a Deadpool issue somewhat jealous of the attention Deadpool gets from Death.

[SJS4]

There was a forgettable mini (5 issues?) called Infinity Abyss that focused on Thanos. It takes place shortly before Marvel Comics: The End. Another one is the Avengers: Celestial Quest.

Silver Surfer/Green Lantern featured the Mad Titan. He teams up with that chump Kyle Rainier. There was a Darkseid/Galactus "The Hunger" one shot as well but that featured neither Thanos nor Warlock.

Some other 90s Thanos goodies would be the 6-issue Cosmic Powers mini-series, Secret Defenders 12 to 14, the forgotten Cosmic Powers Unlimited run (of which I think Thanos only appeared in the first issue) and a hard-to-find one shot called -if I remember right- Silver Surfer Dangerous Artifacts. For the sake of completion, Thanos appeared in a Ka-Zar run and a Hulk/X-Man annual. Those stories are horrible. There was also a three issue story arc in a Thor comic in the early 2000s where he thwarts one of Death's ex-boyfriends. In the same vein, he appears in a Deadpool issue somewhat jealous of the attention Deadpool gets from Death.

Hm...I may have to go get the Infinity Abyss if I can find it cheap. Will probably skip the rest (though FWIW I do actually have the Galactus/Darkseid one shot you mentioned...I forgot all about it...gonna have to pull that out now and read it).

Thanks for posting!

[comicsyte95]

If your interested in Marvel cosmic storylines you might like these fan fiction storys i enjoyed them when i stumbled on them years ago..
http://marvelite.prohosting.com/surfer/ ... index.html

[BugsySig]

I thought all the Cosmic books from DnA were very good starting with Annhilation and continuing through the Thanos Imperative. Adam Warlock featured heavily in Guardians of the Galaxy, which was a favorite of mine that I would suggest to anyone.

[Chiclo]

If your interested in Marvel cosmic storylines you might like these fan fiction storys i enjoyed them when i stumbled on them years ago..
http://marvelite.prohosting.com/surfer/ ... index.html

I have read the first two of those Azmodi fanfics and they are pretty good. I will have to read the third at some point.

[comicsyte95]

The Azmodi fanfics are my favorite on there (in my opinion)and a good read.When i get some spare time ill probably reread them as well.

[SJS4]

There was a forgettable mini (5 issues?) called Infinity Abyss that focused on Thanos. It takes place shortly before Marvel Comics: The End. Another one is the Avengers: Celestial Quest.

Silver Surfer/Green Lantern featured the Mad Titan. He teams up with that chump Kyle Rainier. There was a Darkseid/Galactus "The Hunger" one shot as well but that featured neither Thanos nor Warlock.

Some other 90s Thanos goodies would be the 6-issue Cosmic Powers mini-series, Secret Defenders 12 to 14, the forgotten Cosmic Powers Unlimited run (of which I think Thanos only appeared in the first issue) and a hard-to-find one shot called -if I remember right- Silver Surfer Dangerous Artifacts. For the sake of completion, Thanos appeared in a Ka-Zar run and a Hulk/X-Man annual. Those stories are horrible. There was also a three issue story arc in a Thor comic in the early 2000s where he thwarts one of Death's ex-boyfriends. In the same vein, he appears in a Deadpool issue somewhat jealous of the attention Deadpool gets from Death.

Hm...I may have to go get the Infinity Abyss if I can find it cheap. Will probably skip the rest (though FWIW I do actually have the Galactus/Darkseid one shot you mentioned...I forgot all about it...gonna have to pull that out now and read it).

Thanks for posting!

Hah, oddly enough I was digging through some old boxes in my basement this weekend (have been boxed up since I lived in montreal ~5-8 years ago) and I found Avengers: Celestial Quest as well as a set of Infinity Abyss (the #1 issue from the set is actually a "dynamic forces" issue with a signature from Starlin). I have absolutely no memory of buying these. These comics were published well after I stopped reading comics...best I can figure is that I was still getting getting stuff from my LCS subscription right up until they finally closed, but I never actually read any of these. I actually found some issues that I have since bought again (some issues from the "Thanos" series as an example), so I have decided to put all back issue purchases on hold until I can dig through all the boxes. The downside is that these were boxed up in moving boxes, not comic storage boxes so some of the issues I have found are not in great shape (probably VF or Fine, definitely not NM).

The most interesting thing I found, BTW, was the first couple of issues of "Conan" by Dark Horse...art by Cary Nord. His art style was much more stylized in those issues (looked like he did pencil and inks), but you can see the similarities vs X-O for sure. And yes I had no idea I owned these.

[hulk181man]

I noticed this in the upcoming solicitations & Bagley's art has always been among my favorites.

[Ross2]

SJS4, did you ever get the Rune/Silver Surfer book? I have it, I got it for .25 cents somewhere. Actually a decent 1/2 read by the late great John Buscema. The other 1/2 is more the Rune story and its terrible.

[SJS4]

Yep, I picked up a copy (along with a bunch of other Rune issues...including a rune vs conan comic by BWS...I thought that was pretty cool actually) from eBay. I have read the first Rune series (and the Conan crossover), but haven't sat down to read the silver surfer issue yet

[SJS4]

So I read the rest of the Rune comics...wow those were bad. I would say the drop off in quality from BWS to non-BWS Rune was even bigger then the drop off from when he left A&A. Yikes...probably should have just skipped all the non-silver surfer Rune issues as Warlock barely showed up in those comics (although I guess technically his DNA was a big plot point).

Anyway, as I continue digging through my stored comics I found a series called "Captain Marvel" by Peter David and Chris Cross (he doesn't want to make me "Jump! Jump!" though). I had completely forgotten about this series as well, but when I sat down to read it I did remember it. Its actually really entertaining (solid stories with Peter David's standard great dialogue), and Warlock/Thanos show up here and there so I am going to keep this series with my other "Cosmic" Marvels. I also found a ton of Thor comics from around the same period (which I also vaguely recall buying) and I want to read those too. I know at minimum there is a big story arc with Thanos vs Odin in there somewhere (which is about all I remeber of the series off the top of my head).

Overall reading these stories really brings back memories.

Oh just an aside, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jim Califiore as a guest penciler in one of the issues of Captain Marvel. He did a great job. Anyone know if he is working on a steady series currently? I was always a big fan of his art. Also noticed an issue (or two?) by Patrick Zircher, who appears to be doing some work for VEI. Actually wasn't too impressed by his work, but this was about a decade ago so I won't make any negative assumptions about his current work.

[Chiclo]

Anyway, as I continue digging through my stored comics I found a series called "Captain Marvel" by Peter David and Chris Cross (he doesn't want to make me "Jump! Jump!" though). I had completely forgotten about this series as well, but when I sat down to read it I did remember it. Its actually really entertaining (solid stories with Peter David's standard great dialogue), and Warlock/Thanos show up here and there so I am going to keep this series with my other "Cosmic" Marvels. I also found a ton of Thor comics from around the same period (which I also vaguely recall buying) and I want to read those too. I know at minimum there is a big story arc with Thanos vs Odin in there somewhere (which is about all I remeber of the series off the top of my head).

I don't think Thanos squared off with Odin in the early 2000's era Thor comics.

Thanos did engage Odin in a fistfight during the Blood and Thunder story arc that directly followed Infinity Crusade, though. That fight was a good one. Asgard fell down before either Thanos or Odin did.

[SJS4]

Yep you're right, it was just Thor vs Thanos (I checked). I was thinking of issue #25 by John Romita Jr., not sure why I thought it was Odin vs Thanos, but hey it was ~10 years ago.

[Cyberstrike]

So I read the rest of the Rune comics...wow those were bad. I would say the drop off in quality from BWS to non-BWS Rune was even bigger then the drop off from when he left A&A. Yikes...probably should have just skipped all the non-silver surfer Rune issues as Warlock barely showed up in those comics (although I guess technically his DNA was a big plot point).

Anyway, as I continue digging through my stored comics I found a series called "Captain Marvel" by Peter David and Chris Cross (he doesn't want to make me "Jump! Jump!" though). I had completely forgotten about this series as well, but when I sat down to read it I did remember it. Its actually really entertaining (solid stories with Peter David's standard great dialogue), and Warlock/Thanos show up here and there so I am going to keep this series with my other "Cosmic" Marvels. I also found a ton of Thor comics from around the same period (which I also vaguely recall buying) and I want to read those too. I know at minimum there is a big story arc with Thanos vs Odin in there somewhere (which is about all I remeber of the series off the top of my head).

Overall reading these stories really brings back memories.

Oh just an aside, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jim Califiore as a guest penciler in one of the issues of Captain Marvel. He did a great job. Anyone know if he is working on a steady series currently? I was always a big fan of his art. Also noticed an issue (or two?) by Patrick Zircher, who appears to be doing some work for VEI. Actually wasn't too impressed by his work, but this was about a decade ago so I won't make any negative assumptions about his current work.

I recall a Warlock mini-series by Tom Lyle (that published after his adventures in the Ultraverse) that tried to retcon Warlock out of that debacle by having it revealed that everything that happened after Warlock and the Infinity Watch was just a dream or a nightmare by Warlock while he was drifting through space locked in a space casket.

[SJS4]

I recall a Warlock mini-series by Tom Lyle (that published after his adventures in the Ultraverse) that tried to retcon Warlock out of that debacle by having it revealed that everything that happened after Warlock and the Infinity Watch was just a dream or a nightmare by Warlock while he was drifting through space locked in a space casket.

Huh, I will have to keep an eye out for that. It sounds familiar (the name Tom Lyle does anyway), wonder if this is in my boxes somwehere...

I just finished Infinity Abyss FWIW. Not a bad story, and I still dig Starlin's art. Amazing how long he was involved with these characters (Thanos and Warlock).

[Cyberstrike]

I recall a Warlock mini-series by Tom Lyle (that published after his adventures in the Ultraverse) that tried to retcon Warlock out of that debacle by having it revealed that everything that happened after Warlock and the Infinity Watch was just a dream or a nightmare by Warlock while he was drifting through space locked in a space casket.

Huh, I will have to keep an eye out for that. It sounds familiar (the name Tom Lyle does anyway), wonder if this is in my boxes somwehere...

I just finished Infinity Abyss FWIW. Not a bad story, and I still dig Starlin's art. Amazing how long he was involved with these characters (Thanos and Warlock).

Tom Lyle also did the first 3 Robin Mini-series for DC back in the 90s. He also did some work on The Comet for DC/Impact Comics.
He had a run on Spider-Man, and started a The Punisher series where Frank Castle "died" in the electric chair at the end of #1.

I always liked his style it was crisp and realistic without being extremely photo-realistic like Bryan Hitch.

[Ross2]

Is that Tom Lyle Warlock series any good?

Did Warlock go from that to the new Guardians title?

[Cyberstrike]

Is that Tom Lyle Warlock series any good?

Did Warlock go from that to the new Guardians title?

It's better than his adventures in the Ultraverse (but that wasn't too hard to beat).

I think he was in The Infinity Abyss and I'm pretty sure he was in Marvel Universe: The End both by Starlin. Starlin wanted to use him in a storyline in the Thanos series he was doing, but the editors were either clueless , lying about the character's avaiblity, (or both) to Starlin.

When he found out he quit the series and left Marvel in protest (again).

[Chiclo]

Is that Tom Lyle Warlock series any good?

Did Warlock go from that to the new Guardians title?

It's better than his adventures in the Ultraverse (but that wasn't too hard to beat).

I think he was in The Infinity Abyss and I'm pretty sure he was in Marvel Universe: The End both by Starlin. Starlin wanted to use him in a storyline in the Thanos series he was doing, but the editors were either clueless , lying about the character's avaiblity, (or both) to Starlin.

When he found out he quit the series and left Marvel in protest (again).

Warlock was in both Infinity Abyss and Marvel: The End.

[IMJ]

and Quasar (was one of my favorites way back when).

It amazes me how often I see people saying this on the internet yet Marvel keeps *SQUEE* all over the character every chance they get.

[SJS4]

and Quasar (was one of my favorites way back when).

It amazes me how often I see people saying this on the internet yet Marvel keeps *SQUEE* all over the character every chance they get.

I am not even sure why I liked him back then. I read the whole series recently and it was pretty badly written and the character was mainly annoying. I guess I just thought his power was kind of cool.

Anyway, different topic but I just finished reading the Captain Marvel series by Peter David. It was impressive how good it was when it started, but it got pretty bad by the ~30's and by the end it was almost unreadable. The last issue was interesting though...I think even Peter David realized he had run the series off the rails and didn't even want to try to put it back to some semblance of normalcy.

I've started reading the "Thor" series by Dan Jurgens. It is mainly kind of "meh" but it has some good artist runs (mainly the JRJR run at the beginning, but later issues by Immonen and the one issue by Starlin was pretty cool). I haven't gotten to the end yet but it is pretty cool to see one writer stay on a comic this long. That being said I am not sure why I kept buying this. I do vaguely recall some of the issues here and there...but really the whole thing is kind of boring. Will be glad when I finish I think, I still have to read "Marvel: The End" and some other Thanos stuff. I am also planning to read through most of the Annihilation and Annihilation: Conquest stuff which should pretty much catch me up to current "Cosmic" events in Marvel I think.

[SJS4]

So I read the rest of the Rune comics...wow those were bad. I would say the drop off in quality from BWS to non-BWS Rune was even bigger then the drop off from when he left A&A. Yikes...probably should have just skipped all the non-silver surfer Rune issues as Warlock barely showed up in those comics (although I guess technically his DNA was a big plot point).

Anyway, as I continue digging through my stored comics I found a series called "Captain Marvel" by Peter David and Chris Cross (he doesn't want to make me "Jump! Jump!" though). I had completely forgotten about this series as well, but when I sat down to read it I did remember it. Its actually really entertaining (solid stories with Peter David's standard great dialogue), and Warlock/Thanos show up here and there so I am going to keep this series with my other "Cosmic" Marvels. I also found a ton of Thor comics from around the same period (which I also vaguely recall buying) and I want to read those too. I know at minimum there is a big story arc with Thanos vs Odin in there somewhere (which is about all I remeber of the series off the top of my head).

Overall reading these stories really brings back memories.

Oh just an aside, I was pleasantly surprised to see Jim Califiore as a guest penciler in one of the issues of Captain Marvel. He did a great job. Anyone know if he is working on a steady series currently? I was always a big fan of his art. Also noticed an issue (or two?) by Patrick Zircher, who appears to be doing some work for VEI. Actually wasn't too impressed by his work, but this was about a decade ago so I won't make any negative assumptions about his current work.

I recall a Warlock mini-series by Tom Lyle (that published after his adventures in the Ultraverse) that tried to retcon Warlock out of that debacle by having it revealed that everything that happened after Warlock and the Infinity Watch was just a dream or a nightmare by Warlock while he was drifting through space locked in a space casket.

So I do have this series, but it doesn't say anything about what happened between the end of Warlock and the Infinity Watch and this series (which was "okay" I guess, but not as good as Infinity Abyss IMHO, I haven't read Marvel: The End yet). There is scene in the comic where Pip is explaining who Warlock is and it mentioned that he went on some "quest" to get the soul gem back. Also, right from the start of the comic there is apparently something very different about Warlock in general because he is super emotional. They say it has something to do with how he got the soul gem back, but nothing else is really explained (and they don't reference any other specific comics that would explain it).

Anyone know if there is another comic that actually explains what happened to warlock just before this series? Definitely curious about this.