Synopsis
At the end of last issue Spider-Man was left in a rocket heading out into space and running out of air. His team-up partners in the last 2 issues were Hulk and Woodgod. Hulk's attention span means he just wanders off, and Woodgod leaves Liberty, New Mexico too to track the villain of the piece, Major Tremens.
The g-force and lack of oxygen cause Peter Parker to hallucinate and nearly black out ...
... but then the rocket's flight is intercepted by a giant-size Adam Warlock, big enough to hold it in his hands. He muses for our benefit how (at the end of his series in #14-15) he had found that he was actually larger than the Solar System and had left. But now he has returned to discover that he is a more manageable size. Now he senses Spidey's need for oxygen and teleports himself and the rocket to the Moon where he also senses a breathable atmosphere.
But when he arrives he discovers that he's shrunk again to man-size. And when he uses his Soul Gem to lower the craft slowly to the ground the Gem disobeys him and lets it crash. Quickly he rips the hatch door out of its frame but finds no-one inside. Except that Spider-Man is now OK and clinging to the door he's holding. Spidey says he's heard about this Blue Area of the Moon, where the Watcher lives.
Suddenly the genuinely giant-size Stranger appears with a Gem on *his* brow like Adam's. He claims there are 6 Soul Gems. He's already found 1 and he wants them all, starting with Warlock's. Then follows a short battle using the Gems which Stranger wins easily. With Warlock out for the count Spider-Man decides it's time for him to weigh in with his webbing and the odd punch (and the usual quips). But Stranger just grows even larger, grabs him in his fist and hurls him away.
Peter's fall is deliberately broken by a very mobile tree, but he's still knocked unconscious. And he's found by another large humanoid.
Stranger wants Warlock to surrender his Soul Gem quickly because he has something to attend to on Earth. Adam explains that without the Gem he'll die but Stranger doesn't care. Warlock levitates a chunk of Moon they're standing on into space but Stranger explodes it and Adam falls back to the surface unconscious. Stranger had dematerialised to escape the explosion and now rematerialises to take the Gem.
Spider-Man awakes to see a large old man with a shepherd's crook and surrounded by cute animals. He explains that he is the Gardener and has created a garden here in the Blue Area. But then the Stranger arrived looking for something. Peter says it's Warlock's Soul Gem, but as long as his garden isn't threatened the Gardener says it's none of his business. So Spidey webs off to save Adam by himself.
He sees his unconscious ally held within a stasis field created by some arcs of super-tech. Stranger reaches out for the Gem. But Spider-Man sticks new web-fluid cartridges in his web-shooters and swings into action. He smothers the foe in webbing, but Stranger just grows out of it and fires hand-blasts at our guy.
Gardener watches from the shadows. He knows that Stranger actually came seeking *his* Soul Gem, but he masked its emanations to hide it. But he can't stand idle and let Warlock die, even if it means risking his garden, so he makes a move. The vegetation attacks the Stranger and he is bombarded with chunks of Moon-rock. Now Stranger senses the other's presence and fights back.
Taking advantage of the distraction Spidey tries to free Warlock but the stasis field repels him. So he throws a large rock at 1 of the arcs. Stranger spots him and fires a blast which shatters the rock. But his blast also hits the machinery, and Adam Warlock is free. He and the Gardener combine the powers of the Gems on their brows and train them on the Stranger. He knows he can't stand up to 2 Gems so he cuts his losses and departs for his mission on Earth.
But the garden on the Moon is now shrivelled and dead. Gardener's Soul Gem is corrupted and he can no longer use it to create living things. From now on it is only useful as a weapon so he abandons it on the Moon before leaving for other worlds, to garden them the slower way. And Adam takes Spider-Man home to Earth before heading for Counter-Earth.
And no-one notices a silver 'egg' lying in the dead garden.