Synopsis
In #44 Thanos appeared to kill Silver Surfer and Drax The Destroyer. Last issue he said he'd stolen their souls with the Soul Gem. Now we find out what that means.
The duo find themselves elsewhere and are greeted by a 4-armed, 2-legged alien head who welcomes them to Soul World. (Long-time readers of Starlin-stuff will know that Soul World is inside the Soul Gem and is where souls taken by the Soul Gem reside. They may also recognise the alien as Judge Kray-tor, a villainous enemy of Adam Warlock - but in Soul World everyone is nice and they're all friends.)
Drax immediately demands to know where Thanos is. The head says he doesn't know this person, but the Destroyer senses Thanos everywhere so he tries to beat the 'truth' out of him. Surfer tells him to stop hitting Judge Kray-Tor (we'll find out soon how he knows the guy's name), and tries to explain that he senses Thanos all around because they are now prisoners on a world inside a Gem on the Titan's hand. It takes a while to sink in (because Drax is a bear of very little brain) but when it does the Destroyer decides the only way to get to his enemy Thanos is to destroy the world. Surfer tries to dissuade him but Drax backhands him away, and Norrin Radd discovers that it hurts. So he hits Drax back and only damages his own fist. Drax flies away as SS tries a Cosmic Power blast, but that doesn't work at all.
Norrin asks out loud why his powers don't work and his surfboard won't come to him? A green-skinned woman answers that his board and physical powers weren't transferred with his spirit to Soul World but he's given himself an image of his normal body. So his next question is why then does Drax still have his powers? She says he doesn't but his self-belief is so strong that *that* powers him here.
Norrin suddenly realises that he knows the woman's name is Gamora just like he knew who Kray-Tor was even though he's never met either of them. (And in the background we see old Starlin chars blue-skinned Autolycus and little Pip the Troll helping the Judge up.) Pip tells him that in Soul World everybody knows your name, and everything else about you. Gamora adds that Drax on the other hand is brain-damaged since his previous life ended by brain-death so he can't connect properly. Radd then asks why then doesn't he know all this immediately, and Gamora answers that it will take time for his mind to process everything.
She also claims that she can sense a "disalignment with your inner self". Norrin protests that he's always at peace with himself, but then begins to feel that she may be right. But that's not important now ...
... compared with Drax intending to destroy Soul World. Gamora says that he has the power to do it but it will take him some time to figure out how. So this gives them time to reach the 1 person who may be able to stop him. (Hands up who thinks she means Adam Warlock? Oh, you all looked at the cover.) This person is currently meditating on top of a very tall vertical rock spire, and when he does this he cuts all contact with the rest of Soul World.
So Autolycus, Pip and Surfer start climbing the pinnacle. Pip says they're going to see Adam Warlock and Autolycus relates Adam's life story. He was created on Earth by a group of scientists called the Hive but when he emerged from his cocoon he was more powerful than expected, and left Earth for the stars (Fantastic Four #66-67). Later the High Evolutionary named him Adam Warlock and gave him the Soul Gem as a weapon (Marvel Premiere #1). He had many adventures in his own series and elsewhere, including encountering Autolycus, Gamora, Kray-Tor, Pip - all of whom eventually got taken into the Soul Gem. Warlock himself was consumed by the Gem during a battle with Thanos (Avengers Annual #7 & Marvel 2-In-1 Annual #2). In life he was a mighty warrior but here he is a mystic and the leader of Soul World's denizens.
We learn that while these 3 are on their quest Gamora is going to keep Drax occupied. Pip assures SS she's up to the job - in life she was known as the most dangerous woman in the Galaxy. Gamora accosts Drax who doesn't remember her. She says they only crossed paths once when he destroyed her spaceship (Warlock #15), and now she'll repay him by attacking him. Her blows soon enrage the brute and then she starts dodging *his* fists and flung boulders. Her intention is to keep him from thinking about how to destroy the World until Adam can solve the problem more permanently.
The 3 guys reach the summit (which seems much more spacious than I'd expected) and ask Warlock for help. Adam, robed like a monk with a simple wooden staff, immediately knows all about what's happening, even before SS explains that Thanos has got hold of the Infinity Gems (and he also seems to already know them by their new name). He expresses disappointment that death hasn't cured the Titan of his obsession for power. He also worries for his World that Thanos will take revenge on him by attacking this World.
Gamora is still playing cat and mouse with Drax, and the Destroyer is getting madder. He abandons physical attack and starts blasting at her. She's starting to get worried.
Adam adds to what Gamora said by telling Norrin that his soul has been tampered with. He thinks it was when Galactus turned him from Norrin Radd to Silver Surfer.
But the immediate problem is Drax. Warlock takes the quick way down by stepping off the spire into midair. He doesn't fly but plummets towards the ground. But then near the ground there's a blaze of light and he appears flying in costume with his staff transformed by a golden skull atop it.