Warlock and the Infinity Watch #41: Review

Jun 1995

John Arcudi, Mike Gustovich

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Story Name:

The past is waiting

Synopsis

Warlock and the Infinity Watch #41 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

Last issue Gamora quit the Infinity Watch because Adam Warlock took Maxam's side rather than hers. Now she waits on the beach of Monster Island for Pip The Troll to teleport her somewhere. Pip tries to talk her out of it by reminding her of all the time the 3 of them spent together in Soul World. He says he knows her well by now and they agree without saying it that she loves Adam. She gives him a farewell hug (for the 1st time ever) and they both pretend not to be holding back tears. Then he teleports them both away.

As they go we hear her impressing on Pip that he must keep an eye on Maxam. And we see the big guy approaching Warlock. Then he begs Adam's pardon and sucker punches him. Drax the Destroyer is in the infirmary watching over severely wounded Moondragon. She mentally tells him that Adam needs his help but he refuses to leave her side. Maxam is still attacking and he claims now to know who Warlock really is. Adam realises that his ally's 'programming' to kill him (as in #7) must have been re-triggered. He tries to escape but Maxam follows him outside and keeps hitting him.

Pip has taken Gamora near Los Angeles. She intends to try to join Iron Man's current team Force Works but she turns down Pip's offer to take her to their door, or to the Avengers in New York. He also makes 1 of his usual sexist comments but she unusually finds his consistency strangely comforting. Then he 'ports away to a NY bar and downs several tankards of beer to drown the thought of his 'family' falling apart. Then he hears a news bulletin about major seismic and geomagnetic events in the Atlantic causing massive tidal waves.

Meanwhile on Monster Island a storm is brewing and Warlock is still getting beaten up. Then Moondragon invades Maxam's mind giving Adam the chance to hit him with a karmic blast from his Soul Gem. The foe is now unconscious but Moondragon can't explain how she was able to affect his mind when she couldn't in earlier issues. However she'll take the opportunity to explore his mind. And she sees the memories that the amnesiac man couldn't previously access. So we get the origin of Maxam.

She sees him as a boy but she can also tell that this is the future. He and his friend Zhang are being chased by a large robot. Max falls but tells Zhang to make it follow him. And when it goes past he slaps some explosive on it which destroys it. As they congratulate themselves an old Badoon named Master Ecallaw congratulates them too but then leads them to his spaceship for more lessons. On the way they embolden each other to ask him where the other people are, but he ignores the question.

Next we see the boys as teens. Maxam is watching a hologram of a pretty girl he found in Ecallaw's collection of files. The Master dismisses his petty pilfering and takes them for a special lesson - a trip to a mass grave. He explains that everyone else on the planet is dead, and the Intergalactic Alliance he taught them about in history lessons was destroyed 100 years ago. The survivors came here but they were sick, as were most of the few children they could conceive. Max and Zhang are the only hope left.

He then shows them the villain behind it all, the Magus. Ecallaw has a Time Displacement Unit which he will use to send 1 of them back in time to stop his reign of destruction. Their enhanced abilities wouldn't be enough to take on the Magus himself, but they could kill his earlier version Adam Warlock.

Moondragon deduces that because he is a time-traveller the Time Gem that Maxam 'inherited' from Gamora was able to pierce his mental defences. Warlock deduces that nothing short of death will stop Max's mission. But also if he doesn't allow Maxam to kill him then he dooms the universe to the Magus he's destined to become.

Gamora's still sitting by herself in Southern California considering whether anywhere on Earth will feel like home. Her own world and people were destroyed long ago and she was brought up by Thanos. The only time she's really been happy was in Soul World. Maybe Pip was right and only he and Adam truly understand her. But then daddy Thanos pops up to offer her a place.

Pip has 'ported back to Monster Island to warn the others about the storms. He finds Drax with Moondragon's body and the green guy tells him there's been lots of noises outside. The other 3 are still outside in a hurricane but when Adam suggests they continue planning what to do about Maxam inside in the warm Moonie (who after all isn't actually there) tells him to shut up and let her think. Pip joins them and tells them they've got to evacuate the island. MD tells *him* to shut up too. But he points to an approaching tidal wave.

Review / Commentaries

Rating:

Warlock and the Infinity Watch #41 Review by Rob Johnson (June 22, 2024)

Who knows if this is what Jim Starlin had in mind when he introduced Maxam? But he *did* invent the previous 2 versions of the Magus.

The Magus was an evil future version of Warlock but Adam effectively broke the link by consigning himself to Soul World (in Warlock #11 *and* Avengers Annual #7). When Warlock gained the Infinity Gauntlet at the end of the mini-series/event of that name he purged good and evil from his soul. The evil part became another Magus who waged the Infinity War event until he was defeated and sent to Soul World. And versions of Magus will keep on reappearing.

Gamora's people the Zen-Whoberis were massacred and Thanos of Titan saved the sole survivor and adopted her. Her full name is Gamora Zen Whoberi Ben Titan. Due to temporal tampering there are/will be several different explanations of the massacre, including involving the Badoon and more directly involving Thanos.

All the wild Atlantic weather is due to the Atlantis Rising crossover between Fantastic Four #400-401 and Fantastic Force #8-9 bookended by 2 issues of FF: Atlantis Rising.

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John Arcudi

Mike Gustovich

Keith Williams

Ian Laughlin

Angel Medina (Cover Penciler)
Angel Medina (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)