Warlock, Part 1 (Marvel Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection) by Jim Starlin

Warlock, Part 1 (Marvel Ultimate Graphic Novels Collection) Reviews

• 
  Allan Heron

  Not a character I was previously familiar with but this is was pretty challenging for it's time although it's a tad dated now.
  
  Essentially, a treatise on the extent to which organised religions can corrupt the beliefs on which they are based and how readily unscrupulous individuals can manipulate them.
  
  Oh yes, and the unscrupulous operator here is the same thing as the hero, but who has gestated over the aeons into a malign figure.
• 
  Jon Arnold

  If there was one thing Jim Starlin was never short of it was ambition. This first volume of Warlock takes Roy Thomas’ reinvention of a minor character who’d batted the Fantastic Four and Thor and works around him a story of immense ambition, cosmic scope and an ultimate battle between life and death. Starlin’s immediate hook is that Warlock will someday develop into the Magus, founder of a church that will oppress thousands of worlds and this first half of the story sees him battle to escape that destiny. It’s a story complicated and twisted a little more with the arrival of Thanos. This might not be high art but the plotting and reveals are sublime in their timing and execution.
  
  Along the way this gives Starlin a chance to question the nature of organised religion, what it might mean to become a god and take a pop at Marvel’s internal politics along the way. Although the serial nature of the original story means this is punctuated by recaps it’s a fascinating read, more ambitious in subject than almost any other comic of the time. Satisfying in its own right, it has me looking forward to the second half.
  
• 
  Phillip Berrie

  This one is strange, but not in a good way.
  
  Can't say that it's very memorable and I suspect it relies a lot on having read about the character before because we never really find out what the character base abilities are accept strength, being able to fly, being able to survive (and apparently talk in) space and being in a symbiotic relationship with an all-powerful tool that can do just about anything, including driving him crazy.
  
  I think the biggest problem for me was how they tried to elevate the character to supposed god-like power over the course of too few issues. This meant that something that was first tried (or hinted at) in one issue, is accepted as a given in the next and greatly increased in its power or effect.
  
  Should be 2.5 stars.
• 
  Ian Williamson

  I've always found Starlin books a little in your face, there is lots going on, whether in story dialogue or even artwork. Some things work perfectly and others not so much. I found this with Captain Marvel and experience it here too. There are lots of imaginative and inventive new concepts and seeds which led to becoming building blocks of the Marvel Universe however I found the quality of each issue erratic and most of the time confusing. I'm hoping that volume two helps clear up this confusion and help me understand why Warlock is held in such high regard.
• 
  Johnny Andrews

  A good difference to the Marvel Universe was the Warlock character adding a sense of religion mixed with Sci-Fi. But not for everyone as I found it a bit too heavy in places and I wanted something fun at the time.
• 
  Mark Phillips

  An anthology that includes Strange Tales #178-181 and Warlock #9-11.
  
  It covers his battle with Magus, Warlock's future self, and introduces Pip the troll and Gamora.
  
  I do enjoy Jim Starlin's work. Both as a writer and artist he brings the cosmic to the tale of Warlock.