The Final Fate of Counter-Earth!

 

If you were a reader of Bronze Age comics, then you've probably run across a few stories featuring the doomed world of Counter-Earth--a duplicate of our own Earth which was positioned in orbit on the far side of the sun, created with the best of intentions by the High Evolutionary in order to be home to a race of humanity which had none of the violent tendencies of those populating our own world (which is where I suppose the "counter" in its name comes from). Introduced in the origin story of the character who came to be known as (Adam) Warlock, we watched in shock and sadness as one of the Evolutionary's earlier creations, the vengeful Man-Beast, took advantage of the Evolutionary's lapse into a deep sleep after his labors to board the scientist's moonship and unravel his work by introducing the savage traits of our own species to those on the Evolutionary's new world--a world that the Man-Beast now declared "beyond redemption."

With the Evolutionary poised to destroy his work in order to erase the tragedy of a second Earth now a violent mirror of the first, Warlock, a witness to the travesty, offered to do what he could to fight the Man-Beast's influence on this world and prove to the Evolutionary that this race was deserving of life. The bargain was accepted, and Warlock succeeded in at least bringing an end to the Man-Beast. (Or so he believed at the time.)

In the interim, we were treated to several stories in other titles that involved the humans of Counter-Earth--the Hulk having the occasion to encounter that Earth's Bruce Banner, and, later, being helpless to save Warlock from falling into the hands of the Man-Beast and being put to death (or so it seemed). Counter-Earth also found itself vulnerable to a certain world-ravager whom the High Evolutionary met in defiance:

Over the years, we've seen other instances of Counter-Earths take their place in comics lore. If I remember correctly (I wasn't exactly enamored with stories having to do with Onslaught), the "pocket dimension" created by Franklin Richards to shunt those heroes who sacrificed their lives meeting the attack of Onslaught housed a planet that was given the name "Counter-Earth," a world eventually brought into our universe and renamed "Planet Doom" (after the good Doctor) and later visited by the Thunderbolts. In addition, the Evolutionary took another crack at creating another Counter-Earth--this one inhabited by his New Men (though they'd find the Evolutionary less of a benefactor), while at one time even attempting to merge his creation with our own Earth.

But as for the first world to be known as Counter-Earth--well, we did, regrettably, use the word "doomed" in its introduction, to be sure.

Which dooms us to explore yet another

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Marvel Trivia Question

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What was the fate of the original Counter-Earth?

God vs. Titan!

When last we left the mighty (and unfortunately insane) Thor, he had finally been subdued after having undertaken a violent and seemingly inexplicable rampage through the stars--all part of the 1993-94 "Blood and Thunder" crossover event that would end up involving Warlock, the Infinity Watch, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, and Thanos of Titan. (To say nothing of the Super Skrull, Ares, Pluto, and Beta Ray Bill--as well as crossing paths with another crossover event, The Infinity Crusade.) By the time of his capture, Thor has managed to acquire for himself from Drax the Destroyer the "power" Infinity Gem, which, added to his own considerable might, makes the Thunder God one of the most extreme threats ever to face the universe should he ever break free of the containment field which Thanos had managed to encase him in.

What has only recently come to light is that Thor's rage doesn't stem from the Asgardian "warrior madness" which he'd experienced in the past, but is instead rooted in the instances when his father Odin has in one way or another manipulated his spirit, whether it was by forcing him to coexist with a mortal form or by use of disciplinary measures, all of which have led to an imbalance in his soul. A further complication of this saga is that the Lady Sif, who remains unaware of this, continues to believe that Thor once again suffers from warrior madness, and has attempted to keep that news from Odin for fear that Thor will be exiled from Asgard. But her house of cards in that respect begins to crumble with the recent arrival of Thanos and his party on the rainbow bridge, as they seek an audience with Odin in the hope that he can cure his son.

Though Thanos has all but ensured that their reception will be anything but a cordial one.

Blood And Thunder!

From a period of eleven months during 1993-94, you may remember a crossover event which took its lead from the pages of Mighty Thor and essentially had the Thunder God decimating a number of high-profile opponents in a fit of madness and rage which, if unchecked, would have him seeking the destruction of the entire universe, including his homeland of Asgard. Aptly named "Blood and Thunder," the storyline would also serve the purpose of drawing readers' attention to five other titles to which it had a connection, specifically:

• Silver Surfer #s 86-88
• The Warlock Chronicles #s 6-8
• Warlock and the Infinity Watch #s 23-25
• The Infinity Crusade

As well as, for the sake of accuracy,
• Thunderstrike

The Infinity Crusade, of course, being a crossover event in itself, capitalizing on its 1991-92 predecessors The Infinity Gauntlet and The Infinity War, with this new series perhaps being the first (and only?) time two crossover events have *ahem* "crossed" paths at the same point in time. In this case, "Blood and Thunder" gave a plug to The Infinity Crusade by dealing in its protagonist, the Goddess, who merely conscripted Thor in the same way she did other characters in her story--temporarily derailing the influence of the female figure named Valkyrie (more on her in a moment) until The Infinity Crusade ran its course, after which Thor would again fall under Valkyrie's sway.

Yet "Blood and Thunder" informally has its beginnings in Mighty Thor #s 460-467, several issues before the "Blood and Thunder" banner begins appearing above the masthead--installments which take us back to where Odin is concerned about Thor starting unprovoked brawls and consequently sends him on vacation among the stars to sort himself out. Though if we cut to the chase of "Blood and Thunder," we find that the violent madness which afflicts Thor thereafter is rooted in actions Odin himself has taken over time:

Aside from Blake, Dr. Strange alludes to other instances which in one way or another affected Thor's spirit, including Thor having to surrender his identity to Eric Masterson, as well as the period during which Thor saw his power and hammer duplicated in the form of Beta Ray Bill. (The latter of which I'm not buying, since Thor was totally on board with Odin's decision regarding Bill and displayed no misgivings about it or signs of trauma in the slightest--in fact, quite the contrary, given the deep friendship and trust he and Bill established between themselves.) Still, during his madness, Thor often despairs that he's lost "bits and pieces" of himself, which would seem to validate the overall diagnosis.

But on his "vacation" in space, seeking solace instead causes a manifestation of Thor's anguished mental state to take shape as a woman known only as "Valkyrie," a hallucination that he nevertheless believes is real and which naturally sympathizes and encourages his most deep-seated doubts about his father's treatment of him.

And armed with the affirmation he has long sought, Thor embraces a path of anger which will have him lashing out at friend and foe alike.

"Your Serve... er, Move, Daredevil!"

Having put together a special series on symbolic splash pages featured in Marvel's major team books as well as in Amazing Spider-Man, the PPC now moves briefly to highlighting some noteworthy efforts made in a random sampling of other titles from over the years which came to mind, some of which may ring a bell for you.

Leading us off are a number of pages from Daredevil, which I lingered on for some time considering their diversity in both style and artists and spanned a range of years from 1964 to 1971. (Perhaps even longer, but DD is monopolizing this subject as it is!) Bill Everett Jack Kirby is who we have to thank for paving the way for us (correction courtesy of Dave Plunkert--thanks, Dave!):

Joe Orlando, whose work began appearing in the industry in 1949, would follow up on the title with the next three issues (though you'll find much of his work for Marvel appearing in titles published in the mid- to late-'50s, in categories ranging from westerns, romance, war stories, sci-fi and mystery). His final work was published in 1997, a year before his death at 71.

Wally Wood, whose work Stan Lee made efforts to spotlight, makes his own SSP contribution (working off artist Bob Powell's layout) in a story from 1965 which he also scripted:

Ross Andru and Herb Trimpe unintentionally provide dueling SSPs featuring Ant-Man, with Andru providing more variety in terms of what awaits us within the story:

While John Romita and Gene Colan line up their versions of face-offs between DD and Spider-Man.  Writer Gerry Conway's "sports fan" caption turns out to be appropriate, since Mr. Colan seems to have Spidey trying to capture DD with a tennis court net.

(Maybe that second title should start off with "...And So Re-enters"?)

The mask and form of Daredevil lend themselves nicely to the SSP format, as Colan demonstrates in his other efforts with the character.

Over in Amazing Adventures, where the Black Widow is splitting the mag with the Inhumans, John Buscema appeals to the action lover with imagery suggesting that the Widow's new series is the one to watch--while Colan takes a more intriguing approach.

Later in that same title, Craig Russell is well-suited to the characters and concepts we'll find in stories adapted from H.G. Wells' War Of The Worlds.

While Colan, Gil Kane, and Jim Starlin show us what they bring to the table for Captain Marvel, old and new...

...as well as for Warlock (with Steve Leialoha working off of Starlin's layout).

Dr. Strange is also well-represented, both solo and as part of the Defenders. Here we see work by Andru, Colan, Barry Smith, and Sal Buscema.

Howard Purcell, whose work for Marvel was limited to backup stories featuring the Watcher and two Nick Fury stories in Strange Tales, turns in this splendid SSP for the Black Knight's appearance in Marvel Super-Heroes.

Finally, Andru takes us out with the opening page to Marvel Team-Up #1, which features the rare display of Spider-Man in battle while poised on his own spider's web.

(Frankly these two don't seem very interested in fighting the Sandman.)

COMING UP:

One more SSP for the road... to Transylvania, that is.

"Crisis On Counter-Earth!"

Having recently seen how it all started for the "man-god" named Warlock, let's jump ahead to the series that came about as a result of that promising beginning: The Power of... Warlock, given the green light after only two appearances in the pages of Marvel Premiere, with its first issue hitting the stands in August of 1972. Published on a bi-monthly basis, the book reunited Warlock's creative team of Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, with Tom Sutton replacing Dan Adkins on inks--though Thomas, as was his custom during his spree of creating new '70s titles, almost immediately handed off the reins to another writer--in this case, Mike Friedrich.

During its time, the book struggled creatively as well as commercially, with artist Bob Brown replacing Kane who had departed after five issues, while the returning Thomas and science fiction writer Ron Goulart would alternate with Friedrich. But by its eighth issue, or likely even sooner, the writing was on the wall--as well as in one of those dreaded announcement boxes that unfortunately appeared in a few of those '70s books that were cranked out and thrown to the wolves:

"At the possibly most climactic point in Adam Warlock's brief career, the vise of economics has gotten us in its squeeze! This issue, regretably [sic], is the final one for the golden gladiator under his own title.

"Frankly, we don't know quite what went wrong. We believe we've presented you a succession of well-written, well-drawn stories, full of the exciting action we all read comics for, yet with a gentle prodding of the mind as well. But in any case, the newsstands report that not enough of you bought our adventures to make it profitable to continue. If anything should report in that would change this disappointing picture, we promise to begin anew at the drop of a soul-jewel."

Writer/artist Jim Starlin would give the character his own "Marvel premiere" nearly a year and half later with a four-issue try-out in Strange Tales that ran bi-monthly from February-August in 1975, which led to launching Warlock once more in his former series and simply picking up the book's numbering where it left off. (Smack dab in the middle of a new, unrelated storyline, no less. Hopefully new readers of the character who were collecting back issues of The Power of... Warlock were able to follow the paper trail!)

But what to do in the interim?

A few irons were left in the fire before the 1972-73 series folded. But only two are of importance to bring forward: First, the status of the High Evolutionary, who is still keeping tabs on Warlock's progress to bring peace to the inhabitants of Counter-Earth:

And secondly, the resolution of Warlock's confrontation of his primary antagonist--the Man-Beast, who has set out to avenge himself against the High Evolutionary by destroying Warlock and all he wished to accomplish on this world that the Evolutionary had such high hopes for. The fortunes of the Man-Beast have definitely improved in the course of his machinations, which include taking possession of U.S. President Rex Carpenter and thus gaining for himself and his minions the power to alter the course of events throughout the entire world--as Warlock discovers when the deception is revealed in the last issue's final panel.

To tie up the loose ends and resolve not only the fate of Warlock but also that of Counter-Earth itself, on the brink of possible global nuclear war, the story was brought over to the pages of Incredible Hulk in mid-1974, which sees the Hulk once again finding himself on this duplicate of Earth on the far side of the sun--only this time, he'll come face to face with Warlock, who seems fated to meet his end on this world he swore to save.

But we know that Mr. Starlin's project didn't feature a corpse--so what really happened?

"And Men Shall Call Him... Warlock!"

I tend to think of Marvel Premiere as the title where Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner came in and began their memorable collaboration on Dr. Strange, which led to the character starring in his second series. The Dr. Strange Premiere stories comprise a six-issue run (including a mostly reprint issue, bookended by new content) that I still highly recommend, one that's billed appropriately: "...the reaffirmation of comics' most extraordinary series!"--which rang true in more ways than one, given that the character's future was highly in doubt with the four Dr. Strange stories appearing before Mssrs. Englehart and Brunner climbed aboard.

Yet the Premiere book carries another distinction with its launch in April of 1972--the introduction of Warlock, a refit of the character who began his existence in 1967 as Him and eventually ended up in outer space encased in his cocoon. Having emerged in his own try-out series, he's decided to alter his look by adopting armor and ornaments (along with a lot of eyeliner) that give him an Egyptian bearing--as well as marking his chest with the symbol of a lightning bolt, for whatever reason. Why a lightning bolt, one can't help but wonder. He must have wanted to display it for some reason--it couldn't have just come with the new raiment, after all--but I don't believe it was ever elaborated on.

As for the new handle, we can thank the one who found and recovered his cocoon--the High Evolutionary--for tagging him with a name we can only hope we'll learn more of the reason behind in subsequent stories:

"You could have lived forever... a creature apart, drifting silent thru the seas of space. Yet now, you'll walk the Earth... uncanny your sacred mission... unearthly your weirdling powers. And, beholding them... men shall call you Warlock!"

And since the words reverberate in his mind when he awakens on Counter-Earth, and he blurts the name out to the first people he meets, "Warlock" it is.

But first, this inaugural story will lay sound groundwork and explore the link it establishes between the one still known as Him and the Evolutionary--as well as reveal a grand, ambitious plan to create a new world, populated by those who were never tainted with the killer instinct and other flaws that have consigned the human race to perpetual inhumanity and despair. It was that world which Him fled, his instincts warning him of the nature of its people. Will he now make the choice of returning to that kind of world, in order to save its people from destruction?

...From Beyond The Grave!

In case you missed Parts 1 and 2 featuring the introduction of Her, here's how things broke down, in a nutshell:

• Following his death at Thanos' hand, the "godslayer" known as Adam Warlock was interred on the world known as Counter-Earth, a duplicate of the real Earth created by the High Evolutionary and placed in orbit on the far side of the sun--the same world where the being formerly known as Him reappeared to begin a new chapter in his life as Warlock, agreeing to purge this second Earth of its evil in exchange for the Evolutionary's promise not to destroy it. Yet before Warlock engaged in his fatal encounter with Thanos, he dropped by the Evolutionary's asteriod base in a fury, claiming that the Evolutionary had reneged on his word and destroyed his creation and the four billion lives on it. In retaliation, Warlock slew the Evolutionary, before departing on his mission to thwart the mad plan of Thanos to extinguish every star in the universe.
• Three years later (our time), the woman christened as Her (f/k/a Paragon)--the successor to Him, also created by the group of scientists known as the Enclave--appears and announces her intention to locate Warlock and mate with him so that the two of them may create the perfect race (let's hope that the Enclave provided Warlock with a lot of stamina). Yet after learning from the self-proclaimed goddess, Moondragon, that Warlock is now deceased, Her makes the incredible claim that she can restore him to life. To that end, she boards Moondragon's ship along with Alicia Masters (who has expressed a wish to accompany them), and the three set a course for Counter-Earth. However...
• Upon reaching the coordinates of the planet, they discover that it has vanished from orbit, a fact that comes as a surprise to the Evolutionary as well when he learns of it. And with the newly arrived Thing and his team-up companion, Starhawk, who have agreed to see this situation through with the others, the six now pursue the particle trail of the missing world, intent on discovering the identity of whoever committed the incredible act of stealing it.*

*Given his modus operandi, smart money would peg the Stranger as our man, eh?

And with that answer forthcoming, the conclusion to this three-part story still waits in the wings--where we learn if Her can deliver on her promise, and Adam Warlock rejoins the land of the living! But what exactly is going to reach out from the grave?

The Coming Of... Her!

While there unfortunately aren't a lot of the team-up stories from the '70s and '80s that I could point to and say that they were well worth the dimes and quarters you and I shelled out for them, there is one story from early 1980 in the Thing's team-up mag that may surprise you as being both compelling and entertaining, with a well-conceived plot and an engaging cast of characters moving it along. It also serves as an intriguing and informal sequel to a two-part story from three years earlier, when Marvel Two-In-One again came into play to provide a now-classic moment in Marvel history.

Given what we now understand to be the potential of what eventually came to be known as the Infinity Gems, it probably seems a little careless for these heroes to abandon the soul gem and simply leave it out in the open for anyone to come along and claim for their own. But at the time, Thanos had only thought to use the gem and other "soul gems" (not yet upgraded to Infinity Gems) as a power source for a weapon--and since Thanos had been slain by a manifestation of Warlock, perhaps Mar-vell and the others felt the danger of someone else using the gem in the same manner had passed. Admittedly very short-sighted of them, just to leave a symbol of tribute at Warlock's grave site--but no doubt helpful to other writers who might want to someday take advantage of the fact that the scene leaves the door open for Warlock's return.

And that time indeed arrives, when a powerful being interrupts a pleasant evening between Ben Grimm and his lady love, Alicia Masters--one who, like her golden-skinned predecessor, has emerged from a cocoon and is intent on following a trail that has over a decade of dust covering it. And in some way, Alicia is the key to her plans.

The Thing doesn't make any headway against this powerful woman who the story has no choice but to refer to as a pronoun lettered with emphasis. Unlike Him, Her hasn't yet begun announcing herself as such; but thanks to a helpful origin page laid out by artist Jerry Bingham, writer Mark Gruenwald makes it clear that she once had another identity (and gender), courtesy of the Enclave--the same scientists who created Him.

So we've learned both what this woman's purpose is and why she's altered her form, though her reason for abducting Alicia--as a lead to the whereabouts of Him, given that Alicia was the last to encounter Him on Earth--seems futile, since she has no knowledge of what's happened to him since that time.

Meanwhile, frantic with worry, the Thing returns to the Baxter Building and begins to use the equipment there to search for Alicia, though he receives some unexpected help in that regard.

Nor is Ben alone in receiving assistance, as Alicia and Her discover while continuing their conversation--in a scene that serves to introduce the final cast member who will join the others in seeing this story through.

It's a startling claim that Her makes, to be sure--and while in hindsight it's possible to predict the outcome, given that this sort of thing has been attempted before, we know so little about Her's ability at this point that it's still shaping up to be a tantalizing quest these people are undertaking.

As for the Thing coming along for the ride, Her is adamant that "such an imperfect being" can't be permitted to do so--and when the Thing and Starhawk locate the group just in time to see them boarding Moondragon's ship, hostilities erupt and render the subject of additional passengers moot.

But there's little doubt that the Thing is going to do whatever it takes to ensure Alicia's safety, while Starhawk clearly wishes to investigate Her further--and so we're all set to embark on this cosmic quest, with the goal being no less than to restore a life. But despite the assurances of Her, how will it all really end??