Mystery In Space
Strange Tales #178 opens with a splash page of Adam Warlock flying amid several moons with the caption Who is Adam Warlock. That got me to thinking about Starlins Warlock Saga that I recall so fondly from my childhood. So, in a 38-page issue containing two linked stories, we get 29 pages of exposition and nine pages of non-exposition. We then get five pages of non-expository material as The Weird tests his revived body to determine that all his abilities are the same as they were 18 years ago. In the second story, Revivification, we learn that Adam Blakes afterlife experience that he exposited in the first story involves The Weird. Oh well, I guess it means that all of Blakes narrative exposition about being psychically mugged, dying, and his afterlife experiences must be from a time after he regains consciousness next issue. I wont spoil it for you except to say that it involves Tyrone hearing a noise and finding an unconscious Adam Blake on the floor. The final two pages of the first story provide some more non-expository material. Interspersed within those six pages are panels of Captain Comet providing exposition about his death and afterlife experiences, which I wont spoil for you except to say that it connects to the exposition provided in the second story in this issue.
For the next six pages, Tyrone tells Captain Comets life story to Eye. The door to Adam Blakes apartment then opens, and out walks a talking bulldog who lifts his leg on the head of one of the extraterrestrials that the gold-skinned woman with the eye patch Eye. I wont spoil it for you, but let me just say that it involves a gold-skinned woman with an eye patch who kicks some extraterrestrial butt. I hate it when extraterrestrials who have probably never even been to Earth use American colloquialisms, but at least we have a hint here that there will be more to the story than just endless exposition. During this expository exchange, we learn that the lab boys say his demise wont slow down the show. The story then moves on to two pages of two extraterrestrial characters having a conversation, with one providing exposition to the other. Its just a first personal narrative told for the sake of informing the reader. Of course, there is no contextual reason for Adam Blake to be reporting this information.
The character then provides two pages of narrative exposition about Hardcore Station. It opens with Captain Comet providing three pages of narrative exposition about having been attacked physically and psychically, with the big reveal at the bottom of the third page being that he died two hours earlier. Its merely the story about the death and resurrection of Adam Blake. Unfortunately , Starlins story isnt actually a philosophical or theological doctrine about death and its aftermath.
Note that the titles of the two stories indicate the religious context that has dominated most of Starlins work throughout his career. In fact, the cover to this first issue should have a burst on it that reads: Special All-Expository Issue. Anyway, both of the stories in the first issue are remarkably similar in that they are both nothing more than prolonged exposition. It seems to me that any Captain Comet story that doesnt play upon the William Blake connection by incorporating the Blakean elements is missing out on a rich opportunity to provide additional layers of textual meaning. However, Ive had a Captain Comet story percolating in my noggin ever since I realized that the details of Adam Blakes superhero origin bear an uncanny resemblance to elements in William Blakes illuminated text entitled America: A Prophecy. I knew, though, that I would go along for the ride because Starlins Warlock Saga at Marvel in the 1970s remains my all-time favorite cosmic epic in comic book form, and I was hoping he would do something equally great with Captain Comet. This new Mystery in Space title would star Captain Comet on Jim Starlins Hardcore Station. I was looking forward to a new series of hard science fiction short stories from todays top talents that would be comparable to those titles from my youth.
The Time Warp and Mystery in Space series from a generation ago had such stellar creators as Mike Kaluta, Howard Chaykin, Steve Ditko, Marshall Rogers, and Joe Kubert working on stories at a time when all of them were at or near the peak of their abilities.