Reader Rating: Average; Thunderbolts Interest: Medium

Summary: When a mysterious killer slays Elysius, Adam Warlock vows revenge and tracks the killer across many worlds. Evidence points to Drax the Destroyer, but the real killer turns out to be the skeleton of Mar-Vell, risen from the grave to serve as a puppet of Syphonn, a megalomaniac from the Negative Zone.

Syphonn's plot is to lure Drax to a particular point in space, where Drax's power can be used to open a portal between the positive and negative universes.

Warlock is aided by Gamora, Pip and Captain Marvel (Genis). Annihilus and Blastaar appear in the Negative Zone. Starfox (Eros) and Mentor appear on Titan.

Continuity: Genis, recently forced to give up the nega-bands, takes them back. Elysius is the first of Syphonn's victims.

Comments: Tom Lyle provides both script and pencils, but if he's trying to recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle that was Jim Starlin, he comes up badly short. First, his plot doesn't actually make sense, but let's pass right over that. It is built on major points -- the death of Elysius, the nega-bands, Mar-Vell's corpse -- that effect Genis, not Adam. Finally, and fatally, his Adam Warlock fails to display any personality traits that might show him to be related to Starlin's version.