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. ( )