Marvel 1976.08 - Warlock #14

Warlock #14

Title: Homecoming!

Writer: Jim Starlin

Artist: Jim Starlin

Villain: Barry Bauman

Warlock is flying towards the Earth to face Barry Bauman, the Star Thief. He's flying faster than the speed of light, but he's light years away from Earth, so he estimates that he'll need a few weeks to reach his destination.

Barry sends creatures to challenge Warlock, based on the four elements. They're made of earth, air, water and fire. Almost. The water threat isn't made of water itself, it's an animal that usually lives in the water, a giant shark. While Barry is caught off-guard, Warlock tries to steal his soul. He only takes a small portion of Barry's soul, but it's enough to make him angry.

Warlock flies into a black hole and arrives close to Earth. He's shocked to find that he's much bigger than the Earth. Barry explains what's happened.

"Have you never heard of the expanding Earth theory? It's been speculated that the atoms of all spacedom are constantly expanding or drifting farther apart, so that all space is constantly expanding. You've just proved that this expansion is not uniform throughout the stars. Some sectors of space expand at a more rapid rate than others. You have been thousands of light years from Earth, and so have grown at a quicker pace than your homeworld. So now, to Earth, you are nothing more than a giant wraith. To you, Earth is an unreachable destination".

After his lengthy explanation Barry Dauman prepares to kill Adam Warlock, but he's forgotten something. Because of his battles with Warlock he forgot the hospital orderly, Tom Vocson. Barry has lost his control over him. Tom pulls a gun and kills Barry. The stars are returned to their rightful places. But Warlock is still a giant in our solar syystem.