Synopsis
Warlock (2004 series) #1 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
The world is going to pot as Danny enters the Kirby School Of Design in New York to see Janie Chin to help her finish her Fort Baines Memorial design for her final exam due the next day. But he finds that she's given up on that because she's got a paid internship with Beehive Productions to work on character design for their big superhero movie. She's currently putting finishing touches to a large (recognisable to us) image of the main char Adam Warlock, artificially created by a group of mad scientists called the Enclave, who's going to save mankind from self-destruction and establish a utopian dictatorship. The image she's working on is their existing design but she's got something more modern in mind. Then Danny notices that she has an airline ticket to Costa Perdita in South America and she tells him that's where they've built their studio in the jungle. Danny's unhappy because although they've only known each other for 2 weeks they've really hit it off and he was hoping to spend the Summer with her. They kiss and then see a news report about US bombing of rumoured terrorist bases in the Costa Perdita jungle.
In Perdita we see Morlak, Shinski, Zota and Mr Smith watching the bombing from a flying platform as a chemical plant is set alight. And we hear that the US is carrying out simultaneous preemptive strikes in the Philippines and Pakistan. The men are revising downwards their individual predictions for how long the human race has left, currently ranging from 19 years down to Smith's 2. They are waiting for the designer before starting production.
Smith welcomes Chin to the Beehive and introduces her to the 3 scientist technical advisors whose aim is to make the science in the film as realistic as possible. They resent being called away from their work for a meeting with the new designer. And the work they talk about sounds more like creating a real superhero than simulating it, including a fail-safe device that is activated purely by being thought about. And in the meeting they say the design is irrelevant compared to giving him the power and the will to do what is necessary. They're quite happy with the existing design but Smith claims that Chin is a genius who was the only 1 out of 4000 applicants who understood what was required. And when she unveils her design (see the reproduced front cover) the 3 are impressed. The gem on his forehead is the fail-safe device, and Smith wants the darkness around the eyes to be genetic, not cosmetic.
Sleeping Janie has a dream where she's back in smog-ridden New York with Danny. They kiss but she transforms into a female version of her character design. She wakes up and goes to ask if the place has any Internet connection so she can talk to Danny. She finds geneticist Dr Shinski working on the details of the char and realises he's using real DNA coding. At last she twigs that they're creating a real being. She runs away but finds herself surrounded by the other 3 men. Mr Smith confirms her suspicion and claims that their work is necessary because of the state of the world. Humanity has failed and the world needs a saviour. She pushes through them and sees Shinski watching over a high-tech cocoon as it opens and the creation in her design steps out. He greets her and asks her name and says his is Adam.