Fantasy Masterpieces Vol 2 11

The General's army, recovering from their battle with the Silver Surfer, panic when they see Shalla-Bal's approaching space ship. They shoot it down and capture her and Yarro Gort. Gort agrees to help El Capitan and the General destroy their enemies and the Silver Surfer with Zenn-Lavian technology. Meanwhile, the Surfer meets the freedom fighters that have been rebelling against the General. He joins them as they attack the invading army. Silver Surfer battles Gort and frees Shalla-Bal, but not before she is shot. Surfer is forced to send her back to Zenn-La to receive medical treatment.

Detailed Summary:
The General's army, recovering from their battle with the Silver Surfer, panic when they see Shalla-Bal's approaching space ship. They shoot it down, prompting Yarro and Shalla-Bal to abandon ship. The soldiers take them prisoner and bring them to El Capitan.

Meanwhile, the Silver Surfer notices the damaged ship and prevents it from crashing. He enters the ship and realizes that it's from Zenn-La. He wonders who was on it and why they came here.

Yarro and Shalla-Bal are brought to El Capitan and Yarro agrees to give him Zenn-Lavian technology if he spares his life. Intrigued by his promises of weapons that can defeat the Surfer, El Capitan brings him to see his boss, the General.

The Silver Surfer brings Maria back to her house, but he is attacked by men hiding inside. Maria stops the hostilities by convincing them the Surfer is an ally. The men are part of the Underground, the local rebels that are fighting the General's occupation. As soon as this is explained, the General's army attacks the rebels. The Surfer diffuses the situation by destroying the army's weapons and letting them depart. The rebels are mad at the Surfer for letting their enemies leave and the Surfer, annoyed by man's unending violence, leaves in frustration.

Yarro Gort demonstrates to the General the weapons that he has built for him. Suddenly, the Underground attacks the army base. Yarro uses his weapons against the rebels and the alien technology draws the attention of the Surfer. Shalla-Bal, not willing harm to come to her beloved, tries to stop Yarro from turning a powerful cannon on to the Surfer and is instead shot by El Capitan. Shocked to see her here, the enraged Surfer swoops up the injured Shalla-Bal and destroys the cannon with a cosmic blast. Yarro, El Capitan, and the General are all killed in the blast and, without leaders, the occupying army is quickly defeated.

With her wounds being too critical to be healed here on Earth, the Surfer repairs the space shuttle and sends Shalla-Bal back to Zenn-La. As much as he dreads seeing her go, their more advanced science has a better chance of saving her from the near fatal gun shot wound.

Appearing in "1000 Clowns!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Strange Tales #181

Featured Characters:

Warlock

Supporting Characters:

Gamora (Identity revealed)
Pip the Troll

Antagonists:

Magus
Matriarch
Universal Church of Truth
- Clowns
  - Len Teans (First appearance) (Head Clown)
  - Beautiful Jan Hatroomi
Black Knights
- Rhaigor (First appearance)

Other Characters:

Kray-Tor (Only in recap)
Madness Monster

Races and Species:

Realities:

Earth-616

Locations:

Milky Way
- Al'Ma'an
  - Homeworld
    - Sacred Palace

Items:

Soul Gem
Sensory Input Helmet
Thyamite

Synopsis for "1000 Clowns!"

Reprint of the 1st story from
Strange Tales #181

Warlock finds himself in a strange place and considers, that this is just an illusion but decides, that he is in a Reality unlike any he has ever seen before, the Head Clown states, that Warlock has always been in this Reality, he has just never seen it in quite this manner before and calls it the "Land of the Way it was". A Technician states, that something is wrong with visual and audio programming. The Clowns are trying to reprogram Warlock and Beautiful Jan paints a Clown's Mask on Warlock's Face because all the dark aspects have to go. Gamora and Pip are on their way to rescue Warlock and interrogate one of the Black Knights and he is scared to death by Gamora. The Technicians realize, that Warlock is rebelling against the programming. Len takes Warlock to a Renegade Clown who is being punished, other Clowns are throwing cake at him and he is tied to a cross similar to that on which Warlock died on Counter-Earth. Warlock takes two cakes and punches them at two Clowns, one of the Technicians is outraged as Warlock has just knocked out two of his assistants, now Warlock is shown wearing a helmet so the Clowns are just a picture of his imagination, as Len Teans says because of his overly strong free will he sees them not as Heroes of the Church but as Clowns. The Matriarch wants the strategy changed, instead of threatening Warlock into seeing the Church's Way Teans should show him, that it would be harder to stand with the Church than against it because being a fool Warlock would easily be taken in by a challenge. Gamora and Pip are entering the Sacred Palace to free Warlock while Len Teans tell him, that there is only one way out - through the Door of Madness, after he crushes the door he is attacked by the Madness Monster. The Madness Monster is unaffected by the Soul Gem and Warlock realizes that the monster is part of his soul. By accepting that part of himself Warlock overcomes the input helmet and breaks free and, for the first time, sees himself face to face with the Magus.

Links and References

References

Fantasy Masterpieces Vol 2 11

Appearing in "O, Bitter Victory!"

Synopsis for "O, Bitter Victory!"

Appearing in "1000 Clowns!"

Synopsis for "1000 Clowns!"

See Also

Links and References

References