The Eight Billion Year Funeral

Following the defeat of Maelstrom, Quasar takes his allies Moondragon and Makkari back to his security consultant firm in the Four Freedoms Plaza. There, he explains his miraculous resurrection to his co-workers Ken Tanaka and Kayla Ballentine.[1] Kayla is particularly happy to see Wendell is alive and well and the pair are about to have a romantic moment when Moondragon intervenes. Seeing Quasar as her ideal mate, Moondragon sees Kayla as a threat to her romantic goals and uses her mental powers to force Kayla and Makkari to kill.[2]

Quasar, who has no romantic interest in Moondragon is appalled that she would use her telepathic abilities to force people to do what she wants. He explains that there is more to love than just procreation and the rejection deeply upsets Moondragon who then storms out, vowing that she will eventually show him that she is the ideal woman for him.

With that explosive scene out of the way, Quasar heads into his private office to tie up some loose ends now that Maelstrom has been defeated. There, he goes to the bookshelf that used to hide a portal to a pocket dimension where the late Eon used to hide from his foe. Using his Quantum Bands, Wendell is able to re-open the portal to this dimension and discovers that Eon’s body matter still fills the dimension, although it is in the process of decaying. Looking around he finds a group of aliens have arrived. Their leader, Fath, explains that they are the Mourners a collective of aliens who commemorate the passing of all great things in the universe. They have come to organize a funeral for Eon and seem harmless enough that Quasar allows them to stay and organize their service. They ask Quasar a series of questions about the deceased, but he realizes that he didn’t really know much about Eon to begin with. He decides to leave the arrangements in the care of the Mourners and promises to attend the funeral in a few days, liking the idea that a service will be held for his former mentor.

Elsewhere in the universe, Thanos — who has just amassed the Infinity Gems, wielding them in a powerful gauntlet — entertains Mephisto, the lord of the neither realms.[3] Mephisto is going on about how much he appreciates being allowed to sit at Thanos’ right hand when the Mad Titan suddenly bursts out laughing. This is because he has just sensed that his old enemy Eon is now dead.[4] Although Eon was spared when Thanos winked half of all life in the universe out of existence, he is pleased that Maelstrom managed to defeat his old foe. In fact, he doesn’t even feel cheated of a victory in the slightest and decides that in death, Eon will finally serve him.

Back on Earth, Moondragon is pacing her apartment, fuming over Quasar’s rejection. She is tired of being overlooked, a particularly sore spot for her ever since she wasn’t chosen to be the Celestial Madonna years earlier.[5] She decides that if she can’t win Quasar’s love than she wants nobody else and returns to her starship which is cloaked outside her apartment window. She decides that in order to convince Quasar to be her consort she needs an ally and finds just such a person in space and goes out to collect him.[6] As Moondragon’s ship takes off for space, her departure is observed by the artificial being known as Her, who stands atop the Four Freedoms Plaza. The leaving ship only makes a passing interest for Her, who decides that it has nothing to do with her.

Meanwhile, Quasar pays a visit to his mother, Lisa Vaughn, at her home in Oshkosh. He has come to apologize for how he acted at his father’s funeral. She instantly forgives him, she is his mother after all, and he promises to visit her more often in the future.[7]

Soon, Quasar returns to Eon’s pocket dimension to attend the funeral that the Mourners have put on in his honor. Many cosmic entities are in attendance including the Living Tribunal, Master Order, Lord Chaos, the In-Betweener, the Time-Keepers, and various embodiments of Death.[8] As he sits down for the funeral service, Quasar listens to Fath’s eulogy and finds it more comforting than the priest that gave one for his father and chalks it up with his discomfort surrounding organized religion.

Suddenly, Thanos appears in the middle of the service, shattering a statue of Eon erected to honor the deceased. Thanos mockingly explains that he has come to pay his respects, but Quasar is insulted that the Mad Titan would come here. When Thanos refuses to leave, Quasar attempts to use his Quantum Bands to force him out. Unfortunately for him, Thanos is neigh invincible with the power of the Infinity Gauntlet.

Back on Earth, Her is seeking help finding her male counterpart, Adam Warlock. She decides to go to Doctor Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum for assistance in this quest. The Silver Surfer answers the door and when she explains that she is seeking Warlock to mate, the Surfer tells her that there is a crisis going on that takes far more priority than her personal problem and slams the door in her face, leaving her to wonder what she is to do now.[9]

Back in the Eonsphere, Quasar continues his attacks on Thanos, but they continue to have no effect on him. Deciding to amuse himself, the Mad Titan then uses the Infinity Gauntlet to resurrect former guardians of the universe out of Eon’s decaying matter to fight Quasar. They include Ree (a bird-like member of the extinct Archeopians), Marvel Boy (Quasar’s predecessor),[10] Tranta (an octopoid member of the Trill race), and the first guardian the Stagyian Starbender. Thanos teleports leaving the resurrected guardians to kill Quasar. However, his true purpose for this attack is to create a distraction for his real goal: To cause Eon’s decaying body matter to begin spilling out of the dimensional portals and flood the Earth.

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Thanos, Moondragon, Makkari, Kayla Ballentine, Ken Tanaka, Lisa Vaughn, Stygian Starbender, Marvel Boy, Tranta, Ree, Mephisto, Her, Death, Living Tribunal, Lord Chaos, Master Order, In-Betweener, Time-Keepers (Ast, Vorth, Zanth), Silver Surfer, Fath Eon (corpse)

Continuity Notes

1. Quasar died, came back to life, and saved the universe from collapse by defeating Maelstrom in Quasar #19-25. That’s also when Eon died and Quasar got his current costume.

2. It’s here that Quasar realizes that Moondragon was responsible for mentally forcing Kayla to seek comfort from Makkari in Quasar #20. It’s also doped out that Moondragon, as H.D. Steckley came to work for Wendell Vaughn in an effort to get close to him in issues #22-23.

3. Thanos and Mephisto appear here in between the events of Infinity Gauntlet #1. Between panels 8 & 9 of page 23 to be exact.

4. Previously, Eon counseled Captain Marvel — the previous protector of the universe — on preventing one of Thanos’ earlier threats. See Captain Marvel #25-33 and Avengers #125. Here, Thanos states that Eon also created Drax the Destroyer. This is not accurate, Drax was actually created by Kronos, the god of the Eternals, as detailed in Iron Man #55 and Captain Marvel #32. He does report that Captain Marvel is dead, this is accurate, he died of cancer in Marvel Graphic Novel #1.

5. Moondragon was groomed by the Priest of Pama as a potential candidate for Celestial Madonna. However, Mantis was ultimately selected over her. See Avengers #129-135 and Giant-Size Avengers #2-4.

6. This ally turns out to be Jack of Hearts, as we’ll learn next issue.

7. Gilbert Vaughn suffered a catastrophic brain hemorrhage in Quasar #12. His funeral was in issue #20. In Quasar #22 it was revealed that Maelstrom was responsible for killing Gilbert.

8. A footnote here tells readers that Quasar has arrived just after a mission with the Avengers. This was in Captain America #392.

9. Lots of exposition going on here all at once. Allow me to explain:

   • Adam Warlock, originally named Him, was created by the rogue scientists known as the Enclave as the perfect artificial man, as seen in Fantastic Four #66-67.

   • Years later, the Enclave tried to recreate this experiment in Incredible Hulk Annual #6, creating a male entity called Paragon. Paragon eventually transformed into a female form and sought out Adam Warlock to be her mate in Marvel Two-In-One #61-63.

   • This quest reached a dead end due to the fact that, at the time, Warlock was dead after sacrificing his life to stop Thanos in Marvel Two-In-One Annual #2. More recently, Warlock eventually resurrected himself in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #46.

   • Her mentions how she had recently returned to Earth, but her reasons for doing so are unimportant now. She is referring to the events of Alpha Flight #98-101. TL;DR version, she decided to return to her home world and explore.

   • The reason why the Silver Surfer is uninterested in helping Her in her quest is because he and various other heroes are working on a plan to defeat Thanos, as seen in Infinity Gauntlet #1-6.

   • Her will finally meet Adam Warlock next issue and he will outright reject her because he has more important things to do than being DTF.

10. The appearance of Marvel Boy here is rather complicated. The facts:

    • The original Marvel Boy was Robert Grayson, an Earth man who grew up on an Eternal colony on Uranus. Given the Quantum Bands he fought crime on Earth in the 1950s. See Marvel Boy #1-2 and Astonishing #3-6.

    • What nobody here seems to know is that in the late 50s, the Eternals attempted to replace Grayson with one of their own, a man named Thelius. This angered the native Uranians who made a pact with the Eternals. The Uranians killed the Eternals and took Marvel Boy in and made him one of their own and, at the time of this Quasar story, is still on Uranus. See Agents of Atlas #3 and Marvel Boy: The Uranian #1-3.

    • Thelius eventually got loose and thinking he was the original Marvel Boy, went to Earth to avenge his people leading to a battle with the Fantastic Four. In the ensuing conflict, the Quantum Bands overloaded and incinerated his body. See Fantastic Four #164-165.

    • The Quantum Bands ended up in SHIELD custody and given to Wendell Vaughn, who was recruited into their Super-Agent program, as detailed in Quasar #1.

    • Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #7 has a profile on Marvel Boy that confirms that Thanos didn’t resurrect Grayson (since he wasn’t dead). More on this below…

Did Thanos Know he Resurrected Thelius and Not Robert Grayson?

In this story, Thanos acts as there there is no distinction between Robert Grayson and Thelius. Since he has the Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos should know the truth about the situation where most others would not.

This omission of facts is because the later revelations in Agents of Atlas and Marvel Boy: The Uranian were published years after this story.

One could assume that since Thanos was omniscient at the time he resurrected Thelius, he must have known. He probably didn’t bring it up because it wasn’t important to do so. Since Thelius proved to be mentally unstable, Thanos probably chose him instead of the real Robert Grayson since it would have been easier to convince Thelius to attack Quasar. This would make a lot of sense when Thanos later recruited Thelius to be his agent in Quasar #41-43.

Infinity Gauntlet Reading Order

Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #34-38, Thanos Quest #1-2, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #40-45, Cloak and Dagger (vol. 3) #17-18, Spider-Man #17, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #46-50, Infinity Gauntlet #1, Sleepwalker #6, Quasar #26-27, Doctor Stranger Sorcerer Supreme #31, Incredible Hulk #383, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #51-52, Infinity Gauntlet #2, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #32, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #53-54, Infinity Gauntlet #3, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #33, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #55-56, Infinity Gauntlet #4, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #34, Incredible Hulk #384, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #35, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #57-58, Infinity Gauntlet #5, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #59, Infinity Gauntlet #6, Incredible Hulk #385, Sleepwalker #7, Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #60, Doctor Strange Sorcerer Supreme #36, Warlock and the Infinity Watch #1