Moondragon got badly hurt in the last story, so she can’t protect the Mind Gem. Maxam offers to protect it but Gamora says he’s too new to be trusted.
So they fight. Which, to me, is proof neither of them should be entrusted with it. And that’s how it ends up–because Moondragon is still capable of using her mind powers, and she possesses Drax to defend the gem.
But Gamora feels devalued–having known Warlock for many years and he not choosing her but instead considering Maxam as a potential protector–so she quits the Watch and throws the Time Gem–which she herself is protecting–back at Adam. She goes to California to join Force Works. When I read that, I thought, “No! Don’t do that! They suck!” So I was happy when Thanos intercepted her and
Maxam gets to hold the time gem in Gamora’s absence, and it dispels his amnesia, allowing him to remember the time before his mind was wiped. He remembers that he is a time traveler from an alternate future where Magus lives and killed everyone. So he attacks Warlock and breaks his neck. Having killed the threat he was sent back in time to neutralize, Maxam disappears. And so do all of the Infinity Gems.*
*The gems go to the Rune/Silver Surfer Ultraverse crossover, and I’m not covering that–even though it appears to be canon–because I…I…I just don’t want to. I don’t care for the Ultraverse.
But then we learn that Warlock isn’t really dead–Moondragon simply made Maxam believe he had succeeded in killing Warlock, so that Maxam would be recalled back to his own future timeline.
And the story ends with Warlock being called Him again, and going to search for the gems.
Above: Last panel of the series. Below: Warlock in the Ultraverse, looking for the stones.
Very strange ending to a series–to have it go into a publisher crossover.
Warlock doesn’t get another series for a couple years.