This was Adam's first strip in an Annual. Even though his parent comic Thunder had joined with Lion earlier in 1971 , IPC still forged ahead with the first of three Annuals (even though the cover year is 1972,it would have been published in the winter of 1971). This original story expounded on Adam's early life when he was just 50 years of age. Here we meet a very different Eterno - an egotistical maniac hell bent on ridding the world of alchemists lest anybody else discover the elixer of life.Incognito as a witchfinder he hunts down these magicians and destroys them one and all. This story obviously chronicles his early attitude before his suicidal tendencies surfaced! However he meets his match in Vartzberg,Germany where one of his dying victims warns him of a golden sword that will be his doom. Flash forward to 1943 and Adam is a British Commando on a sabotage mission where he literally throws this sword at a Nazi begging for death but relenting to save his comrades lives instead. This story is a stopgap between his first adventures in "real time" (see Ye Origin ) and his being blown into oblivion by Metataxis' gold plated car in 1970 where he decides to use his gifts to help mankind.

THE GOLDEN SWORD OF VARTZBERG

Writer:Unknown

Artist:ERIC BRADBURY