Tag: Comics

The Only Good Alien…

Avengers #89

Writer: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Sam Grainger
Letterer: Sam Rosen

Featured Issue: Avengers #89

Plot Summary

A mysterious figure in a mask and trench coat makes his way through the shadows, but he is not alone. Following closely on his trail are three figures, more alike than foreign. Here on the streets of America, the Avengers hunt the alien known as Captain Marvel.

As Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Vision attempt to confront the mighty Kree warrior, their entreaties are met with fear and hostility. When their offers of friendship are rebuffed, Quicksilver attempts a more direct approach only to be sent reeling by a single punch. Captain Marvel then decides to take the fight to the Avengers, though his initial efforts are foiled by Vision’s density shifting abilities. Stopping the android with his photonic Uni-beam and not wanting to engage with Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel attempts to flee by flying to the roof of a nearby building. To his surprise, he is blasted by an unexpected figure, Rick Jones. With the help of Rick Jones, the Avengers load Captain Marvel into their waiting Quinjet and jet across the sky to the hospital at Cape Kennedy and a waiting Dr. Donaldson. Upon their arrival, Mar-Vell is strapped in to a decontamination chair in the hopes of saving his life, as well as preventing the destruction of the Earth.

As the assembled heroes wait to see what will become of Captain Marvel, Rick Jones takes a moment to reflect on the events which brought them all together. While playing a gig in a Bleecker St. club, Rick is suddenly overcome by the presence of Captain Marvel. Still trapped in the Negative Zone and linked to Rick Jones via the Nega-Bands, Captain Marvel informs Rick of a visit by Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four. Unseen by both Richards and Annihilus, lord of the Negative Zone, Mar-Vell has spied a way for him to escape the Negative Zone. All he asks is that Rick make his way to the Baxter Building to seek the answer that may set both men free. On his arrival, Rick switches atoms with Captain Marvel one last time, so that Mar-Vell may use his superior abilities to enter the Baxter Building. Making his way deeper into the building, Captain Marvel triggers a silent alarm, one which the Avengers Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Vision have been monitoring for at the request of Reed Richards. Their signal received, the Avengers quickly make their way to confront the unknown intruder. Just as they arrive, Mar-Vell is able to activate Reed Richards’ Negative Zone portal and free Rick Jones. Unfortunately, Rick is not the only one waiting and watching. Just before they are able to close the portal, Annihilus makes his way through. Immune to the attacks of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, only the quick wit and intangibility of Vision allow the heroes to send Annihilus back to his realm.

While the heroes are distracted by their brush with doom, they fail to notice that Mar-Vell has slipped out and stolen their Quinjet. As they realize what has happened, the Avengers discover something even more worrisome, Captain Marvel is nearly bursting with radiation, absorbed from his weeks spent stuck in the Negative Zone. If they are unable to catch up with the Kree, the radiation might kill him, or worse, start a chain reaction which will destroy the Earth. Meanwhile, Captain Marvel makes his way towards Florida’s Cape Kennedy in hopes of commandeering a rocket with which he can return to his home world. As a result, the Avengers are forced to pursue Captain Marvel and bring down his craft.

Back in the Cape Kennedy hospital, Captain Marvel’s condition is dire. His Nega-radiation has absorbed nearly all the power the hospital can muster. If they are unable to purge all the radiation from his system, the buildup will start all over again and their efforts will have been for nothing. In a last ditch effort, Vision offers to use the solar energy stored within his forehead jewel as an alternative power source. The process is successful, but it leaves both Mar-Vell and Vision in severely weakened states.

Galaxies away, the Kree criminal, Ronan the Accuser has escaped his imprisonment and has returned to Hala to confront the Kree Supreme Intelligence. Taking control of the Kree Empire from the Supreme Intelligence, Ronan unleashes a Kree Sentry to hunt down his hated enemy, Captain Marvel.

Avengers

Quicksilver
Scarlet Witch
Vision

Villains

Captain Marvel
Ronan the Accuser

The Summons Of Psyklops

Avengers #88
Story: Harlan Ellison
Adaptation: Roy Thomas
Penciller: Sal Buscema
Inker: Jim Mooney
Letterer: Shelly Leferman

Featured Issue: Avengers #88

Plot Summary

That poor, unfortunate and misunderstood former Avenger known as the Hulk finds himself at the unrelenting mercy of two pulsating electrodes. Within Boulder Dam, and at the direction of General Thunderbolt Ross, Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four and Professor Xavier attempt to use the device in question to subdue the Hulk. After months of preparation and in concert with Tony Stark, the scientists are nearing the end of their work, the goal of which is to rescue Bruce Banner from the curse he is forced to live with. Although the Hulk is mighty, eventually even he succumbs to the power flowing in to him. As Hulk’s consciousness slips away, Ross orders the power cut so that they may move on to the next step of their plan.

Elsewhere, in a remote jungle, the Avengers find themselves slogging in search of answers. Only a few short hours ago Captain America agreed to join his partner, Falcon, on a mission to locate a friend who had gone missing near New Orleans. Upon arrival in the Big Easy, the pair discover that Ralph had wandered off into the bayou in some form of trance. As they traced their query, the heroes quickly stumbled on a voodoo ritual being performed. Cap and Falcon are almost immediately discovered and attacked by the cultists who have been driven to a frenzy by the words of the voodoo priest. Unbeknownst to the heroes, the local police department is waiting just on the edge of the bayou, ready to confront the cultists. As the situation deteriorates and the police move in, Falcon is saved from a potentially mortal blow from the priest by his trusty bird, Redwing. Falcon is then able to unmask the priest and to his horror he discovers that it is Ralph, the friend he had been looking for. Ralph is still in some form of trance, only muttering a set of longitude and latitude coordinates. With this information, the pair return to Avengers Mansion in order to investigate things further.

Back at their headquarters, the assembled Avengers agree to join Cap and Falcon in their search, though not all of the team will be joining. Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch and Vision have all promised Reed Richards that they would stay behind on monitor duty. Even more shocking is the announcement by Black Panther that he will be leaving the team and returning to his kingdom of Wakanda, and thus will not be joining the expedition. With this, Captain America and Falcon are joined by Thor, Iron Man and Goliath on their quest for answers. As the team wades through the jungles of an unnamed Pacific island, they are shocked by what they encounter. At first it appears to be a living, breathing dragon, but on closer inspection it is a stone carving of unknown design. What is most shocking however is that the face of the creature matches exactly the mask worn by Ralph, the voodoo priest. An unlikely coincidence to be sure.

Back in Boulder Dam, Reed Richards directs a soldier on how best to use a special crane to lift the motionless body of the Hulk for transport into the specially designed Coma-crypt. Just as the team is ready to begin their task, the Hulk starts to become transparent and eventually blinks out of existence entirely. Or at least that is what the team at Boulder Dam is lead to believe. In reality, Hulk has been transported by a humanoid being that identifies itself only as Psyklops, a member of an ancient race that occupied the Earth before mankind. Psyklops has been awakened by the Dark Gods whom his people worshiped and who also placed his race in an eternal slumber. Just as he is about to explain their nefarious purpose, Psyklops senses the approach of the Avengers. Not wishing to be disturbed, he dispatches a creature to deal with the intruders. The beast is powerful to say the least, but eventually the Avengers are able to gain the upper hand and a powerful final strike from Mjolnir lays the creature low. Entering the subterranean lair, the Avengers find the passageways lined with bizarre looking gargoyles which remind Iron Man of something straight out of a comic book. With time growing short, Psyklops explains that he intends to use Hulk as a food source to power the Dark Gods to which he answers in order that his people may be awakened once again. So that he may make the best use of Hulk’s awesome power, Psyklops decides to shrink him down so that he may be more easily analyzed. Just as the shrinking process begins, the Avengers arrive on scene and immediately confront Psyklops. His attention distracted, Psyklops accidentally allows Hulk to be shrunken down, past the intended point, and apparently into nothingness. With his experiment a failure and knowing he is out number, Psyklops turns a device on the Avengers who are instantly transported back to New York, landing on a subway platform. Not only that, but the device wiped their memories clean of the whole incident, leading the team to wonder exactly why they were trying to catch a train in the first place.

Avengers

Black Panther
Captain America
Falcon
Goliath
Iron Man
Quicksilver
Scarlet Witch
Thor
Vision

Villains

Psyklops