Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION Dr. Gym'll's Cultural Rarities The All Avengers Thread

I may be wrong, but I think Tabula Rasa is supposed to be an alternate universe version of a villain called the Super-Adaptoid, who can mimic anybody's form and/or powers.

He certainly reminds me of someone. My Marvel Fu just isn't strong enough to remember. I was thinking it was something Prof Ivo might have put together other than Amazo. Th only Super Adaptoid image I have is with Cap's sheild and a bow etc.

Cassandra also reminds of someone from the Marvel Handbooks. Some sort of head villain. But again, my memory cell lets me down.

Funny you should mention Professor Ivo and Amazo, because some fans out there believe that the Super-Adaptoid is Marvel's rip-off of Amazo.

Avengers 360-361 (March-April 1993)
“Alternate Visions” / “Family Responsibility”

Summary
The Gatherers capture the Vision, and Proctor places the mind of an alternate world’s Vision in the synthezoid’s body and sends him to the Avengers with one mission: to kill the Swordsman.

Meanwhile, Sersi has fled to Wakanda, where Dane tracks her down. She confesses to him that she thinks she is losing her mind and, when they return to Avengers Mansion, she loses control and causes the Avengers’ quinjet to crash. Sersi battles the Avengers until she is rendered unconscious by the sadistic alternate Vision.

Three Eternals—Ikaris, Sprite, and Arex—arrive to take custody of Sersi, but she refuses to accompany them and claims Dane is her gann josin (“the intimate version of the Uni-Mind”). This comes as news to Dane. The Eternals tell the Avengers that they fear Sersi is suffering from the mahd w’yry, a reputed form of dementia that affects long-lived Eternals. According to Ikaris, the madness can be prevented from spreading to the rest of the Eternals only by subjecting Sersi to molecular discorporation.

When the Avengers refuse to allow the Eternals to take Sersi with them, Sprite suggests a compromise: make Dane her official gann josin. Before Dane can protest, Ikaris hits him with a bolt of energy that bonds his mind to Sersi’s. The three Eternals then depart. Dane, however, rejects Sersi and later tells Crystal it is she he truly loves. Their kiss is observed by both the alternate Vision and Sersi herself.

Meanwhile, the “real” Vision attempts to escape from the Gatherers’ lair but is stopped by Proctor, who claims he is Sersi’s true gann josin.

Thoughts
The Avengers’ 30th anniversary is officially kicked off with this storyline, which begins in grand fashion with a foil-embossed cover and two special features (a two-page Avengers “poster” and a back-up story) in 360. There will be more special issues as the year progresses.

Harras’s two-year build-up finally leads somewhere as the three major plot strands he has introduced—the Gatherers, Sersi’s behavior, and Dane’s feelings for Crystal—come together in a dramatic story line which unfolds with a hint of major repercussions ahead.

Much of storyline works very well, particularly the method used by the Gatherers to capture the Vision: using their knowledge of his relationship with the Liptons (from # 348) to lure him into a trap. Here we get another hint that maybe—no, probably—the Vision does have human feelings after all, but he doesn’t have time to explore this possibility. He is whisked away to the Gatherers’ lair where Proctor performs a brain transplant with the evil alternate Vision.

This, too, builds well off of what we’ve been previously told about another alternate Vision (the one who left the Swordsman for dead on the latter’s own world)—and it gives the Avengers a real threat in their midst: someone who looks like one of their most trusted colleagues.

In fact, my only complaint about this strand relates to an instance of comic book logic beyond Harras’s control. Only in a comic book would a super-villain transplant the Vision’s brain into another, equally powerful body. It would be a lot more convenient and safer to discard the brain or disassemble it and use its parts to power the dishwasher or something. But we can’t have the real Vision disappear forever, can we?

Something else else that was also beyond Harras’s contol but shouldn’t have been beyond editor Ralph Macchio’s was the carelessness in revealing that this change will be permanent. After all, the Vision appears in his new body in both the two-page “poster” in 360 and on the masthead of 361. But what’s a few spoilers?

The Sersi strand also develops in a mostly credible way. In fact, for the first time during these re-reads I’ve started to like Sersi as a character and to sympathize with her. I have a relative who is also suffering from a form of dementia, and it is horrifying and heartbreaking to watch. What Sersi is going through feels all too real.

To complicate matters, Sersi reaches out to the one Avenger she has felt close to—Dane—and tries to use him as her anchor to the Avengers’ world (and to her sanity.) But Sersi is who she is—an Eternal with little regard for the opinions of mortals. It probably never occurred to her that he might want to have a say in this gann josin thing, or that he might not be happy to have such a choice with momentous consequences taken away from him. After Dane stalks off, Sersi says, “It’s not supposed to be like this”—probably the most honest and vulnerable statement she has ever made.

I’ve never been a fan of the Eternals, but I did enjoy the explanation of the gann josin and mahd w’yry. This feels like a real culture with serious ramifications for its members’ long lives.

Other parts of the storyline don’t work so well. Once again, the Avengers and their guests eschew conversation for dramatic posturing and fighting, but, hey, it’s a super-hero comic. What do you expect? Thank Bob for Sprite, however, who turns out to be the voice of reason.

Oh, by the way, Captain America returns—for no apparent reason and with nothing much to do. Since he left the team to protest some Avengers’ decision to murder the Supreme Intelligence and nothing has been resolved on that front, his return seems suspect.

Issue 360 also contains a backup “story” called “Overviews,” by Harras and artists Hector Collazo (who is credited with “pictures”) and Suzanne Gaffney (who is credited with “designs,” presumably the computer data sheet pages which take up the bulk of the story). It is nothing more than an excuse to present text pages on most of the Avengers and the Gatherers to keep fans up to speed. It’s nice to have all of this information gathered (heh) in one spot; just the same, I would have preferred more of the main story in this extra large and extra-priced issue.

Since the Gatherers have already established that they know a great deal about the Avengers, even their computer codes, from alternate timelines, I readily accepted that they knew about the Liptons.

I wondered what happened to the real Mrs. Lipton, too.




Arkon, Thundra, and Astra left Polemachus in a hurry and then were teleported by what's-his-name back to Polemachus. I presume they haven't had the time or the means to retrieve the dinosaur. It was nice, though, to be reminded of the dinosaur; I thought he was another unexplained plot convenience like the Avengers' ship on Polemachus.




I agree. I haven't mentioned Epting's art much, either, but he really shines in 360, when he has room to stretch.



Tash and Herc both have very little to do in most of these issues. Neither even has a text-page bio in 360. (Of course, it might be odd if Tash wrote a bio analyzing herself). They are here solely because the Avengers need six or seven members, apparently.

Glad your impressions of this strand are mostly positive ones. And I will keep your relative in my thoughts and prayers.



The Gann Josin and the Mahd W'yry are entirely Harras' invention. The original Jack Kirby Eternals has some concepts with potential but is borderline unreadable in my opinion, and Harras' additions to the Eternals mythos are the only post-Kirby additions that I like.

Thanks, Fanfie.



Good to know. It shows that Harras has put a lot of thought into the Eternals, as well as the Gatherers.

Avengers #361

The Eternals arrive on Earth. They are obviously aware that something's wrong with Sersi. But mainly they're there to laugh at her nightgown. Sprite, who I really thought was behind the murders of Sersi's dates, keeps the posturing between the two teams to a minimum. It would seem that Dane is to be part of an arranged marriage, possibly something out of Dune by the sounds of it. Nice of her to let Dane in on it.

For the briefest moment, it seemed as though the sleazy Alt+Vision had been discovered (he's not exactly hiding his nature), but it's a throw away herring. There's so many optic blasts in this issue, you'd think Cyclops was in it. it seems to be the Eternal way of disagreeing with anything.

We get a fair bit of Eternal back story. Harris makes sure that it's all focused on the issues at hand. We get a nod to the Brethren issue possibly hastening Sersi's issues. I needed the reminder, as I'd forgotten about it. It seems like such a long time ago, but points to Harris for linking it together.

The history makes the aloofness of the Eternals make sense too. They are jerks. But they are jerks because they have a cultural fear of connecting with others. They could have brought others into a uni-mind with them, but their culture fears the repercussions of such actions. As a result they sit and wait for the self fulfilling prophecies of madness to take hold.

The Harris habit of making the bad guys have a moral reason for their actions continues. Ikarus, like the head cultist on Polymachus, acts on one level out of duty to his culture. There's some interesting undertones to this trend.

We get an "Avengers take care of their own!" reprise, which gave me a smile in a good way. Nice to see that the Eternals had to back down. The Avengers take too many needless beatings.

By the name, being an Eternal gives you time on your hands. So Ikaris has trained to become some sort of Minister of the Force. Before Cap gets a chance to declare his long repressed love for Dane and call off the nuptials, it's all over bar the drunken relatives. Dane is Sersi's soul mate.

Dane emphasises being Sersi's friend (although we've seen it going further) and stalks off past Crystal for a bit of brooding. Where do Avengers brood? Why, on the rooftop! I like in-jokes and this mansion has a really nice rooftop patio area too.

Annoyingly, it turns out that a pivotal part of the triangle was pushed along its way in another title, with Crystal and Pietro failing to get back together.

It's a nice scene between Dane and Crystal as they declare their love for each other. Nearby, the Crystal-obsessive Alt+Vision watches the couple. From a window, Sersi watches the couple, and feels it too, through her new soul mate. Above, the Watcher watches the watchers watch the couple, with a bag of popcorn.

One thing is clear. in the cool winds of Autumn, it's nice that their Avengers' jackets are keeping them warm. Functional!

Elsewhere the Vision, whose intangibility has been trumped with Proctor's Power of Convenience, escape only to find Precognitive Proctor waiting. Dane shouldn't feel too bad cheating with the bridesmaid, as Sersi is already married. Next month we find out if bigamy counts in alternate universes in "Alternate Avengers Adultery."

I wonder if Proctor and Sersi share feelings too, which might explain some of Sersi's actions. It's not a surprise that things haven't gone the way Sersi thought they would. Her Eternals outlook has her planning ahead, without consideration about the mortals. But then, who's to say that Dane going along with their earlier relationship didn't actually mean far more to Sersi than to Dane. Dane's survived one of their dates after all.

There were more hits than misses this issue. Lots of recurring moments, such as the rooftop, some dialogue and the big Uni-Mind sized one that I needed prodding about. It's good to see a few subplots really get moving. The next couple of issues look promising.

Glad you liked the issue overall, Thoth.

Earlier, I forgot to address something that He Who had mentioned: the matter-of-fact return of Captain America. I've long suspected that this was mandated by The Powers That Be, as Harras' previous writing of Cap didn't appear to show much favor towards the character. I think it was totally unnecessary, and it had the effect of sidelining the Black Widow yet again.

With Alt Thor out of the picture, it seems reasonable that TPTB would want one of the Big Three back in the book--none of the other characters really have the popularity to carry the book, I'd wager.

I agree that Harras didn't seem to have a handle on Captain America earlier. He portrayed him as something of a knee-jerk doof. In Cap's absence, some of the other characters have finally gotten to shine.

Lots of missed opportunities to show off all the cast.

A returning Thor/Alt+Thor would affect Herc. A returning Iron Man would impact on Dane's omni-science. So it looks as though Widow is the one to really suffer due to Cap's return. Not that she was doing much.

Avengers 362-363 (May-June 1993)
“A Vision Revealed” / “A Gathering of Hate”

Summary
The alternate Vision finally gets a chance to carry out his mission to murder the Swordsman, but, after trying to kill the latter, he attempts to force himself on the sleeping Crystal. However, Crystal fights back and the other Avengers are alerted. The alternate Vision is finally defeated when Sersi transmutes him temporarily into an unidentified substance.

The Avengers then force the alternate Vision to lead them to Proctor’s arctic headquarters, where they rescue their Vision and battle the Gatherers. When the Avengers gain the upper hand, Proctor initiates his sanctuary’s self-destruct mechanism and uses his shared link with the Black Knight to force the latter to run him through with the Knight's photonic sword. The Avengers and the remaining Gatherers flee the sanctuary before it explodes.

Meanwhile, two police officers pay Sersi a visit about one of her victims and are themselves transmuted and dumped into the East River.

Thoughts
One of the advantages of writing a summary before a review is that it forces me to objectively focus on what’s really important in a story—which elements are necessary and which, though they might have created some sort of emotional resonance, are not needed. This, I think, is a useful exercise for any writer. Learning what to prune can make any story a thousand times better.

For example, in the above summary, I did not mention the two Watchers, neither of whom contributes much to the overall story (the Watcher seldom does, anyhow). Sure, it’s good to know how Proctor got his information to locate the various Gatherers, but this could have been revealed anywhere along the way. Ultimately, the payoff of the Big Reveal isn’t worth the effort.

As a reader, what I’m most interested in is that the Avengers finally take the initiative and turn the tables on the Gatherers. This part of the story is exciting and mostly well done. I enjoyed the Avengers invading the sanctuary—commando-style, no less—and taking the Gatherers by surprise. One of the most satisfying moments for me was when Hercules tackles Sloth and leaps out of the sanctuary into a freefall with him. This is a Prince of Power who knows what needs to be done and is not afraid to go it alone. (However, he and Sloth both mysteriously wind up back in the sanctuary anyway.)

Another development I left out of my summary was the Black Knight’s pointless battle with Captain America. Sure, it’s a logical extension of Dane’s gann josinness with Sersi and provides a dramatic cover shot for 363 (even if the cover is partially misleading since, in the story, Dane's costume is obscured by his armor and Cap ditches his famous face mask for commando-style headgear). However, their battle adds nothing to the story.

I think the conflict is meant to play off of Dane’s hostile feelings towards Cap—which he alludes to earlier in the story, and which stem from their disagreement over the death of the Supreme Intelligence—but nothing comes of these feelings in this story.

So, what’s delivered in these two issues is a knock-down drag-out fight in the time-honored Marvel tradition. It’s an effective resolution to the Gatherers’ storyline, if unnecessarily padded.

One major disappointment, though, is that Sersi—who links the Avengers to the Gatherers and provides the focal point for Proctor’s motivation—stays away from the battle. It makes sense, given her possible illness, that the Avengers would leave her behind. However, it would have been much more satisfying to see her and Proctor together—to get her perspective on their relationship. (Besides, since when has Sersi ever done what she was told?)

Another disappointment is the portrayal of the Swordsman, who—after the big buildup of his “resurrection” and capture by the Avengers--is reduced to nothing more than a plot device. I know this isn’t the last we see of him; still, he comes off as a rather flat and uninteresting character—just there so we can get the ball rolling in another direction.

An art note: In keeping with the times, Epting in 363 has the Avengers eschew their usual super-hero costumes in favor of high-tech armor and even rifles (!). While on a practical level it makes sense for any combatants to use such gear, it seems odd to see Cap, the Widow and the rest—who have spent decades charging into battle in super-hero costumes—look like they've stepped out of the Terminator films. But whatevs.

An editing note: It’s Bill Foster, not Forster. Get with the program, Ralph.

Avengers #362
When the Proctor & Alt+Vision appeared to carry out this plan, I wondered if the Avengers would pick up the odd energy signatures from their arrival. A sort of early warning system for extra dimensional incursions. They do have sensors here, but I can't really see why they would have them in their own headquarters, let alone spend time calibrating them for various things such as the Swordsman. Never mind protecting the city, protecting Jarvis' kitchen is more important.

The scene seems to be a set up for the Vision to walk in the door, but we'll see if it has any further pay offs. Something else else that doesn't quite work it s the danger room-lite exercise. We get to see Dane be stereotypically protective of Crystal, that Dane put together the improvements, that the Vision isn't as competent as usual and a Sersi/Dane/ Crystal moment.

So, there's a lot going on. But the reason for the scene is to get them to practice together. But they don't seem very effective and their powers aren't used at all creatively. Crystal is reduced to an energy blast, Herc thumps things and Dane stabs a robot with his sword in an ill advised frontal attack. Too much plot, not enough direction.

The relationship between the Swordsman and Vision has been built up on only a few sporadic moments. But these, combined with the overly malevolent (or utterly unable to pretend) Vision make Swordsman's realisation of betrayal all the more real. Despite being the master of blades, the Alt+Vision takes out Swordsman easily, before going on to creep out the reader by entering Crystal's bedroom.

There was a moment quite a number of issues ago, where Crystal seemed to have a confused emotion regarding Vision. There was no real development of it, but I wonder if this plot point wasn't already in place back when it was written. It's very possible, if you consider the link between the Sersi's "weary" and the Brethren's Uni-mind. This would mean that Harris, at least broadly, is looking ahead quite a number of issues with his plots.

There looked to be a number of options here. Would Dane discover who had cloaked the energy signature, leading to a confrontation with the Alt+Vision? Would they discover the Swordsman and then be on hand to prevent Alt+Vision in Crystal's room? Neither, as Crystal has to defend herself. So, in the end, the cloaking of the energy signatures didn't have a pay off.

We don't see the event that wakes Crystal, but some of her night wear attired poses seem inappropriate. We're told about a seismic wave, but only see Crystal firing energy bursts, an other non-display of elemental power.
Alt+Vision is an immoral killer. He has been sent to kill the Swordsman (so I'll be surprised/ disappointed if Phillip makes a recovery next issue. Here, he phases into Herc's head. Now, when it was Sersi, killing her would jeopardise his mission. Here? Herc should be in real trouble. Cap & Widow are dismissed as stand ins as usual, before Dane risks Crystal's death to attack Alt+Vision.

When Sersi captures Alt+Vision, it's noticeable that Dane is the centre of the team, with Cap and 'Tasha well into the background. It's also noticeable that he's standing in the middle of a room, posturing like an idiot. Rather than check on Crystal, or Herc or for any other Gatherers that might be around. I think Dane fans may be pleased to see him front and centre though.

Avengers #363
It's an isolated citadel in a hostile environment. A good defensive position for a team that can hop between worlds.

If Widow doesn't get some decent infiltration panels here, then there's no hope for her. I'm a little taken aback by Hercules hitting a prisoner, even as I read Cap's assessment. Things may have changed, but not for the better. Harras knows the two sides of the argument, and neatly shows how the other side treat their prisoners. Again, each character has their own assessment. These are the highlight moments for me in this run.

No fun for the Widow, as the Avengers launch a frontal assault. Judging by the ropes, they have scaled the mountain before abseiling into position for the attack. Although I can imagine Crystal having helped a lot here, it's a little shame that we didn't see it as the book not wrongly jumps to the action. They must miss Thor and Iron man for that sort of thing though.

Have we seen Dane construct Psionic armour? Have we seen him work on the energy signatures of Magdalene's weapons? Did we see him join an Image comic, to get the designs for the Avengers' costumes this issue?

In a number of the issues of this run, we've seen the Avengers being too easily overpowered by their opponents. Including the Gatherers. Here's it's far too easy for the Avengers. Surprise is one thing, but the battles are fought one on one. It's not very consistent and I wonder why results didn't go this way the first time round.

Back at the ranch, Sersi has stayed behind because she had an appointment with a sub plot. Why else would she not have gone with the others? She was easily the most effective against the Gatherers, and particularly the Vision.

The Swordsman is somehow still alive. A "miracle" indeed Dr Pym. Just as much as Dane's final turn to the dark side of being a Mary-Sue. Now he can put together a bio-technic stasis cube, out side his specialty. Well, he needed something to do with his left hand, while the right was building psionic armour. Apart from having him marry Sersi and going off together to explore a galaxy, I've no idea what the Swordsman will contribute. He's not been terribly interesting so far.

I'm not convinced about the other subplot either. None of the Imperial guard were free to go to Earth as a familiar face? None of them could have been replaced on a mission by the person they did send?
Back on Alt+Earth, it's nice of Dane to defend Alt+Vision, after the latter being cut in two and decapitated. I'll be looking for Proctor to use those powers later, if he needs to. It also removes the most obviously evil character from the proceedings, allowing both camps to stand around and talk. Sloth having made a pretty good recovery, and climb.

Handily, Dane must have left his sword beside the kettle at the mansion. So while he was away from stasis tube and armour building, he added a refraction field to his weapon while making a coffee.
It's all a little convenient. The Avengers have no reason to believe Proctor, until Dane throws his first Sersi induced hissy fit. Widow uses her sting! Widow uses her sting! Huzzah!

I wonder if Harris isn't getting in a few pot shots about having to put up with Cap being back on the team.

A second Watcher provides some explanation on why our version keeps showing up with his charades. But if our Watcher can't view other realities(he needed the Avengers to be in it), how can this one guide Proctor? I also note that the Gatherers can hop to other universes without the Watcher, making him less important and Proctor more powerful still. (There is one conclusion, but I'll see if it comes off in future issues)

The image of the damaged Watcher rising from his containment is a fairly cool one. There's still no evidence that Sersi is responsible for anything. The Watchers aren't exactly saying anything. Unless, they do it with their eyes.

Crystal: Wait Cap, the Watcher is blinking in morse code. "Sersi is a baddie."

Dane gets another kill. I imagine the Lucas lawyers looking at this saying "Man cut down by lightsaber owned by a dark clad person, swearing that it's not the end. Hmmm..."

Proctor is undone by his love for Magdalene, but it feels forced into a number of other events going on around them. Proctor's little side plot has ruined his chances over centuries to stop Sersi. His main purpose seems to have had a lot less panel time than the side plot concerning Magdalene.
There's not even time for a reaction before the citadel blows up. I wonder how many villains blow themselves up, just doing the cleaning?

Mole-Man: Oh No! I've dusted the self destruct button! >Boom!<

There's one of those nice Avengers' epilogues. A quiet, yet menacing, moment following one climax with the promise of more to come.

Of course, had Sersi been with the team in the first place, how would things have turned out?

It would be interesting if this were the case. I never read much into Crystal's interactions with Vision--I thought she just wanted a friend and turned to Vizh because he was her former brother-in-law. But if what you suggest is, in fact, what Harras intended, he missed several opportunities to build up their relationship in previous issues and to bring that relationship to a pivotal moment in 362. For example, it would have been an emotional high point of the story if she were confused by Vizh's behavior and then decided to realize he would never behave this way.



Yeah, I was not satisfied with that development, either.

There's an old western where the hero's girlfriend gets taken hostage by the bad guy and he shoots her because he knows he can do it in such a way as to cause no real damage but to get her out of the way. Whether or not a real shooting would ever occur that way I have no idea, but at least the hero put some thought into his actions and took a necessary, calculated risk. No such thinking here.



The facial expressions of Cap, Natasha, and the rest suggest they are worried about Dane's old bloodthirstiness returning. I was hoping such concerns would be addressed in 363; alas, they weren't.

Valid points, but I look at it as her being a danger to herself and others at this junction. I think if she had been there, she might have gotten the Avengers killed.



Sadly, I have to concur. It's not spoiling anything for me to say that nothing else of interest involving Philip happens. Or, for that matter, Magdalene. Shame, really, two characters who in my opinion were awesome in their potential, just reduced to wallpaper. I kind of like the idea of Philip ditching the Swordsman identity and costume, and adopting a light, flexible body armor like his lover's, and also going merely by his given name, again like his lover.



Even back in the day, this bothered me, because I saw Image as a bunch of overhyped crap slung out by some overpaid brats. In other words, I was a Marvel Zombie, and Image was The Enemy. But the true Image-ifying of Marvel wouldn't be for another year or so, by which time Epting had left the Avengers.



That's been my interpretation of Dane's outburst over my last several annual re-reads of this run. I think He Who gave a good possible explanation a few posts ago, but it still bothers me that the Widow got sidelined.



Exactly.





At this point in the run, the Gatherers Saga returns to the back-burner for nine more issues, before it's finally tied up in 372-375. Until then, we get the introduction of Deathcry, a character Harras obviously had big plans for which, frustratingly for me, never came to fruition. We get an abbreviated sequel of sorts to Operation Galactic Storm and the Starjammers issues, which I loved at the time but which the last couple re-reads has left me with mixed feelings, mainly because the Avengers/X-Men crossover events should, in my opinion, have been the sequel to OGS and the Starjammers issues, with the Avengers hostile to the Shi'ar and the X-Men, who are much more familiar with them, coming to their defense. Instead, we got Bloodties, which underwhelmed me even back in the day. And, finally, we get another short fill-in arc from a different writer/artist team, one which makes Fear the Reaper look good by comparison.

All of the above is a long-winded way of warning you guys that 364-371 pretty much mark time. But I still believe the resolution to the Gatherers Saga is well worth the wait.

That's possible. At least it wouldn't have been a bit of a cop out. Dane even praised her after taking down the Vision. There wasn't an urge to rush her back to rest. perhaps her personality acting up as she proved to be the most effective would have helped.



I'm actually a bit surprised by that spoilpuss I only know of them as back drop characters in the next run. So I had assumed that this would have been their spell in the spotlight. I am left wondering why Swordsman was left alive after Alt+Vision's attack.




That seems like a long time for the simple conversation of:-

Cap: Are you a psycho Sersi?
Dane: She is, I can feel it.
Cap: Shush Dane. Your time as the main guy is over. Are you getting all this down on the clipboard Natasha?
Natasha: I hate you Cap.
Cap: Well Sersi?
Sersi: I am Dark Psycho! See my Scarlet Witch/ Phoenix combo costume!
>20 page fight scene<
Lockjaw: >pop<
Crystal: Into the centre of the Earth you cow! Yes! You're all mine Dane!
Dane: That was cold blooded...almost inhum...ah, never mind...



Very Image-like too I thought. Isn't she a bit obviously like Deathbird?



Groovy!


Yup, that was what I was waiting for more on, but it never happened.



It works only because the writer wants us to believe that Dane's recklessness is some sort of cool superpower, rather than a sure fire way to obtain a body count of your nearest and dearest. I imagine that Alt+Vision didn't kill Crystal so he could return later. But that's going to be a neat trick for him now.

A writer's best-laid plans...etc.

Re: Deathcry, I think the original plan was for her to turn out to be Deathbird's daughter and thus the heir to Lilandra (who had no children). It could have made for some nice juicy Shi'ar intrigue, but, alas, it wasn't to be.

Re: the other fill-in arc, trust me, it's not even ironically amusing. I'm not even going to force myself to re-read it the way I did with Fear the Reaper, as I re-read it a couple years ago when doing research for an Eternals fanfic that never got off the ground.

A few random thoughts on the Swordsman ('cause I'm bored and have some time to kill):

This story line marks the first time his given name has been revealed. Back in the day, I loved knowing details about comics characters, such as real names, etc. It was part of the trivia aspect that made me as a fan feel like I was "in" on whatever secret these characters possessed. So I was disappointed when I picked up the 1976 Avengers Index--which summarized everything we wanted to know about each Avenger--and learned that Swordy's real name had never been revealed.

It was kind of nice that he was finally given a name two decades later (at some point, IIRC, we're told that this was the real name of the Swordsman of "our" dimension, too). But, at the same time, the thrill of learning it was gone. It was like throwing a crumb to a bird that had already flown away. As I suggested before, if this story had been published 10-13 years earlier, I might have loved it--flaws and all.

I enjoy Magdalene's devotion to Swordy, though. It seems that she truly loves him in a way that Mantis did not.

Proctor's scheme to kill the Swordsman bothers me, as his motivation for doing so remains unclear. It's just an excuse to get alt+Vision into the Avengers' midst, which in turn leads to two more important developments: 1) Our Vision gets a new and more familiar body, and 2) It provides the Avengers with the means to attack the Gatherers. But I'm still not sure why Proctor wanted Swordy dead.

Perhaps he figured he would have a greater chance of rekindling his romance with Maggie if Philip were dead--but there's no indication that he wanted to rekindle it. Perhaps he thought Philip knew too much about the Gatherers, but I don't recall that being given as a motivation.

It's curious, by the way, that the Avengers never ask Swordy to lead them to Proctor--they have to wait for alt+Vizh to do that. Swordy might have refused to help out of love for Magdalene or confusion over who the good guys really were, but the Avengers could have asked. Perhaps Swordy's general and convenient memory problems caused him to forget the location.

Perhaps Proctor's link with Sersi made him "mad" for revenge, but that, too, seems mighty convenient.

So many great opportunities for real character development were squandered.

I pretty much agree.

One little thing -- the Swordsmen did not share the same name. Swordsman I was Jacques Duquense. Swordsman II was Philip Javert.

Oh, and also, I have to say that, if not for this run we're discussing, I might never have read the Celestial Madonna Saga or any part of Steve Englehart's Avengers run except maybe the Perez-drawn Serpent Crown Saga.

At the time these issues came out, I was using the Marvel 50th Anniversary coffee table book as my bible, and Englehart was one of the creators -- along with Bob Layton and Roger Stern -- who were ignored in the book for reasons to do with company politics at the time.

Yeah, not having a real name made Swordsman's entry in my Marvel RPG book even blander. It reads as though he simply wasn't important enough to get one.

I have similar issues with the Swordsman that I have for Black Knight. Wielding a big pointy weapon that isn't going to get used as it should in any super hero book with the code on it.

A fantasy book or lots of stories where the Avengers kill nameless demons* etc is one thing, but he's not going to be stabbing Egghead to death any time soon.

Since I've not really read the Celestial Madonna** story, he's mostly a picture of a zombie at a marriage ceremony when I have seen him.

One trick ability that he can't use+ being dead+lacking in personality in flashbacks= lack of interest.

It did take a while for the Vision to form a bond with Alt+Swordsman. I touched on that lack of basic, normal communication affecting the believability of stories in an earlier post, and this would be another example.

As for Proctor, I read it as Magdalene being the only person he's been able to have real feelings for since his mental domination form Sersi. To lose that would be lose what's left of himself. Of course, he's done exactly that in his attempts to keep her & kill Phillip. His realisation of that leads to his Obi Wan Kenobi death.



* Baby Demon: Is daddy coming home tonight?
Mommy demon: Of course dear. He's just working late scaring some superheroes. He'll be back soon. What could go wrong?

Thanks for the correction.

The name Javert, by the way, was almost certainly inspired by the character of Inspector Javert in Les Miserables. It's interesting to draw parallels between the two characters. Given what happens to Javert, his name would seem to more closely match the original Swordsman than the second one.

As for the Swordsman's pointy thing, back in Avengers # 20, the Mandarin altered it so it could shoot lightning bolts and heat rays, and create other effects. I don't recall this Swordy's sword being used that way, but it does explain why neither Swordsman went around skewering people or demons.

We've not seen this Swordsman do much of anything with his pointy thing, but that could be due to the comics code.

I should interject that Swordsman I killed a bad guy with the business end of his sword during the fight with Valkyrie in the Avengers/Defenders War!