AVENGERS #388 & CAPTAIN AMERICA #441

"INTO THE BREACH"
Story: Bob Harras & Terry Kavanagh | Writer: Bob Harras
Breakdowns: Mike Deodato | Finisher: Tom Palmer
Colorist: Mike Thomas | Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Mark Gruenwald

The Plot: CAPTAIN AMERICA #441: "Through the Perilous Fight" by Mark Gruenwald, Dave Hoover, and Danny Bulandi, Don Hudson, Rick Hoover, & Keith Williams: Captain America and Bucky battle MODOK, until the villain escapes. Falcon finds Cap, but Bucky is nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Adaptoids take Free Spirit and Jack Flag to the A.I.M. command center, where they are ordered to dispose of the trespassers. Elsewhere, Superia and Snapdragon explore the island, while MODOK flies down into the huge crater in an attempt to stop the chain reactions across the island. Elsewhere still, Black Widow and Hercules explore the island, encountering Cosmic Cube-created simulations of the Widow's ex-husband, Red Guardian, as well as Taylor Madison.

Inside the A.I.M. base, the Red Skull confronts A.I.M.'s leader, Alessandrio Brannex, who reveals himself as the Super-Adaptoid. Meanwhile, outside, the temporary antidote Superia gave Captain America wears off, and Cap's atrophy returns. Falcon picks him up to carry him. Back inside, Jack Flag and Free Spirit escape the Adaptoid agents carrying them, just as the base begins to fall apart thanks to energy beams lancing up from beneath the island's surface. Outside, one such beam kills the Red Guardian simulation. Captain America and Falcon are attacked by Adaptoids, and Falcon drops Cap. Jack Flag and Free Spirit exit the base and spot the battle. While Spirit checks on Cap, Jack runs off to help Falcon. Superia and Snapdragon find Free Spirit and Cap, and Snapdragon battles Free Spirit, beating her. Superia grabs Cap, but more energy beams separate them. Cap is hit by a beam, but suddenly his armor appears and he flies into the main energy source, where he finds MODOK begging for help.

AVENGERS #388: The boy who previously found Captain America watches as Cap is sucked into the vortex. Within, Cap finds MODOK, babbling about the power of the Cosmic Cube being too much for humanity to contain. Elsewhere, Black Widow, Hercules, and Giant-Man watch as the island of Boca Caliente changes, revealed as a metal construct created by A.I.M. Quicksilver and Crystal rejoin their teammates, while inside the energy vortex, MODOK allows himself to be sucked into the dimension that birthed the Cosmic Cube. Meanwhile, in the ruins of the A.I.M. complex, the Red Skull is found by a female agent under his command, who flees over the power of the Cube. Captain America, now emerged from the vortex, finds the boy, revealed as an Adaptoid and the island's guardian.

The Avengers work to evacuate Boca Caliente's civilian population. Falcon arrives to join Black Widow and Giant-Man in searching for Captain America. Meanwhile, Superia finds Cap and offers him more of her antidote in exchange for his services. While the Avengers continue their evacuation, they are joined by Snapdragon. Cap refuses Superia's bargain, but the Red Skull arrives and takes her serum instead, then blasts her. The Skull leaves, while Cap and the boy/Adaptoid move toward the heart of the demolished complex. Black Widow, Falcon, and Giant-Man find the Skull's agent, who directs them after Cap. At that moment, Cap and the Adaptoid reach the source of the Cosmic Cube energy. The Adaptoid sacrifices itself to contain the energy and stop the island's destruction. Falcon, Giant-Man, and Black Widow find Captain America as the sun rises over the metal island of Boca Caliente.

WOLVERINE & GAMBIT: VICTIMS

"PART ONE: IN HARM'S WAY" | "PART TWO: IN DEEP"
"PART THREE: NO WAY OUT" | "PART FOUR: A WOMAN SCORNED"
Words and Pictures: Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
Lettering: Richard Starking and Comicraft | Colors: Gregory Wright
Separations: Digital Chameleon (issues 1 & 2) & Malibu's Hues (issues 3 & 4)
Editor: Mark Powers | Editor-in-Chief: Bob Harras

Come with me now to the nineties, a decade extremely near to my comic book reading heart but one which I've covered very little (if at all?) since beginning this blog. In 1995, the X-Men were in a state of flux. The post-Chris Claremont era's status quo had changed somewhat following the "Age of Apocalypse" crossover, and it was an exciting time to be an X-fan. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters had moved to Massachusetts under the stewardship of Banshee and the reformed Emma Frost. The name "Onslaught" (Who was he? What was he?) was on everyone's lips. And Wolverine was devolving by the day into a feral shadow of his former self.

Which brings us to VICTIMS, by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale. At the time Loeb was the regular writer of both X-MAN and CABLE. Over at DC, he had teamed with artist Sale on a handful of projects including three well-regarded BATMAN: HAUNTED KNIGHT Halloween one-shots, but, aside from a short annual backup story starring Bishop (more on that below), this was the duo's first work for Marvel.

Loeb and Sale use Wolverine's deteriorating humanity as the springboard for their story, as Gambit learns that an old friend in the London police is the latest victim in a string of modern day "Jack the Ripper" murders. Gambit heads to England to investigate and runs afoul of the law, as well as Wolverine, who is apparently the killer.