AVENGERS #348

"FAMILIAL CONNECTIONS"
Writer: Bob Harras | Guest Penciler: Kirk Jarvinen
Inker & Colorist: Tom Palmer | Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Plot: Black Knight and Crystal find the Vision projecting his memories of initmate moments with his former wife, the Scarlet Witch. Vision explains that he is trying to understand emotion once more. Soon, Marilla, the Inhuman nursemaid, arrives to tell Vision he has a guest -- a woman named Laura Lipton. Later and elsewhere, Black Knight and Hercules are out at a bar when Hercules catches sight of a woman he believes to be Magdalene. In the Avengers' infirmary, Crystal and Black Widow visit with Carol Danvers. Crystal leaves the room and overhears Vision and Laura discussing the fact that the memories and personality of Laura's late husband, Alex, are stored in Vision's mind, and that her father-in-law, who is dying, would like Vision to pay him a visit. Crystal convinces Vision to go.

Meanwhile, Hercules accosts "Magdalene" on the street, but she claims to be a woman named Marissa Darrow and then goes on her way. On Long island, Vision, Crystal, and Laura arrive at the home Laura shares with her father-in-law, Professor Lipton. Lipton explains that he has developed a device that can briefly put Alex's personality in control of Vision's body -- and that he would like to speak with his son one last time before he dies. Crystal again appeals to Vision and convinces him to do it. Meanwhile, Marissa returns to her apartment to find Magdalene and Prcotor waiting inside. Magdalane recognizes Marissa as herself, and Proctor declares that there can be only one of her. Hercules and Black Knight, having followed Marissa home, hear her scream from inside the apartment. They burst in, but find the place empty and demolished.

At Lipton's home, Vision emerges from his machine with the personality of Alex. Vision speaks with the professor and then sits by his bedside as he passes away. He then goes outside to speak with Laura, and the two share a kiss. When the kiss finishes, Vision is himself once more. He bids Laura farewell. As Vision and Crystal leave, Crystal tells Vision that she knows Professor Lipton's device failed, and that Vision was only acting like Alex for the benefit of the professor and Laura. Vision sheds a tear, unseen by Crystal, but does not confirm or deny her suspicion.

Continuity Notes: Per official Marvel continuity, between the finale of "Operation: Galactic Storm" and this issue, another crossover occurred: "Citizen Kang", a four part story told in 1992's respective annuals for AVENGERS, AVENGERS WEST COAST, THOR, and FANTASTIC FOUR. As it is written entirely by Roy Thomas and Mark Gruenwald and has absolutely no bearing on the AVENGERS run at hand, I have opted to skip it. (For those interested, however, while the story is omitted from the AVENGERS: THE GATHERING OMNIBUS, it is included in the AVENGES EPIC COLLECTION: FEAR THE REAPER volume, in its proper chronological placement.)

Black Knight mentions that Captain America took a leave of absence from the Avengers following Galactic Storm, with a footnote pointing to CAP #401 -- but that issue saw Cap consider stepping down as Avengers chairman until his chat with Tony Stark reaffirmed his desire to stay! However, in CAP #402, the star-spangled sentinel does decide to leave for a while to get his personal affairs in order, and appoints Black Widow the team chair in his absence.

(By the way, I'm pretty sure this is the first time we've seen Black Knight without his helmet since he returned to the team a dozen issues ago!)

Carol Danvers is still laid up at Avengers Mansion, recovering from over-exerting her Binary powers in QUASAR #34. A parallel is drawn between her and Vision, as Carol relates the fact that ever since Rogue stole her powers in the un-footnoted AVENGERS ANNUAL #10, she has retained all memory of her life, but has no emotional attachment to any of those memories -- a very similar setup to Vision's at this point.

As Hercules chases after Marissa, he recalls Magdalene and the Swordsman attacking the Avengers in issue 344.

The one big thing that doesn't go footnoted, however, is Vision's connection to the Lipton family -- and that's something I'd like to know a bit more about! I've always found it odd when comics will dredge up some bit of ancient continuity and not provide a reference, while giving copious notes pointing readers to issues that just came out a month earlier. However, thanks to technology which was not available when this issue was originally published, a cursory Google-quest reveals that the Liptons' story was originally told in 1990's AVENGERS SPOTLIGHT #40.

Assemble: This is a relatively quiet issue, so the chances were slim we'd see the battlecry. And as expected, it does not put in an appearance here. ("Avengers Assemble!" count: 3 in 15 issues to date.)

My Thoughts: I think I mentioned this once already -- but everything before "Galactic Storm" feels like ancient history to me at this point, so bear with me if I repeat myself a bit -- but there are those who have accused Bob Harras of turning the Avengers into sort of an X-Men clone during his time on this title, in terms of filling it with that soap opera mentality that had permeated the X-Men for years -- and would continue to do so for some time to come. And, as the X-MEN editor and AVENGERS writer, it's probably not surprising that Harras would bring the latter title in line with the sensibilities he was fostering on the former.

And if that's the case, I'd say this issue is truly the start of AVENGERS-as-soap. I mean, straight from the cover, it's evident! I'm not saying it had never happened before, because I'm certain it must have somewhere -- but a relatively peaceful looking cover, simply showing two characters locked in a passionate kiss while a third looks on, is not something you typically associate with AVENGERS. This series' covers generally come in a few varieties: action shots, pinup shots of new characters, etc. Straight soap opera covers are -- or at least, were, at this point -- an extreme rarity for AVENGERS. And don't get me wrong; this sort of thing will remain a rarity even as this run goes on -- it's just the fact that it exists at all, as such an extreme departure from your typical AVENGERS cover, that I find fascinating, especially when the cover could've just as easily depicted the Black Knight/Hercules/Magdalene mystery instead.

So, yeah -- the soap opera is in full swing here, in what is mostly a quiet issue, but which also moves the Proctor storyline along as well. Again, taking a page from the X-Men playbook, we have the Avengers indulging in some downtime following from their massive nineteen-part crossover. We have the start of what appears to be a sub-plot about Vision rediscovering his humanity. We have an unlikely bond forming between Crystal and Vision (though it appears possibly one-sided at present). We have Black Knight and Hercules out drinking in a bar. And we have the furtherance of the Proctor story.

Add all that together, and we have an excellent, if not terribly exciting, AVENGERS installment to pull us back to Earth following the galaxy-spanning events of "Galactic Storm"!