AVENGERS #349

"DEATH WAGER"
Writer: Bob Harras | Penciler: Steve Epting
Inker/Colorist: Tom Palmer | Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Plot: Black Knight, Crystal, and Hercules are testing a skycar recently received by the Avengers from Wakanda, when the craft goes out of control and crashes. The scene is observed from Mount Olympus by Hera and Ares, who make a wager over who can bring more pain and sorrow to Hercules. Two days later on Earth, Black Knight has determined that the skycar was sabotaged. Meanwhile, Hercules is invited to make a charity appearance at a children's hospital. Crystal and Thor accompany him -- but while there, Ares possesses Thor's body and attacks Hercules. Hercules eventually realizes that Ares is in control of Thor, and turns Mjolnir against him, summoning lightning, which Crystal amplifies with her power to stun both Hercules and Thor.

The lightning strike separates Ares from Thor, and Hera then reveals herself. Hercules berates his stepmother and half-brother as they teleport back to Olympus. There, Ares asks Hera why she didn't make any attempt to win their wager. As she scryes over an image of Hercules and a volunteer from the hospital, Taylor Madison, Hera says that her manipulations are subtle and far-reaching.

Continuity Notes: In the opening pages, Black Knight notes that he and Hercules spent three days in Marissa Darrow's apartment, trying to determine how she vanished, with a footnote pointing to last issue. Later, Black Knight states his suspicion that Marissa's disappearance and the skycar sabotage are both related to Swordsman and Magdalene. The former of these makes sense; Marissa was Magdalene's spitting image. But it's unclear why he believes, with nothing to clue him in, that the skycar sabotage has anything to do with the new mystery villains.

Crystal spends the full issue in an Avengers bomber jacket (she wore it last issue as well). This issue, Black Knight joins her. In the opening scene, he is without his cape but has no jacket, but when we see him examining the skycar at Avengers Mansion, he's wearing the jacket. The Knight also begins sporting stubble this issue, another defining trait of the character in this upcoming run.

In other wardrobe news: I didn't mention it during the crossover (though it did come up in the comments), but Hercules spent all of "Galactic Storm" in his Silver Age sash costume. However, as of this issue, he is back in the "H"-shaped harness he adopted in the eighties, and which he was wearing in all issues prior to "Galactic Storm".

Crystal invites Black Knight to come along to the hospital, but he declines, opting instead to continue his inspection of the skycar -- however a thought balloon has him stating that he's trying to distance himself from Crystal, as well. Based on body language, I think Crystal is flirting with the Knight when she invites him, but this is the first we've seen of him having any concerns about that.

Assemble: Nope. ("Avengers Assemble!" count: 3 in 16 issues to date. And for the record, Bob Harras only wrote one of those. The other to were done by fill-in writer Fabian Nicieza. Is Harras not a fan of the legendary battlecry?! Or does he follow the MCU's train of thought that it should be saved up for special moments? I guess we'll see... but as of now, the count is kinda disappointing!)

My Thoughts: Okay, this is gonna sound a bit hypocritical, but I love this sort of stuff where the Olympian gods scheme against Hercules. But back when I looked at George Pérez's WONDER WOMAN run a few years ago, I noted many tims that the Olympus stuff there bored me to tears. I can't quite explain why, though. I think it was simply Pérez's handling of that pantheon. Something about it was incredibly unengaging. I almost think it's because he delved too much into the mythology. Here, it's pretty simple: we meet Hera and Ares and learn that they hate Hercules, then our story is set in motion. In WONDER WOMAN, it was more like page after page of gods hanging out and talking to each other and never (or very rarely) actually doing anything. That's what I didn't like.

So this issue is mostly a big fight scene, but it's fun to see Hercules against Thor, so I can't complain there. Plus, Harras uses the opening pages to further keep the Swordsman/Magdalene/Proctor mystery going, while also introducing some sort of romantic tension/friction between Black Knight and Crystal.

Really, this is one of those issues where there's not really a lot to say about it, other than that it's a solid, engaging installment. And there's nothing wrong with that!