AVENGERS #363

"A GATHERING OF HATE"
A tale of the mighty Avengers brought to you by...
Writer: Bob Harras | Penciler: Steve Epting
Inker/Colorist: Tom Palmer | Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Plot: Somewhere in a snowy mountain range, The Avengers -- Black Knight, Black Widow, Crystal, Hercules, and Captain America, along with their prisoner, the false Vision -- arrive at the citadel of the Gatherers. Inside, Cassandra is torturing Vision -- but at the very moment she pauses her operation, the Avengers burst into the building and attack. Soon, Proctor appears. He announces that his Vision betrayed him by leading the Avengers to his citadel, and then kills the synthezoid. When Black Knight attacks Proctor, the villain hurls him away. Captain America chides the Knight for attacking impetuously, and the Knight turns on Cap. Black Widow stuns the Knight, who apologizes for his actions, stating that Proctor controlled him.

Proctor then reveals "He-Who-Dreams", the being who has guided him in his Gatherings -- it is Ute, Watcher from a destroyed universe. Just then, Uatu the Watcher apperas. Proctor tries to get him to join the Gatherers, but the Watcher is silent. When Hercules mentions that the alternate Vision killed Swordsman, Magdalene turns on Proctor and attacks him. Proctor activates the citadel's self-destruct, so the Avegers grab him and make a break for it. But Proctor again controls the Black Knight, forcing the Avenger to stab Proctor. Proctor vanishes while the Avengers and Gatherers flee the exploding citadel.

Continuity Notes: You may have noticed that this is the second foil cover in the span of four months. Ostensibly, this is due to the ongoing celebration of the Avengers' thirtieth anniversary -- and the foil covers aren't finished! Issues 366 and 369 will also have them. That's one foil cover per quarter in 1993.

AVENGERS #362

"A VISION REVEALED!"
Writer: Bob Harras | Guest Penciler: Gordon Purcell
Guest Inkers: Steve Alexandrov & Fred Fredericks
Colors: Gina Going | Letterer: Bill Oakley
Guest Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Plot: Black Widow monitors a low-level Gatherer energy signature within Avengers Mansion. Just then, Vision shows up for monitor duty. Meanwhile, Black Knight, Sersi, and Hercules fight a battle droid in the Avengers' workout room -- but after they defeat it, it reactivates and attacks anew, forcing the Knight to destroy it. He comments that Vision ran diagnostics on the droid earlier in the day. In the monitor room, Swordsman arrives and asks Vision to help figure out his fractured memories. Vision agrees, but quickly attacks and seemingly kills Swordsman. At the same time, Black Knight notices that the Gatherer readings Black Widow had detected are now gone from the Avengers' systems.

Vision sneaks into Crystal's room, but she awakens and he attacks her. Black Knight and Marilla find Swordsman's body, then run to Crystal's room at the sound of battle. But Hercules arrives first, getting the droip on Vision. Captain America and Black Widow show up next, but Vision holds his own against all the Avengers, then takes Crystal hostage. Black Knight tries to save her, but Vision goes intangible. Sersi arrives next, and transmutes Vision to stone. Black Knight declars that the faux Vision is now the Avengers' prisoner -- and their clue to find the Gatherers.

Continuity Notes: Crytal remarks that the kiss she shared with Black Knight was "last night". You'll recall that last issue, Vision had been Proctor's prisoner for thirty-six hours, meaning issues 360 through 362 all take place in a span of around two days -- and it looks like the next installment will pick up not long after this one ends, as well.

AVENGERS #361

"FAMILY RESPONSIBILITY"
A tale of the mighty Avengers brought to you by:
Writer: Bob Harras | Penciler: Steve Epting
Inker/Colorist: Tom Palmer | Letterer: Bill Oakley
Assistant Editor: Pat Garrahy | Editor: Ralph Macchio
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Plot: A nighttime intruder alarm leads the Avengers to their front lawn, where the Eternals Ikaris, Sprite, and Arex appear. Ikaris announces that they have come to take Sersi home with them, but the Avengers refuse. The group heads inside to discuss the situation, and Ikaris explains that Sersi may be suffering from "mahd w'yry," essentially an Eternal version of senility, brought on early by her Uni-Mind experience with the Brethren. A fight nearly breaks out, but Sprite stops it by suggesting that the Black Knight become Sersi's "gann josin" -- a psychic soulmate. Ikaris immediately bonds them, then the Eternals depart.

Meanwhile, Vision attempts to escape from Proctor, but the villain thwarts him. Back at Avengers Mansion, Crystal speaks with Black Knight, who resents what Sersi and Ikaris have done to him. The Knight then confesses his feelings for Crystal, and the two kiss as Proctor's false Vision watches from nearby, while Sersi observes from her quarters.

Continuity Notes: Captain America appears to be the Avengers' field leader, barking orders as they race outside to greet the Eternals -- but we're told a page or three later that the Black Widow is still team chairperson. I'm not up on the Avengers' by-laws, but I'm curious how this works. When Cap left, he was the "chairman and chief excutive" of the Avengers, and Black Widow was his deputy. Then he went on a leave of absense. Now that he's back, would he not become chairman again, assuming the Widow was operating in an "active chair" role? Or did Cap abdicate the chair when he left, meaning the Widow ascended formally to the position? This is the sort of stuff that keeps me awake at night!

AVENGERS #360

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

The Plot: Vision awakens, a prisoner of Proctor and the Gatherers. Proctor reveals his most recent refugee from an alternate dimension, another version of Vision. Vision then thinks back on how he wound up here -- he was working with Swordsman on the other's memory issues when he was summoned by telegram to the home of Laura Lipton. When Laura kissed Vision, he was attacked from behind by the Gatherers, as Laura revealed herself to be Tabula in disguise. Now, in Proctor's lab, the villain prepares to swap the two Visions' minds.

Meanwhile, Black Knight finds Sersi in Wakanda and convinces her to come home. But as they approach New York, Sersi flips out. Their Quinjet crashes into the Avengers' hangar as Proctor and his false Vision, now in the real Vision's body, observe. Sersi throws Black Knight out of the jet and then attacks her teammates. Back at Proctor's base, Vision attempts to escape, but finds that Proctor has disabled his ability to phase. Swordsman dons his costume and joins the Avengers against Sersi, but it is the arrival of "Vision" which turns the tide. The synthezoid ruthlessly takes Sersi down -- and then, as the Avengers stand over her unconscious form, Captain America appears.

Continuity Notes: Not continuity, but -- somebody stretched the logo! I don't know why, but beginning with this issue -- and lasting until #380, when it's replaced with a brand new one -- the AVENGERS logo is vertically stretched to bizarre proportions. Stretching was all the rage around this time in the nineties -- X-MEN had a stretched logo, though I think it was at least redrawn from scratch to appear "taller", and WOLVERINE's logo was stretched really badly. Plus you'd see it now and then on Spider-Man comics (after they switched to the jagged "Sabretooth logo" style), and I think on other titles as well. I really don't understand it, and I think it's quite ugly, but this is nonetheless the logo I chiefly associate with the Harras/Epting/Palmer AVENGERS run (and is the logo I used for my main page of links to these review, accessible from the right-hand menu over there).