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.

Throughout the issue, the Avengers wear special headgear created by the Black Knight to protect them from Cassandra's mental powers. All except Captain America also wear special armor, presumably for extra protection against the power of the Gatherers. I believe that, while the rest will soon discard this armor, Hercules will continue to wear his as his new costume, while the Black Night will keep the big clunky boots with his usual costume and jacket. At any rate, the whole thing makes them look very "Image-y", if you know what I mean. Especially when you notice that Black Widow is also carrying a humongous Liefeld-esque blaster weapon (and isn't afraid to use it)!

At Avengers Mansion, we see Hank "Giant-Man" Pym and Bill "Giant-Man" Foster working to stabilize the Swordsman following Vision's attack. We learn that Hank is also present to psychoanalyze Sersi (though why they want a biochemist for that purpose goes unremarked upon -- but Hank does mention his own mental issues as a bridge to helping Sersi). In the same scene, Sersi greets two NYPD detectives at the Avengers's front door -- and then on the issue's last page, tells Pym and Foster that it was "nothing" at the door, as we are shown both men, changed to stone, at the bottom of the East River.

At the Shi'ar "Starharbor", Lilandra assigns a mystery figure to journey to Earth and warn the Avengers that some Kree fanatics have alredy arrived there to avenge the Supreme Intelligence. Lilandra is accompanied in this scene by a man who bears a striking resemblance to Araki, but who she identifies as Aroké.

Proctor recognizes Black Knight as Sersi's gann josin, and also reveals that he is aware of the deaths of the Supreme Intelligence and Anskar of Polemachus.

The "616" universe is again referred to, this time by Proctor, as the "prime reality" and also by narration as the "core reality". Further, Proctor says that if life ends in the prime reality, it can exist in no other.

The issue ends with several pinups, one of which spotlight's a new character named Bloodwraith from this year's AVENGERS ANNUAL. The annual had already been released at this point, but official Marvel continuity places it after this multi-chapter Gatherers story. Even though it's not written by Bob Harras, I do intend to examine it since it features a development for the Black Knight. So we'll check that out two weeks from now.

Assemble: Yes. At long, long last, we have an "Avengers Assemble!" from the series' regular writer. Though I do again sort of wonder whether Bob Harras just finds the battlecry corny, because Black Knight -- who I have begun to view as Harras's "mouthpiece" character in these issues -- says as much right after shouting it. But nonetheless: "Avengers Assemble!" count: 5 in 30 issues to date. (That's a .167 average.)

My Thoughts: I always consider a compliment to a creative team when I read an extra-length story that doesn't feel extra-long. This is a double-sized issue, and while yes, there are several pinups at the end, the story is thirty pages long -- more than the typical month's AVENGERS story by about eight pages. But everything moves along at a very brisk pace, to the point that by the time you finish it, it doesn't feel like you've read anything longer than a typical story. And that's not due to "cheating" via huge panels and double-page spreads, either (though there are a few). This is just as densely-packed a story as in any other AVENGERS issue.

And it's a good story, too, bringing to a climax the latest chapter in the saga of the Gatherers. Proctor is at last revealed to the Avengers, while his treachery is revealed to Magdalene. He's seemingly dead as the issue ends, though his last words to the Black Knight -- "this is all far, far from over!" -- would suggest he's planning to get better. And of course the Gatherers are still here, now forced by circumstances to hang out with the Avengers, at least for a little while.

(Again, I see shades of something that would happen to the X-Men a couple years later during Harras's editorial tenure. There, Cyclops and the Acolytes escaped the descrution of the space station Avalon, and were forced to work together to survive in the harsh Australian outback. Here, the Avengers and at least some of the Gatherers have survived the destruction of Proctor's citadel and will seemingly be forced to work together to survive in the harsh arctic wasteland -- but I guess we'll find out for certain next month.)

The cover to this one could be perhaps considered false advertising, and not for the reason that Captain America and the Black Knight are wearing their normal costumes there, rather than the Black Knight's jury-rigged headsets and armor inside. But for the fact that the cover's test suggests "dissension", as if the Knight and Cap have come to blows for philosophical reasons -- something the reader is indeed conditioned to expect early in the issue, when Black Knight tells Cap that "things have changed" while he was away from the Avengers. But it turns out the Knight is controlled by Proctor, or perhaps warped by his mindlink with Sersi, and he immediately regrets what he's done after the brief skirmish.

I confess I was a little disappointed there; I feel like this storyline is moving toward some kind of falling out between Cap and the "new guard" Avengers -- or at least, I feel like it should be heading there. Time will tell whether it actually does.