AVENGERS #372

"THE FOLDS GATHER"
A Harras/Epting/Tom Palmer Production
with Bill Oakley - Letterer
Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Plot: In the East River, acting on a tip from a mystery man, police divers find the stone bodies of missing detectives Delgado and MacNamara. The mystery man leaves the scene and watches as an Avengers Quinjet takes off. Aboard, Vision is taking Avengers guests Deathcry, Swordsman, and Magdalene to investigate a tracking station in Scotland which recently went offline. Meanwhile, Sersi flies over New York and is observed by a group of shadowy figures. At the mansion, Black Knight undergoes a brainwave analysis with Hank Pym. But he abruptly departs when he feels Sersi in his head. The Knight finds Sersi at the waterfront, where he confronts her over being her gann josin.

Back at Avengers Mansion, Pym realizes that Black Knight's and Sersi's brainwaves are becoming more and more alike to the point that they will soon be identical. And at the waterfront, the Knight and Sersi kiss -- but their moment is interrupted by the arrival of a new group of Gatherers: Korg, Tarkas, and Sliver, with their fourth teammate, Rik, observing from a nearby rooftop. When Black Knight and Sersi gain the upper hand on their attackers, Rik blasts the pier out from under them, allowing the Gatherers to escape.

The Gatherers materialize in a Greenwich Village townhouse, where the mystery man from earlier arrives and reveals himself as their leader -- Proctor. Meanwhile, Sersi and the Black Knight return to Avengers Mansion to inform their teammates of the attack, but find the heroes conversing with detective Marta DuBois of the NYPD, who promptly places Sersi under arrest for the murder of her colleagues.

Continuity Notes: Not sure if this was intentional on the part of Bob Harras, but Marta DuBois (who, incidentally, bears such a precise resemblance to X-Men supporting character, detective Charlotte Jones, that I briefly assumed DuBois was her until dialogue told me otherwise) is also the name of a television actress. She's best known to me for her recurring role on the original MAGNUM P.I. as Magnum's long-lost wife, Michelle, and as the character Ardra in the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION episode "Devil's Due" -- though she appeared in many other shows over the years.

I'm not sure if we're supposed to recognize all of these new Gatherers yet, but at the very least, Sliver seems to be an alternate version of Elektra, while, based on his battlecry, "It's batterin' time!", I can only assume Korg is meant to be a parallel Thing. Oh, and Rik wears a big weapon harness with an Avengers "A" logo on the breast. There appears to be one other mystery Gatherer, as well -- we see the whole crew in shadow watching Sersi, and they are led by what appears to be a woman who does not show up during either the ambush or the aftermath at Proctor's townhouse. We will hopefully find out soon enough exactly who these folks are.

Speaking of the Gatherers, Proctor compares this group to his "first team of Gatherers," who are nowhere to be seen here. The last we saw Cassandra, Sloth, and Tabula, they were trying to escape the destruction of Proctor's citadel in issue 366. The unstated implication seems to be that they died in that collapse, or at least that Proctor belives they did.

Deathcry continues her flirtation with Vision, who continues to be vexed by her advances.

Quicksilver is staying with the Avengers as he recovers from his Exodus-inflicted injuries of issue 369. Captain America tells him he's always welcome to ditch X-Factor and return to the Avengers, leading to a massively awkward moment among the rest of the assembled group -- Black Knight, Crystal, and Black Widow. (Also, I have to say that it's really nice seeing Cap and Quicksilver, two of the "kooky quartet" who took over from the original Avengers many years earlier, having a moment together in front of all these newer team members.)

As they take Luna for a walk in Central Park, Quicksilver asks Crystal point blank whether she still loves him, and if she loves the Black Knight. Her answer to both is yes.

Hercules has evolved into his final form in this run -- a black Avengers-branded tank top replaces the armor he's been wearing recently with his pants, boots, and headband. Also, Hank Pym, of all characters, has a ponytail! I could buy that from Hercules or the Black Knight, but it's really off-putting on Pym.

Assemble: No. ("Avengers Assemble!" count: 9 in 39 issues to date.)

My Thoughts: Thus begins the final segment in the saga of the Gatherers. Unfortunately, it's hard to say much about this issue on its own. It's a stellar outing as usual from the creative team, but for the most part, its purpose is simply to set things up for the next few issues. Though there is a battle, which introduces the new Gatherers, this is really just a sub-plot issue at its core -- the love triangle becomes a quadrangle, Sersi's apparent murder of the police detectives comes to light, and so forth. It's well-written and beautifully illustrated as always, but there's really nothing more I can say about it!

So this will stand as my shortest review of any issue in the Harras/Epting/Palmer saga, but it's not for lack of interest. Rather, it's simply due to the fact that this team produces a product of such high quality each and every month that I will simply be repeating myself if I heap generic praise upon it. And I think the various sub-plots speak for themselves in the "Continuity Notes" section above. So we'll leave it alone, and look forward to the next issue, which promises to bring the Black Knight/Sersi connection to a head!