AVENGERS #381

"SACRED GROUND"
Writer: Bob Harras | Plot Assist: Terry Kavanagh
Breakdowns: Mike Deodato, Jr. | Finishes & Colors: Tom Palmer
Calligraphy: Bill Oakley | Editor: Ralph Macchio | Chief: Tom DeFalco

Note: AVENGERS #379 - 382 were published as "Double Features" with a GIANT-MAN limited series included as a "flipbook" within those issues. I will cover the GIANT-MAN serial in one post after issue 382.

The Plot: In her cabin, Bova worries over Quicksilver and Crystal, but Fydor calms her. Meanwhile, the two Avengers are brought before the High Evolutionary, who accuses them of trespassing on Wundagore. He explains that a beam of energy recently pierced his citadel, and brought with it a message from the Acolytes of Magneto, who ordered him away from the mountain. The Evolutionary believes Quicksilver is involved, but Quicksilver retorts that he visited the mountain only to help Bova. This gets the Evolutionary's attention, and he, Quicksilver, Crystal, and the New Men head for Bova's cabin. There, the Evolutionary deduces that Bova is being slowly poisoned. Just as he reveals this, an image of Exodus appears and reveals that he had Bova poisoned to draw the High Evolutionary out of his citadel. Then, as Exodus's projection vanishes, Fydor mutates into a monster and the cabin explodes.

Continuity Notes: The Acolyte who appears in the message to the High Evolutionary identifies herself as Scanner, but she looks nothing like the character's standard appearance in the X-books -- indeed, she's drawn as a totally nondescript female with no distinguishing features; nor is she even wearing an Acolyte uniform! Exodus, however, is drawn to look like himself when he appears.

Quicksilver says that his injuries (sustained in AVENGERS #369) occurred "months ago." Personally, I might've called it "weeks", but I don't think there's any timeline issue to explcitly prevent it from being months.

As noted a couple weeks back, Exodus is (I'm pretty sure) the third most recurring villain in Bob Harras's AVENGERS run, between the "Bloodties" event and this story -- though sadly, he appears only as a holographic or psychic projection here, despite the cover's depiction to the contrary. (And by the way, note that departed penciler Steve Epting is still around, providing covers for all three installments of this Wundagore trilogy!)

Taylor Madison spends some time chatting with her new roommate, Augustine Jones, and reveals that she's been avoiding Hercules because she is "not well" -- but she doesn't elaborate beyond that. A moment later, after Taylor has gone to rest, Augustine takes a phone call from Hercules and sets up a dinner date between the two for that evening.

If the summary above seems a bit sparse, it's because the story is only fifteen pages long. The issue is rounded out with pinups featuring Captain America, the Collector, a Kree Sentry, Vision (solo), and Vision fighting the Gatherers' alternate Vision.

Assemble: No. ("Avengers Assemble!" count: 10 in 48 issues to date.)

My Thoughts: I must confess, I'm more than a little disappointed that Exodus isn't actually in this issue (at least, not as anything more than a projection)! Based on the cover, I had been expecting a big battle royale between him and the High Evolutionary, with Quicksilver and Crystal along for the ride. But the cover turns out to be false advertising, though I can understand why -- Exodus does confront the heroes in this story, however briefly, so choosing that moment as the issue's selling point makes more sense than using the High Evolutionary again, who was just shown menacing our heroes on issue 380's cover.

Still, Exodus was one of those villains who could "solo" an entire team of heroes, and it would've been a lot of fun to see him matching his powers against those of another such character in the High Evolutionary.

Beyond that, there's not much to say about this one. Last issue telegraphed that Fydor would turn out to be a bad guy, so there's no surprise there -- and the High Evolutionary's fondness for Bova, his original creation, is well-documented, so there was no doubt he would go to her aid. The entire thing being orchestrated by Exodus is a bit of a surprise, even taking the cover into account -- but really, it's just a middle chapter, and in the end all it does is move the High Evolutionary from his mountain to Bova's cabin. We'll wait until next issue to find out how he and the others escape being blown up!