AVENGERS #344

The mighty assemblers must face...
"ECHOES OF THE PAST"
Writer: Bob Harras | Pencils: Steve Epting | Inks: Tom Palmer
Colors: Tom Palmer | Letters: Bill Oakley
Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

Note: This issue (or at least the version reprinted in the AVENGERS: THE GATHERING OMNIBUS) does not include credits. The above are pulled from Comics.org.

The Plot: On a rooftop near Four Freedoms Plaza, the Avengers are confronted by the Swordsman and his companion, Magdalene. After ranting at the Avengers for letting him die, Swordsman attacks. He sends Thor flying, while Magdalene goes toe-to-toe with Hercules. Soon, Crystal comes to Hercules's aid while Black Knight engages the Swordsman. Black Knight eventually stuns Swordsman with his laser sword, so Magdalene abandons the fight and calls to someone named Proctor to teleport the Swordsman and herself away.

While the battered Avengers regroup, Magdalene and Swordsman appear in a remote control room, where the mysterious Proctor heals Swordsman and speaks of revenge on Captain America and the Avengers. At Avengers Mansion, the group decides that the man they battled was the real Swordsman, somehow back from the dead, and wonders what to do next.

Continuity Notes: There's lots going on between the main conflict's pages in this one! First, Luna's nursemaid, Marilla, gets into a spat with Jarvis in the Avengers' kitchen when Marilla tries to doctor Jarvis's recipe to make his food more palatable to Crystal. In the same scene, Sersi returns to the mansion unexpectedly. Jarvis tells her where the Avengers are and mentions that Captain America has been concerned for her, but Sersi declares that her life is her own. Then, as she leaves to go join the team, she is stopped when she catches sight of her own reflection and begins babbling to herself.