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).

AVENGERS #359

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

The Plot: Aboard a spacecraft, Black Knight, Black Widow, and Vision analyze the issue afflicting Polemachus's rings. Soon after, they return to the planet, where the Knight explains that in re-energizing the rings twice in recent years, Arkon has overcharged them -- but the Avengers believe they can correct his issue. Later, the Avengers head back into space with Arkon, where Crystal and Sersi use their powers in tandem with Arkon's dimension-hopping lightning bolts to drain off the excess energy into another realm. Crystal nearly falls into Arkon's portal as well, but Sersi saves her. Arkon closes the portal and the heroes return, victorious, to Polemachus.

There, they are greeted by the girl, Astra, who was to be executed to appease the gods. But to the horror of the Avengers and Arkon, the noble Anskar kills Astra anyway, proclaiming that the only way the Avengers could have saved the day was with the blessing and guidance of the gods, and that there must still be tribute for this kindness. Enraged, Sersi annihilates Anskar where he stands.

Continuity Notes: There are two epilogues to this issue -- in the first, Jarvis and Marilla, out for a walk with Luna in Central Park, run across Taylor Madison. After a brief chat, she asks them not to tell Hercules that they saw her, and then departs. Marilla observes that Taylor is in pain. Then, Magdalene, Cassandra, and Sloth return from a Gathering with a mystery being, and find that Proctor has activated a former Gatherer known as Tabula, who he says will help to retrieve the Swordsman.

AVENGERS #358

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

The Plot: On the planet Polemachus, a noble named Anskar searches for the world's monarch, Arkon. Meanwhile, Arkon has appeared on Earth with his consort, Thundra, and a girl named Astra. The group is in a standoff with police when the Avengers arrive. A fight breaks out, but in the end Arkon and the heroes reach a ceasefire and return to Avengers Mansion. There, Arkon explains that the sky of Polemachus has gone red, and that his people demand a sacrifice to appease the gods. Astra was chosen, but Thundra convinced Arkon that killing her was not right, and the group fled to Earth.

Just then, Arkon, Thundra, Astra, and the Avengers are all teleported to Polemachus by Anskar. He imprisons the Avengers in a force field and appeals to Arkon to kill Astra. Though Astra is willing to play her part, Vision convinces Arkon to allow the Avengers time to repair Polemachus, as they have done before. Anskar disagrees, but tells Arkon he will give the Avengers twenty-four hours and then sacrifice Astra himself.

Continuity Notes: Swordsman is staying in a room at Avengers Mansion. He doesn't appear to be a prisoner, which seems a bit odd. Even though he may have begun to doubt Proctor, he was still trying to kill the heroes just a couple issues back! Marilla brings Swordsman some food and briefly recaps the history of his counterpart on the Avengers' Earth. Swordsman finds her story laughable, but Vision offers to show him that history -- however he is summoned to the meeting with Arkon before he can do so.

AVENGERS #357

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

The Plot: To Jarvis's horror, Marilla has summoned the royal kitchen staff of Attilan to Avengers Mansion to prepare a feast for Black Widow's dinner party. Elsewhere in the mansion, the Avengers speak with Swordsman and discern that he is from a parallel reality. Meanwhile, Sersi has a dalliance with a gentleman in SoHo. Back at the mansion, Taylor Madison arrives for the party.

The Avengers and Taylor enjoy cocktails until Sersi arrives, and soon after, Jarvis announces dinner is served. But as the group sits down to eat, the Watcher appears and stares the Avenges down in silence, then vanishes. Meanwhile, on a pier elsewhere in manhattan, two detectives stand over the corpse of the man with whom Sersi had her fling.

Continuity Notes: Avengers-branded apparel continues to be all the rage among our heroes. Black Widow now sports the bomber jacket, and Crystal is seen in the opening pages wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the Avengers logo. (I will reiterate that I like the idea that Avengers have this sort of "company swag" available to them. It makes sense, especially given they're run like a corporation!)

Swordsman says that the white, ghostly Vision is the only version of the android he knows. When shown a hologram of the Vision's original look -- which is the only version the real Swordsman should be familiar with -- he doesn't recognize him. Likewise, he fails to recognize a holgram of his beloved Mantis, but when shown the visage of Moondragon, he calls her Mantis.

AVENGERS #356

"DEATH IN A GATHERING PLACE"
Writer: Bob Harras | Penciler: Steve Epting
Inker & Colorist: Tom Palmer | Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The Plot: In Wakanda, the Black Panther is attacked by the Gatherers. But, forewarned by the Avengers, he holds his own until Hercules, Thor, Vision, and Sersi arrive via Lockjaw's teleportation power. Black Panther finds Coal Tiger, brought along by the Gatherers, and struggles to determine why they share a face. Back at Avengers Mansion, Black Knight and Black Widow discuss the fact that they are the weakest of the Avengers following Gatherer Cassandra's telektinetic blast, and they had to stay behind because of that. In Wakanda, the battle continues, while Black Panther and Coal Tiger speak and realize they are the same person.

Swordsman begins to doubt what the Gatherers have told him, while Proctor observes from afar. Soon, the Avengers are dispatched and Cassandra begins a procedure to make Black Panther fade from existence, allowing Coal Tiger to remain in his place. But Swordsman can't countenance this, and stuns Cassandra. Hercules rejoins the fray, as does Thor -- accompanied by Wakanda's Elite Strike Force. The Gatherers are forced to retreat. With his dying breath, Coal Tiger thanks Swordsman for saving Black Panther's life. Then, as Swordman unsteadily attempts to follow the Gatherers through their "slash/way", Vision grabs him and keeps him in Wakanda, the Avengers' prisoner.

Continuity Notes: Crystal is weirdly nowhere to be seen this issue, despite Lockjaw's involvement. It's said that Black Knight and Black Widow remained behind because they are "mere mortals" and more susceptible to Cassandra's attacks -- unlike Thor, Hercules, Vision, and Sersi, who all have superhuman (or better) physiques. Crystal is mortal in terms of her body, I suppose, though unlike the Knight and Widow, she has super-powers. But in any case, it just seems odd she's not seen or even mentioned here, aside from the obvious implication that she summoned Lockjaw to help. (And help he does! He even gets into a fight with the Gatherers' animal-guy, Sloth!)

AVENGERS #355

"WHEN COME THE GATHERERS...!"
Writer: Bob Harras | Penciler: Steve Epting | Letterer: Bill Oakley
Editor: Ralph Macchio | Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco
join in congratulating Tom Palmer on his 100th issue
embellishing the adventures of the mighty Avengers!

The Plot: On another version of Earth, Swordsman, Magdalene, and their teammates, the Gatherers -- Cassandra and Sloth -- appear in a ruined New York just as Captain America dies outside Avengers Mansion. The Gatherers find more dead Avengers and one final living soul on Earth -- T'Challa, the Coal Tiger. The Gatherers return with the Tiger to Proctor.

On the real Earth, Black Knight has found matching energy signatures between Marissa Darrow's apartment, the Avengers emergency systems, and the skycar -- proving that someone has been in all three places. The Knight and Vision have prepared a countermeasure for further such tampering, and Black Widow orders them to implement it immediately. Meanwhile, Proctor stabilizes the dying Coal Tiger, then orders the Gatherers to Avengers Mansion to find his counterpart in the main dimension. The Gatherers teleport into the mansion at night, but are confronted by the Avengers, alerted by Black Knight's new system.

A battle breaks out, but the Gatherers prove too much for the Avengers to handle. The heroes are defeated, but left alive per Proctor's order. The Gatherers get the information they needed and depart for Wakanda to find T'Challa, the Black Panther.