To read Avengerous Tales 2.44, go here!
Before we get
started today, I need to provide a quick synopsis of Super-Villain Team-Up #9, where the cliffhanger from last issue was
picked up. The Avengers are all fitted
with controlling collars and are compelled to attack Hydro-Base, where Doctor
Doom of all people is trying to help get the Hydro-men back to normal. (I assume this is because he was captured by
Namor’s cousin Namorita, and she’s making him do her bidding.) Meanwhile, the Beast has gone to Whizzer and
Wonder Man for back-up, and they both agree to help find and free the Avengers. Also Namor was enslaved by Doom and is dying
or something.
We begin with
Doctor Doom standing over Iron Man’s defeated form and demanding the other
Avengers surrender. Once they quit
laughing, Doom and his minions beat them up.
Realizing that the Avengers attacked Hydro-Base to find Namor (who is
out right now), Doom starts with the questioning.
We make a pit
stop in the Avengers’ quinjet long enough to learn a couple of things from
Beast, Wonder Man and Whizzer. One,
Wonder Man is just as much in the dark about his resurrection as everyone else,
and two, the Beast planted a tracker on Tyrak before advancing to the rear last
issue, and the trio is now tracing their taken teammates via that very tracer.
Meanwhile, back
with the captured Avengers, Vision notices that their slave collars aren’t as
strong in this particular room for some reason.
Our heroes take full advantage of that fact.
This is followed
up by more badassery from Cap, who throws his shield just so and smashes it
into Vision’s collar, breaking it completely.
But instead of joining in on the awesome and freeing his teammates,
Vision takes off, escaping through the ceiling on his own. You’d think by now he’d have learned not to
run off and do his own thing without warning anybody, but no.
But let’s not
forget that Attuma is still on the loose.
Specifically, he’s gone to an underwater research base off the coast of
Maryland to steal and weaponize a cell stimulator that can exponentially
increase plankton growth. Fortunately,
Beast and company track them there before they can murder all the scientists.
I love Beast in
these old comics. He makes crimefighting
look like so much fun. It’s a nice
antidote to the pointless grimdark angst of most contemporary comics.
And then
Sub-Mariner, who learned of Attuma’s plan in Super-Villain Team-Up #9 and Was Not Amused, flies into the fray. Unfortunately, Attuma is smarter than he
looks and speaks loudly to our heroes as if they were his allies, tricking
Namor into attacking them instead of him.
Beast and Whizzer go down immediately, leaving Wonder Man to kick
Namor’s butt before he does anyone any lasting damage.
Wondy holds his
own quite well against the Prince of Atlantis, giving his allies time to
revive. Beast notices Attuma “taking a
powder” (we need to bring back that expression) and follows Attuma to his
sub. There, he overhears Fish Man asking
someone whether or not Tyrak the Treacherous is ready for his “transformation,”
and how the plankton proliferator will somehow help him take over the world.
Back in
Maryland, Whizzer also tries to fight Namor, but he’s not as spry as he used to
be and gets knocked flat. At this point
Namor finally recognizes him (they were both on a superhero team called the Liberty
Legion once upon a time) and stops fighting, confused. Wonder Man, not wanting to take any chances,
takes this opportunity to knock the Sub-Mariner out cold.
But what of the
Vision, you ask? Why did he run out on
his friends like that? As we find out
next issue, he feared that the others would be too hot-headed to go along with
the plan he had in mind, which involves a date with this dude.
Not to stomp all
over the big dramatic reveal here, but I really hate the ‘I must lie to you to
protect/save you’ trope. If you can’t
trust your lover/teammates/whatever enough to not be constantly hiding
important information from them, that partnership has serious problems and must
either be fixed or terminated. Just stop
lying already.
We pick right up
from this scene in the next issue, but Pérez does not, having been temporarily
replaced by Sal Buscema. Also, for our
new writer we have Jim Shooter, who has a somewhat, uh… checkered reputation when it comes to his Avengers comics. But we’ll get to that when we get to that.
You couldn’t be
classy just once, could you, Doomie?
Vision convinces
Doctor Doom that Attuma has found a way to create more enhanced Atlanteans such
as Tyrak—enough to take over even Latveria someday. He suggests he and Doom team up to stop him,
and Doom takes the bait. But how much of
Vision’s theories are true? We’ll find
out later.
Back in
Maryland, Subby is waking up after the beating Wonder Man gave him, but he’s
way too angry with Attuma to be holding grudges about that. Wonder Man, Sub-Mariner and the Whizzer agree
to team up against him, and what perfect timing they have too: just as they
climb aboard the Avengers’ submarine to track Attuma down, the Beast radios
them with an update.
Meanwhile, Doom
has freed the other Avengers and Vision is unnecessarily dickish to Wanda when
they reunite, prompting her to cry on Jan’s shoulder about how he’s “suddenly
so cold.” I’ll give him a free pass just
this once, since he’s obviously taking Wonder Man’s resurrection very hard, but
he better stop taking it out on his loved ones, stat.
Doom figures out
how to track Attuma using the signal from the machine used to control the
Avengers’ now-useless slave collars.
Speaking of Attuma, he’s already reached home base, and one of his
lackeys had discovered Beast and knocked him out, rendering him unable to
provide the signal that Namor and the rest are so anxiously waiting for.
You could have
just asked for a bathroom break. No need to be so dramatic about it.
Namor swims off
the confront Attuma on his own, with Wonder Man in close pursuit. Unfortunately, our resurrected hero can’t swim
fast enough to get to Namor before he’s beaten up by Tyrak, whose already
formidable strength is being enhanced by a modified version of the device
Attuma stole from Maryland. Things look pretty bleak, but don’t worry—Doctor Doom (and the Avengers) are here to save
the day!
Noyce.
With Tyrak down,
the Avengers go in search of Attuma.
They do find him (as well as the barely-conscious Namor and Beast), but
he’s got some bad news that I’m sure will shock you: while they were all
fighting Tyrak, Doom took the opportunity to steal the cell stimulator and
am-scray. Whoopsie-doodle.
The Avengers
(but not Namor, who stayed behind to pound on Attuma some more) follow Doom
back to Hydro-base, and another fight scene commences. Vision sneaks away yet again, destroying the
cell stimulator by phasing his hand through it.
Bet the U.S. government loved that.
With nothing left to fight for, Doom just kinda jets off while swearing
to avenge his defeat at some unspecified later date. Maybe he has to consult with his secretary
before making such an important appointment.
The Scarlet
Witch tries yet again to talk to her husband, but he once again gives her the
brush-off.
I see being dead
has taught you nothing about tact.
So that’s the
end of that plotline, but we still have lots of unanswered questions, most
notably, what is Wonder Man even doing here?
Will we finally get an answer next issue? Not even a little. Actually, we just get more questions.
The link to Avengerous Tales 2.46 will go
here!
Images from Avengers #155 and Avengers #156
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