Space-Born Super Hero Part 40: Avengers #108

By the Pama! At last, I'm at the last comic I'm going to review in this series. Avengers #108 (1973) is Captain Marvel's last appearance prior to Jim Starlin's arrival in Captain Marvel #25. The story is "Check--and Mate!" by Steve Englehart, Don Heck, Dave Cockrum and Joe sinnott. The story follows on from what began in Avengers #106 with the Grim Reaper and Space Phantom having made an alliance with the hordes of Hydra. At this point in time, the Grim Reaper was motivated to fight the Avengers because he blamed them for the death of his brother, Wonder Man. Having learned the Vision's mind was based on that of Wonder Man's, the Reaper now concocts a scheme to plant Vision within Wonder Man's body, granting Vision the true humanity he's long desired. It's tempting to the Vision, but he mostly just plays along with the Reaper while the other Avengers do their thing.

The Avengers don't seem to do a particularly great job against the Space Phantom as Vision, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, Hawkeye and the Scarlet Witch end up being captured and the Space Phantom heads to Avengers Mansion to tie up any loose ends by catching Jarvis and Rick Jones. However, Rick fights back against the Space Phantom and the villain decides to use his ability to assume other people's forms by claiming Rick Jones' body; however, at the very instant he does so, Rick vanishes and Captain Marvel appears! With Rick Jones cast into the Negative Zone, the Space Phantom can't perform his appearance-swapping trick and is cast into Limbo by the effects of his own powers. Afterward, Mar-Vell informs the Avengers that he and Rick had helped come up with this plan to aid the team, and the Scarlet Witch even threw her fight with the Space Phantom so that she could warn Rick. The threat is finished but the Scarlet Witch is still uptight about her missing brother, Quicksilver; Vision consoles her as their romance continues to bloom.

Thoughts: Captain Marvel appears for less than 2 pages, but as he and Rick had been brought in at the outset of this storyline, it doesn't feel cheap for him to turn up, and using the Rick/Mar-Vell body swap as a means to undo the Space Phantom's body swap powers is a neat idea -- kudos to Englehart for thinking of it.

And that's all there is in terms of plot recaps; let's sum this up.

Next: The finale! What exactly did I learn from this 40-part series? Let's find out!

Space-Born Super Hero Part 38: Avengers #106

Welcome back to 'Space-Born Super Hero' and we're now nearly at the end of Captain Marvel's pre-Jim Starlin era. Today I'm looking at Avengers #106 (1972), entitled "A Traitor Stalks Among Us!" by Steve Englehart, Rich Buckler and George Tuska (inks by Dave Cockrum). This is Englehart's first time approaching Captain Marvel and he'd eventually succeed Starlin as the writer of the Captain Marvel series.

We open at Avengers Mansion as Captain America finds the Vision brooding. The rest of the team is out looking for Quicksilver while Vision admits to Cap that he's convinced he's unable to experience love due to his android nature. Suddenly Rick Jones storms in, once again angry at Captain America and the Avengers for leaving him to fend for himself. As a bitter boast, Rick declares, "Rick Jones is here to tell you he can do his own protectin' now, 'cause he's got a thing goin' with--Captain Marvel!" he strikes his Nega-Bands together to show off he and Mar-Vell renewed connection (you'll recall the Avengers didn't learn about their connection 'til Avengers #89, when they helped Rick get out of the Negative Zone). As Rick does this, Captain America has a sudden vision of himself and Rick battling Hydra a couple of years earlier when Rick had been dressed as Bucky. But Rick has memory of the particular battle Cap is remembering. This leads the Avengers into an investigation which involves the Grim Reaper and the Space Phantom.

Thoughts: I'm glancing over this one because only one scene has to do with Captain Marvel, and even then he only appears in the panel where Rick strikes his Nega-Bands together. Rick seems a bit out of character compared to how reasonably he and Cap patched things up back in Avengers #72, but he had been sniping at Mar-Vell in recent issues of their own title, so I suppose it's just Rick's present mood.

Next: Captain Marvel #24!