The Avengers (1991) # 329

 By Mark Rodriguez

Back in the 90's I occasionally picked up an Avengers book or two, but it was mostly either Avengers Spotlight or Avengers West Coast. It was weird I suppose, but instead of getting into Captain America or Iron Man, I was a bit of a Hawkeye fan when I was a kid. I rarely picked up the main Avengers book. While checking out some auctions at Hipcomic, I found this cool issue from Mark's Comics. Yeah, I know, Mark buying from Mark, but I guess us Marks gotta help each other out, right? Anyways, it looks like Captain America is looking for a new lineup of Avengers, which will become the team going forward for a while. Seeing that the Black Widow will be one of them, how can I resist?

 "Starting Line-Up" gets straight to the point as we see Captain America calling for order, slamming a gavel down as Thor and Vision flank him. The room is full of several superheroes such as Spider-Man, She-Hulk, Namor, Wonder Man, Quicksilver, Tigra, Iron Man and many others. 

Namor points out that there isn't a point discussing matters since the government has already revoked their charter. Captain America says working out any issues between them could possibly get them a new charter. Falcon asks if the feds changed their minds. Black Widow says she believes that Captain America was offered a better deal.

Captain America gives the floor to Ms. Devi Bannerjee of the United Nations. She says if the Avengers agree to amend their charter to allow for a truly international membership, she can offer them a new charter. They will be a peace-keeping force assigned only to cosmic, extraterrestrial, extra-dimensional, invasions. enchantments and other things that are not instigated or sanctioned by a current member nation. Captain America asks who is in favor of general membership. Everyone agrees.

Meanwhile in Hell's Kitchen, a tour group checks out some gargoyles upon the St. Jude Chapel. One of the tourists mentions that one gargoyle in particular looks so ugly, it almost looks alive. The tour group heads out to their next destination before it gets too dark.

As night falls, a winged woman flutters over to the gargoyle, seeing that the time has come. The gargoyle, named Ngh, speaks and tells the woman, Xa that the safe time has come for them to seek out others like them. Others with dire powers who hunger. The other gargoyle speaks and asks Ngh to show them the way so they may feed. Ngh says they need to study the evils of the world first, so they may draw strength from it to add to their powers. They must also avoid the Avengers for now, until they're powerful enough to destroy them. 

The gargoyles fly off into the night. The tourist notices and says the gargoyles flew away. The tour guide corrects her and says they're actually called Chimaerae. The bus driver tells her to get back in the bus.

Outside of the Avengers headquarters, reporters are covering the news that the Avengers were offered a new charter from the United Nations. They are set to announce their new line up as well. Captain America slams the gavel down and tells the recording secretary to enter the names of the new primary team of Avengers. The new team will consist of Thor, Sersi, Vision, Quasar, Black Widow and She-Hulk. Quasar says that Captain America also counts since he's the chairman. Cap says according to the new bylaws, he's actually the chair-being, since some members, namely Vision, aren't exactly human.

Captain America says that they will also need seven reserve Avengers in case the main members aren't available. The rest of the team will be inactive reserves. Tigra complains about having to go through another round of voting for each member. Spider-Man creates little web-bats and use them to tease Hercules who has fallen asleep. Sersi tells Cap to hurry it along since the heroes are getting restless. 

Vision explains the importance of the replacements, each one meant to be capable of replacing the powers and talents of the original. Namor is sick of all the talk and calls for them to start voting.

Outside the meeting hall, Jervis walks by with more drinks and snacks. A guy named O'Brien asks a woman named Peg if she ever noticed that Jarvis and Vision are never seen in the same room at the same time. They also comment on the strange man with a mask and hat sitting in the area. Rage sits next to the man and says it's odd they were both invited by the Avengers but have been stuck sitting in the halls for two days. The masked man says whatever the Avengers want from them could be something they'll be lucky enough to provide.

 

Meanwhile in Brooklyn, L.D Bo and his crew are mad at how Rage has been messing with their drug deals. He says Rage should stay out of their business. They are only 'dispensers of happiness' and it's not their fault their customers abuse the substances. He says superheroes are supposed to fight against super villains and not meddle with them on the street level. He must not have heard of Spider-Man or Daredevil or all the other street level heroes. Either way, L.D Bo says they must act for their survival.

Ngh catches wind of this and says he found the type of evil he was looking for. He leads his crew of gargoyles over to them. He says he will lower himself to speak in their vernacular. Ngh busts through the wall and introduces himself to L.D Bo and the rest saying 'what's popping, home?' Oh man, I love comics!

The gargoyle says they got the power and they know the turf so they'll make a great team. L.D asks if Ngh is the devil and if his soul is in danger. Ngh says L.D doesn't have a soul and he wouldn't want it anyway. They're just talking 'bidness'. L.D asks if he can really take care of Rage for them, as Ngh gets comfy on his couch. Ngh says all they need to do is find out what Rage loves and trash it. L.D asks why they need them if they're so powerful. The gargoyle explains they need to lay low for a while.

Captain America finally addresses the people outside, who are a mix of supporters, detractors and news reporters. He officially announces the team of Thor, Sersi, Vision, Quasar, Black Widow, She-Hulk and himself. One of the protestors says that they're fascists and asks when they can see this 'new charter'. Cap says his support crew will hand out copies of the new charter to everyone, even their detractors. 

Rage is waiting outside, asking the masked man why he was even brought along since he's not needed or wanted. All he did was warm the bench for two days and he feels forgotten about. The masked man tells him not to sell himself short.

Captain America announces that the new Avengers Reserve Substitutes will be Spider-Man, Black Knight, Falcon, Hercules and Captain Marvel. The crowd asks for a speech from Spider-Man. Spider-Man says he hopes to live up to these 'awesome' dudes and ladies. In the crowd Jonah Jameson complains that Spider-Man just had to use the word 'awesome'. Robbie says at least he didn't add 'totally' before it.

One of the reporters notes that there are seven main Avengers but only five reserves. Captain America says it's an astute observation. He says he left those two specific slots open for two probationary members before they graduate to full status. He asks the ladies to bring them out. Sersi, Black Widow and She-Hulk tell Rage and the masked man that they're talking about them. 

Captain America introduces Rage to the audience. He says he made a stand in an alien dimension and isn't afraid to speak for what he believes in for this dimension. The next substitute needs no introduction, the Sandman. One of the members of the press points out that Sandman is a criminal. Captain America says Sandman has been rehabilitated and got a presidential pardon. He says if that was good enough for Nixon, then it's good enough for the Sandman.

The press asks about Rage. One asks what he can do. Another asks if he's stronger than the Hulk. Another asks if he's so hot then how come he's never heard of him. Cap says he has already proven himself to him and soon people will be hearing from him. Rage says if he knew they would spring this on him, he wouldn't have shown up. Cap says his grandmother would have been proud to see this if she were still alive. Cap then apologizes, thinking she's already gone since she was already up in years since Rage was twelve. Rage says its OK and says while his grandmother is pretty old she's still around. Just then someone tosses a rotten egg to his face. An activist named Aurelia Lumpen calls Rage out, calling him a boot-licking Uncle Tom (the comic's words, not mine).

Back in Brookyln, the gang watches Rage on TV. Ngh recognizes him as one of the guys they fought with in the exile dimension. The gang is surprised that the gargoyles fought the Avengers and lived to tell the tale. Rage is mumbling something to himself, which Ngh can recognize since he can read lips. He is repeating 'Granny Staples' over and over to himself. Ngh says now they know what he loves. L. D says if she's in Brooklyn, they can find her.

She-Hulk and Captain America hold Rage back. Rage says he just has to think good thoughts to stay under control and he's fine now. The activist yells out that he better be a good Tom and do what they say. This is all Rage can take and he walks down towards the lady. She says the superhero types are all about ignorance and violence. She says now Rage can be a bully alongside his elitist friends. Rage breaks her picket sign and says she's the one that threw the egg at him. The activist says she's being attacked and Rage is just a fascist brute like the rest of his friends.

Rage says the Avengers aren't his friends and he knows they're not crazy about him either. He says it comes with cultural differences and generations of hate and misunderstanding. He says that understanding doesn't come from outside agitation, it comes from within. If the Avengers give him the chance to change them, he doesn't care what their motivations are. Captain America says Rage's methods scare the 'gee wilikers' out of him, but he can't disagree with what's in his heart. I am so confused, but I'll comment on that later.

Suddenly extra-dimensional beings called the Tetrarchs of Entropy appear before the Avengers. They introduce themselves as Yod of the All-Seeing Eye, Hafga of the Coils of Infinity, Vug the Burning, and Heml of the Myriad Visages. They find the Avengers guilty in aiding and abetting the escape of Ngh from the Dimension of Exile. They are sentenced to eternity in the Exile Dimension starting immediately. Captain America, Sersi, Black Widow, She-Hulk, Thor, Vision and Quasar are all zapped. Spider-Man states that the entire primary team is gone. 

Falcon, Wonder Man and US Agent call for the Avengers Reserve Substitutes to Assemble as they leap into action alongside the other heroes. The Tetrachs blasts all of the heroes, surpassing Iron Man's forcefield and being more powerful than anything that Wonder Man ever faced. The beings say they have wasted enough time as Ngh and his crew are still free and they vanish. With most of the crew taken out, Sandman tells Rage that they might be called to the front lines sooner than they thought.

The main Avengers are trapped in the Exile Dimension. Quasar notes that the Tetrarchs aren't omniscient or they would have had no trouble tracking down Ngh by themselves. They also don't know that they were able to travel back and forth from this dimension with the help of Mjolnir. Thor notices that his hammer is trapped within a crystal cube. This crystal is so strong, Thor's punches can't even scratch it. Cap suggests that Sersi can help, but she is also trapped in a crystal cube. She's still conscious, but helpless. Cap says this isn't crystal but some sort of substance strong enough to neutralize the powers of both Mjolnir and Sersi. Vision says he will need time to come up with a feasible solution.

 

Back in Brooklyn, Granny Staples gets a late night visit from her grandson Elvin. When she opens the door, she sees that it's actually Ngh and his gargoyle crew. Before he can introduce himself, Granny says she knows the devil when she sees it. She grabs her broom and tell him to get off her stoop before she kicks him off.

My thoughts-

So um... yeah, first off let me address the main scene that confused me in this book. I don't get what random racist beef the activist had towards Rage. While racism of any type is unacceptable and inexcusable,  it would have made more sense for Aurelia to cause an uproar if Rage was the Avengers' first ever black member or something, but the Avengers have the Falcon and the Monica Rambeau Captain Marvel right there with them front and center. Why isn't she causing beef with them or tossing eggs at them? And then Rage acts as if the Avengers are racists and he's on the team to help change their views? What??? Again, Falcon and Monica are there and they have had zero beef with them. I could understand if Rage phrased it as his presence among the Avengers can help spark change and inspire people to overcome their racist views... but again, Sam and Monica are already there. And the way Rage phrased things, it sounds like he was calling the Avengers themselves racists. No. Just no.

As for the other stuff,  I do have to admit it was funny seeing Ngh come on down to L.D and speak slang. I don't know, but the thought of this huge gargoyle monster busting through a wall like the Kool-Aid Man and saying 'what's popping home?' made me crack up for a bit. So it seems in a previous adventure, Rage and the Avengers were in the Exile Dimension which somehow led to Ngh and his crew escaping into our world. I'm curious to see how this goes down.

Another thing that I wasn't expecting was that this is the book where Sandman was enlisted as a reserve Avenger, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man # 348. My review for that one is here. The Amazing Spider-Man # 348

Sadly that was the same issue where Sandman quit and decided to go back to crime, so I guess his membership was short-lived. Hopefully he stuck around at least during this story. I might eventually pick up issue 330 and see what happens next. I think with this new starting line-up, it's a good 90's Avengers hopping-on point for me.

There isn't that much to say since a lot of the comic was chatter and set up, but I loved seeing all the cameos of all these Marvel Superheroes that were around during the 90's. I recognized most of them from the Avengers Spotlight and Avengers West Coast comics, and such. Hawkeye, Mockingbird, US Agent, Tigra, Monica Rambeau, Quicksilver, the whole crew. And Spider-Man. Gotta love Spider-Man and I liked the Johan Jameson cameo.

There were a few ads that stood out to me in this issue. The first was one for Mega Man 3 for the NES back when it was new. There was one for basketball cards showing the players I grew up with, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Karl Malone. 

 

There's also an ad for the Punisher NES game. It was an over-the-shoulder view shooting game. In this game the Punisher faces off against The Hitman, Jigsaw, Colonel Kliegg, Sijo, The Assassin, and the Kingpin. I remember the Kingpin also being the final boss in the Capcom Punisher beat-em-up as well. I wonder how after decades and decades of comics, the Punisher never got to kill the Kingpin. Also with such generic names like The Hitman and The Assassin, I had to check around to make sure they were actual Marvel characters and not just made-up ones for the game. But nope, they're legit.

The last thing I want to say is I really hope the gargoyles just kidnap Granny Staples and don't outright kill her. This old woman saw, which is from her perspective, the devil himself coming for her soul, and she still wants to throw down. Don't mess with Granny Staples.