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Avengers #240

Feb 1984
Roger Stern, Joe Sinnott

Avengers #240 cover

Story Name:

The Ghost of Jessica Drew


Synopsis

Avengers #240 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 4.5 stars
The female Avengers (Wasp, Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk) arrive at the San Francisco hospital, summoned by Tigra. She takes them to the ICU and shows them the comatose Jessica Drew a/k/a Spider-Woman, near death. The problem is, the Avengers at first don’t remember her; it takes a bit of hard thought to recall the heroine. Tigra recounts the circumstances of Jessica’s malady: after she and the odd team defeated a pair of bad guys, Jess threw a party at her apartment; her boyfriend, David Ishima, took her outside to tell her he couldn’t handle dating a superhero and was breaking up with her; a few minutes later he wandered back inside, confused. At that point all of the party attendees realized they didn’t know where they were or why; some panicked and fled. The Shroud led the rest outside where they found Spider-Woman seemingly dead. She was rushed to the hospital where no one on the staff recognized her costume. The next day, her ghost was sighted, first by Poltergeist and then the Shroud. It appeared to Tigra as she was calling for help; the ghost tried to enter the unconscious body but was repelled by a flash of energy….

Jan asks She-Hulk to stand guard over Jess (and the ghost appears behind Shulkie’s back only to vanish as she turns around). The others leave and Starfox, guarding the Quinjet in the parking lot, showers some attention on Tigra. In the jet, Jan calls Vision, staffing the Mansion back in New York, who tells her he can’t locate Thor or Captain America; after hanging up, the monitors register something surprising then go back to normal, disturbing Vision. Wasp can’t get through to Dr. Don Blake’s office so she calls the only other expert she knows….

Scarlet Witch, meanwhile, calls Doctor Strange in New York; the Sorcerer Supreme agrees to help and Captain Marvel flies there in an instant to bring him back via another Quinjet. On the way, Wasp calls Monica to pick up another guest: Hank Pym. On arrival, Jan has the new guys head to the ICU while she shrinks and flies out the window for a break. Tigra and She-Hulk talk about their concern for Jan who does not seem to be handling her divorce from Hank Pym well. Up on the roof, Wasp broods over her troubles and the Shroud suddenly appears, startling her….

Dr. Strange and Hank Pym examine Jessica by their separate means and Strange discovers that Jess’ mind is no longer there, her body is an empty shell….

Meanwhile on the Astral Plane, Jessica Drew’s astral form encounters that of her friend Magnus who explains that she is there because of Morgan Le Fay. Jess had allowed Magnus to send her astral form back to the Sixth Century where she defeated and apparently killed Morgan Le Fay but she could not return to her body afterward because Morgan has locked her out; Magnus cast a spell that made everyone forget who Jessica was to minimize complications but it didn’t work well. Magnus confesses that he is in love with her and some of his actions were with the goal of having her to be with him astrally. He suggests that they may be able to work together to break the barrier and return  her to her body. Magnus casts the spell to return her…

…to where Dr. Strange is drawing her back to her body. But a massive energy burst paralyzes the astral Jessica. Strange recognizes that she is trapped between dimensions and they must free her or her astral body dies…..

Meanwhile back on the Astral Plane, Morgan Le Fay has overpowered Magnus and interfered with his spell, plotting to inhabit the body of Jessica Drew herself….   


 

Review / Commentaries


Avengers #240 Review by (February 3, 2023)
Comments: Part one of two parts. Ann Nocenti, writer of SPIDER-WOMAN, is credited as Story Consultant. Spider-Woman/Jessica Drew apparently died in SPIDER-WOMAN #50 (June 1983), ending her series. Appearing in Tigra’s flashback to that issue: Werewolf By Night, Poltergeist, Gypsy Moth, Daddy Longlegs, Locksmith, Tick Tock, and more. Magnus’ account of her fight with Morgan Le Fay also comes from SPIDER-WOMAN #50. Thor was not available because he was out adventuring with his new friend Beta Ray Bill (THOR #337-340). And Morgan Le Fay is spelled “Morgan Le Fey” in this issue.

Review: Is it my imagination or is half of this comic a detailed summary of another comic? Maybe about a third but the whole story is dedicated to bringing back a character who was killed off only a few months earlier. Don’t be surprised: comic books have been doing this longer than you think. And Spider-Woman was a pretty cool character though things get crazy after this issue. Despite all the mishegoss, this issue is quite entertaining and rather well done, all things considered. Too bad Captain Marvel is mainly being used for instant messaging and Starfox does even less.



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Holy smokes, Batman!
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Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott
Christie Scheele
Al Milgrom (Cover Penciler)
Joe Sinnott (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Layouts: Al Milgrom. Letterer: Jim Novak.
Editor: Mark Gruenwald. Editor-in-chief: Jim Shooter.

Characters

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel

(Monica Rambeau)
Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange

(Stephen Strange)
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch

(Wanda Maximoff)
She-Hulk
She-Hulk

(Jennifer Walters)
Spider-Woman
Spider-Woman

(Jessica Drew)
Starfox
Starfox

(Eros)
Tigra
Tigra

(Greer Nelson)
Wasp
Wasp

(Janet Van Dyne)
Plus: Magnus, Morgana Le Fey (Morgan Le Fay), Shroud.

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