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The Avengers #299

Jan 1989
Walt Simonson, Tom Palmer

The Avengers #299 cover

Story Name:

I [Heart] NY


Synopsis

The Avengers #299 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4.5 stars
Manhattan is being terrorized by demons; Steve Rogers, at this time just the Captain, fights them, beating one back into the form of a motorcycle. He mounts the bike and rides through the city; a radio broadcast describes a battle in Times Square so Cap heads there. At the scene, Cap encounters the New Mutants (Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, Magik, Mirage, Warlock) holding their own against the marauding monsters. When the dust has cleared introductions are made and the kids tell Cap about the invasion of demons from Limbo, led by S’ym and N’astirh. Cap and the kids part with Cap heading off to find some allies for the coming chaos….

In Olympia, home of the Eternals, Sprite brings word to Thena of the marauding monsters in the USA and she summons the Forgotten One, an ancient warrior long exiled from Earth. His exile is now over and he is dispatched to do what he does best: fight monsters….

At the Richards home, young Franklin Richards, son of Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman, has a nightmare so he seeks comfort in his parents’ bed. A ship piloted by Nanny, a villainess in an egg-shaped armor, dispatches her servant, the childlike, blue-armored baddie known as the Orphan-Maker, enters the bedroom and takes Franklin. He then draws a gun to execute the adults but discovers they are protected by an impenetrable force-field. OM decides to sneak out and return to Nanny’s ship….

Shortly thereafter, the Captain arrives and, discovering that the home has been invaded, breaks in and awakens Reed and Sue. Seeing that Franklin is missing, the worried parents consult the CCTV and witness their boy being carried off in Nanny’s ship. Reed, Sue, and Cap board the Fantasti-Car and speed off in pursuit….

In Olympia, the Forgotten One dons armor and a horned headdress and departs for Earth to battle monsters….

In the bad guys’ spaceship, Nanny examines Franklin, finding him to be mentally strong as he tries to wake up. Questioning the sleeping boy, she discovers who he is and who his parents are. She confronts Orphan-Maker a/k/a Peter and learns from him that Franklin is not an orphan because Peter was unable to kill his parents. She punishes him for lying with an electric whip and prepares for when Reed and Sue catch up to them….

So when Reed and Sue do catch up to them, Reed fires a device which drains the energy from Nanny’s craft, forcing it to land in a park without harming the ship or its occupants. Cap takes on Orphan-Maker and discovers that he and his armor are incredibly strong and Sue learns that he is protected by some kind of screening device so that she can’t throw a force field around him. But Cap is able to hit a weak point under his chin, knocking him down—and the armored foe cries for his nanny, confusing Cap. Then a red-armored enemy exits the craft and overpowers Cap, breathing fire at Sue and Reed who are able to hide behind one of her force fields. Forgotten One arrives with a blast of lightning, knocking down the red baddie. Nanny scolds the red-armored one who begs for pardon—and Sue and Reed realize that the red-armored one is Franklin. The two teams square off, with Reed and Sue unable to fight their own son and the newcomer who has no compunctions about killing Franklin and Nanny telling the heroes that the easiest thing to do is for them to die….


 

Review / Commentaries


The Avengers #299 Review by (June 29, 2024)
I (Rob) forgot to credit the Synopsis to T Vernon.

Comments: Bannered for the INFERNO event. Part one of two parts. The title is the popular tourism slogan for the city, “I Love New York.” Gilgamesh’s first appearance was in ETERNALS #13; he showed up in THOR #287-292 then ETERNALS (1985 series) #2-12. Nanny’s previous appearances are X-FACTOR #30-35; Orphan-Maker showed up one issue later on the same list. A passer-by refers to the book Communion by Whitley Strieber on alien abductions. Colorist Christie Scheele credited as Max Scheele. The letters page includes one by a writer with the interesting name of Nederland "Nautilus" Aronnax Ph.D., presumably related to the Professor from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Review: Tie-in to the INFERNO event requires no knowledge of the main story beyond, “Demons are attacking New York,” which is pretty clear on page one. So while the New Mutants are occupied in the X-comics’ battles, this Avengers issue takes an odd turn: we have a former Avenger (Captain America) in a new guise, two members of the Fantastic Four stepping into the breach, and a character from the Eternals breaking through into a non-Eternals context. Four out-of-place heroes brought together in a temporarily hero-less comic. And who do they fight? Not the expected demons (beyond Cap’s early efforts in the issue) but a pair of crackpot X-Baddies, a crazy lady in egg-shaped armor and a superpowered little kid. Add another superpowered little kid who is the child of two heroes but working as a baddie. All this results in a very entertaining issue. With more to come…maybe even too much.



> The Avengers comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Main/1st Story Full Credits

Tom Palmer
Tom Palmer
Christie Scheele
John Buscema (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Layouts: John Buscema. Letterer: Bill Oakley.
Editor: Mark Gruenwald.

Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Plus: Gilgamesh (Forgotten One), Mirage (Dani Moonstar), Nanny, New Mutants, Orphan Maker (Peter), Sprite, Thena, Wolfsbane.

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