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Avengers #43

Aug 2001
Kurt Busiek, Alan Davis

Story Name:

Global Presence


Synopsis

Avengers #43 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4.5 stars
Before continuing from last issue we flashback many months to the Kremlin where the Presence (Sergei Krylov) and his companion Starlight (Tania Belinsky) secretly quantum-shifted in to see the body of his son Vanguard (Nikolai Krylenko, but his father here calls him Mikhail) lying in state as a hero of the Motherland. Sergei told Tania to return to the Forbidden Zone where they are confined, while he became microscopic and explored inside Vanguard's body. There he discovered a trace of the energy of his son's superpower. He added most of his own energy to that, bringing Nikolai back to life.

Sergei was trapped in the subatomic realm for months, slowly regaining his strength. While there he studied how life-energy permeates all matter, and made a great discovery. He returned to full-size and Tania in the Forbidden Zone (Khystym) a few days ago. He told her he knows how to save Mother Russia from assimilation/pollution by the West. He can change the Russian people into a new nuclear form of life, and it will be a form that he and Tania can live among - no longer confined to the Forbidden Zone for fear of poisoning others with radiation.

He created the radiation spike which attracted Russian scientists and then the Winter Guard, followed by the Avengers (in the past few issues). He has converted scientists, soldiers and Winter Guard heroes into their new green, glowing, transparent bodies, and they're now attacking the Avengers. Black Knight, Captain America, Firebird, Quicksilver and Thor are holding their own but they can't fight through to reach the Presence, and the foe seem to absorb blasts from Firebird and Thor. Pietro Maximoff suggests there may be anti-radiation foam at the border station of the Zone, and dashes off to look. (Kang The Conqueror told other Avengers last issue that these beings infect others by touch, but nobody's told these Avengers that.)

Another thing Kang did last issue was encourage the inhabitants of the Earth to rise up and take parts of the globe in his name. Presumably in this spirit Attuma has led the Atlanteans to invade Canada (or at least Prince Edward Island). They also have a giant ape-monster with them (Torg The Abominable Snow-King whose only other app was Sub-Mariner #55). Scarlet Witch has returned from her brief vacation with Simon Williams, and Wasp directs her and Jack Of Hearts (who must have rushed up from the Savage Land) to tackle the monster while she and Triathlon attack the Atlanteans. Henry Pym joins them, but he's switched from his Goliath costume to Yellowjacket. He confidentally hits Torg with bio-blasts but the beast just slaps him away. Attuma himself is keeping out of the fray. He's standing on his submarine with an Atlantean sorcerer named Serestus who controls Torg via a large red 'pearl'.

The Deviants have also heard Kang's message and have risen up from their underground lairs to invade a province of China. Vision and Warbird are leading a team to repel them:- Black Widow (recalled from searching for the Exemplars), She-Hulk (reservist taking a break from lawyering) and Silverclaw (recently returned to college from the Av: Celestial Quest limited series). They succeed in driving the Deviant army back underground. While Natasha Romanoff liaises with Chinese troops, Vision checks that Carol Danvers is OK after she recognised who is in the Scarlet Centurion armour last issue. (It hasn't yet been spelled out to readers *who* she thinks it is, but really long-time readers would know.)

In Khystym Quicksilver has returned with cannisters of anti-radiation foam which the Avengers spray on their radioactive foes, and it works. But then the cannisters explode because Presence heats them up with microwaves. He and Starlight (who contrary to the last page of last issue has not been turned green) now confront the team. Presence prepares to 'convert' the heroes but Starlight stops him - the plan was only to convert Russians to the 'glorious' new state. But Sergei has now concluded that the only safe option is to convert the whole world. And his emissions burn off the Avengers' skin and rupture their hearts.

Back in Canada Yellowjacket has spotted Attuma, Serestus and the glowing sphere. He alerts Triathlon who bounds over to them and runs off with the pearl. Immediately Torg regains confused self-control, and Jack Of Hearts punches him into the bay from which he doesn't bother to return. Without their monster backup the Atlanteans retreat, at least temporarily.

Wasp takes the time out to officially invite JOH to be an Avenger (he only hung around after the Av: Infinity limited series). She also asks Henry Pym why he turned up as Yellowjacket rather than Goliath. His answer is evasive, but afterwards he seems to be unwell (again). Then Stingray arrives answering a call from Jan who wants him to cut Attuma's supply lines to stop him resuming the invasion.

Up in his orbiting Damocles Base Kang and Scarlet Centurion are monitoring these and other problems the Avengers and their allies are dealing with, all presumably reactions to Kang's offer last issue. (We see Black Panther fighting AIM in Wakanda, Wizard is doing something in Sao Paulo, and Thing and Spider-Man are in action. Kang's son complains that this is not an honourable way to fight, they should be attacking themselves with their own army from the future. For the 1st time we hear Kang addressing him as Marcus (the name that surprised Warbird used last issue). He tells Marcus that the wise commander uses all the options at his disposal, and he will continue to soften up the opposition before committing his troops. His next move will be to invite human warriors to join his forces directly. Humanity would unite against his own army, but their response will be more incoherent against their own kind.

The team in China follow the Deviants into their tunnels. But then the enemy cause a large cave-in which delivers the Avengers into their midst.

Wasp's still coordinating everything from Canada, with help from their government liaison Duane Freeman in New York. She suggests sending Hercules to Sao Paulo but Duane tells her that Human Torch is already on his way (Wizard was initially *his* foe after all). But then Janet Van Dyne is called outside where Yellowjacket has collapsed. And then she sees that he's starting to fade away!

In Khystym Firebird finds she's survived Presence's radiation attack, and she remembers another time (West Coast Avengers Annual #2) where she survived a fatal dose of poison. Then she runs into Thor whose godly status has protected him too. But they are immediately attacked by their 3 companions who have been changed to the green glowing enemy.



 

Review / Commentaries


Avengers #43 Review by (August 28, 2020)
The series begins the long countdown to the 500th Avengers issue by including #458 as the overall issue number as well as #43.

This is the last issue for the Alan Davis/Mark Farmer art team.

Albert Deschesne is Richard Starkings' co-letterer for this issue.

Tania Belinsky was introduced as Red Guardian III in Defenders #35. Technically she was the 2nd RG to be published, after RG II (Alexi Shostakov) in original Avengers #43-44 who was Black Widow's husband. But much later a WWII RG (Aleksey Lebedev) was invented in Namor The Sub-Mariner Annual #1.
Presence was 1st seen in Def#52-55 and he turned both himself and Tania into nuclear beings. Previously Sergei Krylov had caused a nuclear accident at Khystym turning it into the Forbidden Zone. In Def#65 they confined themselves as a couple in the Zone, but they kept leaving for adventures.
I think Tania took the id Starlight in Quasar #19-20 (because RG IV (Josef Petkus) had already appeared in Captain America #352-353). She was also in Q#60 before her apps in this series.

Vanguard (Nikolai Krylenko) débuted in Iron Man #109-112 alongside his sister Darkstar (Laynia Petrovna) in the Soviet Super-Soldiers. (She had previously been in the original Champions series.) They learned they were the children of Sergei Krylov in Hulk #259.
The flashback explains how Vanguard, who died in Quasar #60 was able to reappear without explanation in Daredevil #369-370, just before he joined the new Russian team Winter Guard.

Attuma The Barbarian has long been a foe of Sub-Mariner, and he has succeeded in taking the throne of Atlantis several times. His latest coup was in Defenders (2001) #2. Since then he and the Atlanteans were temporarily mind-controlled by MODOK in Citizen V And The V-Battalion #2.

The Deviants were created alongside the Eternals by the Celestials in Jack Kirby's Eternals series. They have for millennia warred against the Eternals and sometimes ruled early humanity. However a group of Deviants, Eternals and humans did once band together in the 20th Century (in their latest app in issues of X-Force), in a group coincidentally (for the Kang Dynasty saga) called the Damocles Foundation.

Stingray 1st appeared as Dr Walter Newell in the Sub-Mariner part of Tales To Astonish #95. He created the Stingray suit in Sub-Mariner #19. As expected he spent most of his time in Subby series. But he got involved with the Avengers when they moved their HQ to his Hydrobase and has been affiliated ever since. He was last in the mass gathering of Avengers in our #1-4.

Since Maximum Security She-Hulk has been in a makeshift Fantastic Four in their #42-44.

Since the Thunderbolts crossover Black Widow has been very busy, co-starring in the Marvel Knights series with Daredevil and others and then on to DD(1998)#14-15 (helping him against Echo (Maya Lopez)) and the DD/Spider-Man mini series.

The problem of Yellowjacket (and the 2 Henry Pym's we've seen in recent issues) will be sorted out in the 2001 Annual, and then the various ongoing conflicts will be resolved next issue.

Vanguard won't be in next issue and will next be in the Darkstar & Winter Guard mini-series before changing his id to Red Guardian VIII.
Attuma won't show up next issue either, instead he'll go back to annoying Sub-Mariner in the Defenders series.
And that's it for the monster Torg.



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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Alan Davis
Mark Farmer
Tom Smith
Alan Davis (Cover Penciler)
Mark Farmer (Cover Inker)
Tom Smith (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Richard Starkings.
Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: Joe Quesada.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Black Knight
Black Knight

(Dane Whitman)
Black Widow
Black Widow

(Natasha Romanoff)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Firebird
Firebird

(Bonita Juarez)
Jack of Hearts
Jack of Hearts

(Jonathan Hart)
Kang
Kang

(Nathaniel Richards)
Quicksilver
Quicksilver

(Pietro Maximoff)
Scarlet Witch
Scarlet Witch

(Wanda Maximoff)
She-Hulk
She-Hulk

(Jennifer Walters)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Vanguard
Vanguard

(Nicolai Krylenko)
Wasp
Wasp

(Janet Van Dyne)

Plus: Duane Freeman, Presence, Scarlet Centurion (Kang), Silverclaw (Maria de Guadalupe Santiago), Starlight, Stingray (Walter Newell), Triathlon (Delroy Garrett Jr.), Warbird (Carol Danvers).