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Avengers #28

Dec 2019
Jason Aaron, Ed McGuinness

Avengers #28 cover

Story Name:

Starbrand reborn Part 2: The three heralds

Synopsis

Avengers #28 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Last issue the Avengers came to the Shi'ar prison galaxy Ravenstarr to rescue Majestor Kallark and find who they think is the latest bearer of the Starbrand. But 5 days in the mission has gone pear-shaped. Their star-going quinjet is wrecked and Captain America, She-Hulk and Thor are trapped on it. But Captain Marvel has rejoined them in the Starjammers' spaceship that she just happened to find. Meanwhile Black Widow and Blade are with Ghost Rider in his demonic car Hell Charger being chased through space by the Silver Surfer.

We go back a few days. The Surfer has been drawn to Ravenstarr as have 2 other ex-Heralds of Galactus:- Firelord and Terrax. They meet on a planetoid which has been etched with the Starbrand symbol. Norrin Radd gets the other 2 to reluctantly bury their differences and agree to jointly go seeking a star where they will find the Starbrand. And let none stand in their way.

Now Cap is defending himself against Thor in the derelict quinjet. Some time previously he was infected by the alien Brood and has been fighting its influence. As long as he was worthy to wield Mjolnir he knew he was still in control. But last issue he failed to lift the hammer, and is now intent on laying Brood eggs inside Steve Rogers. Cap tries a desperate ploy. Distracting the Thunder Brood with a thrown shield he thinks pure thoughts and picks up the hammer himself. And knocks Thor out with it.

When Thor awakes he's on board the Starjammer. The 2 Captains persuade him that *he* carried Mjolnir here because only *he* is worthy to lift it. This boosts his confidence back to Thor levels. We saw last issue that Carol Danvers has regained her Binary powers (including a flaming head atop her CM costume). Brood-Thor's attack shredded CA's costume so he's donned a replacement that obviously belonged to the Starjammer's leader Corsair. (OK, I remember the headband and most of the costume but I don't think Christopher Summers ever had a star on his chest.)

Before they leave in the Starjammer She-Hulk out in space uses a gamma blast to incinerate their quinjet (which she calls the Mighty Quin, without apologies to Bob Dylan) to keep its tech out of the hands of prisoners. (The costume she's wearing this trip suppresses her erratic gamma emissions, but we learn now it also allows her to emit them at will with greater power.) As they follow the trail of burned planets Captain M refers to Steve Rogers as Captain Corsair. (This completes the 3rd element of the scene from Free Comic Book Day 2019: Avengers. All that is required now is for SHulk to find Ch'od's pet Cr'reee hidden in the Starjammer.) But little do they know that Firelord and Terrax are tailing them.

Meanwhile the other 3 Avengers are still trying to outrun Silver Surfer, who's also now shooting at them. And half-vampire Blade is dying from the effects of the light from the local red suns. Boy-Thing is with them (which I didn't realise last issue) and he takes over the wheel from Robbie Reyes as Ghost Rider phases through the roof of the car to greet their pursuer. He asks why Surfer's trying to kill them. SS says the Avengers should leave on pain of death and leave the Starbrand to *him*.

GR lets Surfer know that *he* killed the previous Starbrand-wielder (not on purpose), and hurls his ghost chains at the rider of the spaceways. But they pass right though him. (We can now add intangibility to the black stain on his skin that have resulted from the events of the SS: Black mini-series.) But his cosmic blasts have not diminished. However GR survives and is able to oust SS from his surfboard as his hellfire makes Norrin Radd feel the pain of his many sins (mainly leading Galactus to populated planets to eat).

Black Widow has taken over steering the Hell Charger from Boy-Thing. Surfer wills his board back to him and Robbie falls onto the hood of the car, obscuring her view. SS comments that the Avengers have a Spirit Of Vengeance and have defeated a Celestial Host and are now seeking a Starbrand. He claims to see what they are 'building'. (I think he means they are emulating the Avengers (1MBC).) But he blasts the car and sends it spiralling to a planet below.

For our part we go back a million years to those same original Avengers. In #25 Iron Man was zapped back through time to then. Now he's been found by the 1M BC team. He's being attacked by the caveman Starbrand, who looks rather like the Red Hulk, and is hit by flying Mjolnir. So his 1st thought is that RH and Thor have come back in time as well. But the hammer returns to the hand of Odin. And around them are Agamotto, Lady Phoenix, and the 1st GR, Black Panther and Iron Fist. And *they* think *he* is 1 of the many time-raiders they've had to fight off.

Our last scene is the crashed Hell Charger (with GR now inside) receiving a garbled message from Kallark claiming to have found the Starbrand. 3 aliens have surrounded the car demanding their surrender. Natasha asks Boy-Thing to get her luggage from the trunk. And then we see her exiting the car in a customised (ie more like a dark version of the Rescue armour worn by Pepper Potts) War Machine armour as the War Widow.


 

Review / Commentaries

Avengers #28 Review by (December 27, 2019)
Jason Keith is joined by Erick Arciniega on the colouring.

Captain America has proved worthy to lift Mjolnir before in Thor #390, Fear Itself #7 and Secret Empire #10. It appeared that the evil Hydra Cap also lifted it in Free Comic Book Day 2017: Secret Empire, but that was arranged via a Cosmic Cube.

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Ed McGuinness
Mark Morales
Jason Keith
Ed McGuinness (Cover Penciler)
Ed McGuinness (Cover Inker)
Jason Keith (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Cory Petit.
Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: C. B. Cebulski.

Characters

Listed in alphabetical order. All stories.

Agamotto
Agamotto
Avengers
Avengers
Black Widow
Black Widow
(Natasha Romanoff)
Blade
Blade
(Eric Brooks)
Captain America
Captain America
(Steven Rogers)
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel
(Carol Danvers)
Firelord
Firelord
Iron Man
Iron Man
(Anthony Stark)
Odin
Odin
She-Hulk
She-Hulk
(Jennifer Walters)
Silver Surfer
Silver Surfer
(Norrin Radd)
Terrax
Terrax
Thor
Thor
(Odinson)
Plus: Avengers (1MBC) (1M BC Avengers), Black Panther (1MBC), Boy-Thing, Ghost Rider (Robbie Reyes), Iron Fist (Fan Fei), Lady Phoenix (Firehair).

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