Drax The Destroyer (2005 series) #3

An intergalactic prison transport crashed on Earth and only 5 prisoners survived:- Drax The Destroyer, Lunatik, Paibok the Power Skrull and the 2 Blood Brothers. Pre-teens Cammi and Dex saw them. Lunatik and Paibok took over their town Coot's Bluff, Alaska to get a workforce to salvage stuff from the crash to build a small escape ship. Meanwhile Drax and the Brothers fought a lot, and getting hit seemed to make Drax smarter until Paibok killed him.

Paibok wants all the children to stay out of the way in the school. But Cammi tricks the Brothers into believing that Paibok said she could have Drax's body, and gets 1 of them to carry it for her. Her mom Mavis sees her but is too drunk to care. The Mayor leads the assembled workers to the crash site where Lunatik is already examining the technology. Dex tags along with Cammi until the BB throws Drax off a cliff and leaves them. The kids scramble down to where they find the body beginning to smoke. Dex backs off in case it explodes but Cammi settles down to see what will happen.

Lunatik is supervising work at the crash with 1 of the Brothers doing heavy lifting, and there is already a pile of bodies who were 'insubordinate'. The Mayor tries to persuade him that they'll have to stop work when it gets dark because they won't be able to see and that without rest they'll start making mistakes and eventually die. He's not convinced but at least he goes away.

Cammi's still watching the smoking body but Dex goes back to town because he's worried about his parents. The place is deserted but he finds a phone box. Suddenly a fist smashes its way out of Drax' body, followed by a new version of the Destroyer. The body is less bulky, less green and with orange 'tattoos' (which is the look he'll maintain for a long time in the Guardians Of The Galaxy). Lunatik and the BB sense something has happened. Paibok is in the school gym with teacher Mrs Abrahms and the children. Dex uses the phone to try to contact the Avengers but there's no listed number. He gets the Fantastic Four's number but has to pay 25¢ and then gets a list of options to choose from which don't seem to include asking for help. So he gives up.

The new Drax has also regained his full intelligence. He now realises Cammi isn't his daughter Heather. He then invades her mind to learn the recent events she witnessed, but she also gets bits of his deeper past. It hurt and she pukes, but then asks who Moondragon, Chronos and Thanos are. His answers are:- Moondragon is his daughter Heather who was close to Cammi's age when she was taken from him by Thanos. Chronos is 1 of 2 who betrayed him, stole his memories and set him on his current path. Thanos is his destiny. He is Arthur Douglas, Drax and the Destroyer. But now he realises he can't fire cosmic energy blasts (which will also continue into GOTG).

Now Drax sets off to get revenge on those who killed him this time. Cammi insists on accompanying him even though he doesn't want her too. She uses the excuse that Paibok gave him to her. Naked Drax admits that she might be of some use if only to get him some clothes. He dismisses her suggestion of biker leathers as they walk off into the mist.