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Great Lakes Avengers #1

Dec 2016
on-sale: Oct 12, 2016
Zac Gorman, Will Robson

Great Lakes Avengers #1 cover

Story Name:

Same old, same old Great Lakes Avengers


Synopsis

Great Lakes Avengers #1 synopsis by Rob Johnson
Rating: 4 stars
Connie Ferrari of legal firm Ferrari and Hindel is hoping to leave work on time for a date when her assistant Amy tells her that their client the Avengers have a job for her. We learn that this ex-girlfriend of Steve Rogers (Captain America) hasn't got over him. but she has to cancel her date with an SR lookalike to catch a flight from New York (with Amy) immediately.

In Milwaukee Flatman (Dr Val Ventura), reduced to living off the scant residuals from is autobiography The Flat-Out Truth, is playing an online fantasy role-playing game when Ms Ferrari (and Amy) rings his doorbell. She reminds him how he used to be in the Great Lakes Avengers until the real Avengers told them to stop, but not before he (it seems) applied for a trademark on the Avengers name. However the current actual holder of the trademark, Stark Holdings, is no longer viable (after the death of Tony Stark in Civil War II) so the ownership of the TM has passed to *him*. And she's been authorised to buy it back from him. The meeting continues over pizza and Ventura adds various wild demands on top of the generous amount of money. Ferrari gets impatient and asks him what he *really* wants. He cunningly replies he wants whatever's in the briefcase Amy clutches. Connie extracts a prepared document which says that if he surrenders the trademark then the GLA will be officially be made a permanent Avengers team. And they were right to have assumed that is *exactly* what Flatman wanted.

Ashley Crawford has changed her name to Bertha after she changed her lucrative modelling career into that of a plus-size model, choosing to live in the plus-size shape she used as Big Bertha in the GLA. She now comes to meet Val at a diner. He's alone even though he texted Doorman, Mr Immortal and Squirrel Girl as well. (We get hints that something happened between Bertha and Craig Hollis. And we see SG with Tippy-Toe ignoring his text while she has a restaurant meal with Captain America (Sam Wilson), Spider-Man (Miles Morales) and the female Thor.) Bertha's not too sure about restarting the team, especially when Val says he'll lead it in the absence of Craig. Then Doorman (DeMarr Davis) enters the room through the table, worrying if his cosmic boss Oblivion will come after him (he's officially now an Angel Of Death). Then he notices that Flatman is 3-D instead of his usual 2-D and is astonished to learn that FM could always switch modes at will, because otherwise many necessary things in life would be impossible for him. Then Ventura gets a call with the team's new assignment.

In Detroit we look in on young Good(ness) Silva and her brother Lucky. Good is creating super-chars on her computer and tablet, which Lucky reminds her that he paid for. Suddenly her bedroom is wrecked as a supervillain Firebrand blasts his way through it. Good survives with minor scratches but is worried about Lucky. However through the remains of the wall she sees another villain Pitchfork with forks for hands menacing (rather ineffectually) a mother and child across the street. She rushes out confronts the bad guy as a sort of werewolf.

The GLA trio are heading for Detroit, because that's where the Avengers have relocated them, in a camper van (which FM calls the Flatmobile, nothing like the Flat-A-Maran we glimpsed in the Deadpool/GL Initiative Summer Fun Special). FM and Doorman discuss the Mr Immortal situation which is that he's supposedly off on his own 'saving the world 1 person at a time'. They speak in whispers because they don't want to offend Bertha after 'everything that happened'. But she tells them she can hear them from the back of the van. They arrive at their promised Stark Holdings property but find it's a run-down building in a bad part of town. And they're watched by 2 bickering supervillains as they go in:- Firebrand (who we learn is named Erikson Hades) and Shriek (Frances Barrison), and they mention a boss who won't be pleased.

The 1st obstacle is a locked gate which they don't have a key for. DM lets FM use him as a doorway through, but Big Bertha refuses on principle to slim down enough to fit and she just smashes the gate down. Outside the front door they're greeted by a young woman who introduces herself as Pansy who says she's here because she got FM's texts. Which were the texts he sent Mr Immortal, but presumably(?) Ventura sent them to the wrong phone. But she came anyway.

And on the final page we finally see where Mr I really is. He's buried underground in a cemetery with an air tube to the surface.


 

Review / Commentaries


Great Lakes Avengers #1 Review by (January 13, 2024)
I don't really know why Squirrel Girl is seen with the main Avengers (as they were in the lead up to Civil War II). She was actually currently part of Sunspot's New Avengers.

Defence lawyer Connie Ferrari's previous apps were all in Captain America (1998) between #15 and #50. She spent most of that time as Steve Rogers' girlfriend. But Cap was uncomfortable with her defending some of his worst foes, and she couldn't take it when Steve revealed his Cap id to her so she moved to Ohio. But obviously she's now back in New York.

Her assistant Amy and the GLA's 'assistant' Pansy only exist in this series. As do Good and her brother Lucky.

Firebrand (Erikson Hades) is far from the 1st Marvel char with that id. The original was Gary Gilbert from Iron Man v1#27 on. Firebrand VI (with the same costume as GG) had only 1 app in Deadpool (2012) #27. But this new version, who will only appear in this series, seems identical to FB IV (Richard Dennison) with the same plasma body and support harness. Dennison was active from IM(1998)#4 to Captain America: Steve Rogers (2016) #1 published a few months before this issue.

Shriek is definitely not new. She's been around since Spider-Man Unlimited (1993) #1, and was previously last seen in a villain team in Spider-Woman (2015) #1.

Pitchfork is totally new. He supposedly works for the same boss as the other 2 villains but is only seen in this issue.




> Great Lakes Avengers comic book info and issue index

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Will Robson
Will Robson
Tamra Bonvillain
Will Robson (Cover Penciler)
Will Robson (Cover Inker)
Ian Herring (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Joe Caramagna.
Editor: Tom Brevoort. Editor-in-chief: Axel Alonso.



Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Sam Wilson)
Flatman
Flatman

(Val Ventura)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Miles Morales)
Thor
Thor

(Jane Foster)
Plus: Connie Ferrari, Doorman (DeMarr Davis), Firebrand (Erikson Hades), Good Boy (Good(ness) Silva), Great Lakes Avengers, Mr Immortal, Shriek (Frances Barrison), Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green).

Thor

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