On the Blue Area
of the moon, a varied group of disgruntled aliens led by the blind Watcher hire
bounty hunters Rocket Raccoon and his gun Groot to track down and kill their
common enemy, Doctor Spectrum….
Doctor Spectrum is
in space, continuing his crusade to eliminate any aliens who could be a threat
to American astronauts when they travel into space, which seems to be all of
them. With fanatic zeal he blows off Thanos’ hand, scattering his Infinity
Rings, and locks him in a floating prison made from the head of a Celestial. Then
Rocket arrives on a flying weapons ship and he fires on Spectrum, who dodges
all of the missiles. Rocket then fires the Groot gun, launching several smaller
versions of Groot at the hero who deflects them with the aid of his Power Prism
but the Prism gets away from him. Groot tries to seize it, firing a maggot gun
at Spectrum but the Prism protects its wielder and all seems lost for Rocket—and
then he manifests the power of the Starbrand. (At this point, Dr. Spectrum
recalls how he fought Ego the Living Planet, forcing Ego to reveal the origin
of a fleet of ships which he claims came from Wakanda; Spectrum believes Wakanda
isn’t real and dunks Ego into a black hole.) Rocket assembles a gun that shoots
stars but Spectrum slices the star in half and releases the Necro-System
imprisoned in the Prism and Rocket is infected with cancer. Spectrum dunks the
dying Rocket’s head in a supernova to force him to reveal who hired him. Report
of Rocket’s death is transmitted back to his starship where a little girl
bearing the Starbrand cries….
Dr. Spectrum, as
his alter ego Joe Ledger, meets with President Phil Coulson in church to report
on the outcome. Ledger also mentions that Blur had told him something wasn’t
right with the universe. Ledger dismisses that as nonsense and they go back to
worshipping Mephisto….
“Born in the Stars”
Writer: Jason Aaron. Pencils: Ed McGuiness. Inks: Mark Morales. Colors: Matthew
Wilson. Letters: Cory Petit.
Synopsis: Some
time ago, Rocket Racoon and Groot discovered a baby floating in space and,
against Rocket’s wishes, Groot brought it onboard; then they noticed the
Starbrand on its hand. And now, with Rocket dead, the somewhat older but still a
kid Starbrand tells Groot to take her to Earth for revenge against Doctor
Spectrum. But then a ship from Wakanda, captained by Okoye, on a mission to
find the Starbrand, comes upon her and takes her aboard….