Savage Avengers #7: Review

Nov 2019

Gerry Duggan, Patrick Zircher

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Story Name:

Chapter 7: Bar hop

Review & Comments

Rating:

Savage Avengers #7 Review by Rob Johnson (November 17, 2019)

Kulan Gath 1st came to this time in Marvel Team-Up #79 where Spider-Man's co-star was KG's worn enemy Red Sonja! He got here because his soul was stored in an amulet and he could possess whoever possessed it. The amulet cropped up again in Uncanny X-Men #188 and Gath was freed again to take over Manhattan in UXM#190-191. As elliptically mentioned here Dr Strange eventually resolved the problem by going back in time and ensuring the amulet wasn't refound in #188. So technically he *didn't* separate KG from his amulet because the wizard was still inside it. He was freed from the amulet 2 more times before becoming the villain of this series.

This issue suggests that the amulet is the 3rd Eye Of Agamotto that Gath had at the beginning of this series. But the amulet didn't look like Strange's Eye Of Agamotto in the previous adventures. And he certainly is separate from it now, and doesn't even seem bothered that Conan has stolen it.

Shuma-Gorath was 1 of the Great Old Ones who ruled Earth in pre-prehistory. He has crossed paths with Kulan Gath and Conan before in Conan The Barbarian #260. The Cimmerian god Crom had buried him under Mount Crom ages before. KG and Vammatar the Witch-Queen of Hyperborea tried to release him. Gath's death there must have been exaggerated because MTU#79 says Red Sonja killed him in an otherwise undocumented tale which was when his soul got transferred into the amulet.

Dr Doom is a busy guy at the moment. Not only is he here but he's supposedly been captured by the Vridai in Strikeforce which I'm also synopsizing, and he has his own new series which I'm reading but not writing up. I also understand he's in the last few issues of Unbeatable Squirrel Girl.

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Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Savage Avengers #7 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

After the events of #1-5 in the Savage Land sorcerer Kulan Gath took the City Of Sickles into a pocket dimension and Doctor Voodoo followed him and is now his prisoner. As you do in such situations Jericho Drumm reviewed his life. When his houngan brother Daniel was murdered Jericho took his place and studied Haitian Vodun under Papa Jambo, becoming Brother Voodoo. (He doesn't mention that he briefly succeeded Dr Strange as Sorcerer Supreme and took the title Dr Voodoo, which he has never relinquished. But maybe he justifies the 'Dr' by reminding us he has a (psychology) degree.) Daniel's spirit helped him in the job but later they fell out and Daniel got the Hand to resurrect him as Jericho's foe.

The wizard wants him to drink some poison, explaining that Jericho has to be 'dead' to see what he wants to show him 'on the other side'. As a Vodun priest Drumm can understand this and takes a pill (presumably something to restart his heart) before draining the drink. (After all, as he says, he's been dead once already this week (#1).) And his heart stops ...

... and he finds himself and Gath before a warped version of the Eiffel Tower (or maybe the 1 in Las Vegas or 1 of many other copies) hearing strange music. Gath tells him this is a vision of the future and Shuma-Gorath is here to feast on the human population. (S-G is in humanoid form but with his trademark one-eyed, many-tentacled green form as a head.) KG says he's been building an 'infection' in the world for a long time (see previous issues and the Annual) and it will soon be widespread enough to allow the extra-dimensional demon to invade. And then Kulan will gain his power.

Before he left Dr Voodoo told Elektra to contact Dr Strange and warn him about Kulan Gath. At the moment she's with his astral form while fighting Hand ninjas. She's also supposed to find Daniel Drumm who's working with the Hand (who are currently working for KG, at least this branch of them) and either rescue him or kill him, she's not sure which. Strange gives her a helping spell-hand, and then she tries in vain to get the last surviving ninja to tell her where to find Daniel.

Stephen Strange admits that even he doesn't know how to beat Gath. In their previous encounter (Uncanny X-Men #190-191) he defeated him by separating him from his amulet of power. Elektra says she and her companions also failed to kill the sorcerer. He did have an amulet but he doesn't need it anymore. Conan's taken it and KG is still alive and kicking. She also says it's called the 3rd Eye Of Agamotto and looks like the similarly-named thing DrS wears round his neck. Strange swears to help her rescue DrV and kill Kulan Gath.

We now turn to Conan the thief who's hacking his way through the Brazilian jungle. (Presumably he led the women he was escorting in the Annual to somewhere safe.) Now he reaches a settlement, enters a bar and demands a drink or a fight. Then after beating up 3 men and a dog he gets served a drink. Then he gets hit with a tranquilizer dart and slumps on the bar.

When he wakes up he seems to be in the same place (but the 3 men and a dog have gone). But it doesn't *smell* the same. He accosts the barman who says *they* made him do it. Conan runs out into the 'jungle' and kills 2 soldiers who try to stop him. Throughout the darting and awakening we've had a military voiceover relaying reports and instructions, which refers to the sim(ulation).

Then the barbarian breaks through the wall of what we see is a dome in the courtyard of a castle. More soldiers attack, this time in sort-of medieval armour. Conan wades through these until he is halted by the imperious command of Victor Von Doom. Conan threatens to kill him but Doom instead invites him to a feast. Conan agrees, and if the feast is good enough he won't kill him.

(Last issue we saw a Doombot tracking Conan and talking about renditioning him to Latveria. Quite why he let him wander through a large fraction of South America 1st we may never know.)

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