Cable 16 (1994) . Phalanx Covenant part 9 . Written by Larry Hama Penciled by Steve Skroce Inked by Mike Sellers and Matt Banning . Cable and the others freed the X-Men and destroyed the Phalanx... . #xmen #marvel #wolverine #phalanx #phalanxcovenant #90s #larryhama #cable #jeangrey #bishop #beast #gambit #psyklop #cyclops #storm #archangel #iceman (på/i Mt Everest) https://www.instagram.com/p/CRjNEgMsmqr/?utm_medium=tumblr
Essential Avengers: Avengers #88: The Summons of Psyklop
May, 1971
This is more of a set-up for a Hulk story than an Avengers story really but hey, Harlan Ellison apparently helped write this book.
Or, well, he wrote a three page treatment that Roy Thomas expanded into Avengers #88 and Hulk #140.
So this Avengers book starts off with the Hulk being zapped by some millions of volts of Kirby Krackle.
He was lured and captured by a trap conceived of by Reed Richards, Professor Xavier, and Tony Stark with the assistance of General “Thunderbolt” Ross.
The magneto-powered mega-volt snare holds the Hulk and knocks him down. Then, he can be moved into a holding crypt that will keep him captive with coma-gas.
And once the Hulk is contained, maybe one day they can cure Bruce Banner of his hulkism.
Hmm, Tony Stark, Reed Richards, and Professor Xavier collaborating to capture the Hulk and take care of him once and for all. Why does that sound familiar?
Anyway, since the Hulk is still smoldering too hot to be moved even by people in asbestos suits, Reed breaks out a special crane to move him into the coma-crypt.
But since we can’t have nice things, the still unconscious Hulk suddenly winks out of existence, to Reed’s consternation.
In reality, the Hulk has been teleport kidnapped by PSYKLOP!
His weirdo bug-eyed race of people predate humans but were put into an apparently not quite so eternal sleep due to getting on the shitlist of the Dark Gods they worshiped.
Now PSYKLOP alone has been awakened by the Dark Gods.
And now the Avengers. This issue jumps around a bit so I cheated and rearranged some events.
See, Iron Man wasn’t at the Hulk-zapping because he and his Avengeful pals (Thor, Captain America, Goliath, Falcon and Redwing) were all trudging through a swamp on some Pacific atoll looking for...
-cue flashback-
It all started when Sam Wilson (the Falcon) was worried because a friend of his from New Orleans hadn’t shown up to visit. So Cap suggested that they just get in a Quinjet and fly down to check up.
They learned that Falcon’s friend has been seen heading off in a trance towards bayou country. And then they find a voodoo cult because they’re in New Orleans and this is a Marvel comic, what else are they going to find?
The T’ieves Guild? No, no, no. Gambit hasn’t been invented yet. Its just voodoo for now.
So they find a voodoo cult led by someone in a mask talking about ‘Dark Gods’ and also human sacrifice.
And since Cap and Falcon are rudely spying then I guess they just volunteered themselves.
Of course, Cap and Falcon are also really, really good at punching people. And the voodoo cultists are only armed with machetes. They didn’t stand a chance.
Especially since Falcon also has a bird best friend with all the powers of a bird. Like flying and making noises and knocking knives out of someone’s hands.
Oh also the cops show up to arrest the cultists.
Falcon punches the mask right off the head honcho and discovers its his missing friend, in a weird trance and muttering a latitude and longitude.
This warrants investigating probably so Cap drags Falcon back to Avengers Mansion to recruit some Avengers. Not all of them though, that’d be ridiculous.
Black Panther can’t go on the voodoo quest because he has to return to Wakanda. Remember how the man who was managing it for him died? So, yeah, he doesn’t know when he’ll be back.
And Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, and Vision need to stay behind on monitor duty.
So that leaves the Avengers group previously mentioned to go investigate 27 S and 97 W.
Then they discover something in the swamp. Something shocking. Exactly this shocking.
Some strange draconic like statue with a face like the voodoo mask that Falcon punched.
And that brings us to where the Hulk was teleport kidnapped by PSYKLOP!
Apparently they’ve intruded onto his territory so PSYKLOP sends a huge gross slug/worm/thing to kill them.
And it vomits slimy cement spit all over Thor and Iron Man’s boots.
So the Avengers have some trouble with it. It seems to draw strength from Iron Man’s repulsors and its too strong for Goliath to put in a headlock. And also I don’t know that a headlock would work on a creature so squamous.
But while everyone is getting their asses kicked, Thor busts free of the cement spit and THROOM!s the slug/whatever really hard with Mjolnir.
And in the process of defeating the beast, Thor cratered the ground, exposing a cavern.
The Avengers hop into the hole and go investigating.
Meanwhile, PSYKLOP apparently didn’t think the Avengers warranted follow-through because he has gone back to ranting at the unconscious Hulk.
He’s going to turn him into food for the Dark Gods. And that will please them again so they’ll awaken his people. And then PSYKLOP and his people can retake the surface from the dumb humans.
Hey, this sounds slightly reminiscent of the Silurians.
Anyway, in order to figure out how to best use the Hulk’s untapped might, PSYKLOP is going to shrink him down. The Hulk’s molecular structure will be easier to examine if he’s smaller, right?
But this is an Avengers book so this is where the Avengers show up. And also assemble.
They jump to attack PSYKLOP because they overheard what he was doing to the Hulk and also because he sent a giant worm at them.
The fight only goes for a little while (Goliath manages to make a fool of himself though) until PSYKLOP remembers he left the Hulk in the shrinker too long.
And now the Hulk has shrunk so much that he’s vanished.
Then the Avengers let PSYKLOP go mess with some machinery because only he can save the Hulk. Perhaps not the smartest move because he instead turns an Amnesia-Teleport ray on them.
The Avengers reappear on some New York subway platform, their memory of what they were up to completely wiped.
The story is to be concluded in Hulk #140. So I’ll just summarize.
Hulk ends up in the Microverse on a planet of green-skinned people. He fights some pig-dogs, becomes hero to the green people and they use magic to restore his Banner smarts to his Hulk body.
And then he marries their queen, Jarella. And although he misses Earth he seems perfectly happy living with Jarella.
But since its a rule that we can’t have nice things, Hulk gets re-kidnapped and unshrunk by PSYKLOP. Hulk is not entirely enthused by this and beats PSYKLOP’s butt. And then PSYKLOP’s Dark Gods punish him.
So how about this Avengers issue? What does it do besides set-up a Hulk story? And then erase memories so as far as the Avengers are concerned, nothing really happened? Its the first time Falcon meets the Avengers!
Its not much of a first meeting. And a bit under one hundred issues later, he would be emotionally blackmailed by Cap into joining the Avengers and would hate every second of it.
Normally we would get to that in 95 more weeks but I’m accelerating somewhat.
