The Collection Obsession Part 4
At last! The TRUE enemy revealed!
At last! We can stop pretending Thane Ector is an interesting big bad!
I mean, that seems to be the tone here.
Also, this is misnumbered. Last time was Part 4. Next time will be Part 6. Stands to reason that this was supposed to be Part 5.
Last times in the Avengers the Collection Obsession: the Collector's ship crashed into the Moon and out came strolling the Brethren, ancient conquerors that the Collector had bottled up in a terrarium.
The Brethren head over to Earth and start raiding and conquering the place and the Avengers are at a loss to stop them. One team of Avengers goes to the Moon to get the Collector's help in finding the Brethren's original terrarium, in hopes that it will give them a clue to defeating them. The rest of the Avengers get beaten up repeatedly by the Brethren.
Sersi the Eternal is captured by the Brethren and the Brethren leader Thane Ector has weird romantic chemistry with her. He reveals the Brethren's secret, that they were created by the Celestials to purge planets of life and the Celestials made them out of something shameful. Presumably related, the Brethren's victims are completely germ free and Thane Ector has to take a break to chug down some sewage during this arc.
Not a lot has really happened but what has happened is weird enough to note.
For example, on their journey to discover the Brethren's habitat, the Avengers recruited an alien named Nakka whose terrarium had been attacked by the Brethren. But he dropped dead as soon as the Avengers reached the Brethren's home terrarium.
Is this relevant? Yes.
Black Panther and Beast find that the air and soil of this terrarium has ridiculously high concentrations of bacteria and microbes. With Nakka weakened after the Brethren's attack, as were all his people, exposure to the microbe-rich environment killed him off.
Anyway, then goo and twig-like limbs bursts from the ground and try to get real acquainted with Quasar.
He blasts free but his attacker is revealed as a shriveled old man who proclaims "I am Olar, oldest of the Brethren, left here to die -- and I HUNGER!"
Hi, Olar.
Back on Earth, in the Brethren's citadel atop the World Trade Center, Lady Sybyl Dorn sharpens her sword and wishes that the Brethren had never escaped the Collector's ship, had never come to Earth. That everything had stayed the way it had been, with Thane Ector liking her and not some random Earth woman.
The Fool comes in to ask her why she's so glum, chum, and she tells him off for assuming she gives a shit what he has to say. But she also reveals that she's going to call for the Brethren to assemble so they can have a vote of no confidence in Thane Ector.
Meanwhile elsewhere, on top of the Avengers HQ, the Avengers receive the returning Moon team, with their new pal Olar.
Quasar: "Cap, meet Olar, one of the Brethren's more ancient citizens. He was left behind because he was considered too frail to make the escape with the others... as a matter of fact, only our stasis field is keeping the poor guy alive."
And Beast explains what they've found.
The Brethren are, in fact, a purely bacterial life-form! Somehow!
They look and act like a functioning multicellular lifeform but their genetic make-up is "no different than that of a very complex germ!"
I'm no scientist but that seems unlikely.
Hercules: "Then it shall be simple to destroy these noisome creatures now that we know what they truly are!"
Vision: "All sentient beings deserve respect, Hercules. Whether their bodies are composed of bacteria... or plastic."
Captain America: "Amen to that, Vision."
Hercules: "Hmmmm... methinks I have learned a lesson here... if only I didst know what it was."
This has been a very special episode of Avengers.
But what has all this been for if knowing that the Brethren are a very complex bacterial colony doesn't help beat them? They've been kicking your asses in every encounter. Are you going to bust out the Penicillin Cannon or what?
Meanwhile, back at Brethren HQ, the Fool laments that bad things are bad. Thane Ector has lost the trust of his people and is likely to be overthrown.
But then a stroke of good fortune.
Wrapped in some bad fortune.
The Fool has been spying on the Avengers with a camera drone orb. And said camera orb captured the Moon team returning with the Collector and Olar in tow.
The Avengers having Olar in custody freaks the Fool the fuck out. Surely, the Avengers will experiment on him and learn the Brethren's secret shame and reveal it to the universe!
But but but! The fact that the Avengers are working with the Collector, hated jailer of the Brethren, is just what the Fool needs to turn the tides back in Thane Ector's favor!
The little guy scurries off to interrupt Sybyl Dorn just when she's declaring Thane Ector a high traitor to the Brethren for treating an outsider and prisoner as an equal.
The Fool bursts in claims that Thane Ector's plan all along was to gather information on the Avengers because they were allied with the Collector.
Thane Ector takes the news hard, gives Sersi a shove, and declares death to the Avengers and also the Collector.
Sybyl Dorn is classy enough to gloat on her way out.
Sybyl Dorn: "And so he has left you! And is that not a bitter taste? I know, I've tasted it since first he laid eyes on you. But know this well, Terran -- he is Brethren once more!"
Sybyl tells the Fool to watch Sersi while she, Sybyl, goes to join the others.
The Fool confides in Sersi that he doesn't actually care about the Collector but he knew that it would piss off Ector. And he also tells Sersi about Olar and how the secret of the Brethren must not get out.
Sersi: "But I know your secret, little one."
The Fool: "Oooooh... how very unfortunate for you."
Meanwhile meanwhile, back at Avengers Mansion, Hank Pym and other Hank, Beast, are analyzing Olar and stressing that treating him like a lab rab makes them no different than the Collector.
I don't think its comparable, really. But whatever.
Anyway, both of them are knocked out by a flash of light and an EEEEEEEE. Then someone off-screen comments that the Avengers are getting too close to the truth and kills Olar so they can't learn anything from him.
Very rude, the true enemy.
I wonder who it could beeeee? If it was the Fool, I don't think they'd keep him mysteriously off-panel. Because we already know that he's more powerful than his lowly status implies and that he really wants to protect the Brethren's secret.
So it's either someone completely new to the plot or the obvious culprit.
Anyway.
The Brethren start flying out of their citadel in the millions (the story very much hasn't suggested they had that kind of numbers before...), leading Jarvis to sound a priority alarm one alpha to gather the Avengers.
In the assembling, Rage and Hercules discover that Beast, Black Panther, and Dr Pym were attacked. But they don't have time to dig into that because Thane Ector lands outside the mansion and shakes the ground in his rage.
Thane Ector: "Come out of your fortress, Avengers! And bring the cursed Collector with you! Come out and face the righteous wrath of a people enslaved! Or do you hide in terror, trembling before our assembled might? DO YOU HEAR ME?!"
Captain America: "We hear you, Ector -- and, by the way, the Avengers fear no one."
The Collector has wandered out onto the front lawn with everyone else despite the Avengers telling him to stay inside.
And Thane Ector sees doddering old man Collector, confirming for him that the Avengers must die for working with him.
Hercules: "I say thee most assuredly nay, creature of germ and things most foul!"
Herk gets some good punches in and also some good disses, saying Thane Ector is no warrior what with being made of bacteria.
This just cheeses off Thane Ector and he eyebeams Hercules and yells "THANE ECTOR IS A WARRIOR BORN!"
Ector then tears up a huge chunk of the ground - bowling over Beast, Rage, and Black Knight - and chucks it at Iron Man.
Thane Ector: "I had almost come to admire you Avengers -- but at last the scales have fallen from my eyes -- and I see you for the base creatures you are!"
He's on an awfully high horse considering what a dick he is.
Meanwhile, Crystal and Vision fight some of the Brethren mooks. Mostly off-panel. The book does not seem to want to portray the Brethren most of the time except the named ones.
This is especially wild since supposedly millions of Brethren were on their way to Avengers Mansion. That is not supported by the numbers we actually see.
Vision notes that as Thane Ector gets more worked up, so do the rest of the Brethren, suggesting some kind of group consciousness.
Black Widow is left to hang back and protect the Collector.
Man has the power primordial. I don't think Black Widow can protect him better than he can protect himself. But anyway, seeing a woman bodyguarding the Collector just enrages Thane Ector more, who accuses the Collector of hiding "among the skirts of women."
Thane Ector is not a very socially conscious guy.
Captain America jumps in between Thane Ector and Black Widow, saying that sure the Collector wronged the Brethren by keeping them imprisoned but killing him won't solve anything or redeem the years spent imprisoned.
Captain America: "We know a little more about your people. It's time for the killing to end. There's a chance for understanding now."
... But they murdered their way through space before the Collector imprisoned them. They're not doing bad things because they were wronged. They're resuming the bad things they were already doing.
Thane Ector: "Understanding, Captain America? Was that what I heard in Hercules' taunts? Admit it! Our origins disgust all thinking men. Our presence sickens you. You recoil from our very touch. How could you deny it? I felt the same things when I first learned the truth! But the Brethren must be more! I must be!"
Thane Ector punches Captain America out of the way, eyebeams Black Widow, and then corners the Collector.
And beats seven kinds of shit out of him.
Ol' Ector has some grievances.
Captain America tells the Avengers they have to stop this blatant elder abuse but if the Avengers could stop Thane Ector, they wouldn't be in the situation they're in now.
The blue guy vows to the Collector that he's going to end him but the Collector's eyes start glowing and he corrects Thane Ector. This isn't where it ends, but begins.
And then he explodes.
Sending all the nearby Avengers tumbling away through the air and confused about what's happening.
Uatu shows up to not interfere by explaining everything.
Uatu: "It was the pulling aside of the curtain. The end of deception and the revelation of truth. Beware, Avengers, for things have not been as they seemed. And, alas, even a Watcher may be led astray."
And the smoke clears, revealing, at last, the true enemy.
Uh, the Collector.
In a dumb, powered-up form with stupid spikes coming out of his head and also Kirby Krackle all around.
No surprise he's the true enemy, once the cover suggested that there was more to this arc than just punching the Brethren. The arc is called the Collection Obsession.
The Collector let the Brethren escape on purpose! And pretended to be a doddering old man! He schemed it all, so he could wipe out the human race!
For collection reasons, probably! I mean, it's gotta be collection reasons! Otherwise you're using collection guy as a generic enemy!
Next week, finishing this story off. And then figuring out what to do about Avengers West Coast because the issue I was working on was removed from Marvel Unlimited.
Follow @essential-avengers for all your Avengers needs. Unless you need comics released in the last two and a half decades. That's going to take me a while. Like and reblog and so on and so forth.
the Avengers learned that the Brethren were made of bacterials and when Thane Ector almost had the Collector, the Collector showed his true face and easily defeated Thane.
Essential Avengers: Avengers #334: FIRST ENCOUNTER
July, 1991
The Collection Obsession Part 1
THANE ECTOR!
I guess that guy bullying Quicksilver is a Thane Ector?
I mean, I love comic covers that have text. Dialogue or captions or whatever. But just putting a big THANE ECTOR! is more confusing than anything. Put an "attacks" or "comes" on there.
Last time: some stuff happened. It doesn't matter! Larry Hama's last issue happened. Now Bob Harras is writing this Collection Obsession thing. He'll become the new long-term writer later because I guess he enjoyed writing this story.
Things start off with a spaceship crashing on the Blue Area of the Moon, near the home of the Watcher.
KA-BLOOM.
The Blue Area is also where the Inhumans live. Quicksilver, too, because he married Crystal of the Inhuman Royal Family. And Quicksilver gets antsy if he doesn't have anything to do so he's been working with the Inhumans' militia.
Quicksilver, Karnak, some jerk called Timberius, and an Alpha Primitive see the ship crash and go to investigate.
Timberius tries to get Quicksilver to investigate by himself but Quicksilver ain't having that.
He's not just a jerk that tries to get Quicksilver killed, he's also a jerk to the Alpha Primitive that's in this squad.
Although, the Inhumans in general have bad history with the Alpha Primitives. In that they were a slave race and many Inhumans are unhappy that has stopped being the case.
Quicksilver, who I assume is a bit sensitive to blatant prejudice being said around him, pulls Timberius aside and tells him that he'll turn him into kindling if he starts talking belittling shit about the Alpha Primitives again.
So as soon as Quicksilver is out of earshot, Timberius mutters "Mutant pig."
Just to say. He's a jerk.
The small group of Inhumans and also Quicksilver reach the crashed ship. A huge crashed ship. That doesn't look like Kree or Skrull or any of the other common aliens that like to visit Earth. Karnak doesn't recognize it at all.
Before reporting this to Black Bolt, Quicksilver is determined to check for survivors. And he also thinks that he should contact the Avengers, using his identicard.
Buuuut...
A force field fzzattts over the ship and the overlook where Quicksilver et al were perched. Trapping them in with the ship and preventing Quicksilver from contacting the Avengers.
And from the ship emerges some dudes. A blue dude. A blue woman. An impish creachur. And a bunch of background guys.
Probably Thane Ector: "So there are living beings on this dustbowl of a world after all! That is good. For each new planet fall must be sanctified with native blood!"
That's no way to make new friends.
Also, the Inhumans aren't native to the Moon. They moved there only a couple years ago. Nobody is native to the Moon, I think. Even the Watcher moved there from somewhere else but he at least has been there long enough for squatter's rights.
Also also, Quicksilver has elf ears?? Since when? Or did the artist get him confused for Northstar, who does have elf ears? Weird.
Over on Earth, North America, United States of America, New York, New York, Avengers Mansion, the Avengers are doing FITNESS. And Hercules is adding more weight to Rage's bench press, assuring him that he can totally handle it despite Rage's doubts.
Also, Hercules is yelling a lot. Talking not just spirited talking but a lot of bared teeth and angry looking expressions. Between that and the women going increasingly wasp waisted or butt 'n boob posture, I think the Avengers have entered the 90s.
I don't know, it just feels like 90s art now.
Hercules gets distracted by Sersi coming in with a pile of shopping bags that a gallant man like Hercules just needs to offer to carry. Ditching Rage and not being there when the extra weight that Hercules added turns out to be too much.
Rage drops the bar and gets up to yell at Hercules.
Rage: "Hey, you were supposed t'be spottin' me, buddy!"
Hercules: "Yes, lad, but the lovely Sersi didst need my attention..."
Rage: "I'll 'dist' you right up --"
Captain America interrupts this before it becomes a fight. And then he gets interrupted by Peggy Carter on a video screen. She reports that the mansion received a transmission from Quicksilver but it cut off before he said anything and now they can't call him back.
Cap decides to call Attilan, on the Moon, and inquire but Crystal and Lockjaw lockjawport into the training room.
Oh, Crystal, your spine...
Alas and alack.
Everyone regroups to the meeting room, around the big A logo'd table. Crystal tells the Avengers about Quicksilver and others getting trapped behind that force field.
The Inhumans have tried to break through it and failed.
Lockjaw can teleport through it but he can't bring anyone with him, for some reason.
I don't understand how it can be permeable to teleports but still restrictive. Maybe it was the effort of it. Crystal says passing through the force field near wore out the poor, huge doggo. He could barely make it to Earth, afterward. So maybe the force field is permeable to teleports but only just.
To top it all off, the Inhumans have sensed that their neighbor, the Watcher, is concerned about the situation. He hasn't even had to show up to stare to indicate the situation is srs bizness because everyone can just tell.
Quasar asks why Crystal didn't go to the Fantastic Four for help. She used to be on that team so that seems an obvious first stop. But Crystal says 1) she prefers not to bother Johnny with Inhuman business (which seems like code for 'we used to date and I'd have to ask him to rescue the man I dumped him for and that'd be supes awkward) and also 2) Crystal thought Scarlet Witch was on the Avengers and obviously Wanda would want to be involved in saving her brother.
She made a mistake. There's two Avengers teams and Wanda is on the other one. Cap promises to call her. And, of course, the Avengers will help. Quicksilver was an Avenger and once an Avenger always an Avenger and "Avengers take care of their own!"
On the QUINJET ride to the Moon (I love that Quinjets are both atmospheric and space-capable craft. Get you a man that can do both), Rage marvels that he's going to space.
He's been to an alternate dimension before but... space!
Rage: "I don't believe I'm goin' to the Moon! I tell ya, Quasar, this Avenger stuff ain't bad! You guys fly off to outer space just like you were strollin' over to Mickie Dee's!"
During the flight, Crystal muses how strange it is to Vision that the last time they met, they were both happily married to Pietro and Wanda respectively. And both relationships seemed to full of joy and hope have fallen apart.
Vision says that statistics say that a marriage between a synthezoid and mutant or Inhuman and a mutant are not likely to last.
Statistics say?? What are you basing this on?
Vision: "Interpersonal variables due to societal differences magnified by the internal pressures of being an Avenger present a further reduction in success rates."
Well, sure.
But your marriage to Wanda didn't end because of interpersonal variables. You were kidnapped by the government and lobotomized into not believing in emotions anymore.
The Quinjet lands on the Moon and the Avengers find the Royal Family trying to bust into the force field.
And as an indicator of how tough this thing is, Black Bolt is trying to break it down and getting nowhere. Blackagar "a whisper can send the Hulk flying" Boltagon is having no luck breaking something.
Also, Gorgon is helping by kicking and he can kick hard enough that it feels like an earthquake. That's not as impressive as Black Bolt but still.
Although, I have to assume Medusa is being poetic when she says that Black Bolt is using his unfettered might. His truly unfettered might can destroy planets. There wouldn't be much of a Moon left if he was screaming at the top of his lungs.
And anyway, it looks like he's shooting a blast from his tuning fork instead of shouting. Are you even really trying, Black Bolt?
Speaking of the 90s aesthetics that have hit the book like an iceberg, check out Hercules here.
Quasar puts up a shield to protect the Inhumans and Avengers from being so close to Black Bolt and Gorgon's half-assed attempts to break the force field. Hercules comments that it's power beyond even the Olympians.
Quasar: "You said a mouthful, Herk!"
Hercules, screaming for some reason: "'Tis my specialty."
I dunno. Just seems like a weird choice for that statement which is said without an exclamation point.
Black Bolt gives up blasting the force field and Medusa asks him to rest and let the Avengers take a crack at it.
Vision decides that if he analyzes the force field's energy pattern, then Quasar should be able to collapse the barrier by reversing the pattern with his do-anything Green Lantern-esque powers.
I suppose Vision could also intangible underground to see if the field is a sphere or just a dome. But he doesn't offer to try.
... Have the Inhumans tried tunneling? They're surely got the power for it. Crystal is the Avatar, master of all four elements. She can control "earth", even Moon "earth", ie rocks.
DID YOU EVEN TRY, CRYSTAL?
Captain America tells Quasar to hurry up and bust the dome because "there's no telling what's happening to Quicksilver in there."
Enhanced interrogation is happening to Quicksilver in there.
It looks like he's been getting his ass beat by Thane Ector, who is looking for information on where the hell they are.
Quicksilver refuses to even so much as tell him that they're on the Moon.
Lady blue gal (who seems to be loving this) Sybyl Dorn comments that Quicksilver is made of stern stuff, worthy of being one of the Brethren maybe, and won't break.
Thane Ector goes for a walk to clear his head with his best little red impish buddy, Fool.
Thane comments that he should have just killed Quicksilver. The men are restless but a sacrifice would have perked them right up.
Fool says that Thane was right to prioritize seeking information, "practicality before religion." There will be plenty of slaughter later and for now, there's plenty of drink to distract the Brethren. But he suggests that Timberius would likely prove easier to crack than Quicksilver.
Fool: "The wood creature who sits in sullen silence, seeks to hide his fear, but your Fool sees all! With the smallest of pressure, he will snap like the weakest of twigs, I say."
Thane Ector: "Then bring him to me, my good Fool. And we'll see if SAP or BLOOD runs 'neath that birchen shell."
In horror movies, I think they call this the asshole victim. Someone you won't feel too bad for.
Also, the force field that the Brethren are hiding behind isn't their technology. It belonged to whoever was keeping the Brethren captive.
Thane Ector does start torturing Timberius and all it takes is breaking one of his wooden antlers before Timberius starts spilling all of the beans. He says the Moon sucks but it orbits Earth which is a great place to conquer, if you're into that.
Thane Ector: "The world of whispered legend! Thank of it! To subjugate the planet that first defeated Galactus! Such a feat would redeem the dark years. Fortune does not merely favor us, my lady, like a blazing beacon it shows us our destiny! Our new homeworld awaits ripe for the plucking!"
Meanwhile, outside, Vision has finished analyzing the force field. And Quasar starts blasting it with his do-anything powers with the assistance of Sersi. The force field begins to buckle and the Brethren become alerted that someone is trying to bust in.
Thane Ector: "At last! The people of this world show their mettle! Let the field fall! Then we'll come out to exterminate all those in our path."
Quicksilver tries to take advantage of the distraction to speed blitz Thane Ector but the guy just intercepts him with a punch.
Ector claims he's Thane because he's the most perfect of all the Brethren, including in speed.
But, c'mon, speed is all Quicksilver has. If you do all that AND hit harder, then what is even the point of Quicksilver?
The Alpha Primitive (whose name is apparently Alphan? Which is like a guy named Guy or someone called Hugh Mann) runs to protect Quicksilver. So Thane Ector decides he'll just kill Alphan instead of Quicksilver to fulfill the first blood spilling tradition. And then he slaps Alphan to death.
The art is really unclear. But it does indeed seem like he just slapped that man into a state of not alive.
Confusing art! Another 90s hallmark!
Then the force field fails off-panel. There's a speech bubble of someone off-panel saying 'hey the force field is down' and then a group shot of some Avengers and Inhumans.
Art that feels narratively disjointed, another hallmark.
Anyway, big fight scene as the Avengers and Inhumans take on the Brethren. None of the named ones though.
Thane Ector says he should join the fight but the Fool tells him that fighting on the Moon is pointless when they should be fighting on Earth. And Sybyl Dorn backs up the Fool.
Not so foolish a Fool considering he is two for two on being right.
One of the Brethren tells Thane Ector that "the Elder's" energy transmuter is ready to go and they can use it to go to Earth.
(This member of the Brethren might be the Fool? He's red. But the specific panel is zoomed all the way in. Another part of the art being bad is weirdly zoomed in art so its hard to understand what's going on.)
So Thane Ector agrees and pushes the button on the thing and all the Brethren that the Avengers are fighting disappear with a vzzzttt.
The Avengers don't know where the Brethren have gone. Even though they find Quicksilver (and see to his injuries) he's able to tell them that after ten thousand years they're free to conquer Earth.
Okay, not really. But. Ancient evil prisoners released on the Moon and decide to conquer Earth? This is the setup to Power Rangers.
Earth is really big though. So even if the Brethren went there, the Avengers don't know where to look for them.
Captain America decides to look around their ship, try to figure out what their deal is. And we get to one of the most egregious violations of Uatu the Watcher's vow of non-interference.
He just appears to the Avengers and tells them 'hey I'll show you where to look' and also warns them what a huge threat the Brethren are.
We've gone from Uatu indirectly interfering by his vibes being so obvious that the Inhumans were on guard. To him just showing up and offering to be a tour guide.
You're going to be put on trial again, Uatu.
As the Avengers walk around the crashed ship, they see a collection of tiny bottle worlds. Like Braniac has. But that's the wrong company. Instead, this collection is owned by
The Collector.
Dun dun dun.
Uatu points out that the Brethren kicked the ass of an Elder of the Universe so clearly Earth is doomed. Except, point of order, Hawkeye beat the Collector once. The man is old and not good at fighting.
Anyway. The Collection Obsession is a biweekly event. I'm still going to alternate between Avengers and Avengers West Coast but there might be two Avengerses in a row, to keep both books current to each other.
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