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evolutionsvoid · 2 years ago

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Honestly, never thought we would have made it this far. Figured we were all doomed, that our deaths would have come weeks ago. Somehow, though, the days ticked by without any diseased buzzards dropping on our heads or a cancerous mass devouring the whole base. The world is in shambles, that is still very much true. What communications we got over the miserable days have been lonely cries in the dark and desperate pleas for help. Both were equally depressing, as there was just nothing to be done. There are countless people out there seeking refuge, as their homes have been trampled by the titans, but where could they go? The great abominations go where they please, and it is only a matter of time before some super-heated worm decides to burrow through your new home. For those calling for aid, who will come for them? No military force even really exists anymore, as everything we have has been burned and destroyed in our attempts to slay even one of these titans. What medical supplies and food still remains is hoarded by those who have them, seeing no point in sharing when there is no guarantee of getting more. We once had the power to do something about this, but those days are long gone. After all, it was our might and genius that caused this whole mess. All we ever did was kill one giant leviathan and unleash its mutagenic blood upon the world. The plague of A.N.A is all our fault, and it seemed we would never get the chance to redeem ourselves. All we could do was sit in our crumbling base and wait for the end. Fate is truly an odd thing, no one knows how the die will roll. We all thought our time was up, that hope was a thing of the past. The people who stayed here only did so because they had nowhere else to go, the researchers kept working because that was the only thing left to do besides die. Our useless band of folk were more like squatters then heroes, preferring some place warm and lit before a giant spike ball crushed us in its migration. Some time ago, there was the foolish belief that A.N.A. had a secret for us to discover. Some kind of weakness we could exploit and finally put her children to rest. Our research gave us nothing, and in some cases it just made more monstrosities. The few scientists who stuck around toyed with our last samples to keep themselves distracted, and to satiate their own curiosities before death claimed them. No one expected any breakthroughs or miracles. What would we do with one even if we got it? Even if we discovered a weapon that could be used against the titans, who would wield it? Every country had pretty much sealed their borders and now pray for the titans to walk the other way. There is no squadron of jet fighters to blast the monsters to smithereens with our new miracle weapon. No platoon of brave soldiers to carry the super bomb that will evaporate our nightmares for good. All our weapons our gone, all our warriors have fled to home. Calls to action have grown silent, while we now just get messages of desperation and loss. We offered what comforting words we could, but little else. Our own supplies were dwindling, and it was only a matter of time before one of the titans finally walked our way. We had nothing. That became even more apparent when one of our labs exploded on accident. One of the researchers broke down during their futile studies and pretty much trashed the lab. Their frenzy set something off and the place went up. We extinguished the flames and boarded up the holes the best we could, and pretty much left it at that. No one really even blamed the guy, as we all had one of those days where our minds just gave up. The samples of A.N.A. we had in there as well as the poor lab animals were lost in the incident, but we didn't think much of it. The days of playing hero were long gone, it was best to just seal it away and face reality. The disaster zone was ignored for quite some time, until someone started hearing noises coming from the sealed off area. With everyone's nerves frayed, we chalked it up to paranoia, especially since we got word that a giant obscene beetle was stomping in our direction. Reports from all around were saying Minceskro was headed our way, bringing their swarm of horrid bugs along. Once we heard that, panic set in. Everyone was just running around, either pretending we could survive this arrival or foolishly believing we could escape it in time. Neither option would really work. Our buildings were in shambles, it would never be able to keep out the ravenous swarms. Our vehicles were few and the remaining gas was meager. Some people could flee, but to where? Even if they outran the living hive, they would just be joining the sea of lost refugees, forever searching for safety. There were arguments, fights, breakdowns, all the horrid emotions that come from such a revelation. People were at each others throats, while others just sealed themselves into various corners and cried. It was getting to the point where it was looking like we wouldn't even live long enough to see the wretched bug when the lab exploded again.

The whole building shook like there was the greatest earthquake of all time happening. The sound of crumbling brick and screeching metal filled the air. For a moment, we all thought that another titan had beaten Minceskro to their prize. The current bet was Melalo making another crash landing atop a community of unfortunate souls. But when the dust settled and we all emerged from our hiding places, we found something else standing amongst the rubble. When we first gazed upon it, we found no hope or comfort. It wasn't one of the titans we knew, but that only meant a new monstrosity had been born. It looked like that laboratory freakout must have caused various A.N.A. samples to infect one of the test animals. With the mutagen in their body, they would have easily survived the disaster and had been growing ever since we boarded the place up. This destruction was just the result of a massive growth spurt, the violent emergence into their true form. Fate was kind to us, as this creature was easily the smallest of all the titans. If it had been as large as the others, our whole base would have been flattened. Despite our miraculous survival, things were not looking good. Sooner or later the thing would wake up from its slumber and unveil the newest way for A.N.A. to ravage the planet. The new beast looked like one of the toads that was kept in the lab, so the bet was that we would all drown in poison or something. All we had to do was wait. Some folk took a vehicle and peeled out that very night, but the rest stayed and simply stared at the great beast. It was probably because we all accepted our fate and decided to stop running and hiding. Let us die together in the place that we once called home. But we waited and waited, and no death came for us. This newborn didn't awaken, it hardly even moved. Its eyes did not open, and it almost looked like they couldn't even do that if it wanted. It breathed, it snored, but it did little else. Further investigation showed that its limbs weren't even capable of movement, as their feet was just a sprawling web of flesh that coated the earth. If this beast wouldn't move, then perhaps its lethality would come from deadly gas or clouds of A.N.A. filling the air. None of that happened either. Days went by, and the creature still slumbered. We all began to think that this newborn was simply a dud, a failed creation of A.N.A. Funny how we considered the fact that it didn't horribly kill us a "failure," but our minds weren't in the right place. Everyone was just bewildered by this development, finally seeing one of these titans up close and in the flesh. We were so wrapped up in it all that we didn't even notice that the time table for Mincerskro's arrival came and went without an appearance. It was only long after the fact when someone realized the horrid beetle never showed up. We all scrambled to our dusty stations and tried to get a read on where it was now. From what few reports we could get, it seemed the massive bug had suddenly changed its mind and veered its path far away from us. This was a brief moment of relief for us, as that meant we wouldn't be eaten alive by mutated insects. This meant that we had more time to poke and prod this new creation until another titan showed up to finish the job. We spent quite some time musing over this great toad, wondering what it could do and why it had been born. What researchers remained did their best to study it, with a slightly renewed hope of unlocking the secrets of A.N.A. Perhaps this sleeping amphibian could give us some answers, or even clues on how to deal with the titans. With dwindling supplies and time, we wondered if we would live long enough to solve this mystery. It turns out, our starved broken selves had already been given an answer, but we were too absorbed in the new beast's presence to notice it. The realization came when someone made a comment on the toad's slumbering state versus the other rampaging titans. Talk of how the other beasts would rip this little thing to shreds, and how it probably wouldn't even wake up then. When someone mentioned that the titans don't invade each other's territories, it finally hit us. Minceskro didn't just change its direction at random, it avoided us because this new being had been born. The abominations don't fight each other, they don't even get close. Something keeps them apart, for what reason, we don't know. It could be that they are territorial, or they don't see a point in fighting. Plenty of earth to ravage, no need to bicker over who gets to stomp what city. The toad's presence might be giving off that same cue, some kind of signal to keep the others away. There was no real way for us to test it, but we clung to that hope for as long as we could. As time rolled by and our studies continued, we started getting the inkling that this was true. The other children were not coming close to this region, always forging a path that steered around rather than through. Was it really because of this sleeping toad, or was it pure luck? Didn't matter, we were alive. Eventually, we started to spread word of this miracle, that we now had a safe haven from the titans. With the slumbering toad keeping the whole area free of destruction, there was now somewhere for people to find shelter. At first, no one really believed us. Some called us traitors for harboring this thing, and others called for its death. In time, though, enough desperate people heard of this slim hope and started to make their way here. We opened our doors and offered what little we had left to those who came, happy that we could at least give some comfort to others. In the beginning, things were tight and tough, as supplies ran low and more mouths arrived. It started to seem like a bad idea to bring all these people here, until more started to arrive with their own offerings. As word spread further, and our survival continued, more folk started to believe this was truly a safe haven. They brought everything they could and shared it with the others. Our base started to grow into a village, than a town, as more refugees came in and brought their own gifts with them. Days went to weeks then to months, all without a titan coming to spoil the fun. It seemed our froggy friend was actually serving as our guardian. We soon found out that they could do more then just that. During initial studies of the immobile toad, we found that its many warts wept with a golden fluid. We assumed it to be poison and stayed far away. The researchers found it to be filled with A.N.A. though it was in a form they never seen before. It was not the same as the mutagen, but it was A.N.A. no doubt. We didn't think too much of it, just avoided making contact with it. With refugees showing up and shelters needed, we busied ourselves with that instead of worrying about this golden ichor. The discovery of its properties only came when one of the refugees made an insane decision. They had come with a group who had fled from Tcaridyi, the great worm having drilled its way through their tent city and bathed itself in the nearby lake. The poor soul had been inflicted by the beast's irritating hairs, the crimson shards stabbed into half of his body. His whole right arm was swollen to disgusting levels, and the fever he held was dangerously high. Amputation was on the table, but his burning body gave the impression that his days were quite short, regardless of what we did. He spent most of his time in the medical area of the camp, with everyone pretty much waiting for him to pass. One night, though, his fever and burning flesh drove him to madness, and he fled from his cot. Desperate and dying, he wandered to the sleeping toad and started yelling for its help. No one really knows what he was thinking, perhaps the delirium making him believe that the savior that gave him shelter could cure his sickness. Whatever madness struck him, it caused him to drive an arm into one of the warts and spray himself with the golden fluid. Man drenched himself head to toe with the stuff, much to the horror of everyone around. We busted out the hazmat suits and dragged him away to quarantine, terrified of what he just unleashed. It would be just our luck that one crazed person would ruin it all for everyone. However, the toad never woke and the coating of A.N.A. led to something far greater. Everyone expected him to die, to melt into some puddle of goo. But when one of the helping hands went in to check on them, they came stumbling back out in utter disbelief. We figured it was a scene of wretched gore that caused this reaction, as they just kept saying "Ana, Ana" as they pointed at the quarantine wing. When someone else dared peek in on our crazed patient, they too were just as shocked at what they saw. The man was getting better, the swelling having died down drastically and his skin returning to a healthy hue. Temperature checks revealed that his fever was fading, and that his vitals were reaching normal levels. The burning hairs of Tcaridyi were plaguing him no more, and the golden A.N.A. fluid brought no other damage with it. We wanted to believe that it was the ichor that cured him, but we didn't want to say it. There was no real way to prove it just yet, and we didn't want to give the sick refugees a false hope. Even more, we didn't know what side effects would occur. Perhaps he would survive this fever just to die to something even more horrible hidden with the fluid. We had to do more tests, but we weren't sure how to proceed. We couldn't just do human testing, that was immoral. However, that decision was torn from us once word leaked out of this miraculous liquid.

People with dying friends and families nearly trampled each other to get hold of some of this juice, and didn't think twice before smearing it on wounds and infected sites. We had to seal off access to our beloved toad and keep constant guard to ward off desperate families. We didn't like the idea of people bathing in this unknown ichor, and also we didn't want our one guardian to be torn apart by frantic believers. In short time, though, we couldn't deny its effects. People exposed to this fluid were getting better, the death sentences granted to them by the other diseased titans were now being lifted. When we saw what was happening, we couldn't keep it back any longer. This was another great hope, another chance for survival. Even if something horrible happened in the long run, we couldn't afford to deny this hope for others. A new procedure was set in place, with trained folks safely harvesting the fluid from the toad and giving it out to the patients in the medical ward. There was healing, there was hope. With word of this lifesaving ichor, even more people poured in, and even communication lines opened up with other places begging for samples. Our sleeping toad friend started to gain quite the following, and eventually the people gave her a name. "Queen Ana" was quite the choice, but it was fitting with her (assuming she is female) appearance and what was in the fluid that saved so many lives. The demand was so high, there was worry we would drain our beloved guardian dry. She certainly needed to replenish the nutrients we took from her, but we didn't know how. The other titans didn't really need to eat, but she was obviously different from them. Her mouth didn't look like it could open, and we weren't even sure what to feed her. She wound up solving that problem herself. One day, the skin on her chest began to slough off, revealing a nest of unsettling holes. We feared she was sick or dying, until things started to emerge from these cavities. They looked like tadpoles, but their fins fluttered like wings in the breeze. They crawled out of her in droves and took to the skies, dancing away like fairies.

We were baffled by all this, but some stuck around and revealed their purpose to us all. These offspring glided their way to those who were sickened by the other titans and landed upon their bodies. Tendrils latched onto skin and they started to feed. No one even thought of stopping them, never considering a malicious intent. The tadpoles just drained some blood and then flew on to the next patient. Days later, those touched by these creatures were regaining their health, the disease seemingly sucked out of their bodies. As for the young, once they were filled up with blood, they fluttered back home to Queen Ana and crawled back inside. Soon after, they would emerge empty and take to the skies again. It seemed that they were feeding the Queen, pulling the sickness in with blood and giving it to her instead. The many that were carried away on the winds would eventually return, drop off their cache and head back out. The healing touch was now spreading, and soon other places found relief in their presence. Even now, Queen Ana still sleeps, despite the city growing around here. With the titans kept at bay, we now can actually build something that will stand. So many people and resources continue to pour into this sprawling community, turning this rundown tent town into the last bastion for humanity. The study of Queen Ana and her fairy-like tadpoles have continued with greater purpose. There is the hope that this cure can be used to further ward off the titans and their pestilence, and that maybe its regenerative properties can be used to heal the broken land. Some think that we could replicate Ana, and create more guardians and thus more havens. Of course, we are all hesitant on that last part, lest we repeat past mistakes. But the thing that matters most is that there is hope, there is safety, and there is home. With Queen Ana with us, maybe, just maybe, we might make it after all.... ------------------------------------

“Queen Ana”

A while back I did the kaiju versions of the Children of Ana, and originally I was done there. But then @iamthekaijuking pointed out that Queen Ana herself has a form of a golden toad, and thought that would work as a kaiju as well. I liked the idea and decided to go for it, so we got one last entry here! I will note that the demon father probably won't get a form, since I have not seen any mention of what he looks like and technically his role was filled by the dead leviathan. And this new entry at least gives some hope to the poor world I created to suffer at the hands of these diseased titans.

#frog #toad #monster #creature #kaiju #children of ana #queen ana #art #drawing #trypophobia #body horror

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thebibliomancer · 10 months ago

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Essential Avengers: Atlantis Attacks Part 1

1989

Ah, geez, here we go again.

Another event made out of linked annuals. Several different writers trying to stay on the same vague page.

Silver Surfer, Iron Man, X-Men, Amazing Spider-Man, Punisher, Spectacular Spider-Man, Daredevil, Avengers, New Mutants, X-Factor, Web of Spider-Man, West Coast Avengers, Thor, and Fantastic Four.

Spider-Man still being greedy and dipping into the event three times.

Like Evolutionary War, I'll try to cover the whole event. I'll cover the non-Avengers material in a pretty cursory manner and the two Avengers annuals in more depth.

I'm here to Avenger, not look at Spider-Man hogging all the screentime.

But while working on this post I've discovered that fourteen annuals is just too many pictures to fit in one post so I'm breaking it up into two.

Silver Surfer through Avengers, New Mutants through Fantastic Four. So each post has an Avengers annual.

Let's see if Atlantis Attacks manages to string a bunch of annuals together into a half-decent story or at least manages it better than Evolutionary War.

I have zero knowledge of this event but I'm pretty sure this Atlantis Attack... isn't Namor's fault.

Scary to consider but that's the truth.

how SHARPER than a SERPENT'S TOOTH

We weirdly kick off the event with the character who least wants to be involved.

You'd think that Punisher would least want to be involved because he hates it when superhero stuff interrupts him shooting people but no. Somehow Silver Surfer wanted to be involved less.

Several galaxies away from Earth, Silver Surfer is doing what he do, surfing through space, when he loses control of his board.

It keeps trying to fly a certain direction and he finds green crap coating the bottom of the board that he can't remove.

He eventually just lets the board fly where it likes so he can figure out what the hell is going on.

The board takes him to a green dust cloud so Silver Surfer uses his power cosmic to reincorporate the cloud.

It turns out that its GHAUR GODLORD OF DEVIANT LEMURIA.

Since Silver Surfer doesn't know who that is and since Ghaur is a villain, he gladly exposits his backstory.

He was a priest of Deviant Lemura (from the Eternals book!) and when the Deviant leader Brother Toad led the Deviants into a disastrous defeat against the Eternals, Ghaur decided something drastic had to be done to give the Deviants hope again.

But the Deviants were portrayed as being always chaotic evil at this point so the thing he did to bring hope to his people was stealing power from the Dreaming Celestial and growing kaiju sized.

The Dreaming Celestial wound up taking over his brain and forced him into trying to dig it up. So the Eternals made a Uni-Mind, ripped out Ghaur's soul, and blasted it into space.

The Silver Surfer happened to fly through the soul cloud and here we are.

Silver Surfer decides Ghaur is bad news and kicks his ass.

I mean, it's actually a big action scene that goes back and forth but Silver Surfer kicks his ass. Ghaur realizes that he's getting his ass kicked in a pointless battle that has nothing to do with his sinister plan and fucks off.

Silver Surfer watches him go and decides, eh. He doesn't want to get drawn into Earth stuff. He uses his powers to send a warning to whoever manages to hear it (Dr Strange and Talisman) but he has his own business to take care of and Earth has plenty of people who can clean up the mess Silver Surfer accidentally dumped on their doorstep.

Man, you are a jerk sometimes, Norrin Radd!

But that's the story of how Silver Surfer wanted to be in this event so little that he bowed out of the story halfway through his own annual.

Meanwhile, Ghaur goes to Earth and pays a visit to Lemuria.

Not Deviant Lemuria. There's a reason why I keep calling it Deviant Lemuria and its because there's another Lemuria that's populated by mermen.

Merman Lemuria was actually introduced before Deviant Lemuria, for the record.

Ghaur finds Llyra, a teal lady and old Namor foe.

He proposes that they team-up because the Serpent Crown whispered to him when he was a space cloud and Llyra has been the prime agent of the crown here on Earth 616.

So, the Serpent Crown.

It is a hat that looks like snakes that has great power because the evil Elder God Set used it as a vessel for his power when he had to flee Earth to avoid a shitstorm he started by eating a centaur and doing the first murder.

It was introduced in a Namor story so has a lot of ties to his lore and also as a general evil artifact that bounces around the Marvel universe. It's even been in Avengers!

Because Ghaur is a villain, he exposits the history of the Serpent Crown to Llyra, who probably knows most of it already.

When Set created the Serpent Crown, he somehow created it throughout the multiverse. People that found and wore it because rulers of their world.

The Avengers had one of their punch-ups with the Squadron Supreme when two Crown wearers collaborated - Earth-616 Roxxon President Hugh Jones and Earth-712 US President Rockefeller.

If you're curious, that took place in Avengers #144, 147, 148, and 149.

It was pretty good. Patsy Walker became Hellcat during that story.

Hugh Jones got both crowns when the Avengers brought one back from Earth-712 but the Thing thwarted him and took the crown to be safely stored at Project Pegasus.

Where the crown corrupted the scientists to using dimensional cannons to summon Serpent Crowns from across the multiverse to join together into a giant Serpent Crown which threatened to resurrect Set.

But Spider-Man with a cosmic cube, Dr Strange, Scarlet Witch, and the Thing destroyed the Giant Serpent Crown, preventing Set from returning to the physical plane.

Woo.

But now Ghaur has a plan to bring about the triumph of the Serpent Crown and resurrection of Set.

But he's not going to tell us the plan yet. We have to wait.

(I'm getting deja vu of Evolutionary War.)

TWO IF BY SEA

The Atlantean attack on the surface world beings -- and an Avenger must DIE to stop them!

So, it's going to be Namor, right? Iron Man isn't currently an Avenger. I mean, every Avenger is an Avenger but he's currently trying to get the West Coast team to hire him back on.

In event plot land, Ghaur and Llyra bring their plan to Attuma, who currently rules Atlantis.

Ghaur actually goes over his plan! Which makes Atlantis Attacks already more forthcoming about its plot than Evolutionary War was!

Ghaur and Llyra are going to re-assemble the Serpent Crown and help Set manifest on Earth. When Set takes over the world, he'll definitely give it to his most loyal servants and Ghaur is offering Attuma a chance to get in on the ground floor.

All he needs is Attuma to use his armies alongside Llyra's Lemurian rebels to weaken the surface world. Especially the United States.

Attuma agrees, as long as Llyra's forces are put under his command, which she agrees to.

Meanwhile, our title boy Iron Man is shadowing some Maggia (a legally distinct Mafia) mini-subs, trying to find out why Maggia activity has been spiking lately.

The mini-subs are following a Completely Normal ship.

Flying above the ocean, Namor is trying to find the monster babies his monster wife had. Remember those? When Marrina turned into a giant sea monster and then died? And Captain Marvel lost her powers? Anyway, Namor is still looking for the babies.

He stops by the Completely Normal ship and asks if they've seen any sea monsters but the Completely Normal ship is Actually Hydra and they assume he's onto them.

They launch an attack on Namor and then blow up the ship when the Coast Guard shows up.

Iron Man joined in to help Namor when the Maggia subs fled due to the commotion.

So now Namor and Iron Man decide to work together to figure out what Hydra is up to and go to visit Tony Stark.

This lets me find out why Tony was acting weird in Avengers West Coast.

In Iron Man #242, Tony was shot and paralyzed by a stalker.

Tony Stark: "I got involved with the wrong lady. She was a bad sport. But a good shot!"

Out of his armor, he's confined to a wheelchair. So he's been spending more and more time in the armor and less and less time as Tony Stark. Which worries Rhodey.

Anyway, Tony decides to go with Namor to Panama because that Hydra ship was registered down there.

(Coincidentally, that's also where the Atlantis Attack plot is today, womp womp)

Namor spots signs of underwater military movement on the sea floor and goes to investigate that while Tony finds the building the Hydra ship was affiliated with.

Iron Man smashes his way through the building and learns from the Hydra boss that they've created a new designer drug that they're going to give away for free to make everyone in America addicted so Hydra can take over.

So Tony kills the guy, I think?? Geez, Tony.

Iron Man: "Probably shouldn't have done that. But I guess everyone gets a little self-indulgent now and then."

Geez.

Iron Man sets the warehouse on fire to destroy the drugs, which should set back Hydra's plans.

He goes looking for the other Hydra ship, full of drug cargo, when Namor reunites with him.

Namor exposes the Atlantean troops as they were trying to move in secret through the Panama canal by hiding under ships.

It is so funny to me that Atlantis Attacks is just another thing happening while Iron Man is trying to deal with the Hydra drug plot which is something that interrupted him trying to figure out what the Maggia is up to! Stuff keeps interrupting the last thing he was doing!

The Hydra ship tries fleeing so Iron Man asks Namor to go after them while he keep fighting the Atlanteans. WITH MICROWAVES. TO BOIL THE WATER INSIDE THEIR HELMETS.

Attuma orders the Omega rocket be fired at Iron Man or at whatever. It actually flies towards a tanker ship so Iron Man blocks the rocket with his body to save the crew.

The Atlanteans try to shoot Iron Man while he's down but fighter jets from Albrook Air Base come in and start shooting them mermen.

Iron Man thanks them and flies off to go help Namor but Hydra blows up their ship again, seemingly blowing up Namor.

Iron Man: "I'm going to do everything I can to uncover what's goin on between Hydra and the Maggia! I swear, Namor -- your death will not have been in vain!"

This early on in the plot, I like that the heroes still don't know what's going on. They've stumbled into the early stages of Atlantis Attacks and Iron Man gives no further thought to it compared to what he already had on his plate.

MOVING ON!

DOUBLE X CROSS

Mr. Jip? That sounds like a slur. It's not, as far as I can find out. But I don't like it.

Anyway, lets get right into the plot and then into the macguffin hunt.

The Serpent Society was hired by Ghaur and Llyra to collect four mystical artifacts. One of the items, a jeweled Cro-Magnon skull was held by a scholar of black arts called Mr. Jip.

That's him on the cover.

He doesn't appreciate being robbed so he bodyswaps Diamondback and Dazzler, for some reason.

And he doesn't like what Ghaur and Llyra are up to. So if the X-Men gather the artifacts for him, instead, he'll put Diamondback and Dazzler back in the right bodies.

Like a lot of bodyswap stories, this sucks.

Diamondback almost immediately tries to sleep with Wolverine with Dazzler's body. And spends most of the rest of the time trying to eat or smoke things Dazzler doesn't want in her body.

Anyway, the X-Men don't want to go on a macguffin hunt and since they're in the Outback era, they have a magical man who can send them wherever they want to go.

But when they try to get Gateway to send them to Mr. Jip, they instead wind up split into different teams, sent to beat the Serpent Society to the artifacts.

Dazzler-in-Diamondback and Wolverine end up in the Savage Land, where Dazzler is catty because she thinks Wolverine was going to sleep with Diamondback-in-Dazzler because the DinD snuck into Logan's room.

She runs off on her own and gets captured and is a huge burden.

Thanks, the X-Men Annual. Thanks for that.

Wolverine winds up rescuing her and fighting Puff Adder, Asp, and Boomslang almost all by himself.

Dazzler does use Diamondback's marksmanship to conk Puff Adder in the noggin when Puff Adder has Wolverine in a bear hug.

And they find the little stone race idol that they're looking for and get teleported away.

Colossus, Rogue, and Havok wind up teleported to an abandoned shopping center in Lima, Ohio and fight Anaconda, Black Mamba, and Coachwhip.

Once Havok breaks out of Black Mamba's illusion, he explodes all the potato chips at her with his plasma powers. That's pretty funny.

Once all the fights are done, they find Rock Python having just found the artifact.

But he surrenders it to them when he sees he's surrounded and has no backup.

This group of X-Men also get teleported as soon as they touch the thing.

Longshot, Diamondback-in-Dazzler, Psylocke, and Storm get teleported to Iceland to find a specific rock on a beach full of rocks.

Cottonmouth, Black Racer, Rattler, and Bushmaster also show up to look for a rock and everyone gets into a fight.

Longshot finds the specific rock, because lock powers. But Rattler causes a rockslide trying to get the rock and accidentally buries himself and Longshot.

Diamondback doesn't give a shit about Longshot and grabs the rock, getting the X-Men and her teleported to Mr. Jip's lair.

He swaps Dazzler and Diamonback back to their own bodies and the X-Men begrudingly turn over the three artifacts.

Wolverine threatens Mr. Jip when the guy dismisses their worry over Longshot, so the magic man magics Longshot to them. He had luckily fallen into a hole and wasn't crushed.

Then Sidewinder, former leader of the Serpent Society, teleports in, and he and Diamondback snatch the artifacts.

TWAS A RUSE.

Diamondback was working for Sidewinder all along and manipulating the Serpent Society for him.

(Sidewinder gives the Serpent Society 10% of the profit. Considering they failed to secure any of the artifacts and they ousted Sidewinder from the team he formed, that's not bad.)

They teleport off to sell the artifacts to Ghaur and Llyra. Mr. Jip gets annoyed at how pointless this entire adventure was and teleports the X-Men back home.

Once they're gone, he bemoans not being able to prevent Ghaur's plan, since it is going to make Dagger (of Cloak and) a target. And perhaps... Storm too.

Which is echoed when Diamondback and Sidewinder sell the artifacts to Ghaur for one chest of sunken treasure. Once the two snake-themed villains are gone, Ghaur implies that they have plans for Storm.

And the magical artifacts? Lemurian alchemists being using them to recreate the Serpent Crown!

I'm impressed that each annual so far has progressed the story in a unique way.

ABOMINATIONS!

Uh oh, Liefeld drew this annual. I flip to the first page and Ghaur is way off-model.

Ah well.

So with the artifacts the Serpent Society found last time, Ghaur has begun reconstructing a giant Serpent Crown.

But he's got other shit going on too.

His Lemurian ally Llyra has gone on a mission to free the Abomination from a Colorado jail.

(Huh. Why is this called Atlantis Attacks when its more Lemurians who are attacking? The Atlantean troops that were caught sneaking through the Panama Canal even get called a Lemurian attack force when the events get referenced. EXPLAIN THE TITLE, please.)

Llyra brought Abomination to New York and meets with Ghaur.

Abomination is still being controlled by Tyrannus, aka the lastest Western Roman Emperor Romulus Augustulus, and he wants out.

With Lemurian technology and the high voltage lines that ran to where Avengers Mansion used to be, Tyrannus is freed from Abomination by shuffling him into Emil Blonsky and Emil back into Abomination.

This wins Team Set an alliance with Tyrannus. Who I guess has stuff to offer? And also an Abomination, since he'll obey them since they can get him out of the gamma body.

Except the strain of the transfer messed up Emil's mind and now Abomination is rampaging mindlessly.

Also, the massive energy surge alerted both Spider-Man and She-Hulk who were nearby.

(In She-Hulk's case, because she was yelling at J Jonah Jameson for his shitty views on the homeless. Eesh.)

The two heroes fight Abomination but have some trouble. He's Hulk level and they're pulling their punches to avoid endangering any bystanders.

At some point, She-Hulk gets knocked unconscious briefly. Ghaur, who stuck around to watch how things played out, has identified She-Hulk as a strong lady who could be useful as "an excellent bride -- for the great god Set!"

And the creeper burns a snake mark onto She-Hulk's neck while she's briefly knocked out from Abomination punches.

She-Hulk wakes up, gets back in the fight, and throws a gasoline tanker at Abomination, which causes him to stumble off a bridge and fall onto a boat.

The two heroes decide they'd really rather not go chasing him. So they don't.

Very heroic, you two.

Two days later, a disguised Tyrannus visits a federal prison outside Washington DC to propose a deal to an imprisoned Viper.

The bad guys are still networking and the good guys still don't know what's going on.

Plus, the implied role that Storm and Dagger (and now She-Hulk) have in Ghaur's plan is as "brides of Set."

The plot thickens and by thickening, exists.

KNIGHT FIGHT

Despite the cover and the title, Moon Knight don't really fight in this. In fact, they seem pretty enthusiastic to work together. Marc even takes Frank home to see his mansion.

What they do fight is snake people, or sneople.

Moon Knight sees a man eat a gerbil in a pet shop. For some reason, this makes him suspicious and he decides to look into it. Marc follows the guy to an estate run by Save Our Society, a non-profit dedicated to curing drug addicts.

At the same time, Punisher is on the trial of a drug addict named Ralph Newton who killed a woman for her social security check. But when he checks Ralph's usual drug den, the guy isn't there. In fact, Ralph told his drug buddies that he was going to go straight and get the drug addiction cure from the Save Our Society clinic.

The two heroes run into each other when staking out the clinic and decide to team up.

Very alarmingly, they find everyone in the clinic are snake people and comic book fight scene ensues. The heroes easily having the advantage because the cold weather is making the sneople sluggish.

The two go back to Moon Knight's mansion to research and plan.

They learn that former Hydra leader Viper was released from a federal prison last month by a Dr Tyrone.

Wait, that happened a month ago? So, the Amazing Spider-Man annual was a month ago??

Anyway, the two storm the SOS estate Moon Knight scouted earlier.

Fighting the sneople is harder because they're wearing thermal packs that keep them warmed up. But harder is relative.

Viper surprise injects Punisher with drugs and then flees in a rocket when Frank goes totally nuts.

Moon Knight calms down the drugged out Punisher by showing him his shiny moonerangs and then takes him back to Spector Manor to detox.

These two are such good murder friends to each other.

They go their separate ways at the end to deal with separate business but mention they should team up again sometime.

So I'm not sure what this adds to the story. Definitely something.

Viper is making snake people, presumably for Ghaur. She escapes from Punisher and Moon Knight with plans to improve her process.

Some backup stories in the annuals have been recapping the entire history of Set and the Serpent Crown. Set did have snake people serving him in earlier times so maybe Ghaur is setting the stage for Set's return in that way too.

And now we return to Spider-Man taking more than his share of this event.

The SERPENT in the SHADOW

I wonder if team-ups are the theme of this annuals event. Minus Silver Surfer the broody loner.

Namor teamed up with Iron Man in his annual. X-Men teamed up with Diamondback. Spider-Man teamed up with She-Hulk. Punisher teamed up with Moon Knight. Now Spider-Man is teaming up with Cloak and Dagger. And looking ahead, I see that Spider-Man will also be teaming up with Daredevil.

The man is truly hogging more than his share of this event. Three annuals and also appearing in Daredevil's annual? Save some for the rest of us, Parker.

Anyway, this annual also clears up the timeline. Maybe.

Spider-Man mentions that the fight he had against Abomination was a week ago. The Atlantian/Lemurian attacks on the surface are apparently still ongoing. So either Viper's operation in the Punisher annual was in the future or Moon Knight misspoke.

Anyway, plot.

Spider-Man is looking into a Save Our Society non-profit event. Initially to take pictures to try to sell but later when he examines one of the photos, he recognizes a Sons of the Serpent tattoo on one of the SOS staff. Since the Sons of the Serpent are basically the Marvel version of the KKK, Spider-Man is very curious to see what connection they might have to the similar sounding Save Our Society.

I mean, it could just be that this dude is a reformed ex-Son of the Serpent who can't afford to have the tattoo lasered off. But, no, that's not the case.

Cloak is also looking into the Save Our Society event but because he's wondering if the SOS miracle cure to drug addiction can cure his addiction to siphoning life energy from Dagger. Which he both wants and doesn't want because he's afraid that if their powers didn't require them to hang out, she'd have no reason to be with him.

Aw, buddy, she likes you for you, most of the time I've read you two!

Cloak gets defensive when Spider-Man gets in his business and also near Dagger (because she's blind right now, she threw some light daggers at Spider-Man because it sounded like he was hurting Cloak). But the misunderstanding fight is just so they can team-up later.

Ghaur identifies Dagger as another potential bride of Set and orders Tyrannus to put the Mark of Set upon her.

Tyrannus is happy to do so because he has his own plans that plays into.

Apparently, when he's not in Abomination's body, Tyrannus has SUPER CHARISMA MIND CONTROL. He's able to easily lead Dagger away and also control Cloak when he comes looking for her.

He sends Cloak to steal the ancient Book of Kell from a museum. The book is an ancient text of the Sons of the Serpent cult and contains secrets that will make Tyrannus mightier than Ghaur.

Since he now has what he needs from Cloak, Tyrannus sends a huge number of more transformed snake people to kill Cloak.

Cloak nearly gets overwhelmed but gets saved by a mystery figure.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man investigates the lower levels of the Save Our Society building and finds a "cured" drug addict turning into a snake person.

We learn here and from Tyrannus' conversation with Cloak elsewhere in the issue that the addiction cure is a serpent serum Viper created. It does cure chemical addiction in its early stages but then it turns you into a snake people.

And from Ghaur's exposition when he decides that Dagger is one of the Set Brides, we learn that "serpent worshipers" are required for Set's resurrection.

So that's why they're making sneople.

Tyrannus surprises Spider-Man and SUPER CHARISMAS him into compliance.

Tyrannus: "You're like everyone else in the world, addict and non-addict alike. You want easy answers. You want simple solutions. You want someone to tell you what to do. And that someone, my pet... for now and ever more... is me."

This took a turn.

"A Friend in Need..."

So quick bit about Daredevil's status quo at the mo.

He's having a rough time.

Post Born Again, he had started to put his life back together when Kingpin knocked his legs out from under him again by sending Typhoid Mary into his life. Daredevil was beaten nearly to death and THEN went through Inferno where a vacuum and a dentistcoptruck demon tried to kill him. Having lost all his friends and his law clinic so decided to leave New York and travel around for a while. I think he also french kissed Mephisto somewhere in there.

So Daredevil is traveling around Monroe Falls, New York when he encounters some snake people attacking a guy who won't stop prying into what happened to his friend Wally, who joined Save Our Society.

Daredevil saves the guy but refuses to help him break into the treatment center.

At least until Dr Strange (who had been faking his death, for Dr Strange reasons) comes and asks him to help do something about a growing evil he's sensed in... whaddayaknow... the Save Our Society treatment center.

Also happening in world's colliding, Viper comes to the Monroe Falls SOS center to re-group after Punisher and Moon Knight busted up her last base.

Tyrannus (Dr Tyrone) says she's welcome to use this center until she can get back on her feet but then he pulls a double cross on her. And on Ghaur.

With the book he had Cloak steal and with Viper as a sacrifice, he's going to summon Set early and get all the good servant brownie points before Ghaur can.

When Daredevil (following Strange's request) breaks into the center to create a distraction, Tyrannus sends his hypnotized "pet" Spider-Man to stop the intruder.

He seriously has a collar and leash on Spider-Man and calls him a pet. When I said this took a turn, I meant it.

Even though acting under mind control makes Spider-Man fight at less than peak performance, he's still bouncing Daredevil off the scenery and drowning him until Matt decides he wants to live and knocks the wall-crawler out.

The Book of Kell Tyrannus is using doesn't summon Set but instead a snake demon servant of Dormammu.

Tyrannus figures a snake demon is a snake demon and turns the full force of his CHARISMA to control it but this frees Viper and she shoves Tyrannus into the pentagram to get om nom nom'd by the demon.

Dr Strange banishes the demon. Then for good measure, magically cures everyone of the snake serum, turning them back to normal and inadvertantly depriving Ghaur of all those sneople he needed.

We don't really learn more about Ghaur's big plan except that it will require a sacrifice. But this completes the subplot of Tyrannus planning his own thing within the bigger scheme. And follows up on Viper.

Eh. I really hope we get some more Atlantis in Atlantis Attacks soon, though. Like Evolutionary War, there's been a lot of drugs and not a lot of the thing promised in the title.

And that brings us back to Avengers!

AVENGERS ASSEMBLED

Which means we'll be slowing the pace down a little since Avengers is what this liveblog is actually about.

Sorry every other book I skimmed through on my way here.

(This is also the point where the cast balloons so large that I literally can't tag everyone. Just this Avengers Annual has over twenty characters...)

After working on it since the end of the X-Men Annual, Lord Ghaur and Llyra have completed their giant Serpent Crown.

In fact, it's the best Serpent Crown. Bigger and stronger and more indestructible than that other one that broke.

With the crown complete, it begins to emanate power. Which is felt by any who have worn the crown previously. We see Viper, the Thing, Scarlet Witch, mysterious armored figure from the Spectacular Spider-Man issue, and Quasar reacting to the crown.

Ghaur and Llyra call Attuma to tell him to get on that Atlantis Attacks thing already.

The attack on the surface world to keep the surface militaries and heroes distracted.

Attuma acts all gung ho about it when on the video phone with Lord Ghaur but has privately started to doubt his role in this plan. He's the big conqueror of Atlantis and all so why does he feel like a subordinate in this partnership?

He decides to take a back seat and let his lieutenants Tyrak, U-Man, Lord Arno, and Krang carry out the attacks.

So the Atlantean fleet launches and splits to attack four targets. Cape Canaveral in Forida, Fort Hamilton army base in New York, Langley Air Force base in Virginia, and the Shoreham Nuclear Plant on Long Island.

So basically just the East Coast. Well, this is the Avengers East Coast book. Although the cast list has the Avengers West Coast cast too.

The Avengers (Captain America, Sersi, She-Hulk, Quasar, Thor, and robot Human Torch Jim Hammond is here for some reason) get the reports of the attacks.

They wonder if just the six of them can handle four Atlantean armies. But luckily, this is the Every Avenger is an Avenger era and if there's any situation that calls for a mass muster, it may well be this.

And for some reason, Wasp, Dr Pym, Tigra, and Mockingbird arrive in a tiny panel on the next page.

What, they didn't fit in the big, two-page spread?

Well... Tigra doesn't?

She's still feral and locked in a cat carrier according to John Byrne so he later declares her presence in this annual didn't happen.

She's definitely in this issue and she does stuff but try to remember that you're just imagining it.

This is a pretty big crowd but we immediately cut it down a little. Quasar and the Thing are feeling under the weather (unbeknowst to them, because of the influence of the mega crown) so they're told to sit this one out.

The remainder break into four teams to tackle the four problem areas.

Black Panther, Invisible Woman, She-Hulk, and Mr Fantastic will go to Shoreham.

Robot Human Torch, Wonder Man, Scarlet Witch, the Hulk, and Sersi will go to Langley.

Dr Pym, Tigra (except she's not here, stop making things up), Hawkeye, Thor, Black Widow, and the Wasp go to Fort Hamilton.

And the Vision, Captain Marvel, Captain America, Mockingbird, and Iron Man go to Cape Canaveral.

I guess Hawkeye decided to leave the Great Lakes Avengers at home. I'm sad but also glad because I don't have to tag them.

And I also guess that Monica Rambeau got her powers back? Apparently in a Giant-Size Special one-shot Captain Marvel book? Nice. Now put her back in charge of the Avengers. She was cheated.

Team This Is Just A Fantastic Four of Invisible Woman, Black Panther, Mr Fantastic, and She-Hulk invisibly land the Fantasticar at the nuclear power plant and take the guards by surprise.

Silly hat wearer Lord Arno blind fires and manages to hit She-Hulk, despite telegraphing it so far as to yell that he's about to fire.

She-Hulk has been remarked to be acting subdued in this issue, presumably because of the Mark of Set that was secretly put on her during the Amazing Spider-Man issue.

Either way, she gets zapped and bonks into Invisible Woman, who is jarred into dropping the invisibility so an open battle it'll have to be.

Lord Arno identifies the group as the Fantastic Four ('cause it's the most Fantastic Four possible grouping you can make out of All The Avengers give or take a Ben Grimm who is out sick). And Lord Arno doesn't take the Fantastic Four lightly and immediately summons in his biggest gun.

Hey!

It's Orka, the giant Atlantean with the bad outfit. I forgot how stupid those 'teeth' around his face looked.

But it's fitting that he's involved. He was in that other Avengers Serpent Crown story, on loan to Roxxon. He beat up the entire Avengers team until Moondragon annoyed Thor into releasing even more true power. Because Thor unconsciously holds back a lot on Earth so he can hang with the Avengers?

So this guy is a tough guy and this group doesn't have a Thor.

But he's knocked on his ass two pages later with the combined efforts of She-Hulk and Black Panther picking up a random Atlantean gun.

Seeing Orka go down so quickly, Lord Arno panics and orders RETREEEEAT.

Meanwhile, a Quinjet arrives at Langley Air Force base. Wonder Man, Robot Human Torch, Hulk, and Sersi jump out and leap right into action, leaving Scarlet Witch to park the damn thing.

Wonder Man flies through the Atlantean anti-aircraft guns. Because an underwater people would definitely have anti-air.

Hulk jumps out of the Quinjet with Sersi clinging to his back and crashes through the Atlantean airships on the way down.

And I think Sersi turns herself into a rock to crash into the ground?

Scarlet Witch (after parking the Quinjet) uses her hex powers to alter the probability of two airships crashing into each other as yes.

Wonder Man tells her to take it easy because she's been out of sorts today and she tells him off for trying to mother her. Even tells him that "they're not giving out Quicksilver Awards" which manages to zing Pietro and he's not even here.

I guess giant dudes are a necessity because Tyrak (Attuma's chief spy who has a lot of abilities not related to spying like being super buff) grows giant to fight the Avengers.

Hulk and Wonder Man go to fight him as the two punchiest dudes there. But it is Robot Human Torch who strikes the biggest blow, by melting the device Tyrak was using as a power source, making him bwee-bwee-bwee shrink down so Wonder Man can knock him out.

Meanwhile, Scarlet Witch passes out from over-exerting herself. She falls right into Lord Ghaur's clutches.

He declares her another bride of Set and puts the Mark of Set on her.

What is that now...? She-Hulk, Dagger, and Scarlet Witch? With Storm suggested as another target?

Anyway.

Sersi uses her power of transmutation to turn half the Atlantean soldiers into human soldiers? Or just transmutes their outfits and skin so they look like human soldiers?? Anyway, it gets them shooting each other.

Then Moondragon and Rick Jones show up in a very baffling cameo.

I know this is one of those every Avenger ever situations but Rick Jones isn't an Avenger and isn't even an active part of this story!

Seriously. Moondragon is basically using him as a gun. She's used her mind powers to tap into Rick Jones' latent destiny force power. Remember that stuff that ended the Kree/Skrull War at least for a bit? That stuff. Moondragon uses it to knock some dudes down.

Kinda not even worth showing up for two panels, you two.

Hulk even scolds Moondragon for ruining the good time he was having and tells her to go home.

So that brings us to group 3, headed to Fort Hamilton.

Dr Pym and Tigra in Rover, the ant-head shaped airship that thinks Hank is neat, Thor and Wasp flying under their own power, and Hawkeye and Black Widow on Hawkeye's Sky-Cycle.

I love Rover. It's a shame that more hasn't been done with him up until this point.

The Atlanteans fire at the Avengers as they arrive over the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.

Thor lands and starts whirling his hammer to blow Atlantean soldiers around. But then they shoot him with an off-panel weapon.

Which wouldn't be a big deal except for Wasp pointing off-panel and going "what's that pointed at Thor?!"

C'mon.

U-Man (or Unter-Wasser Mann, apparently) leads a group of soldiers to charge on the Avengers.

But Hank just. Uses Pym Particles to shrink the entire army.

Okay, so Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Wasp help. And Tigra scoops them up.

Apparently Hank whipped up Pym Particles for everyone.

THIS WOULD INVALIDATE SO MANY TOUGH FIGHTS.

HANK, WHAT THE HELL??

Also, Thor notes that despite leading the charge, U-Man somehow vanished without a trace.

Also also, what? No giant guy this time?

And time for group 4, the final group. Captain Marvel, Captain America, the Vision, Mockingbird, and Iron Man.

Vision fists people, as he is known to do. Captain America throws his mighty shield and all who oppose his shield must yield. Mockingbird bonks people with her battle staves. Iron Man does flying hip thrusts to knock Atlanteans down. And Captain Marvel uses her energy trail to bowl them over.

NOTABLY. Captain America muses that the Vision he's fighting alongside is not like the robot-man he came to know. And that "it could chill a man to the very bone!"

I'm glad someone seems to care. WEST COAST AVENGERS.

Captain America gets the idea to start breaking the Atlanteans' helmets when he throws his mighty shield. Mockingbird follows suit and the Atlanteans deprived of their helmet water run back to the ocean.

Breaking all the helmets individually would take a while so Vision and Iron Man combine forces to blast the whole army with thermal energy.

Captain Marvel could easily have been added to this effort. Just saying.

The whole army flees into the ocean and then... they all get eaten by a sea monster?

????

Captain America: "In some bizarre, inexplicable way... it looks like the ocean has claimed its own!"

Be more alarmed by this!

A maybe explanation for this is the mysterious armored figure that shows up and decks Krang, the leader of this particular army. Then he beats the shit out of him.

I wonder who this mysterious guy is who has past history with Krang.

Maybe it's Raphael of the Ninja Turtles. He is red and angry.

Over in Atlantis, a messenger reports the defeat of all four of the armies to Attuma.

Attuma shouts that he knew this whole plan was folly and made no sense!

(Then why did you sign on?)

But having decided this Atlantis Attacks idea was flawed from the start, Attuma starts to wonder why Lord Ghaur and Llyra insisted on it. What are they really planning? And is there anything Attuma can do to screw them over??

Back at Avengers Island, several of the Avengers assemble to discuss what's been happening.

Wonder Man worries that although Scarlet Witch seems recovered from whatever was making her ill, she's still not acting like herself.

Captain America says that whatever is going on, there's nothing the Avengers can do except be ready for whatever the next move is going to be.

And since they totally have downtime right now, they should look into some of the strange occurrences of the recent past.

Presumably the other annuals.

But unbeknowst to them, the missing U-Man swims towards Avenger Island with more Atlantean troops.

Dun dun dun, continued in next week's post!

Follow at @essential-avengers and maybe like and reblog. I read through fourteen annuals in one week before discovering they couldn't all fit in one post. I'm exhausted.

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