"Yes. But have we acted too late, Lord
Chaos? Is there still time to correct the error, to restore the
balance?"
"We can only hope that there is,
Master Order. For is it not our own error we seek to
correct?"
"As you say, Lord Chaos. We indeed
acted in haste in selecting our champion of chaos, and in empowering him to such
a degree."
"Still, Master Order, never could
we have suspected that he would find so much success, so
quickly."
"So true, Lord Chaos. And thus the
Golden Age of the Universe, which we sought to delay, to temper, to restrict,
now threatens never to be born at all. And once the Earth lies a dead and
burned-out husk, the forces which opposed it will surely turn upon one another,
in a great paroxysm of violence and death such as the universe has never
witnessed."
Silence, for a time. Then, finally, the giant, bloated
form of Lord Chaos spoke again:
"Yet still there is
hope, Master Order. We have our new champion. And great Chronos has become aware
of the situation, as well. Would the one known as Drax have entered play without
Chronos's knowledge? And even now, Chronos acts, bringing yet another piece onto
the board."
"Yes. We shall see, Lord Chaos. We
shall see."
"Before we go any farther," Genis was saying, "Let's just get one thing out
of the way up front."
They sat around a fire Genis had started amidst a
pile of wood. Ms. Marvel had felt it best that they remain hidden in the woods
while they discussed the situation. The huge flying saucer lay, half-buried from
its crash, nearby.*
*Don't tell me you've forgotten last issue already? --
Van
"What would that be?" the
Destroyer asked.
"Dad's records show that you once tried to kill him.
Something to do with Thanos, I think."
"Ah, yes. I do
recall that incident," Drax replied. "I mistakenly
believed that he, rather than Warlock, had killed Thanos. And killing Thanos was
the only reason for my existence."
"I'm just making sure you don't
still hold a grudge," Genis continued.
Drax smiled wryly. "Fear not," he replied. "I settled my
differences with Mar-Vell equitably, and bear no grudge against his
progeny."
"Ummm.... Okay, then." Genis
nodded.
"Was?"
Drax and Genis both turned to Carol. "What was that?" Drax asked.
"You said killing
Thanos 'was' the only reason for your existence. Not 'is.' 'Was.'"
Drax
seemed to consider the question, as if for the first time. Finally, he replied,
"That is correct."
"But--and I hesitate to
tell you this-- Thanos is alive again."
"I'm quite
well aware of that. Just because it occurred during my brain-damaged, Alf-loving
phase, doesn't mean that it escapes my recollection now."
Carol's
eyes bored in on him. "And... you don't feel the urge to rampage across the
galaxy in search of him?"
"... No. I do not."
Drax frowned, as if pondering his own answer. "How
odd."
Carol glanced at Genis; Genis shrugged. She refocused on the
Destroyer. "So-- back to our original question. What were you doing on that
ship? How did you become restored to your previous condition?"
Drax
pursed his lips. "I'm afraid there are some things I cannot
remember, after all. The last I recall, I was with... Moondragon...?" He
shrugged. "Still, I'm glad to be rid of that bulky form I
briefly occupied." He directed an index finger towards a nearby oak tree.
Red energies surged around the finger, and a beam lanced out, annihilating part
of the tree with a massive blast and scattering the rest. "And I see my powers are back to normal, as
well."
"But you don't remember being taken prisoner?"
"...No, I'm afraid not," Drax replied absently. He gazed
upward, at the star-filled sky, as if contemplating something... something
very disturbing...
Hercules stumbled into the men's room of the bar. He'd spent most of the
evening regailing the ladies of the establishment with his heroic tales, while
they fawned over his muscles and took advantage of his seemingly limitless
Avengers-backed credit line. Now he found his way to the sink and peered into
the mirror, splashing water into his bleary eyes and moaning.
"Uhhhrrrr.... How weak this mortal frame, compared with mine previous
godly form. Such a tiny capacity for the fruits of the cask and the keg! Bah!
Verily, I grow somewhat-- disoriented-- simply from the quaffing of only a
tiny-- uh?"
Hercules peered into the mirror again, saw the colors
swimming about, and blinked. "What manner of vision comes to me now? Bah--tis
nothing but mine slightly-inebriated mind, playing tricks on
me."
Ignoring the image forming in the mirror, Hercules shambled over to
the urinal. The image in the mirror faded.
"Ahh. Mine immortal
constitution would never have allowed such base indignity as to compell me to
excuse myself to the men's room with such galling... frequency." Hercules
glanced up, saw the sports page tacked to the wall above the urinal, and let his
eyes play over the color photos of football players. "Verily, this is a sport
for man and god alike! Would that Olympus's architecture could have better
survived the last game I organized there-- eh?"
The photo swam, blurred,
and changed. Steve Young's face darkened, swelled, grew to encompass the entire
newspaper page. A look of anger clouded over it. "HEAR
ME!" it cried.
"AHHH!!" Hercules stumbled back, then quickly
regained his wits and zipped his trousers. "What manner of
demon--?"
"I am Chronos, Olympian. Father to Zeus
himself! And you are my... grandson."
"Chronos?" Hercules squeezed
his eyes closed, mentally running over the list of beverages he had consumed
earlier. "What--?"
"Listen well, son of Zeus. For I
have a task for you."
At that moment another customer stumbled
into the men's room. He glanced at Hercules, glanced away; glanced back at Herc,
then at the stormcloud-shrouded face of Steve Young protruding from the sports
page. He blinked, put a hand to his mouth, and dashed back out through the
doorway.
"A task? But in truth, at present, I have little power. I am
merely mortal now, upon the wishes of my father."
"Still you possess power, Hercules. And spirit-- though perhaps at
times such as this, it lies hidden beneath an alcoholic
haze."
Hercules bristled. "What task, Chronos?" he asked
skeptically.
"One of truly heroic proportions,
Olympian." Steve Young's face grew less angry, less godlike, and spoke
again.
Two minutes later, Hercules was on his way to Avengers' Mansion,
and twenty minutes after his arrival there, aboard a spaceworthy quinjet,
outward bound.
"And that's pretty much it, Drax," Ms. Marvel concluded. "We're searching
for this 'Enemy,' but we don't have much to go on."
Drax nodded. "Many could fit the profile you describe. Thanos, for example. Or
a dozen others."
"We both feel strongly that Thanos is not behind
this," Carol interjected.
"Yeah," Genis agreed. "He's been involved in a
number of schemes since Dad first began investigating this. Besides, my cosmic
awareness-- yeah, I'm still getting used to it, but I'm already picking up on
when something's true and when it's way off base -- it just says, 'No
Thanos.'"
Drax looked back at Genis a moment, then nodded and looked
away.
"In any case, our next stop is pretty clear, now," Genis stated.
"Titan."
"Titan?" Carol frowned.
"It is
logical," Drax muttered.
"Because...?"
Genis shrugged.
"This ship is our only clue so far. But the Zyrgor sure sounded like he was
talking about our guy. And those two races-- no way they should be cooperating
with one another. Something's up. Now that we have a tiny shred of evidence to
work with, maybe Mentor-- or Isaac, the computer-- can come up with
something."
Carol nodded. "Okay. Good." She smiled wistfully. "I wouldn't
mind a trip to Titan, anyway. It only seems fitting, after all the time Mar-Vell
spent there, that I should at least drop in."
"What about you, Drax?"
Genis asked. "Any plans?"
"I have a subliminal,
subconscious rapport with Chronos, the vast entity who exists throughout this
universe all at once. Chronos, that enigmatic being who first caused me to
become the Destroyer, and gave me my only purpose, my only reason for
existence." Drax's cold, lonely eyes met Genis's, and bored in with
lethal intensity. "Now I sense, with every fiber of my
being, that Chronos has a new task for me. And it lies parallel with your
own."
Genis's eyes widened. "So-- you mean you're going with us,
then?"
"...Yes."
Genis glanced at Ms.
Marvel; Carol frowned, but shrugged. "Okay," the young hero replied firmly. "We
welcome the help." He held out a hand, and, hesitantly at first, but then with
determination, Drax clasped it. Carol added hers as well.
"Things are
looking brighter," Genis stated firmly. "I think we're finally on the right
track."
"But how will we get there?" Carol asked.
Genis frowned.
"First," he said, "we need the sun to come up."
Genis-Vell, Ms. Marvel, and Drax the Destroyer rocketed through
interplanetary space.
"I hope S.H.I.E.L.D. has fun with that flying
saucer," Ms. Marvel was saying. "I'd rather have turned it over to the Avengers,
but they were busy, and I don't think it needed to sit there in the middle of
New Jersey any longer than it did."
"Ahh-- S.H.I.E.L.D. is a government
agency," Genis replied. "They'll just stick the ship in a warehouse somewhere
and deny the whole thing."
Ms. Marvel looked around, at the mammoth
planet Jupiter receeding behind them. "I have to admit, Genis, you were right
about this. I wasn't sure I was physically up for a trip like this, but...
Wow."
The golden sparkles of Genis's nega-bands surrounded both him and
Carol in a bright nimbus, keeping them safe from the vacuum of space and
providing the extra power to boost their personal means of propulsion to such a
high velocity. Drax raced along nearby, under his own power.
"It was just
a matter of borrowing enough energy from the sun, and storing it in the
nega-bands, to make the trip," Genis replied. "I learned how to do it from one
of Dad's recordings. He used it for this same trip we're making, at least once."
*
*In the now-classic
CAPTAIN MARVEL #58-59 -- Archivist Van
"Indeed," Drax added, "for I
accompanied him on one of those journeys. I came to know him, and to respect
him, during that time."
Genis started to reply, but suddenly his
eyes widened, and he jerked his head around.
"Genis-- what is it?" Ms.
Marvel asked. Then she jerked around as well. "Enemy! They're bearing down on
us!"
"Wha--?" Drax stopped himself almost dead
in space, crimson energies flaring about his fists. "Where?"
Genis pointed in the direction of an
asteroid floating nearby. "THERE!"
A seeming army of armor-clad beings
was swarming out of the asteroid, and rocketing towards the three warriors.
Energy beams crackled through the void.
"We have to spread out," Ms.
Marvel cried. "I have enough energy stored up, Genis--I'll be okay.
Go!"
Nodding, Genis flashed away from Carol's side and swooped out to
flank the attackers. A group split away from the main body and came after him.
Drax had executed the same maneuver on the other side, moments earlier, and now
the enemy was divided into three clumps; but still, each clump contained over a
dozen attackers.
Ms. Marvel smashed the facemask of the first to approach
within swinging distance, then darted beneath the next. "Any idea who they are?"
she called, over the photonic link which still connected the three. "My seventh
sense isn't giving me much clue."
"Degenerates from
many races," Drax replied, ringing blow upon blow across the armor of the
aliens closest to him. "The same assortment of scum and
riffraff that served Thanos during his campaigns." As if fueled by a new
hatred, Drax unleashed a titanic bombardment of energy into his adversaries.
Reeling, the attackers on that flank fell back.
Genis continued to probe
with his new cosmic awareness even as he battled. "They're agents of the Enemy,
all right," he called out.
Carol glanced his way, even as she smashed the
helmets of two attackers together. "But can you sense WHO--?"
"--No, not
yet-- AARRHHH!" Genis reeled under the impact of twin bolts from his attackers.
"GENIS! Are you okay?" Ms. Marvel smashed through a wall of foes and
raced towards him.
"Unhhh-- yeah, I think so. Serves me right for not
paying enough attention..." He fired twin photon blasts in the direction of his
attacker and was rewarded with a hit.
Having driven the attackers on his
side back, Drax blasted away at the central group, upon which Ms. Marvel had
already inflicted much damage. Genis handled the other side, his efforts
redoubled after his wounding. Soon enough, the still-conscious portion of the
attacking horde was reduced to a manageable sum, and the three warriors
surrounded them.
Drax had one in an iron grip. "Who
is your master?" he demanded. "Who--"
But the alien slumped forward, dead.
"They're killing
themselves!" Genis cried. "Not again! Stop th--" He sighed. "Too late. They're
all gone. All of them."
Ms. Marvel smacked her fist into her palm.
Drax hurled the corpse away, spinning into the night. "We must search the aster--"
The asteroid base
exploded.
Genis yelled in anger. "What good is cosmic awareness if it
only tells me things when it's too late to do anything about them?"
Carol
patted him on the shoulder. "You'll get better at it. I'm sure your dad
struggled with it at first, too."
Genis nodded reluctantly. "Well, Eon
did say I was only granted a small portion of the awareness.* I guess he wasn't kidding."
* C.M. #63 -- Van
Drax pointed. "Titan lies ahead. Perhaps we had better make
haste."
Genis and Carol nodded. The three rocketed toward Saturn,
and its largest satellite just beyond.
And on a video monitor aboard a
vast alien starship, a set of dark, calculating eyes followed
them...
NEXT ISSUE: Genis's reunion with
Elysius! But-- is all well with mom? Eros meets Ms. Marvel! (Uh oh...!) Plus
Mentor, Isaac, and a host of Titan-ic guest-stars! All this--plus, who's been
drinking all the wine on Titan? Three guesses, effendi! And, oh yeah, the
Enemy still lurks! It's more action than we can safely cram into one comic!
Don't miss, "A GATHERING OF HEROES!"
POSTMARKED: PAMA
Here we are at issue three of the new era of
Captain Marvel and Company, and response to the book seems great so far! Let's
get right into this month's missives. Take it away, Matt!
Well, Van, I've never owned a Mar-Vell comic in my life.
Come to think of it, I think the only Mar-Vell story I've ever read was that
twinkie ad with what I think were giant fleas.... Anyway, I never gave the
character much thought until I joined the [Avengers Mailing] list and heard
others talk about what a great character he is. None of the local shops seem to
have any back issues, which is a shame, so my introduction to the world of
Mar-Vell (and now Genis-Vell) was Captain Marvel #s 63 and 64. And a fine
introduction it was.
I found these two issues to be very accessible. The
characters are likeable, the mystery of the villain is intriguing, and I'm
especially curious about the Hercules subplot. Good progression of the story
from the first issue to the second without giving too much away too soon. I'll
look forward to the rest. Keep up this quality and you may have another Captain
Marvel convert!
Cheers, Matt
p.s. I have seen the Untold Legend
of Captain Marvel mini at one of the shops. Is it worth
getting?
Thanks for the kind words, Matt! While we
don't have any giant fleas coming up in the foreseeable future, I hope you like
what we do have-- which is cosmic action a-plenty!
Hercules? Don't
worry-- he got a somewhat startling (and unorthodox) revelation in this very
issue, and you can expect to see him again very, very soon. Next issue, in fact!
And as for the "Untold Legend of Captain Marvel" series, this is how I
view it. It was a very '90s Marvel take on a classic character. It wasn't
horrible, and in fact, Mar-Vell received a heroic handling befitting his memory
and his character. While not a classic by any means, it's worth getting if you
like Mar-Vell, especially in his green-and-white Kree military
phase.
That about does it for this month. Join us here in sixty for more
trouble on Titan! --Van
