BHOC: AVENGERS #187

I picked up the newest issue of AVENGERS on my now-weekly Thursday trip to the Stationery Store. The book was on something of a roll right at that moment, in the midst of a three-part adventure sorting out the backstories of the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver (or trying to–later developments would overturn some of the revelations made in this storyline.) This was also the first time that the Scarlet Witch went bad, though here she’s possessed rather than acting of her own accord. In later years, this too would become a theme that was returned to more than once. In any event, it was a series that I was regularly enjoying, so no real thought went into laying out my four dimes for this latest issue.

AVENGERS was mostly being written by David Michelinie at this point, but for this continuity-heavy story, Mark Gruenwald and Steven Grant stepped in to take care of the plotting. I have to also assume that penciler John Byrne also had a hand in the plot, as he typically did on his assignments from around this time. Byrne was paired here with Dan green as his inker. While Green wasn’t quite so seductively sharp in his line as Terry Austin, he was still a good and polished match for what Byrne was putting down. The book looked good.

Plotwise, as this is the concluding chapter of a trilogy, we hit the ground running. The Avengers are running too as the story opens, racing to far-off Transia in response to an urgent call for help from Quicksilver received last issue. But there’s an unnatural storm brewing over Transia that quickly knocks out the Qunjet’s engines, forcing the team to bail out. All except Wonder Man, who figures he’s indestructible enough to survive the crash and offers to stay behind and guide the ship away from any populated areas. When the Beast wants to remain with his buddy, Wondy straps his own rocket-belt onto the Beast and sends him hurling out of the plummeting Quinjet to safety, though he lands some distance from the rest of the team. Meanwhile, having reached the ground, the Avengers are attacked by Modred the Mystic, who has been sent to capture them for his master, Chthon. So we break out in a fight sequence as the Avengers tackle this mystic menace.

The Avengers do a credible job of laying the smackdown on Modred, though it’s a battle that occupies several pages as one by one the individual Avengers are trounced. Finally, though, it’s the overlooked Wasp who delivers the coup de gras, zapping Modred into unconsciousness. But there’s no time for celebration, as Janey Van Dyne herself is similarly zapped by a figure that turns out to be the Scarlet Witch, now completely possessed by the demonic Chthon. She’s already put the kibosh on Wonder Man after he crawled out of the wreckage of the Quinjet, and now she transports the stricken Avengers up Wundagore Mountain to where she’s ready to enact a spell that will let Chthon dominate the world. We get a reprise of the cover image at this point, as the assorted Avengers are hung upside down like Christmas Tree ornaments.

This being Gruenwald’s show, we then get a three-page recounting of the details of the history of the Darkhold, the mystic book of evil first established in the pages of WEREWOLF BY NIGHT. Gruenwald and Grant thread the needle of a bunch of previous stories to lay out the story of the dark book and its connection to Chthon–as well as Chthon’s connection with the Scarlet Witch, which goes back to the moment of her birth. The text establishes that Chthon was the reason why Wanda’s mutant hex powers would occasionally ebb over the years, in the hopes that she might turn to actual sorcery to augment her abilities, as she did under writer Steve Englehart. This has opened up the doorway for Chthon to inhabit Wanda as a vessel.

But before Chthon can get on with his enchanting, he’s interrupted by a member of the Knights of Wundagore on a flying techno-steed. This is actually the Beast, who found the remains of the Knight and his vehicle where he landed on the mountainside, and commandeered it (though why he suited up in the dead Knight’s armor as well before knowing he might need it will remain a mystery for the ages.) The Beast is able to put his lance through the Darkhold book, breaking the spell holding the Avengers, so a free-for-all breaks out. But even all together, the assembled heroes can’t seem to do much to harm Chthon. At a certain point, Django Maximoff, Wanda and Pietro’s father who had brought them to Wundagore in the first place (and who had mostly been overlooked in this issue up until now) pulls out the doll in which he’d been able to capture Wanda’s soul in the first place. And by concentrating, he’s once again able to summon Wanda’s essence to the figuring. But this proves too much for him, and he collapses.

Quicksilver attempts to use the doll to swap Wanda’s soul back into her body, but he doesn’t have the spiritual juice to get the job done, not on his own. But the Avengers assemble, all focusing their efforts on making the swap, and together they prove to be enough to get the job done. Back in her own body, Wanda brings down a portion of the Mountaintop upon the figure, in which now resides the essence of Chthon, burying it forever (or at least that’s the idea. Of course Chthon came back again in later years, multiple times.) And that’s about it. Django Maximoff perished in his efforts to save Wanda, so the Avengers bury him, and they leave the now-mindless Modred in the care of the New Woman Bova who had been Wanda and Pietro’s midwife when they were born. And that wraps up this tale.

The Avengers Assemble letters page this time includes two pieces of correspondence that are of some small note. The first letter by Bruce McCorkindale takes up a challenge delivered on an earlier letters page by future Avengers writer Kurt Busiek, who bemoaned the lack of substantial critique on recent letters pages. Also responding was future Eclipse Comics publisher Cat Yronwode, who was also a huge Marvel fan throughout the 1970s.