Too Many Answers, Not Enough Time
Though we have postulated throughout this reflection the crossover is an impressively-plotted story, we have admitted a couple of places seem not to fit. This issue clears up one such point but replaces it with another. Still, only a couple of niggling points in a 19-part crossover (with a prelude and multiple epilogues) is an impressive feat. The cover, likewise, is a smidge misleading, but it is better understood not as an indicator of what happens inside the issue but what happens directly after it.
The issue begins with the confusing part: when last we saw Lilandra, she was expressing her shame for attacking the Kree with little apparent provocation and clamoring for the recall of the Nega-Bomb. However, apparently her magnanimity does not apply to the Starforce: clearly she wants them dead. Likewise, despite all the mutuality of the Avengers and Imperial Guard during their recent duel with the Starforce (Thor 446), the amity is short-lived as tensions boil over rapidly. Again, unfortunately, it is mainly Thor’s fault: he clobbers one of the Guardsmen, again infuriating Captain Marvel, again setting the rest of the Imperial Guardsmen off – battle ensues, this time without the Starforce. As confusing as it appears to be, if one remembers the result of the recent battle was not genuine camaraderie but an uneasy truce, it’s not all that surprising, especially if Thor refuses to be mature. It does provide the next enjoyable two-page splash while we are treated to a variation on the Avengers’ battle cry: this time it’s “Avengers Attack!” a telling difference, considering the diminishing morality involved in every side of this galactic storm. The winds of war are swirling in all directions, debilitating everyone, including allies.
The impetuousness of this new generation of Avengers finally brings one positive result: Living Lightning, fed up with Prime Minister Araki (whose line is accidentally given to Lilandra), blasts him with a bolt of lightning. Instead of knocking him out, it reveals Araki is actually a Skrull! Clearly the Skrulls have played a much more active role in this war than all have suspected. The revelation brings an immediate cessation to the conflict and helps restore Lilandra’s previous mood of negotiation for peace. She awakens Ultimus from stasis (in which the Starforce have been kept) and asks him to be her messenger back to the Kree. We have seen Ultimus throughout the series be more introspective and honorable than the rest of the Starforce, and he shows his philosophically mature side again here. Despite the positive turn things seem to be taking, Lilandra informs everyone of what we already knew: the Skrulls have hijacked the Nega-Bomb.
Meanwhile, the narrative oscillates back to the homeguard, and our early confusion is cleared up for us. In the previous AWC issue (though way back in part nine), we saw a fake Dr. Minerva depart with Captain Atlas and then learned the real Dr. Minerva was still a captive of the Avengers. The next time we saw her (part 12, Avengers 346), she was safely on Hala with the rest of Starforce. We assumed Shatterax rescued her like he did Atlas, but now we are told the AWC actually let her go in exchange for her brief assistance in tracking the escaping Shi’ar. It’s a small point, and many may consider it not worth belaboring, but the fact the creative teams did such a good job keeping track of all the little plot/characters strands is another aspect to the impressiveness of this crossover. The AWC have returned home, since the East Coast Avengers don’t have many prisoners left to watch. With the crossover winding down, this enables the creative teams to give a few panels to the foreshadowing of future stories. Here, while Spider-Woman takes a walk and ponders the present state of her life (apparently one of the requirements of being a superhero in the ’90s was a miserable private life), a trio of mysterious spidery watchers (whom we later find out to be three members of Deathweb) discuss how they will soon destroy the AWC and disappear into the night.
The scene shifts again to the Nega-Bomb. Vision relates to Wonder Man their present status: the Skrulls have hijacked the bomb and are taking it through the Earth’s stargate into Kree space, reminding us it was this very behavior that brought the Avengers into this dispute in the first place. Returning to the impressive issue connection style that began this crossover, the issue ends with the Shi’ar Avengers preparing to seek out the Nega-Bomb (as indicated on the cover). Quasar calls to tell them he knows where it is, sending us directly to the next installment in Quasar’s own series. Despite the at-first confusing elements of the issue and the initially flimsy excuse for another battle scene, AWC 82 is a great example of characterization utilized well to tell an interesting story, balancing several plot threads and diverse character conflicts in one full issue.