Quasar #32 — Nick Peron

Mar 22

Mar 22 Quasar #32

1990s, Operation: Galactic Storm

Operation: Galactic Storm, Part 3: The Tomb of Mar-Vell

This story continues from Avengers West Coast #80…

Pursing a Shi’ar space cruiser, Quasar is too late to stop them from escaping through a warp gate near the Earth’s sun.[1] It’s here that the cosmic Avenger discovers that the sun is giving off unnatural solar flares and wonders if the warp gate has anything to do with it. Remembering that there is scientific expedition out this way, Quasar finds their space station: Starcore One. Getting permission to board, Quasar learns from the crew that the sun has indeed been experiencing abnormal sunspot activity. Worried that the scientists might be in danger, Quasar offers to return them to Earth. However, they all refuse to go back since this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That’s when he receives a call from Peggy Carter from his Avengers communicator. She tells them that the team recently received a call from a reservist named Starfox who has detected intruders at the grave of the late Captain Marvel.[2] He agrees to go and check it out, telling the Starcore crew how to contact him should they need to be evacuated.

As Quasar makes the quantum jump to Mar-Vell’s tomb, he decides to check in to see how Epoch, the cosmic entity he is charged with protecting, is doing.[3] While he has her, Quasar asks Epoch to look into his employee, Holly Steckley, to see if she is just Moondragon in disguise again.[4]

The issue of Holly Steckley is also the subject of conversation of Quasar’s friends, Ken Tanaka and Kayla Ballentine. Ken is suspicious of her arrival and asks Kayla what she thinks. Unfortunately, she’s not in the mood to talk about that, telling Ken that she hasn’t been sleeping well lately.[5] Suddenly, she sees the Angler following her from behind out of the corner of her eye. When she turns to confront him, there is nobody there, and chalks it up to her lack of sleep.[6]

Meanwhile, Quasar arrives at the asteroid that serves as Mar-Vel’s tomb and meets up with Starfox aboard his ship. Eros doesn’t know who is disturbing the tomb, only that an alarm he set up had been triggered. Down on the asteroid below, the two intruders are making their way to the crypt that holds Mar-Vell’s body. They are offended that the legendary Kree was buried in a tomb, as this is against his people’s customs. Suddenly, one of the intruders gets a precognitive flash but are suddenly yanked up out of the tomb by Quasar’s Quantum bands. The two intruders turn out to be Doctor Minerva and Captain Atlas, two Kree which Quasar has encountered before.[7] Quasar demands to know why they are in Earth’s solar system after vowing not to return. Atlas explains that the Kree’s current war with the Shi’ar changes things, but before he can explain why they had come, they are all ambushed by the Shi’ar’s Imperial Guard. Quick thinking, Quasar erects a dome around them with his Quantum Bands, but the sheer number of the Guardsmen makes it only a matter of time before the dome is shattered. Starfox tries to use his ability to tap the pleasure centers of the brain on their attackers, but is surprised to find that it isn’t working.

Back on Earth, at Avengers Compound in California, Captain America has called in Rick Jones and put him under their protection.[8] Rick is annoyed by this, assuring them that he would be safer with the Hulk.[9] Cap assures his old friend that he’ll be safe and sound in the protection of Wonder Man. The idea of being guarded by a Hollywood actor still doesn’t sit well with Jones.

By this time, at Mar-Vell’s tomb, Quasar’s protective bubble is shattered and they are soon swarmed by the members of the Imperial Guard. Fighting back, Quasar, Starfox and their reluctant Kree allies discover that some of the Guardsmen are immaterial. Before Quasar can figure out what’s going on he is suddenly blinded by the Guardsman named Manta. In order to protect himself, Wendell uses his Quantum Bands to seal himself in protective armor made out of quantum energy. He is soon ambushed by another Guardsman named Impulse. Eventually, Starfox is able to finds someone’s pleasure centers he can affect. This is the Guardswoman named Magique and when she goes down the majority of her teammates — except for Manta and Impulse — turn out to have been nothing more than illusions. As Quasar continues to battle Impulse, Doctor Minerva takes this opportunity to complete her mission and knocks Starfox out before heading back down into Mar-Vell’s tomb.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Kree Empire, a bitter scientist is furious that his cybernetics project had been shelved. With the empire crumbling all around them, the scientist decides to prove his superiors wrong by subjecting himself to the process. The cybernetic bonding is a success and the scientist emerges from process completely transformed. He vows that the it will be Korath the Pursuer who will restore the Kree empire to its former glory.

Back on Mar-Vell’s tomb, Quasar ruptures Impulse’s containment suit and his energy form gets loose and dissipate. Not wanting to take a life, Quasar erects a prison bubble around Impulse to save his life and does the same to the other members of the Imperial Guard. That’s when he notices that Starfox is down and Minerva and Atlas are nowhere to be seen. Racing into the tomb, Quasar catches Atlas rummaging through Mar-Vell’s grave. Atlas reveals that he has come for Mar-Vell’s Nega-Bands. After the Shi’ar’s theft of the Psychemagnetron on Earth, the Kree have sought out Captain Marvel’s old weapons to give them a leg up in their intergalactic war.

Quasar tries to get Atlas to put the Nega-Bands back, but he is ambushed from behind by Doctor Minerva. While dealing with her, Quasar is unable to stop Atlas from putting on the Nega-Bands and clashing them together. However, instead of unlocking their power, Atlas merely swaps places with Rick Jones. Appearing on the asteroid, Jones immediately begins to suffocate since there is not atmosphere on the astroid.

… This story continues in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #7

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Epoch, Kayla Ballentine, Ken Tanaka, Avengers (Captain America, Starfox, Iron Man, Hawkeye, Wonder Man), Rick Jones, Captain Atlas, Doctor Minerva, Imperial Guard (Impulse, Magique, Manta), Korath the Pursuer, Angler, Talia Kruma, Peggy Carter, Captain Marvel (corpse)

Continuity Notes

Members of the Imperial Guard stole a Kree Psychomagnotron that had been left abandoned on Earth since Captain Marvel #17. See Avengers West Coast #80.
Captain Marvel died of cancer back in Marvel Graphic Novel #1.
Quasar recounts how Epoch is the daughter of Eon. Quasar protected Eon from Quasar #1-25 and was forced to kill his mentor to save the universe. From death came rebrith in the form of Epoch who was born from Eon’s remains in Quasar #26-27.
Moondragon once sought to make Quasar her consort. To this end, she took on the civilian guise of H.D. Steckley from Quasar #11 through 25. Quasar rejected her romantic interests in Quasar #26. A new Holly Steckley showed up at Wendell’s work in Quasar #30. It’s later revealed in Quasar #49 that she is actually a Deviant named Ereshkigal.
The reason why Kayla hasn’t been sleeping very well is because, unknown to her, she has been given the Star Brand, a powerful cosmic force that Quasar brought home with him from another reality last issue and inadvertedly transferred it to her. She will make this discovery in Quasar #38. How it was passed to her isn’t explained until issue #49.
The Angler is stalking Kayla as part of a round about scheme to be restored to human form. They previously crossed paths in Quasar #3. Angler was transformed into a partially geometric form by the entity known as Geometer and has been trying to regain his lost humanity. See Quasar #51-52 for all the details.
Quasar previously encountered Minerva and Atlas in Quasar #10 when they attempted to steal his Quantum Bands.
Rick Jones was targeted by the Shi’ar in order to learn everything he knows about Captain Marvel, as seen in Captain America #398 and Avengers West Coast #80. Jones spent a prolonged period sharing an existence with Mar-Vell from Captain Marvel #17 through 51.
Rick Jones has been an ally of the Hulk dating back to Incredible Hulk #1, and the pair have been together on-and-off for years. At the time of this story, Jones reconnected with the Hulk in the Incredible Hulk #373.