Tuesday, December 19, 2017

"Lemuria Attacks" would've been a worse title, if more accurate here.


I haven't blogged a chapter of Atlantis Attacks for some time, but I had the final installment waiting for me, so I scheduled this for some ways out: from 1989, Fantastic Four Annual #22, "For Crown and Conquest" Written by Roy Thomas, pencils by Rich Buckler, inks by Tony DeZuniga.

With Set dismembered by Demogorge the previous chapter, Ghaur and Llyra are playing defense, even though they still have their captured "Brides of Set" and a giant Serpent Crown; as the Avengers and Fantastic Four make their final push to beat them. Ghaur no longer has the Power Cosmic, but they still have an army of Lemurians, and the outside chance that sacrificing the Brides will manifest Set. Llyra does get another setback with the return of the believed-dead Sub-Mariner, who then gathers the FF (minus the captured Invisible Woman) to fight past a lower airlock; but Ghaur then uses the Serpent Crown to turn them against each other. Llyra tries another tactic, claiming she could use the Crown's power to resurrect one of Namor's lost wives, either the Lady Dorma, or Marrina, if he smashes the other one. Choosing neither, Namor instead recovers Namorita: Llyra had hoped to trick him into killing his cousin.

Ghaur turns up the Crown's power (leaving Llyra hanging out to dry, although she escapes) but is then confronted by the returning spirit of Naga, who had been killed while using the Crown years ago. Fighting it out, the two destroy each other, and the freed Brides push the Crown into a crevice to be crushed. (There's a slight nod to continuity: Storm is recognized, even though she was also believed dead at the time.) Reunited with his cousin, Namor tells the assembled heroes he plans go with her, and not rejoin a team or look for the Atlanteans. Which I would've thought would lead to Namor hanging out with the New Warriors, but he'd be getting his own book again in about a year. Still, a slightly underwhelming finish to the whole crossover.

Also this issue: "Savior of the Lost Artifacts!" (Written by Mark Gruenwald, pencils by Tom Morgan, inks by Mike DeCarlo.) As Reed and Sue host the dedication ceremony for the brand-new Four Freedoms Plaza, Reed doesn't feel at home, missing the Baxter Building. (It had been destroyed by Kristoff, re-running Dr. Doom's old plan to launch the building into space.) Sue comments on the keepsakes and such they lost, when a massive pile of them appear! Old uniforms, Fantasticars, Dr. Doom's time machine, all saved from the Baxter Building--but by who? Then, Stan Lee stars in "Mission: Impossibleman" (Written by Gregory Wright, art by Hillary Barta) and the final chapter of "The Saga of the Serpent Crown" recap. (Written by Peter Sanderson, pencils by Mark Bagley, inks by Keith Williams.)

2 comments:

SallyP said...

Ah yes,Atlantis Attacks. I remember it vaguely, but I think I had pretty much given up on the Avengers at the time.

Mr. Morbid's House Of Fun said...

Huh. Guess I'm not missing out on anything seeing as how I never really read all of this myself. A flat ending you say? Even back then? Huh. And yet nothing's really changed as far as that goes since Marvel's had those same issues even now.

I guess come to think of it, the Acts of Vengeance one (that I still love) pretty much ended with a whimper too.