Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Avengers #209
Issue(s): Avengers #209
Cover Date: Jul 81
Title: "The Resurrection Stone / Love ... and death! / Doom in the dark ages! / Rosenblatt's dance! / The cost!"
Credits:
J.M. DeMatteis - Writer
Alan Kupperberg - Penciler
Dan Green - Inker
Review/plot:
A fill in issue of the Avengers between Michelinie and Shooter's runs.
The Beast's girlfriend Vera is poisoned by a Skrull (Jarvis Skrull alert!)...
...in order to force him and the Avengers to hunt down an artifact called the Resurrection Stone. The Avengers gather up its various pieces which have been strewn across time.
The shards of the Resurrection Stone allow only a partial resurrection, so the Avengers fight some medieval zombies...
...but the most grotesque thing they encounter is during the Holocaust. After showing up to help US forces to fight some Nazis...
...and some light-hearted joking to set up the mood...
...we encounter this.
Horrifying and in my opinion a bit exploitative (it's handled well enough).
In the end the Beast has a change of heart and refuses to hand over the stone, destroying it instead, even if it means Vera's death. Luckily (or, looking at it differently, too conveniently, since it reduces the impact of the Beast's choice), Mr. Fantastic is able to at least slow the effects of the poison, leaving open the possibility that Vera be cured at some future date.
Quality Rating: C-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP places Avengers annual #10 after this issue.
References:
- Vera was last seen long ago in Hulk #161. Apparently they met recently in a Soho club. The Beast hasn't exactly been... faithful (although i guess Vera was dating the Mimic in that Hulk appearance, too).
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
Inbound References (2): showCharacters Appearing: Beast, Jarvis, Mr. Fantastic, Scarlet Witch, Vera Cantor, Vision, Wonder Man Previous:
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Comments
That Holocaust scene was very disturbing. Very intense reading though.
As I recall, there's an entire dialogue online from a few years ago with Kupperberg about the sensitivity or lack of it regarding the Holocaust scene on 20th Century Danny Boy's blogspot.
Compare 180 to 200 and 200 to 220, what a catastrophe. If it wasnt Roger Stern picking up steam later with John Buscema...
