Issue(s): Avengers Spotlight #38
Cover Date: Nov 90
Title: Avengers Reborn: "Curse of the cat, people"
Credits:
Roy Thomas & Dann Thomas - Writer
June Brigman - Penciler
Doug Hazlewood - Inker
Len Kaminski - Managing Editor
Mark Gruenwald - Editor

Review/plot:
This installment of the Avengers Reborn issues of Avengers Spotlight focuses on Tigra (note that this issue has been placed out of Sequence with the other Avengers Reborn issues; see the Considerations). Steve Englehart had a long run in his West Coast Avengers run showing Tigra struggling between her human and cat sides. After that was seemingly resolved, John Byrne opened it up all over again. Tigra went feral and Henry Pym shrunk her down to cat size until he could figure out what to do with her. And then John Byrne was off the book, leaving her in Limbo. So this story begins with Tigra basically as a cat. Granted one that still looks humanoid, but to start with we're dealing with an elderly lady who can't see very well.

The elderly lady's rival is a guy with a pit bull. He likes to see his dog kill stray cats. Tigra is its latest victim.

Although Tigra doesn't take it lying down.

The lady then brings the wounded Tigra to the vet so she can be put to sleep.

Before the vet gets a good look at her, Agatha Harkness shows up (Tigra was spotted by Harkness' cat Ebony before she was taken to the vet).

Harkness takes Tigra back to the West Coast Avengers compound. After a recap of Tigra's history, Harkness casts a spell to restore Tigra to her normal self. Agatha reveals that the Cat King's cure was only a cure by the standards of the Cat People, it really was intended to make her cat side dominant. Harkness' counter-spell summons the Cat People's Balkatar. Except he's not actually the Balakatar, he's Tabur, one of the High Evolutionary's New Men.

Tabur found his way to the Cat People, killed their king, and took over.

Tabur now wants to legitimize his claim to the throne by marrying Tigra ("Tigra" being an important title in the Cat People world of which Greer Nelson is the current heir). To sweeten the pot, he also has an amulet that will allow Tigra to change between human and cat forms. Tigra, still dazed from her recent experiences, almost goes along with it until she learns what he did to Agatha Harkness.

So Tigra fights back...

...and then Harkness casts a spell to take the cat soul from Tigra and put it in Tabur.

I can haz mate?

The issue ends with Tigra back in human form, but able to transform back whenever she wants thanks to the amulet.

I take the approach with these stories that they are just meant to get characters back to normal status quo. They don't have to be good, they just have to clear out the nonsense that has been holding the characters back. You don't even have to read them; you just have to know that they exist. And from that perspective, this story serves its purpose. And it's at least entertaining in the sense that it features Tigra running around like a cat, fighting pitbulls and almost getting put to sleep by a vet, all while no one notices that she's really a little humanoid. Still, it is my sincere hope that this is the last time i ever have to type "Cat People" in a review (but i know it won't be the case).

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - Tigra restored (again)

Chronological Placement Considerations: This is said to take place during the Terminus Factor annual event. The other Avengers are said to not be around due to that. But a footnote in Avengers West Coast #63 complicates that; see that entry's considerations for more. I'm saying that this story takes place prior to Avengers West Coast #63. See the Considerations there for more; i'm saying this takes before AWC #63, and during The Terminus Factor. Note that based where The Terminus Factor takes place, i've pushed this issue back in publication time and it winds up out of sequence with other Avengers Spotlight issues. That's not a problem since this is a standalone story.

References:

• Agatha Harkness has stuck around the compound to try to help cheer Scarlet Witch up after West Coast Avengers #42 to Avengers West Coast #62.
  
• The Avengers are "dealing with those repulsive Termini" in Avengers annual #19 and Avengers West Coast annual #5.
  
• Greer Nelson became the Cat in Cat #1 thanks to Dr. Joanne Marie Tumulo.
  
• Tumulo turned out to be one of the Cat People, and Nelson was transformed into Tigra in Giant-Size Creatures #1.
  
• After struggling with her cat side for a while, Tigra went feral and attacked Hawkeye in West Coast Avengers #14-15. In that same arc, the king of the Cat People seemingly restored her human side.
  
• But then she went feral again in West Coast Avengers #45.
  
• Tabur previously appeared in Marvel Premiere #42.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Poor Pitbull :(
I was ready to get worked up until the lady called out the owner for making the dog a killer so it was more the owner's fault than the dog.

One thing never made sense about this story- Agatha explains that the king of the Cat People cured her but his idea of a cure was making the cat side dominant instead of the human. The problem is, that's not what happened in West Coast Avengers 15- the king TRIED to make her cat side dominant but failed because the costume she was wearing amplified her human side's strengths. This isn't entirely Roy's fault- a letters page answer during Byrne's run makes it clear that this was Byrne's intended explanation- Byrne apparently didn't read issue 15 carefully. But Thomas should have tried to explain it somehow.