Issue(s): Avengers West Coast #96, Avengers West Coast #97
Cover Date: Jul-Aug 93
Title: "Many are called" / "Fight the Power!"
Credits:
Roy Thomas & Dann Thomas / Roy Thomas - Writer
Andrew Currie / Don Hudson - Penciler
Don Hudson - Inker
Nel Yomtov - Editor

Review/plot:
These tie-ins take an approach similar to Alpha Flight in focusing on characters not affected by / included in the events of Infinity Crusade and giving them a plot mostly unrelated to it.

We start with a training fight between Spider-Woman and Hawkgoliath which is interrupted when War Machine spots the West Coast Avengers' gardener laying in the rubble. It turns out that he got accidentally zapped by the Living Lightning in the aftermath of the Lighting seeing the giant floating cross in Infinity Crusade #1. Mockingbird joins them and they decide to search for Living Lightning. They first go to Scarlet Witch, who acts weirdly and then disappears.

Similar situation with USAgent...

...and basically again with Living Lightning.

The left behind heroes hear from the Vision that other heroes are going missing as well. But before they can figure out what to do about that, Goliath and Mockingbird are attacked by multiple Quantums.

As usual, the difference between what we see in the tie-in and the core Infinity book is pretty jarring. That's not to say that it's contradictory, but the violence feels out of place. And aside from the ending, that's mostly what issue #96 covers, so there's not a lot of value to it. Issue #97 is where we get into the totally unrelated Quantum story. The plot delves into the weird convoluted continuity of Quantum, which i guess was catnip to Roy Thomas. It is interesting though because it seems like a rare case where Thomas is delving into continuity that is relatively new.

The "Power Platoon" each have a different power. I would not be shocked if they were based on some other super hero team, but i don't want to try to figure it out (for what it's worth, at one point it's said that it's like fighting X-Factor, X-Force, and the X-Men all at the same time).

Ladies and gentlemen, i give you the dumbest cop in the Marvel universe:

Mockingbird remembers that Hawkeye previously used a smoke arrow to block out the sun to defeat the original Quantum, and luckily Goliath still carries his bow and arrows with him, so he tries the same trick, and it works. War Machine then wraps them up in some metal. WTF this sunblock comment!

Interestingly, War Machine recognizes the Power Platoon as Quantum clones. Tony Stark was with the team when they originally fought Quantum.

At this point it's said that the Goddess' suppression of crime has been in effect for several hours. Also, with the success of the smoke arrow, Clint wonders if it's time to go back to being Hawkeye. Skrull alert!

To try to figure out what to do with their captives, Mockingbird reviews files from Quasar and learns about Wundarr/Aquarian, who is also a Dakkamite like Quantum and the Power Platoon.

It is quite a lot of backstory for some minor villains.

Then Quantum, still in triplicate arrives, and he's brought Aquarian with him. Actually Aquarian has been reverted to Wundarr and is under Quantum's control.

This begins another round of fighting, and since these guys are like Superman level powerful, it's tough going. Quantum himself is intangible and is unable to join the fight, but Wundar gets the other Dakkamites free. But you might remember that the Goddess' violence suppression is supposed to be in effect. The way that translates is while Wundarr was trying to free his fellows, he could fight the Avengers. But once Quantum orders the Dakkamites to kill the Avengers, they all stop. And then leave, with Quantum himself being unaffected but unable to do anything in his intangible state. So the Avengers are saved by the Goddess. Spider-Woman - who at this point is with the gathering of heroes - calls on a monitor to say it's because they were "switching from a more defensive mode -- to an aggressive one". I don't think that's exactly how it is presented anywhere else, but ok.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: This issue begins with the heroes being recruited by the Goddess and the West Coast Avengers that have been left behind searching for them. But it ends while the Goddess' crime/war suppression effect is in place. So i'm placing this after Infinity Crusade #2. Spider-Woman is sent to Four Freedoms Plaza as a "representative" at the end of issue #96 while the others continue to search for their missing teammates (hopefully there's a note on the door telling her to go to Avengers Mansion, which is where everyone really is).

References:

• The Avengers first worry that the gardener has been laying in the rubble since the attack by Klaw and "that Russian" in Avengers West Coast #93. But i think the rubble itself is because the compound still hasn't been fully repaired after the attack by Ultron in Avengers West Coast #89-91.
  
• The heroes were recruited by the Goddess in Infinity Crusade #1.
  
• Hawkeye previously used a smoke arrow to defeat Quantum in West Coast Avengers #12.
  
• The Quasar file that Mockingbird reviews covers information from Fear #17 and Quasar #4, and Quasar #14.

Crossover: Infinity Crusade

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A