Issue(s): Solo Avengers #18
Cover Date: May 89

Hawkeye
Title: "When you wish upon a Star!"
Credits:
Howard Mackie - Writer
Ron Wilson - Penciler
Don Heck - Inker

Moondragon
Title: "Will you won't you will you won't you--?"
Credits:
Peter Gillis - Writer
James Brock - Penciler
Roy Richardson - Inker

Gregory Wright - Managing Editor
Mark Gruenwald - Editor

Review/plot:
Howard Mackie replaces Tom DeFalco as the writer for the main Hawkeye features, and begins by addressing a dangler from Steve Engelehart's West Coast Avengers run that i think most of us have already forgotten about, namely the issue of Shooting Star's possession by a demon.

Texas Twister shows up at the West Coast Avengers compound...

...and demands to see the demon that had replaced Shooting Star. It turns out the Avengers are still holding it, despite Hawkeye acknowledging that passing it over to Daimon Hellstrom would have been a better idea (and see the Dr. Druid story in Marvel Super Heroes #15 regarding that).

At least Henry Pym designed a special cage made of iron that seems to be holding it.

The Twister demands that he be allowed into the cage, and despite him acting suspiciously and Hawkeye not thinking it's a good idea at all, he lets him in. And Twister kisses the demon, restoring Shooting Star.

But that just means Twister is now possessed by the demon.

So Hawkeye and Shooting Star fight it for a while and eventually force it into an inanimate statue. The "moral" of this story is that women are more willing to kill than men.

Wow. Um. Well, at least we have the second part of Peter Gillis' Moondragon story (a new art team this issue, though). Moondragon's cousin Pamela Douglas is hanging out on Titan, waiting for Moondragon's new clone body to be formed so that her mind can be transferred out of Pamela's brain.

In the meantime, Pamela hangs out with the Eternals of Titan. Odd impression of Starfox as a guy that is "traipsing around the galaxy running up credit card bills". Does that mean Mentor doesn't take Starfox's quest for Nebula seriously?

Pamela and Heather/Moondragon have both taken a liking to the Eternal named Demeityr.

Eventually the clone baby is "born"...

...but the Priests of Shao-Lom demand to take custody of it because of Moondragon's past transgressions. Moondragon, her mind still in Pamela, is not happy about that.

Eventually Gargoyle, still trapped in the gem that he took from Dr. Strange's house, convinces Mentor that Moondragon has learned from her mistakes...

...and Mentor allows the baby to go with Pamela.

Pretty much as soon as they leave Titan, though, they are captured by an alien species called The Dance.

In her new baby body, Moondragon is unable to do anything, and Gargoyle is similarly powerless. But Pamela taps into her own hidden powers and summons Demeityr for help.

The Dance creatures seem satisfied by all of this and therefore let them go.

Intriguing stuff, hampered a bit by the scant amount of space available and me knowing that there's only one more issue of this.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP has this between West Coast Avengers #40-42. Moondragon's next story is in issue #20 and again doesn't follow this one directly.

References:

• Shooting Star was revealed to be a demon in West Coast Avengers #9.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Yet another example of Solo Avengers wrapping up danglers the main books couldn't be bothered with.
I like how a few pages after Heather insists that she's changed and realized how destructive thinking she's better than others can be, she says that her cousins's new boyfriend isn't much in the brains department.

Did the Dance have a Lord?

The Dance will return in a back-up story in Cosmic Powers Unlimited #2, but i don't see Michael Flatley listed as a character appearing.

The Dance also return in a QUASAR storyline, I believe.

No idea why they created Sundragon then did absolutely nothing with her (she's pretty pointless anyway when Moondragon comes back)

It seems a lot different from the old days of Shooter, disposing disposable characters. Lately, they just create new characters, Sundragon, new Phantom Rider, etc. and have no plans for them.

Shooting Star received an entry in OHOTMU Deluxe Edition #11.

Part of the entry reads "According to the demon, Shooting Star was a human guise it had taken long before; there never was a Victoria Star. Since Demons are notorious liars and this account does not fit previous information about Shooting Star, it is probably untrue. However, the whereabouts and fate of Victoria Star have yet to be revealed"

OHOTMU Deluxe #11 was published less than six months after WCA #8 where the demon claimed Shooting Star was always a demon and more than 2 years before this issue which revealed the demon was possessing the real Star.

Looks like the revelation that Shooting Star wasn't always a demon was a long time coming.