Sunday Splash Page #339

"The Wizard of Stars," in Marvel Spotlight (vol. 2) #6, by Doug Moench (writer), Tom Sutton (artist), Ben Sean (colorist), John Costanza (letterer)

The first volume of Marvel Spotlight ran for 30+ issues in the early-70s, and seems to have been mostly focused on horror-themed characters. Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, Son of Satan, before broadening out to a wider variety of characters in the last half-dozen issues. The second volume only lasted about a year, and seems more focused on space-based characters. Mar-Vell, Captain Universe for the last few issues, and for two issues in the middle, Star-Lord.

The second issue is about some world where everyone must pay forward any good deeds done for them. So when Star-Lord shows mercy on a lady who tries to kill him for saving someone they threw to his death, she repays this by taking her own life. But then Quill has to repay that favor by seeing to her burial, and when he can't cry over the grave of the woman who tried to kill him, the guy he saved sacrifices himself. Quite what would have happened if Quill didn't cry over that death, I'm not clear. 

Whatever, the first issue revisits the Master of the Sun, who made Quill into Star-Lord, complete with surprise reveal. The Master is no mysterious sage or soul of stars or whatever Englehart might have intended. No, he's actually a member of the same species of lizard-people that killed Quill's mother. Where Gan and Byrne drew them as at least as tall as Star-Lord, Sutton draws them as barely reaching his waist. I'm not sure why. To make them seem less threatening, so it seems less of a bad thing that they're here to arrest the Master of the Sun (or Ragnar) because he focused on creating Star-Lord and neglected other duties and innocent beings suffered? Maybe there just wasn't enough room in the panels for big lizard aliens.

We aren't told what duties Ragnar shirked, though the others say he interfered in their war. Ragnar makes it sound as if Quill was to be the first of many Star-Lords, and ended up more like Steve Rogers. Quill fights, but ultimately stands down in accordance with Ragnar's wishes, and lets Ragnar be taken off to his death.

Claremont had established Ship was the remnants of a living, conscious star, one forced to supernova by a race determined to wipe out their enemies by destroying the entire star system. The Master of the Sun appears too late, but the fact he sensed her distress and could somehow salvage her into a spaceship would seem to make him more than any sort of mortal being. But Moench seemed determined to strip away any of that sort of stuff from the Star-Lord concept, and just make him another Earthman running around space with a fancy raygun.

Sunday Splash Page #338

 

"Widescreen. No, Wider," in Marvel Super Special #10, by Doug Moench (writer), Gene Colan (penciler), Tom Palmer (inker/colorist), John Costanza (letterer)

Marvel Super Special was one of Marvel's big magazines of the late-70s/early-80s. It seems to be have been mostly devoted to adaptations of various films of the time. Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Last Starfighter, Conan the Barbarian. The last issue was the Howard the Duck movie.

The only story I have is the lone Star-Lord appearance in issue 10, where Peter Quill and Ship come under attack by some mysterious beam emanating from a black hole, which pulls Quill and (separately) Ship through the other end, where they encounter the enormous civilization-ship pictured above. The people on-board are gracious, hospitable and look much like Earthlings.

They are also, of course, hiding ulterior motives. Star-Lord ends up in the middle of a civil war between the part of the population that want to continue life on their ship, and those who want to settle on an actual planet (like, say, Earth.) In a precursor to his story in Marvel Preview, Moench has Star-Lord try to insist of reasoning with the conqueror side, only to conclude it's futile. Quote, 'He rejects the pacifism which will not work. He scorns the non-violence which brings nothing but death. HE FIGHTS!'

Moench seems to conflate not killing with non-violence, which is kind of asinine for a guy who wrote comics about people in costumes punching criminals. Bushmaster probably didn't consider Moon Knight "non-violent," even before Spector cut his face off. I feel it's worth mentioning that in the last Claremont/Infantino Star-Lord story, Quill is able to defeat a civilization-battleship that is destroying inhabited worlds under the notion it's better to kill them before they could potentially become a threat. He does this without killing anyone, but fights his way through security when he has to. Non-lethal, not non-violent.

But as mentioned last week, Moench's Star-Lord is a dim bulb. Everything that's happening has to be explained to him. He doesn't figure out any of the deception on his own. The story starts with him having a dream of people first hailing him as a savior, then cursing him, but he's less a savior to the side he helps than a blunt weapon they use to overcome the militaristic faction's firepower advantage.

Sunday Splash Page #337

"Sweet Revenge," in Marvel Preview #4, by Steve Englehart (writer), Steve Gan (artist), Tom Orzechowski (letterer)

As promised last month in Saturday Splash Page, Many Months of Marvel is taking to the stars!

Marvel Preview was one of Marvel's black-and-white mags of the '70s. Judging by the covers, there's not consistent theme, as it may go from Blade, to Star-Lord, to Sherlock Holmes over the course of 3 issues. But all I've got is the 5 Star-Lord stories, so that's what we'll stick to.

Steve Englehart explains in a foreword to the first story that Marv Wolfman came up with the name "Star-Lord", then tasked Englehart with building a character and concept out from that. Englehart was apparently big into astrology at the time, and incorporated that. Beyond the part where the convergence of the planets is a big deal, I don't know in what way, but the foreword assures us you don't need to know or believe in astrology to enjoy the story. Fair enough.

Englehart's Peter Quill is an angry, driven one. His father was convinced he wasn't the father, but had a heart attack before he could kill the infant. His mother is killed by lizard aliens years later, but no one believes Peter. So he pushes himself into astronaut training, determined to be the best, intending to travel to space and take revenge. But he has no patience, interest, or care for other people, and it gets him passed over for the mission he wanted. Because no one could tolerate living in a confined space with him for long.

Quill tries to change, to tell himself he accepts his whole notion of revenge was foolish. But when the convergence occurs and the mysterious Master of the Sun promises one human with be selected for a glorious destiny, all bets are off. Quill seizes his chance - definitely killing some people in the process - gets his audience, and gets his shot at revenge. Whether it's real or just a fantasy to offer some measure of closure is left ambiguous by Englehart (but not by Claremont, who writes the next three stories.)

It feels a bit like Dr. Strange's origin. An immensely talented man, focused only on his own desire (in this case, revenge) learns to grow beyond that and embrace truly helping others. Not exactly the same; Strange's change is driven by a desire to not feel powerless to help the Ancient One, while Quill's seems prompted by the way taking revenge clears the anger from his mind.

In Claremont's stories, Quill's grown as a person. He travels the cosmos helping those in need. He tries to refrain from killing, while still defending those who are helpless as he once was. He's still capable of being outmaneuvered or overcome, but he tends to act calmly and rationally. The challenge is in understanding what he's dealing with, as it's a big universe, with many creatures and people Star-Lord's never seen.

Claremont and Byrne give Star-Lord a shapeshifting intelligent spacecraft, called Ship. Quill and Ship have an empathic bond - because of course they do - and when Quill's badly injured and it's difficult for Ship to save him otherwise, she assume the form of a woman to help him out. In some cases, Ship is the one advising Star-Lord to observe and think, while in others he has to rein in her desire for vengeance. Byrne and Carmine Infantino each draw ship's default form as almost sculpted. Smooth, no seams or visible engines, wings that angle in a gentle arc, rather than the sharp angles of every other ship they encounter. It gives Ship a recognizable, alien appearance, even among all these other alien spaceships.

(Nobody after Byrne ever draws Quill wearing the helmet, though. Not even when he's zipping around in space. Don't know why. Didn't like it, maybe.)

After Claremont's third story Star-Lord appears in a different book - which we'll get to next week - then returns for one more appearance. This time it's a Doug Moench/Bill Sienkiewicz/Bob McLeod story, and, well, it looks fine, but the writing. . . Moench takes the approach that Quill's refusal to kill is not only naive, but makes him culpable for the murders of the people he doesn't kill. The person he doesn't (initially) kill is a man out for revenge on the warlord who stole his people's planet, then experimented on the survivors until they became lion-headed beast-people. Oh, and he's the last of his people. Quill doesn't stop him from killing the warlord, and he can't figure any way to get the planet-threatening weapon away from the beastman, except to kill him.

Besides ignoring that Quill's not responsible for the actions of other adults, Moench ignores that Quill killed two people in the Claremont/Byrne story in issue 11. Englehart wrote Peter Quill as a man of great potential, held back by his resentment and bitterness. Claremont writes him as someone who (mostly) progressed beyond those vices, and meets the incredible mysteries and challenges of space with indomitable will and ingenuity. Moench writes Quill as an inexperienced dope that has to be schooled by every people he meets. A blunt instrument with no gift for subterfuge or lateral thinking.

Saturday Splash Page #132

 

"An Uneasy Mantle" in Starlord #2, by Timothy Zahn (writer), Dan Lawlis (artist), Bill Oakley (letterer)

We'll see a lot more Star-Lord in a couple of months in Sunday Splash Page, but today we're looking at a slightly more recent appearance of the name. When I say "recent", I mean mid-90s instead of late-70s or early-80s.

I'm not sure why Marvel decided to dust off a character concept that hadn't appeared in 15 years. Trademark issues, probably. Timothy Zahn is best known for various creating the Admiral Thrawn character who appeared in most of the Star Wars novels he wrote. I'm not sure what about the Star-Lord concept appealed to him.

I say "concept", because Zahn ditches the Peter Quill character, in favor of Sinjin Quarrel, a character of his own creation born with telepathic abilities. Among his culture, that marks him for work in justice, except Quarrel's powers are weak, in the sense he can only read your mind if he touches you. There's no indication if his ability is weaker in any way other than distance.

Assigned to an out of the way world of limited importance, Quarrel finds the fabled "Ship" of Star-Lord's. The element gun and costumes are there (none of the little waist-mounted jet pods, however), as is the holographic projection Ship developed for itself when Claremont wrote Star-Lord, but no sign of Star-Lord for many years now. So Quarrel takes on the identity, initially just to protect himself, but later to investigate an aristocrat on the planet he was assigned who seems too successful at taking control.

The story is a bit of a thriller, Quarrel trying stay alive and find evidence to bring down the man he's up against. There's a very large, very pale crime lord who lives in a big tower involved (Space Kingpin, basically, or maybe Space Tobias Whale), and an infiltration that involves deception. Plus, Quarrel has to overcome his reluctance to act as Star-Lord after he learns the source of what the element gun fires.

Lawlis paints the comic, which works better than I would have expected. The action is a bit static, but the plot avoids any kind of extended, running battles in favor of quick sequences where Star-Lord uses the element gun. But Quarrel is an expressive character, and the bright colors are suited to the clean and futuristic settings. There are hives of scum and villainy, but all that is beneath the surface. Appropriate when the hero can see beneath it with just a touch.

Sunday Splash Page #35

"After the Raccoon You Think He'd Be Less Surprised," in Annihilation: Conquest - Star-Lord #1, by Keith Giffen (writer), Timothy Green II (penciler), Victor Olazaba (inker), Nathan Fairbairn (colorist), Rus Wooton (letterer)

Whereas Quasar was the epic mystical Heroes' Quest story, Star-Lord is the Dirty Dozen. The Kree press-gang a bunch of what they consider criminals and lower life forms into running a dangerous mission of the Kree Homeworld, to stop some new weapon the Phalanx are developing. Peter Quill is forced to assume his abandoned Star-Lord identity, because it's an effective symbol. He remains a cycnical, sarcastic grump, though.

Giffen pulled in a bunch of characters I'm guessing hadn't been seen in at least 10 years (ignoring Peter David turning Rocket into a rug in his Captain Marvel series. Not cool, PAD.) So potentially any of them could die, and two of them did, although one of those wasn't until the main Annihilation: Conquest mini-series. This is where Rocket and Groot form their friendship, of course, and the core of the Abnett/Lanning Guardians of the Galaxy series takes shape.

Tim Green's art is a bit stiffer than it would be in later works, bit more delicate on the linework. Maybe that's Olazaba's inks. I'm not sure but I think Green inked himself more often later. This isn't the best for extended action sequences, but it works in brief stints, and things look fairly pretty. I prefer the designs for the Phalanx technicians with their elongated limbs and floating bodies, to the soldiers in Quasar.

All That's Changed Is The Odds Are Worse

Several months ago, I laid odds on which member of Starlord's team was going to bite the dust during the Starlord mini-series. As is typical for me, I backed the wrong horse, as Gabriel Vargas escaped mostly unscathed, minus the need for prosthetic legs, of course, and Deathcry ended up getting wild (as I predicted) and getting fried by her own teammate (which I did not predict). Anyway, we've had our first Starlord appearance of Annihilation: Conquest this week, so I think it's time to update the Odds O'Painful Termination Board. Please keep in mind that everyone's chances are likely to increase a little, because Deathcry's 20% has to go somewhere.

Starlord: Previous odds of death = 1%. Current odds of death = 4%. Well, the fact he's not the title character of this like he was the earlier mini-series hurts his odds, but he still doesn't strike me as the type to do anything insanely noble, so I'm not boosting his odds that much.

Rocket Raccoon: Previous odds of death = 3%. Current odds of death = 6%. He's got that high level of intuition that ought to protect, but nothing is perfect.

Groot: Previous odds of death = 11%. Current odds of death = 14%. Even though I was right, and Groot was the biggest target, and did draw the most fire, that doesn't appear to be that big of hinderance to him, since he only needs a little part of him to remain whole to survive. However, I imagine the Phalanx have files from the first go-round, and when they see him again they'll recgonize that fact and probably adjust accordingly. Then again, he has those spores, and can probably use those to propagate himself as necessary, so this seems about right.

Gabriel Vargas: Previous odds of death = 31%. Current odds of death = 40%. Well, Gabe has the least history, the fewest fans, the least amount of power (now that the Uni-Force has moved on), and the least amount of experience with this kind of stuff. Plus he still seems very enthusiastic to help, and he's got the mentality that makes him willing to be the sacrifice, as opposed to Starlord who has the mentality that there have to be sacrifices.

Mantis: Previous odds of death = 15%. Current odds of death = 24%. I'm upping Mantis' odds because she seems so damn calm about everything. Being calm in battle isn't a bad thing mind you, 'If you can keep your head when all around you are losing yours, then you can have lots of hats' and all that, but she strikes me as someone who's very comfortable with the idea she's going to die. In fact, given her apparent precog abilities, I wouldn't be surprised if she's already seen her death in this conflict, understands why it happens, and has just accepted the inevitability of it.

Bug: Previous odds of death = 19%. Current odds = 13%. I still can't really get a feel for Bug. he seems like a competent fighter, but kind of a goofball, a little like Spider-Man. I don't think he'll bail on the team or anything, but I just have a feeling he's going to know when to keep his head down and make it through OK. Just a hunch, one I may have to revise depending on upcoming issues.

So there you go, nice and updated. And now I'm taking off for the day. Talk to ya tomorrow.

Just How Many Things Don't Die?

In Starlord #4, Mantis gets all philosophical after Team StarLord (as dubbed by Jason) survives a run-in with some Phalanx-controlled Kree. She says that "Starlord" is an ideal, and that ideals are hard to kill, if not impossible.

This reminds me of the Chief Subjugator's comments to Ronan in Wraith #3, when we learn that 'gods can not die, they can only sacrifice themselves'. I'm still not sure what that means, but it seems like the two comments might be connected somehow. In fact, it seems like things not staying dead is a major theme in Conquest.

No matter how much damage you do to him, Wraith won't stay dead. He was being guided by a ghost(memory?) of his father, conducted through the previously thought-dead Supreme Intelligence. That same Supreme Intelligence was guiding Phyla towards Adam Warlock (though he was damn vague about it). And Quasar got a brief, but important assist, from her predecessor, Wendell Vaughn.

No matter how hard Peter Quill wants to throw the StarLord behind him, he can't get rid of it, and it keeps helping him out. The Kree soldiers wouldn't kill him because of it; at least some of his team follows him because of it, he's given about as much respect by the Kree as you could expect a Terran to get, at least in part because of something he wishes would go away. And Richard Rider got saved in part by the Worldmind using its records of all the Novas who've died to help fight off the Phalanx infection.

I still don't know what any of it means, but there it is.

Themes of Conquest, Part 2

And we're back. Like I said, today I want to focus on Quasar and Starlord, my thoughts on Wraith and Nova are in yesterday's post if you missed it.

Quasar: Quasar occupies sort of a middle ground. It's not as much of an adventure story as Nova, but not as dark as Wraith. Honestly, the plot reminds me of what I know about the Eddie Murphy movie, The Golden Child (minus the goofy laughing). You've got a person who's inherited a mantle they doubt they're ready for, trying to protect a very important being with the help of someone a bit more used to this sort of thing. Yeah, I think that sort of works.

Quasar's portrayal of the Phalanx is also somewhat of an amalgamation of Wraith and Nova. The assimilation of people doesn't seem to take long, or require much in the way of bulky machinery, similar to Nova, but it does seem to be painful, judging by the scream from the converted Kree Governor in #2, which is more similar to Wraith.

The focus of this mini-series seems to be "belief", namely believing in yourself, or your cause. Phyla still doubts herself in battle, doubts her ability to use the Quantum Bands, to be Quasar, to live up to her father and brother's legacies. With the help of a loved one, she's gaining confidence in herself, as well as a determination to see her quest through to the end. Opposing is her the Super-Adaptoid, a Select of the Phalanx. The S-A believes completely in what the Phalanx are doing; it approves of their attempts to impose order upon irrational, emotion-controlled living beings. This certainty keeps it hounding Quasar and Moondragon, to either bring them into the Phalanx, or destroy them. Interestingly, the S-A is a mirror of Phyla in that they are both combinations. The Super-Adaptoid is a composite of every single being whose abilities it can duplicate, while Phyla has brought the Mar-Vell and Quasar lineages together in one person. For Quasar, the two legacies seem like a burden, for the Super-Adapotid it's a non-issue, because all the powers it's taken are simply a means to an end.

Starlord: Starlord is a take on The Dirty Dozen, or whatever other movie about a rag-tag bunch taking on an establishment you want to use. It's also, oddly the most light-hearted. Odd because of the deaths seen thus far (or in the case of Groot, hinted at thus far). But in between those are moments of humor, such as Peter Quill meeting his team, or his getting reacquainted with weapons that have recoil, or Mantis' casual attitude in battle. The art is somewhat quirky, the colors seem to be a lot of pastels, not really aggressive colors. It gives the comic a bit of a relaxed feeling, that things will be OK, even as it clearly seems things won't be OK. It's as if Keith Giffen, Timothy Green the 3rd, Victor Olazaba, and Nathan Fairbairn are actively trying to send conflicting messages. Consider the characters. Groot, a sentient tree, ruler of the Planet X, befriends scruffy little Rocket Raccoon, who seems to be a bit of a drifter. Gabirel Vargas, who was a soldier, is the one most broken up by his moment of friendly fire accident, though you would expect he might be familiar with such things. It's also interesting that the person doing the most in the fights (Gabe Vargas), winds up being the one making the worst mistake.

Starlord himself is a perfect example as well. He gave up the Starlord mantle, and let himself be imprisoned, because he chose to sacrifice the lives of a mining colony to save a planet. He feels guilt over this, yet has no difficulty doing so once again, sacrificing the lives of those in his squad to accomplish his mission. Typically in a story, when a character does something that troubles them deeply, they do their damndest to avoid repeating that action, but Starlord is doing the same thing, without even blinking. It seems, counter-intuitive somehow.

And that oddness persists in the portrayal of the Phalanx. Thus far, they've shown no interest in assimilating the protagonists, or the forces of the Annihilation Wave that showed up in #2, unlike in every other title, where they assimilate as many as they can. Instead, the response to these incursions into Phalanx-held territory has been to exterminate the offenders. It's unusual in that it hints that the Phalanx are through trying to convert people, perhaps because there isn't anyone there they think is worth the trouble (though I'd think the Uni-Power would be of interest to them, if the Nova Force and the Quantum bands are). Or perhaps the Phalanx are into the next stage of the plan, the "seeding" the Kree sent Starlord to stop, and assimilation isn't something they're doing anymore.

Starlord also varies in that there isn't a Select to act as a counterpart to the main character. Wraith has Ronan (and Super-Skrull as an additional counterpoint). Nova has Gamora. Quasar had the Super-Adaptoid. Starlord? Nothing (thus far). What's interesting is each Select represents a different stage in their acceptance into the Phalanx. Super-Skrull isn't doing as they command yet, but he apparently can't fight against them either, and is resigned to that. Ronan has to do what they say, but he can still try and argue with them, and hate himself for not being able to resist. Gamora seems to have become a full Select, but she still retains yearnings for her time before. She remembers her time with Nova fondly, which is why she's so determined to bring him to the Phalanx. She'll kill him if she's got to, but as good as she is, and as banged up as Rich is, she won't (and didn't) have to. The Super-Adaptoid is all the way in the fold. He's a leader of troops, and completely on board with the Phalanx plan. He isn't fighting Phyla out of some desire for a "grudge match" with the daughter of Mar-Vell, he's fighting her because she resists the Phalanx, and because she's trying to reach this "savior". When the Adaptoid can simulate her Quantum Bands (and locate the savior himself), he immediately leaves, because the savior is the more important target.

But in Starlord, there's been no Select making an appearance (watch, now Groot will show up assimilated in #3). Could these represent five stages? Gamora is clearly Bargaining, the Super-Adaptoid Acceptance. Ronan is Anger, and I think Super-Skrull could be Grief, given he seemed so defeated by the circumstance. I like that because it leaves Starlord as Denial. There's been no confrontation with a Select, no one in the group has had to try and resist that yet, so it's easy to believe it won't happen. I know Marvel just did this with the "Death of Captain America" thing. It's just a thought.

OK, trying to pull things together here. It seems as though each book represents something different. Wraith seems to be about fear, despair, pain, and how you need to fight through those things. Quasar seems to be about the danger of self-doubt. Nova about rising to meet a challenge you didn't ask for (?). Starlord about having to make tough decisions.

Um, well, I'm done now. Chime in with opinions, disagreements, whatever you've got really.

Slap A Big Ole Bullseye On There

Thought for the day: Starlord's little squad is actually an expendable diversionary tactic by the Kree.

- Consider that Kree intelligence was kind of vague about what this thing Peter's group is looking for actually looks like, as well as where it's supposed to be. That could just be due to a lack of reliable intel, since the Phalanx quickly take control of any Kree surveillance equipment brought against them, right along with every other piece of tech in the Empire. However, seeing as this isn't the first time the Phalanx have threatened a galaxy-spanning empire, Galen-Tor could have simply used their past modus operandi as the basis to concoct a plausible reason to send a strike team in that direction.

- Consider that when Peter is being patched up in #1, Captain Chan-Dar (the Kree that was among the saved when Starlord defeated the Fallen One) tells the doctor that Peter's recovery, and the removal of his cybernetic implants are by Ronan's command. Except when Galen-Tor shows up, she comments that he's the one who ordered the removal of all cybernetic implants. Also keep in mind that Ronan is under Phalanx control, if Wraith is any indication. Would he have had time to issue such commands regarding Peter, or is he being name-dropped to reduce questioning?

- Consider that on such an apparently vital mission, one that is designed to keep the Phalanx from spreading throughout Kree space, there is not one Kree on the team. Just, as the Phalanx noted, three Terrans, a Shi'ar, a Kaliklak, a Flora Colossus, and a sentient mammal. Galen-Tor has no love of Terrans, or really, any species that isn't Kree ("Kree purity" and all that crap). Would he entrust such a mission to them, without sending at least one trusted Kree along to keep an eye on them?

- Consider that in the brief interlude with the Phalanx, when the arrival of Starlord's group is noted, the Phalanx have no idea what their objective could be. Perhaps in part because the Phalanx don't consider them to be any sort of threat (which they do mention). Perhaps in part because there really isn't anything around that the Phalanx would expect someone to target, which certainly doesn't sound like a description of the 'viral bombs' they'll use to 'seed the galaxy'. You'd think the Phalanx would expect some sort of an assault on that, consider it predictable, and note that even if the group set against them is odd, it's doing something they expected.

- Given these conjectures, I'm wondering if the Kree aren't actually planning to strike somewhere else, and are hoping to use Starlord as a diversion. It's reminiscent of an Unknown Soldier comic of my father's I read, where he recruits a Maquis group to help clear the way for a D-Day landing at. . . some place other than Normandy (I forget where). The Maquis get wiped out, except for one fellow. The whole time they expect that the Allies are going to land and that'll turn the tide on this battle. Except the Allies aren't landing there, they're just using this Maquis cell to distract the Nazis, and draw some forces away from the actual landing area. I remember that the one fellow who survived, the leader, was pretty steamed, and was going to kill the Unknown Soldier, which made sense to me, since that whole "deceiving them and using them as cannon fodder" struck me as such a dick move. He didn't do it though. I was disappointed. Anyway, I think that might be what's going on here. I'm not sure what the Kree might be targeting instead, but I'm sure there's something, and Galen was head of covert ops, so using prisoners as expendable distractions is up his alley as much as it was the Unknown Soldier's.

- Fly in the ointment: Annihilation Wave forces showed up in the same location (which means that bubble enclosing Kree space enclosed the Kree part of Annihilus' empire as well). If there is something vital there, it's likely that they could have detected it as well, and sent their own team to deal with it. Of course, it's also possible that the Kree found a way to feed false information to Ravenous, to convince him to commit forces to a similar mission. The Annihilation Wave forces did touch down after Starlord's group, so they may have just been reacting to what the Kree did. Tricking the Wave serves two purposes: 1) it weakens the bug forces, since some of them will die on their mission, and 2) it draws Phalanx attention towards the Annihilation Wave, and by extension at least attention away from the Kree, making it that much more likely that the Kree could execute whatever their actual plan is, since they'll have an extra layer of distraction.

Just something to consider.

It's Like Dirty Dozen, Of Course Someone Will Die

I'm having trouble coming up with any ideas that are actually good today, so I thought I'd just examine which member of Starlord's squad is most likely to bite the dust before Conquest has concluded. Sure, it's morbid, and way too early for such speculation, but like I said, I couldn't come up with anything more high concept right now. Besides, if Wendell Vaughn could get taken out last year, I doubt any of these folks are safe.

Starlord: He's the title character, so he's safe (I know, Super Skrull died last year in his mini, but he got better). Chance - 1%, just to be safe.

Rocket Raccoon: Probably the most popular character in the group, which either makes him the safest, or the one most in trouble. Since Giffen doesn't seem like a writer who kills a character just to aggravate its fanbase, I'll say Rocket's instincts are gonna keep him safe. Chance - 3%

Groot: The biggest, therefore the one likely to draw the most fire. But Rocket Raccoon seems to have formed a bond with Groot, and given RR's got great battle instincts, it's likely he'll be able to keep Groot alive. Chance - 11%

Deathcry: Seems to be the Wolverine of the group, just a little nuts. So it wouldn't be out of the question that she might get out of control and wind up going suicide run at some point. I just can't see what will put her in the position to want to do that at some point, so her combat experience ought to see her through. By the way, the Kree said Deathcry manifests nearly unbreakable claws when she goes berserker. So what, the Shi'ar were just really impressed by Wolverine after the fight at the M'Kraan Crystal? Chance - 20%.

Captain Universe: Here's where I'm putting my money. Sadly, Mr. Gabriel Vargas is the closest there seems to be in the group to a "classic" superhero. I say sadly because I don't think the good, decent, honorable types are going to do well on this mission. I imagine Gabe will balk at a moment where he needs to kill Phalanx-controlled Kree civilians, and that could be that. Or he'll blow the element of surprise trying something noble. Potential mitigating factors: 1) He's probably the most powerful member of the group, if he's anywhere near what Spidey was capable of with the Uni-Power. 2) Starlord recognizes a little of his old self in Gabe, so he'll be able to anticipate false steps Gabe would take, and prevent them. Chance - 31%

Bug/Mantis - Honestly, I can't really get enough of a bead on either of them personality-wise to decide. Bug volunteered, but that was probably because it's the fastest way out of prison. As for Mantis, I've got no idea. Is she still expecting to be the Celestial Madonna, because I imagine that would make her a bit cautious. Let's just say 19% for Bug, 15% for Mantis on the strength of her mental abilities.

Well, that didn't require much brainpower on my part, so I guess I should focus on coming up with something better for tomorrow.

. . .

Eh, maybe I'll worry about that later.