MORGAN CONQUEST: Avengers #1-4

Script: Kurt Busiek
Pencils: George Perez
Inks: Al Vey with Bob Wiacek (#4)
Colors: Tom Smith
Editor: Tom Brevoort

Avengers #1: "Once An Avenger..."
39 pages + 2 page cover • February 1998

A short time after the Avengers return from the pocket universe they were trapped in, a series of interconnected attacks occur on the complete rank and file of Avengers memberships. From out of nowhere, creatures related to mythical Asgard launch surprise attacks on Avengers from Captain America, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch, to Black Widow, Darkhawk and Spider-Woman. Just as sudden as the attacks start, they end.

All the Avengers are assembled at the Avengers Mansion, where the founding team members commiserate on the situation. Thor comes crashing into the room from Asgard, where he found his homeland torn asunder and the Twilight Sword stolen. With it gone, Thor explains to everybody, the fate of the planet is at risk. The team splits up into groups to look for the sword via the Norn Stones, which are also missing. The first group, led by Captain America, traces one of the stones to a location off the coast of England. After passing through an otherworldly storm, they find the actual Twilight Sword, being guarded by Mordred the Evil.

As soon as they land, the Scarlet Witch is taken captive by Mordred's trolls, and the rest of the team is dispatched quickly when the real power behind Mordred is revealed- it is Morgan Le Fey, who can now access the power of the Twilight Sword with the aid of the Scarlet Witch. All the previous events were variables put in play to lure the Scarlet Witch into a trap, and with her power now channeled, Morgan Le Fey now wields the sword, and all the Avengers across the world see reality as they know it fold in on them.

Avengers #2: "The Call"
22 pages + cover • March 1998

Morgan Le Fey has transformed the Avengers into an imperial guard called The Queen's Vengeance, and they help protect her rule over the world. Her hold on certain Avengers, like Thor, is tenuous, though, and Mordred warns her not to allow the hold to remain that way, but Morgan is enjoying the fun and games. Her main captive, the Scarlet Witch, is trying to reach out to someone to help end her captivity. Captain America is free of Morgan's grasp, and begins to start discreetly picking off fellow Avengers, like Hawkeye, Photon and the Wasp. All of them try to get Iron Man back in line, but he cannot resist Morgan's mind control, and suddenly, the small band of Avengers face off against the totality of the Queen's Vengeance, which includes dozens of former Avengers.

Cap tries to pull some of them out of the mind-sapping spell, but he is only able to turn Quasar and Justice. A fierce battle breaks out, and as Thor returns, now free of Morgan's control, he creates a distraction to allow them to escape. As Mordred pleas with Morgan Le Fey to reassert her power, Scarlet Witch reaches out and finally pulls together the one she can feel inside the core of her being: Wonder Man!

Avengers #3: "Fata Morgana"
22 pages + cover • April 1998

As the small group of free-minded Avengers practice together on the outskirts of Morgan Le Fey's kingdom, the villainess rages as she finds out that the Scarlet Witch- her key to governing the power of the Twilight Sword- has been stolen from her. She sends her emissaries out to look for Wanda, who is being cared for by the newly-incroporated Wonder Man. The Avengers try to gain entry into her castle to pull a sneak attack, but they are found out by the Queen's Vengeance.

But Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man are also on the scene and they send Morgan Le Fey reeling, while her power lapses on the rest of the Avengers. With the momentum on the Avengers' side, they join forces to allow the Scarlet Witch to unleash a ferocious attack on Morgan Le Fey, who wildly sends power blasts out, one of which rips the Vision in half. Channeling the ultimate power of Wonder Man, Wanda puts the wraps on Morgan Le Fey, taking the power of the sword away from her and restoring the natural order of the planet.

Thor takes the Twilight Sword back to Asgard, and the Avengers gather themselves together and head home.

Avengers #4: "Too Many Avengers"
22 pages + cover • May 1998

As a two-bit super-powered crook named the Whirlwind tries to rob a bank, he faces the combined assault of a couple dozen Avengers who wind up getting in each other's way to such a degree that he gets away. Meanwhile, the founding Avengers meet with their new national security liaision, Duane Jerome Freeman. They decide Cap, Thor and Iron Man will stay to help lead the team, and also decide that the Vision and Scarlet Witch should be extended invitations to form the new Avengers.

The rest of the fringe members wonder if their name will be called, and the former New Warriors Justice and Starfire are eager to prove they could belong to the group, so they go chase after Whirlwind. Iron Man detects that Carol Danvers might be having a drinking problem. He warns the team that she might be a problem without getting into too much detail, but the rest of the Avengers affirm she would make a good choice.

Justice and Starfire help beat the Whirlwind, and Hawkeye brings them back to the mansion where he is told he has a roster slot, and after some argument, Cap decides to take on Justice and Starfire as reserve members. The New Avengers go and meet the public for the first time.

SUPREME JUSTICE: Avengers #5-7, Annual 1998

Script: Kurt Busiek with Len Kaminski (Annual '98)
Pencils: George Perez, Carlos Pacheco (Annual '98)
Inks: Al Vey with Bob Wiacek (#6, Annual '98) and BATT, Paul Neary and Bruce Patterson (Annual '98)
Colors: Tom Smith
Editor: Tom Brevoort

Avengers #5: "Accusation Most Foul"
22 pages + cover • June 1998

The New Avengers enjoy their time before the action starts: Carol Danvers changes her super-hero name to Warbird, and Cap starts to notice she's acting weird (she hasn't revealed to anyone that she has lost her Binary powers); Tony Stark works on putting the Vision back together and gives him advice on patching things up with the Scarlet Witch; Wanda worries about her use of Wonder Man, seemingly keeping him bottled up inside her. Then, Duane Freeman calls the team together on their first mission. They must go and rescue an airplane that crashed in the ocean. The plane carried a research team that was going to look for remnants of a UFO, and the government wants the Avengers to save the people on board and secure the UFO site.

They head out to the location and begin a plan to meet their mission when they are set upon by the Squadron Supreme, a group of superheros from an alternate Earth who are stranded in this dimension. The Squadron Supreme accuses the Avengers of being frauds and they attack. While defending himself from the onslaught of Power Princess, Iron Man is submerged underwater and sees a team of scuba divers clearing out the UFO wreck. He must save Hawkeye from drowning and doesn't get to check it out further.

While the Avengers finally defeat the Squadron Supreme, with the help of Wonder Man, Doctor Spectrum lifts the plane out of the water all on his own, saving everyone on board. The Squadron Supreme makes a big deal out of the affair- that the Avengers are dopplegangers using the identities of the old Avengers, since all the old ones are dead. The news media gets hold of this story and all of a sudden a cloud of suspicion hangs over the team. Duane Freeman gives them 48 hours to clear their name.

Meanwhile, the mystery man who put all these variables into play is keeping score on how well his plan is working out....

Avengers #6: "Earth's Mightiest Heroes?"
22 pages + cover • July 1998

As the Avengers meet to discuss their next move against the Squadron Supreme, who continue to cast doubt against them in the public, Hawkeye squares off against Cap on leadership issues, and Wanda senses Carol to be in some kind of personal turmoil. On their way to Project Pegasus- to investigate the Squadron Supreme who are staying there while stranded on Earth- Cap brings up Warbird's refusal to power up to Binary level, and she argues back to stay out of her business.

The Avengers arrive at Project Pegasus and the head of the organization- Andrew Kappelhof- is suspicious of their identities, but Warbird works around that by recognizing and having a conversation with an old friend who works there. They are granted entry and they snoop around the facilities to see if they can glean any idea why the Squadron Supreme is after them, when their targets arrive at the facility. A huge fight breaks out, with the Supremors once again driving home the idea that the Avengers are a bunch of frauds, but as the fight goes on, Wanda finds out that they are being mind-controlled by someone, and works to lift the fog from their minds.

Before she can finish the job, she is knocked out by the Blue Shield, who is under the control of Dr. Kappelhof, who is quickly found out as the Controller. The Avengers quickly take care of him and release those under his control. They find out that he's merely doing the bidder of another, unknown person. The Squadron Supreme apologizes for being controlled and for going out of their way to make the Avengers look bad.

Meanwhile, the man who controlled the Controller, and who has put all these other variables into play, is Imus Champion, and he decides it is time to deliver a reckoning to his foes, the Avengers.

Avengers Annual 1998: "To Challenge A Champion!"
40 pages + 2 page cover • July 1998

The Avengers receive an urgent call for help from Moonglow of the Squadron Supreme. They rush to answer it and find out that the Squadron Supreme were once again targeted for mind-control, and they have tracked down the source of the attack. Together, they travel to the location, a wooded area where they find Imus Champion, a ten-foot tall, super-wealthy "dirtbag", as Hawkeye describes him. Champion informs the teams that he has used them in an attempt to challenge himself in battle. He tells them that he plans to walk to the control center at the middle of the forest and trigger a series of nuclear bombs across the country, and all they have to do is stop him. To make things more complicated, he has sealed them inside a giant dome, establishing a "field of play", and he has forbid outside communications.

With that, he disappears, and leaves the team to formulate their attack strategies. They split off into groups, with members of the Avengers and the Squadron Supreme teaming up. One by one, these teams are overcome by the deft planning and strategy of Imus Champion: first Hawkeye and Haywire, then Scarlet Witch and Moonglow, then Thor and Hyperion, Iron Man, Doctor Spectrum and the Whizzer, Firestar and Power Princess, and finally Captain America, Skylark, Justice and the Shape.

Having defeated them all, Champion heads to the control center to detonate the bombs, where he finds Giant-Man and an army of ants having already debilitated his weapons systems. Firestar had used some ants to circumvent the electromagnetic field of the dome and sneak a communication out to Hank Pym, thus sending in for a rescue. Champion thus defeated, Iron Man works on a method to return the Squadron Supreme back home, all save Haywire, who decides he would like to start a new life on this Earth. Likewise, Avengers Magdalene and the Swordsman decide to try life on the Squadron Supreme's Earth, and they go with them.

Avengers #7: "The Court Martial of Carol Danvers"
Live Kree or Die, Part 4 of 4
22 pages + cover • August 1998

As Galen Kor discusses his plans to help take over Planet Earth with the Supreme Intelligence, the Avengers are busy deciding what to do with the errant Carol Danvers. Her behavior as an Avengers has come to a head, and after discussing their problems with her perceived alcoholism and lack of respect for Avengers leadership, she is put on indefinite suspension. When the Avengers are put on notice about the danger of the Kree on the moon, Cap tells her she is not welcome on this mission, and she does not take it well.

The team heads to the moon, with Quicksilver along for the ride, and once they land in the Blue Area, they are attacked by Golan Kor's shock troops. The Avengers attack as a unit and make easy work of the Kree, which they quickly find out is due to the troops acting only as a delay, not any sort of definitive defense. They are protecting Golan Kor's Omni-Wave Projector, a weapon aimed at Earth which will mutate all humanity into genetically modified Kree.

On Earth, Warbird decides she's going to go to the moon anyway, to help save the day and show up the Avengers. She begins to travel their under her own power but cannot make it all the way, and crashes back to Earth. Meanwhile, the Avengers cannot find a way to safely destroy the Omni-Wave Projector, so Thor and Firestar open up a dimensional portal and Justice helps move the projector inside, shunting it out of harm's way. SHIELD and Starcore scientists move in to secure the Blue Area of the moon, and Captain America wonders if this wasn't indeed the Supreme Intelligence's plan all along. Back on Earth, Carol Danvers sits at a bar, drinking down her sorrows...

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGERS: Avengers #8-11

Script: Kurt Busiek
Pencils: George Perez
Inks: Al Vey with Bob Wiacek (#11)
Colors: Tom Smith
Editor: Tom Brevoort

Avengers #8: "Turbulence!"
23 pages + cover • September 1998

Jarvis goes to the airport to pick up Maria de Guadalupe Santiago, a young girl he has sponsored from Costa Verde who is now coming to attend a school in New York City. While there, a cadre of stormtroopers open fire in the terminal, and coming out of the airplane to assist is an exotic looking young woman who calls herself Silverclaw.

After Thor receives permission to leave the Avengers for personal reasons, the team is called to the terminal by Jarvis. They try to stop the stormtroopers but are caught inside a cell of bristling energy beams. A hologram of Moses Magnum appears and he explains that he is behind the whole thing. All of a sudden, a super-powered man named Triathlon comes on the scene and frees the Avengers, and then they take the fight to the stunned soldiers. Once they start gaining the upperhand on Silverclaw and Magnum's men, a stormtrooper pulls out a Seismic Cannon and starts firing on the terminal buildings.

The team diverts their attentions to saving the innocent people, and Magnum's men make off in the plane with the piece of stolen equipment they were after all along; without their knowledge, though, Triathlon has stowed away. Silverclaw has powered down to her human form to reveal herself as the young girl Jarvis was going to pick up. She apologizes and explains to Captain America that she was tricked into going along with Magnum's forces. She goes back to the Avengers mansion with Jarvis and the rest of the team.

Back at the mansion, Wanda suddenly sees Simon materialize in her bedroom. She apologizes for only using him as a weapon whenever she needed it, but that isn't why he has come. As they embrace and kiss, the Vision witnesses the whole scene.

Avengers #9: "The Villain Who Fell From Grace With the Earth"
22 pages + cover • October 1998

The Avengers launch a coordinated attack on Moses Magnum's floating resort The Evangeline. While rich folk gamble and socialize in the upper decks, the team barrels through the lower deck area where Moses Magnum is testing out his new Seismic Cannon, a gift from his former benefactor Apocalypse. Wanda brings Wonder Man in to deliver the knockout blow to Magnum, sending him flying to a nearby island.

But once on dry land, Magnum's curse comes into effect- Apocalypse made it so that when in touch with the Earth's surface, his phsyiology would uncontrollably transmute it's power into destructive seismic force. Before the Avengers can get him back to his ship, or do anything else to help, Magnum screams out that Apocalypse has found him, and the earth opens up and swallows him inside.

The team heads back to New York, and Jarvis and the Avengers send off Silverclaw to Empire State University. Hawkeye decides it is time for him to leave, too, seeing now as a good time to go out on his own and investigate the team of reformed villains, the Thunderbolts.

Avengers #10: "Pomp & Pageantry"
22 pages + cover • November 1998

New York City celebrates Avengers Day by having a ticker tape parade, with the city streets lined with thousands of appreciative citizens. Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Giant-Man, the Wasp, Firestar and Justice soak in all the attention, and the Vision accompanies via a projected image.

One who is not with them is Scarlet Witch, who is visiting Agatha Harkness to try and get a fix on her newfound powers and her nexus with Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man. Harkness explains that she is gaining access to powerful "chaos magics" which relate back to her birth, when the mystic demon Chthon tried to use her spirit to gain entry into the Earth, and the effects of which are finally coming into maturation after being sped up by the interaction with Morgan Le Fey. She also explains to Wanda that Simon Williams is coming into her life because only his powerful love for her has kept his ionic energy form from dissipating into nothingness, and it is her need for him that brings him back, and her love for him that might bring him back permanently.

Meanwhile, the Avengers are attacked by the Grim Reaper, who spoils the parade by sending the recomposed bodies of dead Avengers Captain Mar-Vell, Doctor Druid, Hellcat, Mockingbird, Swordsman and Thunderstrike to attack them. Taken by complete surprise and not wanting to fight against their former friends and teammates, the Avengers are overwhelmed. One of the returned dead includes Wonder Man, who applies the final blow to Giant- Man.

Avengers #11: "...Always An Avenger!"
22 pages + cover • December 1998

The Scarlet Witch returns to the Avengers Mansion from her visit with Agatha Harkness to find the Grim Reaper's undead laying waste to the interior. She is shocked to see Simon among them. Meanwhile, the Avengers are chained captives and must listen to the Grim Reaper recount his horrible childhood as the imperfect sibling to the always-perfect Simon Williams. The Vision reminds the Reaper his memory is warped, that his childhood did not happen that way. But the Reaper will hear none of it, and warns that soon all on the planet will feel his pain.

As the Fantastic Four and Daredevil try to breach the Reaper's force field he's surrounded himself with, the Scarlet Witch is trapped at the mansion. She reaches out with her newfound abilities and manages to free the undead from the Reaper's spell. They immediately set out to right the wrong created by the Reaper. Wanda releases herself from her bonds and Agatha Harkness appears, telling Wanda that her fight is not with the Avengers right now, but to find a place within her heart to return Simon William's love for her.

The undead heroes have finally reached the Reaper's dome and pierced the barrier. The former Avengers release their friends and they lead a combined assault on the Reaper and his demonic charges. Meanwhile, Wanda reaches inside and finds her common emotional bonds with Simon and pulls him free of his link with the dead, which also sets up a chain reaction sending the dead heroes back to the afterlife. They are all mortified to see what was given to them taken away from them, but the forces cannot be reversed.

The Grim Reaper thinks he now has the upper hand that Wonder Man is gone, but he doesn't realize that Simon is alive now, and he reaches through a dimensional portal still open via the Scarlet Witch and grabs his brother, returning the same kind of love that Wanda gave him, once more to his brother, causing the Grim Reaper to once again be no more, since he was only powered by hate and loathing.

Life returns to normal at the Avengers Mansion, with Wanda and Simon sharing personal time by the fire place.

-- synopsis by Gormuu

--cover images and panel image by (who the heck else??!?!) AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!