#starjammers

Also, we have a guest penciler this issue.

I'm not usually one to comment on art but uh the way Kevin West drew Black Knight's 90s Perma-Stubble makes half his face look calcified on this page.

Anyway.

Ch'od pushes his way through the crowd and says he won't let a Starjammer be threatened.

Even Corsair is like wtf guy, not the time.

But Ch'od insists that they don't know what REALLY went down. We can't just assume that Raza stabbed Black Knight to death unprovoked.

Ch'od: "None of us know what happened here between Raza and the Black Knight! You are no judge or jury! I would think you Avengers have had enough of acting like executioners!"

WOW, CH'OD! WOW!

The Starjammers almost delivered the Nega-Bomb to blow the Kree galaxy the fuck up. Some Avengers had to convince the Starjammers to abandon the mission. And they abandoned the mission and the bomb in the middle of space, which let the Skrulls steal it and set it off anyway.

SO HOW DID YOU EVEN GET UP ON THAT HIGH HORSE CONSIDERING YOUR ROLE IN THE KREE/SHI'AR WAR?

Thor puts a hand on Ch'od's massive bicep and tells him to maybe take it down a notch.

So Ch'od backhands Thor through a wall. Nobody tells Ch'od to take it down a notch.

Corsair goes fuck it I guess we ride or die and pulls out a space gun and says Ch'od's right, "the Starjammers aren't going to be anyone's victims!"

Then Vision semi-intangible fists him from behind and says hey guy, maybe don't play the victim when a man is bleeding out on the floor because of one of your guys?

But in the meantime, Ch'od punches Hercules and Raza through the outside wall of Avengers Mansion, then grabs Raza and runs off with him into New York City.

So the Avengers all turn to Corsair and just go want to say anything for your team, guy.

Corsair swears that he has no fucking idea why the hell this all happened.

Professor Xavier vouches for the Starjammers since they've always been good allies to the X-Men. He asks Hepzibah to explain Raza's behavior but Hepzibah plays dumb.

Also, Black Knight is still bleeding out on the floor. Also, he lost his shirt between issues because of the change in artist.

So Quicksilver has teleporting doggo Lockjaw teleport him to the Moon and back so he can borrow the Inhuman Royal Family's personal physician Galen.

But apparently during the time skip of Quicksilver going to go do that, the Starjammers' physician Sikorsky has already started helping Dane. So Hepzibah complains about all the medical attention Black Knight is getting, arguing that Sikorsky should be enough.

Corsair is a little confused by his alien skunk girlfriend's complaint.

Corsair: "Hepzibah! This is a human life we're talking about!"

Also, apparently, Cyclops and Professor X have fucked off off-panel while Quicksilver was going to the Moon. Ostensibly, to see what they can find out about what happened from the X Mansion. But I think they just wanted to escape the awkward situation.

Basically-in-charge Black Widow tells Thor, Hercules, Sersi, and Vision to go find Raza (and Ch'od) before the end of the night.

Corsair insists on going along as well. These are his boys we're talking about.

The Avengers are hesitant to trust Corsair. Because. Y'KNOW. Someone got stabbed to near death. Why should the Avengers trust any of the Starjammers right now?

So Hepzibah offers to stay at the Mansion as a hostage. Corsair can't slip away from the search party and run off with Ch'od and Raza if his alien skunk girlfriend is a hostage.

Binary Carol Danvers pops into the conversation to tell everyone that's a great idea and also she is joining the search party, too.

Black Widow is worried that Carol is still recovering from her injuries in Operation: Galactic Storm (where she got burned pretty badly saving the Sun). But Carol says she's going. She has a duty to both the Avengers and the Starjammers.

Meanwhile, in the Avengers infirmary, Crystal is dealing with the shock of all that's happened. Not just about what could have happened to Luna but that Dane might die.

And Quicksilver has a weird expression on his face as he listens to Crystal worrying about Dane.

I think that's significant, anyway. It gets a panel to itself.

Elsewhere in the city, Raza and Ch'od lurk about some back alleys of Lower Manhattan. Ch'od having cleverly disguised himself by throwing a big coat over his head.

Ch'od: "Really, Raza, aren't you going to say anything? I made rather a fool of myself back at the mansion with that most inappropriate display of anger... but I believed you innocent. But this silence is most disquieting." Raza: "Ne'ever did I ask for thy help, Ch'od. Nor, my gentle friend, did I e'er make claims of innocence."

Whoops, you went so hard in defending a friend from accusations of wrongdoing and he just went 'no, I did the murder.'

Raza waxes poetic about doing anything to bring back a lost loved one, even things that go against your morals.

But then the Avengers arrive, jumping out of an aircar set against a weird purple, cloudy background.

As Black Widow assigned: the Vision, Sersi, Hercules, and Thor.

A good group if you need to beat up a space cyborg. Actually, this group might be overqualified to beat up a pair of Starjammers.

The fight has just started and Sersi has already blasted the space gun out of Raza's hand and then punched him in the throat while Thor and Hercules keep Ch'od busy. And Vision is just. Somewhere. Chilling out. Waiting for his turn. The problem with outnumbering an enemy is the action choreography.

Raza morphs his cybernetic hand into a knife. He can do that. He has cyborg powers. And he threatens Hercules with it. I'm not sure if a space cyborg knife is that much of a threat to Hercules, Prince of Power. But the point is moot.

Vision jumps in the way and lets the knife break on his diamond-hard pecs.

Ch'od yells that they need to end this fight and Thor blasts him with lightning.

Sersi seems to egg Thor on to kill Ch'od. What the fuck, Sersi?? But Thor is like 'aw but I want him to be my space friend!'

Poor Eric Thor. Still trying to make a space friend. Didn't pan out in Operation: Galactic Storm because the Imperial Guard sucks. And this probably won't pan out either because the X-Men have custody of the Starjammers.

Then Corsair and Binary finally arrive. See, they had to park the ship that the others just jumped out of.

This Avengers group is clearly very capable of kicking Raza's ass. That's not in question. But the point of this isn't to kick his ass. It's to find out why the hell he shanked Black Knight. And the way to accomplish that isn't going to be punching him but talking to him. And Binary specifically volunteers herself.

She and Raza have a kind of connection. Quasi-romantical, it seems like.

Binary: "Raza, it's me. Carol. Don't pull the silent act on me, pal. We could always talk to each other... Remember? When everyone else on the 'Jammer was alseep, we--"

You what? Spoke? Did other activities? An interruption and a scene change cut her off. The interruption is Raza yelling for Carol not to help him because he's not worth it.

The scene change is to check back in at Avengers Mansion.

Drs Sikorsky and Galen are still working on Black Knight's injury.

Outside the infirmary, Hepzibah wanders by and tells Black Widow that she should be prepared for Black Knight to die. Raza's killing stroke is very fatal.

Black Widow says she's not counting Black Knight out. He's a fighter. A friend. And also: Hepzibah, you're supposed to be a hostage. Go sit in your room and stop wandering around as you please.

Back at the confrontation, Thor is raising doubts about letting Binary talk to Raza. MAYBE HE'LL STAB HER?

Corsair is like, buddy, you don't know our group dynamics. She and Raza are tight. He trusts her in a way he doesn't even trust the rest of the Starjammers, who he has known for way longer.

Corsair also continues to stress it is not like Raza to just stab someone. He must have had a reason.

Vision decides to muse that perhaps both sides are to blame.

Vision: "Emotions have been running very high tonight, Corsair. Perhaps we Avengers could have prevented events from escalating." Beardless Hercules: "Vison?!" Vision: "I include myself in that observation, Hercules. For when I saw the Knight lying there, I... felt... something in me I can only classify as rage. When I attacked Corsair, I only added to a chaotic situation."

Man. I don't know about that. The Avengers entered the scene to find that a guest had just fatally stabbed one of their fellow Avengers. Honestly, they were pretty reasonable about things. Letting Corsair come on the mission to catch Raza and all that. Not even attempting to keep Hepzibah as a very contained hostage.

Anyway. Hercules is very proud of Vision for feeling a feeling.

Raza starts yelling that the Avengers should have killed him. Shown him the mercy of ending his pathetic life.

Kind of feels like he's splitting the difference between having to do something against his moral code in order to be true to his family by just kind of hoping he dies in the attempt. And if he did, he couldn't even use the information the Kree give him to find his family. If you're not even going to be able to follow-up on the reward you feel honor bound to go for, then don't do the thing you don't want to do?

Anyway. Carol won't just fuck off and let the Avengers kill him. Not that they were going to. But he's really hoping he can get them to. But Carol refuses to leave and insists he tell everyone what this is about.

So he explains how the Kree promised to help him find his son, in exchange for Black Knight's life.

Corsair: "A son?! Raza never mentioned a son to me!" Ch'od: "Nor me. I must say this night has been full of surprises."

Close-knit group, are you?

Okay. Sass aside. If he was reasonably certain his family was dead, I understand why he wouldn't have wanted to reopen the wound by discussing it with the Starjammers.

Raza: "I shall speak softly now... for only to thee have I e'er kept hidden within the depths of my soul. Of my wife and her death I spoke, aye, though that was painful enough for one lifetime... but of little Rion... o, my son, my little child... how he screamed when they took him from my bosom into the abyss. His cries echo 'cross the years, Carol... and pierce my heart even now!"

Carol asks how Raza can be sure that the Kree were honest about knowing where Rion is. So Raza shows off the necklace that the Kree gave him. The necklace that Rion had been wearing when he was dragged off.

Binary: "Oh, Raza... They dangled your son's life before you... like a prize. The Kree were always vicious, but this --!"

Binary asks to see the necklace and Raza hands it over.

Then Binary blows it the fuck up.

Raza gets mad, understandably, and holds her at knifepoint, like on the cover. But Carol insists she did what had to be done!

FOR YOU SEE!

She tells everyone and Raza that the necklace was no mere tragic keepsake of a long-lost child. It is Actually a Kree memory implant device, a device for implanting memories. It was never the necklace that Rion had been wearing! The memory implanting device just implanted a memory of that being the case!

How fucked up of the Kree!

If it were true.

Carol is blatantly lying. She tells Raza to put aside his pride and go with it.

Binary: "It was a memory inducer, Raza. Do you understand what I'm saying? The Kree are responsible for what happened tonight... not you! You're my friend, Raza. And I know the anguish you feel over what's happened. The Avengers will listen to me. I've been a member of both teams, and I'd do anything for both... I'd die... dear lord, i'd even lie."

Like Raza, Carol herself is stuck in a tough situation where she wants to be true to two seemingly mutually exclusive options. But she has the out of just lying to the Avengers to protect Raza.

She's trying to give Raza is own out of the conflicted situation. He can't go search for his son if the Avengers arrest him or whatever they do to space people who commit attempted murder.

And helping Carol's scheme is that back at the Mansion, Dr Galen and Sikorsky have finished operating on Black Knight. And they're pretty sure he should recover, with enough rest.

It's weird! Usually Raza's death blows cause death but this time the death blow was only a grievous injury blow. Dr Sikorsky's considered medical opinion is that Raza's heart wasn't in it and he pulled the blow.

Hepzibah goes wow glad that everything worked out and there's a happy ending for all.

Black Widow =_= at this because her spy paranoia is acting up and she decides that she and Crystal will keep a close, secret watch on Dane's recovery room until the Starjammers leave.

Good thing, too. Later, Hepzibah sneaks into the room to finish Black Knight off.

More luckily, she takes a really long time to internally monologue her thoughts before doing anything. So Black Widow and Crystal have time to pop into the room and ask Hepzibah what she's doing in the room.

And then that basically goes nowhere because Team Chase Raza and also Ch'od have returned from chasing Raza and also pop into the infirmary room to celebrate that Jarvis told them that Dane was going to pull through.

By the by. During Hepzibah's internal narration before she failed to get around to poisoning Black Knight is the fact that she's very pissed off at Lilandra and the Shi'ar for keeping her people imprisoned. So add that to the 'What the FUCK' Lilandra count.

D'ken was worse so it makes sense that the Starjammers deposed him to put Lilandra on the throne. But she's shown very little gratitude to her friendly neighborhood privateers for their efforts in that regard so maybe they should stop doing jobs for her.

Anyway, with Black Knight not dead and Raza having the convenient lie that Carol made up for him, the teams are able to part on good terms despite... y'know. A near-fatal stabbing.

Raza even warns Black Knight that the Kree will probably keep trying to kill him or the Avengers. And Black Knight thanks him for the warning and says he really can't blame the Kree for being big mad at him.

As the Starjammers get ready to leave, Corsair asks if Binary will be rejoining them. And Black Widow jumps in and offers her a spot on the Avengers again. Her knowledge of the Kree will be very helpful as the Kree continue trying to get revenge for the Supreme Intelligence.

But Carol is done superheroing for a little bit. She's going to go home and visit her parents for the first time since she went to space to Starjam. And she's going to rediscover her roots.

If I have the timeline right, Carol got her memory wiped by getting Rogued and then had her memories reconstructed by Xavier, but without the emotions attached to them. And then she got Binary'd while on an adventure with the X-Men. And then she stayed in space. So, yeah, she hasn't been home in a while.

The Starjammers leave and on the Starjammer, secret conspirators Raza and Hepzibah meet.

Hepzibah goes 'wow thank goodness our murder plot was all Kree mind control =3c'

But Raza tells her neither of them get to ease their conscience like that. He makes the subtext text and explains that Carol's lie was a lie. There was no Kree memory inducer. She just blew up a treasured family keepsake to provide him a cover story so he could go find his son.

Raza: "But ne'er shall I be free from the knowledge of the crime I did'st commit. Nor from the fact that I have seen your true soul, twisted by greed, warped by hate... And I know not what to do 'bout it. Sharra help me."

So not quite alls well that ends well. Raza has to live with what he's done. And to live with knowing that Hepzibah would gladly agree to murder someone for a mountain of money.

That kind of thing affects friendships.

And there ends the issue! But introduces another possible subplot to the pile! We have the Swordsman and Magdalene stuff. And now the Kree revenge stuff. Also, the Cap leave of absence stuff if that's even a subplot.

A little annoyed that Professor Xavier and Cyclops fucked off before the story was over. The cover image of Xavier standing between the Avengers and the Starjammers never really came to pass. And the two teams never had a full fight with each other. Although, given the fights that we did get, that would have gone poorly for the Starjammers.

Anyway.

Sticking with the East Coast Avengers for a while to synchronize the publishing dates of the two Avengers books. And for whatever reason, Harras needed a break or something and there's a three part fill-in story by Len Kaminski.

Featuring Grim Reaper.

Dangit.

Not sure how that particular fact got out. There wasn't really anyone around but the Avengers. Or why this Kree admiral and/or whoever he represents is only after Black Knight.

Sure, the Knight struck the killing blow with his lightsaber (although the Supreme Intelligence actually played everyone for suckers and snuck away alive at the end of Operation: Galactic Storm) but about half of the Avengers present were helping.

Either way. Ex-Admiral guy wants Black Knight murdered to death.

Raza tries to explain that the Supreme Intelligence was a monster who caused the deaths of untold billions of Kree. The ex-admiral dismisses that as propaganda spread by Queen Lilandra. Who he also calls a harlot.

I don't know how long it's been since Operation: Galactic Storm but I'm almost horribly impressed by how quickly revisionism has spread.

Raza is mad that a Kree is saying mean words about Lilandra but Hepzibah doesn't give a fuck. She doesn't like Lilandra right now because Lilandra promoted Deathbird and Hepzibah fuckin hates Deathbird.

(One would assume that the Starjammers might also be a little sore that Lilandra tried to make them party to genocide by having them transport the Nega-Bomb without telling them what it was. That doesn't seem to come up.)

The ex-admiral offers two hundred million credits if the Starjammers kill just one measely Earth guy. Hepzibah's eyes light up at the A LOT OF MONEY but Raza is not so swayed.

Raza Longknife: "The Starjammers are no assassins, no matter what the price!" Kree guy: "Of course. You are 'noble' pirates, I forgot."

This guy just burned Raza so hard.

Anyway, Hepzibah can have the A LOT OF MONEY but Kree guy has another form of compensation for Raza.

And he pulls out a necklace. One very familiar to Raza. Since it's what his son was wearing before he was dragged off to the slave pits of former Mad Emperor D'Ken.

The Kree guy promises his group knows where Raza's family is and if he kills one single Terran, he'll get to be reunited with his family.

Geez.

These kinds of arrangements, usually the reveal is that the family is dead. But if Raza's family is alive and this Kree guy was able to find out where they were... what the fuck Lilandra? With all that the Starjammers did for you and all the power of the Shi'ar throne that THEY put you on, you couldn't find Raza's family that your fucked up brother put in slavery? You couldn't even just verify that they were alive or dead so their status couldn't be dangled over Raza like delicious bait?

You suck, Lilandra. You're all take and no give.

Anyway. Raza's last objection is that Corsair will never agree to this job but Hepzibah accepts the job anyway and says she'll deal with Corsair.

Later, representatives of the X-Men, X-Factor, and the Avengers are meeting at Avengers Mansion to discuss the very important concern that Magneto's obsessed followers may try to do something to Quicksilver, Crystal, or especially Luna.

Quicksilver quickly grasps why that might be.

Quicksilver: "The fact Magnet's granddaughter is merely human might be considered an impediment to the effectiveness of his legend... an embarrassment some would like removed."

Cyclops agrees that they can't discount the possibility. And I thiiiiink that scenario doesssss happen which must mean we're pretty close to the Bloodties crossover. Another reason to be excited!

The reason why this is a concern now is because the Bureau of Mutant Affairs (the government department that runs X-Factor) received a flier with Magneto's head and the text "Beware, humans! His sacrifice will not be in vain! The purity of his mutant legacy will endure!"

Quicksilver wishes he had never learned Magneto was, at the time, his dad! He goes off to discuss this fresh new hellish wrinkle in their lives with Crystal.

I hope someone is warning Scarlet Witch. That crazed followers of her (at the time) dad might try something at her. Scarlet Witch? Over with the Avengers West Coast? Already going through enough shit without this on top?

Anyway.

The Starjammers in the Starjammer are headed out of Shi'ar territory and have endured the weird situation of Shi'ar scout ships having fired upon them.

It's not a crime for the Starjammers to leave the empire so its odd. Corsair acknowledges that things are a bit tense after the Kree/Shi'ar War ended but he also acknowledges that things are tense between Lilandra and the Starjammers because Hepzibah and Raza made a big deal of insisting on leaving Shi'ar space to go to Earth and visit Carol Danvers, Binary.

Raza Longknife: "Was it so odd a request, then? Carol Danvers was a Starjammer, in both name and deed. Such a bond should ne'er be ignored. It be important we go, lest the tides of friendship fade."

Like, for instance, how she barely talks about you these days in current comics?

Anyway. That's the pretext for visiting Earth to do a murder? You're going to piss Carol off, using her as an excuse. No wonder she doesn't talk about the Starjammers much anymore.

Ch'od, who isn't in on the murder scheme, speculates aloud that Raza has ulterior motives for visiting Earth.

Why! Ch'od has always suspected that Raza had a crush on Carol!

Raza gets upset and tells Ch'od to keep his observations to himself. But when he and Hepzibah are alone, she criticizes him for losing his temper so it's more that having to kill a guy is weighing on Raza.

He says he's killed many times in his life so one more won't be a problem. But I suspect that the times Raza has killed has been in battle. Not pre-meditated murder.

Back on Earth, Black Knight doesn't know he's being targeted for assassination. He thinks he has Troubles with a capital T just having the Feelings for divorced woman Crystal.

Instead of attending the meeting, the one about how extremists might target one of his teammates and her helpless daughter, Black Knight is not doing that because he can't stand to see Crystal and Quicksilver standing in the same room. That's how bad the Feelings are.

Instead, he's working out in his underwear, training his lightsaber skills against robots in the training room. Presumably training to join the rest of the Jedi in the Clone Wars.

ALSO. HERCULES SHAVED. I HATE IT.

STOP SHAVING, HERCULES.

I think it's because Thor is bearded currently so they're just trading who has what facial hair but Hercules' beard is more his superhero aesthetic than the giant H belt buckle or his weird bondage harness. He just doesn't look right without his beard!

Anyway, Thor and Shaved Hercules come to see why Dane didn't show up to the meeting and Dane is very vague about why, just that he didn't want to, geez. Except when Thor mentions off-hand that Quicksilver is less obnoxious than rumor made him out to be.

And hearing that Quicksilver might have positive qualities very obviously agitates Dane.

Not that Thor gets it.

Superheroes. They can be dense. It's because the soap opera plotting would fall to shambles if they were emotionally aware.

While leaving the awkward conversation with Thor and Hercules, Black Knight bumps into a side conversation that Crystal and Quicksilver are having.

The content of the conversation being 100% 'how do we protect our daughter from my dad's worked up fanatics?'

It's not like Dane stumbles on them seeming like they're going to reconcile.

Crystal mentions that she missed Dane at the meeting and he brusquely says he was busy and walks off. And then castigates himself for being a rude dick instead of a good friend, especially when Crystal could use one. Could use a friend.

Dane makes his way up to the roof, where he continues to yell at himself over his behavior.

Black Knight: "You act like a cold fish and pull away! Man, with friends like you, who needs enemies? But let's be honest, okay? For once? What I feel for Crystal is more than friendship, isn't it? And it can't happen! It won't happen! She wants to repair her marriage -- make it work. And it tears me up that I keep hoping she fails! Some friend. Some hero."

Also, Sersi is there.

She's just kind of floating around the rooftop. She's been gone for two weeks and now she's just back.

Dane asks where she's been and she steers the conversation back around to him. She wants to know about how he's doing.

And Dane isn't doing well.

He's still torn up about killing the Supreme Intelligence. Wandering whether his group of Avengers in that moral conflict did the right thing. Whether the Supreme Intelligence was Actually Alive and Black Knight murdered a living being.

And there's also the fact that Team Yes Lightsaber the Supreme Intelligence has seemingly driven Captain America away from the Avengers. Cap is gone. It's officially just a leave of absence but an indefinite one.

Sersi: "Dane... the past is immutable. You have to let it go... and enjoy the present."

And then she starts kissing on him.

Welp. Here we go. The Avengers Love Triangle of the 90s.

We haven't had one in a while. I guessss Vision-Scarlet Witch-Wonder Man is supposed to be a love triangle but its such a limp example of one.

Black Knight: "What was that about?!" Sersi: "You're a big boy, Dane. Do I have to explain? You can't deny it... You're as intrigued as I!"

This isn't remotely the point but I do want to note that the Avengers team jackets are basically a thing now. Never really got explicitly called out as a thing that the Avengers were doing. And the jackets themselves were originally made in Operation: Galactic Storm because the Kree Delegation was in a slightly cold location. But damn if they didn't catch on from there.

And honestly. They do look good.

Anyway, Black Knight trying to explain to Sersi that he has Feelings for Crystal doesn't happen because the Starjammers arrive in a big spaceship.

Sersi: "It appears we have visitors. Someone should inform Jarvis he should set more plates for dinner."

HE IS UP TO THE CHALLENGE.

Seriously.

Surprise outer space guests for dinner? JARVIS CAN HANDLE IT.

Corsair updates Xavier on the state of things in the newly embiggened Shi'ar Empire now that the war is over. The war is officially over but there are pockets of Kree resistance all over.

Although. The Kree population has dipped so radically (because Nega-Bomb) that there's not enough Kree resistance to really matter.

Corsair also says that Lilandra will want to know about Xavier's injury.

I'm not super familiar with the status quo of X-Men at this time. But my guess is that Xavier lost his ability to walk again. He gains and loses locomotion fairly frequently. And he was able to walk in Secret Wars, semi-recently.

But Xavier also has a thing or two to discuss with Lilandra because he's been talking to Carol Danvers about the stuff that was happening during the war.

Elsewhere in the party, Black Widow assures Crystal and Quicksilver that the Avengers are collaborating with Xavier to revamp their security to make sure that Luna is absolutely safe at Avengers Mansion. Definitely won't get kidnapped or anything for a crossover.

Luna's nanny Marilla swings by to pick up Luna to take her to bed and while she's in the area, Black Widow asks her if she's seen Black Knight.

Who has skipped the party on top of skipping the earlier meeting. Anti-social.

Marilla calls Dane moody as the Vision and that he's probably in the hangar bay.

Ch'od overhears the conversation about Dane and Dane being absent from the party makes Ch'od notice that Raza has up and vanished. He asks Hepzibah if she knows where their friend got off to.

Hepzibah: "No. His business, his own."

His business, by the by, is crawling around the maintenance conduits and air ducts to make his way to the hangar bay, where Black Knight is.

Black Knight is in the hangar bay, working on what seems to be the aircar that had that malfunction sabotage in the previous issue.

I appreciate the way plot details are lingering from one issue to the next.

Also, I appreciate the swing back towards character based plotting. It's hard to really describe unless you've been lacking it. But I love Avengers not just for the sometimes cool action scenes. But for how the characters bounce off each other. When the long-term writing of the book is uncertain, you don't get that so much. A non-permanent writer isn't going to put their whole ass into setting up a dynamic to explore. And also, you don't get it so much in event comics and we've been heavy on events on this liveblog lately.

Anyway.

Black Knight thinks he hears something, thinks its Sersi, decides he was mistaken, and then decides he thought the thing he imagined was Sersi because he welcomes the distraction she'd be.

And then Raza jumps out of a vent like "BLEGH! IT'S ME!"

Raza speaks very Shakespearean, actually. Like Classic, NotEric Thor. I don't know why. The man is from space. They don't even have Shakespeare in space, except in Klingon territory.

Raza helpfully explains that he's here to kill Black Knight because some people blame him for the fall of the Kree Empire.

Black Knight backflips away from Raza's big sword swing but then gets mad that Raza bifurcated the aircar that he's been working on for a week. He grabs his lightsaber from a nearby computer desk and tells Raza that he's very upset about that week worth of work wasted.

And now we're SWORDFIGHTING!

The amount of swordfights in Avengers has skyrocketed since Black Knight started being a main team member.

A Swordsman came back (from the dead?) to get into a rivalry with Black Knight. And space swordsman Raza came all the way from space to specifically fight Black Knight.

Who else can we get to swordfight the most RenFair of Avengers? Is Nightcrawler busy right now?

Raza is actually happy that Black Knight is fighting back. Because Raza is still not sure whether assassinating a man is the right thing to do and he feels better for things to come down to a fair fight between warriors. And yet he still monologues about how much he doesn't want to do this. Especially because (he assumes) Black Knight is a friend of Carol Danvers' and he doesn't want to upset her.

Black Knight: "Let me get this straight -- you have nothing against me -- you don't want to hurt me -- but someone's forcing you to kill me! Raza, pal, you gotta learn -- don't give in to peer pressure!"

Black Knight manages to slassk Raza across the chest and knock him on his ass. He demands to know if the Starjammers are attacking the other Avengers and Raza says this is just about Black Knight.

Black Knight: "oh. Well, I guess I'm flattered."

The fight between them is apparently so much that it causes a rmmbll and the shaking of chandeliers in the dining room or party room or wherever the X-Men/Avengers/Starjammers were hanging out and eating pigs in a blanket.

You'd think that the hangar bay would have great soundproofing because vehicles take off from there but maybe swordfights are just that loud. Everyone starts running towards the loud noises, because superheroes.

Back at the fight, Black Knight finds himself in a bit of a situation. He and Raza are about equally skilled as swordsmen. But Raza is way stronger than him because of his cybernetic enhancements.

Dane needs an edge or he's going to lose to attrition. And thankfully he's a comic book smart guy so he always has bullshit to try. For example, he could reverse the polarity of the neutron flow.

Close to, actually. He switches his lightsaber to reverse which, uh, encases his arm in energy, I guess.

Dane guessed correctly that Raza wouldn't be expecting him to suddenly switch things up with hand to hand. And since he gets several surprise punches in, the sword's non-lethal neural paralyzing effect should blunt Raza's strength advantage.

That goes great until Raza uses the fact that he's still using a sword and Black Knight has his sword backwards to get reach advantage on him and knock him on his ass.

Oh, and then Marilla comes in with Luna. Remember how Marilla said she'd go looking for Dane? Because Dane skipped the party? She came looking for Dane and now Raza has taken Luna hostage.

Black Knight: "Raza, let her go. Dear lord -- she's just a baby!" Raza: "Aye. One child's life in exchange for another. There's a symmetry in that, eh?" Black Knight: "You're insane!" Raza: "Perhaps. Perhaps no man who's spent time in D'ken Nermani's slave pits can e'er claim to be sane... That is why I will do anything, Earther, to rescue my loved ones still there. And I promise thee, I will do -- anything."

Dane rushes at Raza to rescue Luna. And gets stabbed right in the stomach.

Raza confesses that it was a bluff. He would never have hurt Luna. But the bluff worked to get Black Knight acting careless and letting Raza end their fight.

And having stabbed a man that he didn't want to stab in the first place and that he had to fake-threaten a child to get into a good stabbing position, Raza doesn't feel great about his actions.

He probably feels even worse when Shaved Hercules yanks him by his ponytail and starts strangling him.

Hercules: "Thou hast killed an Avengers -- and for that -- THOU MUST DIE!!"

You really killed the party vibe, Raza. Everyone was getting along great and eating pigs in a blanket until you did a murder.

Now, I don't think Black Knight is really dead. I've seen him in Bloodties, the upcoming crossover where Luna is once again endangered. And Dane has some kind of weird rivalry with Exodus, that Magneto fanatic who doesn't have a sword whatsoever but does have trouble going through doors because of his costume. But I'd love to find out how Dane walks off getting stabbed so hard.

I also appreciate that this issue is REPERCUSSIONS and next issue is RETRIBUTION!! Some good issue to issue alliteration.

I was kind of hoping for more of a team vs team showdown, like on the cover. I guess with Xavier refereeing? Maybe that will happen next time, since the Avengers all just showed up to see that a Starjammer killed an Avenger.

Next week we are following right up with Avengers #151 because Avengers and Avengers West Coast got desynced leading up to Operation: Galactic Storm. But there's still more #150 to go. It is a milestone issue. It's extra long.

There's a back-up story. There's a Jarvis-focused back-up story! You know I love Jarvis-focused back-up stories!

"The Butler Did It!"? Wait, that's usually said in murder mysteries! No, Jarvis, don't kill Marilla! She's your sitcom archnemesis and I'm enjoying you having one way too much!

Seriously. It's great that Jarvis, the nicest guy in Avengers history, just has this one woman he can't fucking stand. And he tries to be civil but she makes it an arduous task because she is very in his face and very disrespectful.

Case in point. This back-up story.

Jarvis is just trying to enjoy his crossword puzzle and Marilla has come into the kitchen to offer unsolicited criticism of what he's making for dinner.

Marilla: "Blah!! If this is what Earthlings call fine food -- then they are in need of a new term. Jarvin, I thought your responsibility was to aid your masters? Never in all my decades have I tasted such cruel gruel!! How can you serve such dreck? If you dare try to serve this to Luna you'll re-"

Jarvis finally has enough and tells her to gtfo of his kitchen. He doesn't tell her how to nanny, he won't accept her feedback on how to do his job.

Marilla stomps off in a huff. Such nerve! Speaking to her in such a way! But she does gtfo of the kitchen and go to watch television. Where she becomes enamored with Fraggle Rock. Which she thinks is real.

Just a fish out of water, Inhumans aren't up to date with human popular culture, sort of joke.

Also, a bunch of Avengers storm through the TV room on their way to Infinity War.

After watching a bunch of TV while an event comic is happening somewhere else, Marilla takes Luna for a walk in the park.

And the 'it' that the butler did was sticking an unflattering note to Marilla's back to get back at her.

But this is still Jarvis so it's not quite a scathing, unflattering note.

Fun enough back-up story to make the issue longer because of milestone reasons.

Also milestone related extra content: floor plan of the new Avengers Mansion!

Woo!

I love bonus features like this!

I'm fascinated that both Captain America and Thor have offices. Captain America having an office makes sense. He's on a leave of absence right now but before he left, he was the Avengers chairman.

But Thor? Thor is a newbie right now. A normal guy is wearing his body because of Thor stuff. Why wouldn't the other office be for Black Widow, who is Captain America's second-in-command?

So weird.

Also, I know what the Simon Room and Kirby Room are a reference to. But what function do they serve within the day-to-day operations at Avengers Mansion?

And that was the big 3 5 0 of Avengers. Next week, more Avengers. Black Knight got stabbed. Let's follow up on that.