Ms. Marvel (2006) #13-24

[Kevin Van der Borght]

Ms. Marvel #13
May 2007

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-13t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=10800)

Story Arc: The Deal, Part 1 of 2

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Production: Rich Ginter
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=43676&highlight=Arbona)
Editor: Bill Rosemann (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339417#post1339417)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

At the Monument Circle in Indianapolis, Ms. Marvel, who is wearing a protection suit, joins Iron Man to witness a great tragedy. In a terrorist attack, ninety-six people got killed. When Ms. Marvel examins the mutated faces of the victims more closely, she notices that they died screaming. Iron Man informs Ms. Marvel that they had to put up a level-5 force field because of the high contamination risk.

As the two leave the scene, Ms. Marvel asks Iron Man why he called her specifically. While the two undergo a cleansing procedure, Iron Man explains that the bomb, which was used, caused random fluctuations in the different kinds of makeups of the victims. At that moment, Ms. Marvel realises that Iron Man is talking about a D.N.A.-bomb and guesses that A.I.M. was behind the attack. But Ms. Marvel doesn’t understand why S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t taken down A.I.M. yet. Iron Man informs her that they are closing in on them, even though things have been hectic lately.

Surprised to hear Tony refer to the Civil War as hectic times, Ms. Marvel reminds him that he helped to start it. At that point, Tony understands that Ms. Marvel wants to make a point and asks her about it. Ms. Marvel accuses S.H.I.E.L.D. and Iron Man for using their resources to track down Captain America’s underground, instead of going after the real bad guys. When Ms. Marvel refers to the Registration Act as stupid, Iron Man reminds her that she found the Act important enough to go after Arachne and as a consequence of that, to separate a mother from her daughter. Enraged by his words, Ms. Marvel lashes out at Iron Man and hits him pretty hard.

Five days later, Carol has a meeting with her publicist Sarah Day, who wants to talk about what she did to Iron Man. Carol informs her that she did not hit too hard and that Iron Man deserved the punch. At that point, Sarah questions Carol about the meeting that she had with Iron Man earlier that morning. Carol tells Sarah that Iron Man made her the offer to lead a new team of Avengers, but Carol told him that she needed to think about it. But now Carol realises that she had to tell him ‘no’ straight away.

At that point, Sarah wants to know why Carol is telling this to her, instead of Iron Man. Carol admits that she wanted to talk about something else as well. Carol tells Sarah that she no longer needs Sarah’s services, because she doesn’t know what Sarah is doing for her as a publicist. But Sarah answers her firmly that Carol isn’t giving her anything anymore to promote her. Carol responds to that by stating that she isn’t starved for attention and that she is just a superhero. Sarah points out to her that it is difficult to promote someone just as a superhero. Sarah informs Carol that she needs a reason to promote Carol and that Carol needs to find something that she really wants to do.

Later that day, Carol is sitting on her bed, calling William Wagner to ask him if he might be interested to go to dinner with her Friday night. She tells him that she feels bad about the way their last date went and promises him that she’ll keep her schedule completely free for him. Although William has to admit that he was a little thrown away about what happened last time, he is certain that he doesn’t want to run away either.

After her phone call with William, Araña shows up. Carol asks immediately how Araña is doing. She informs Carol that her bruises are healing but that her carapace is gone. But Araña has to keep things short, because her father has been keeping a very close eye on her ever since the incident. Araña, however, wants to make it clear that she doesn’t blame Carol for anything. Anya realises that it was her own fault for getting herself almost killed, because she didn’t listen to Carol. Carol comforts her by telling Anya that she did good. And although Anya got lucky, Carol wants to let her now that every superhero has gotten lucky at least one time in their life.

Later that evening at the Avengers Tower, Ms. Marvel is talking to Iron Man. At the beginning of their conversation, Ms. Marvel discovers that Sarah Day called Iron Man to suggest to him to call the new team of Avengers, the Mighty Avengers. Sarah came up with the name during her last conversation with Ms. Marvel. Iron Man has to admit that he likes the name because it is catchy.

As the conversation continues, Ms. Marvel reminds Iron Man of the fact that she hit him only last week. Iron Man tells her that he called her to Indianapolis for two reasons. The first one was that he thought that Carol could give him some fresh insight regarding the incident, because Carol has had to deal on a regular basis with A.I.M. lately. The second reason, why he called her, was to perform a bit of gut chack. Tony admits that he hasn’t got time to lead the Avengers, now that he is head of S.H.I.E.L.D. as well. But Carol still doesn’t understand what hitting him, has to do with all this. Tony admits that he pushed her buttons deliberately in Indianapolis. The result of it was that it showed that Carol was human, which is something Tony is looking for in a leader. Tony wants a leader, who stands firm, when a decision is made but also one who realises when he or she has made the wrong decision.

Although Carol finds it an honor that Tony has chosen her to lead the Avengers, it still isn’t enough for her personally. Carol realises that the world needs the Avengers to act as a sledgehammer, but she wants to be more. She wants to be the scalpel for the world. And although Carol agrees that the Avengers have to come first, she lets Tony know that she needs to do things for herself, for which she wants to use the S.H.I.E.L.D.-tools without becoming a S.H.I.E.L.D.-agent.

Some time later, S.H.I.E.L.D.-commander Hill discovers that two of her agents have gone missing. Just at that moment, she receives a call from Tony Stark, who shows her a press conference, made by Ms. Marvel’s publicist Sarah Day. Sarah informs the people that Ms. Marvel was able to bring down the A.I.M.-cell, that was responsible for the incident in Indianapolis. With her new initiative, called ‘Operation: Lightning Storm’, Ms. Marvel wants to deliver a personal message. From now on, Ms. Marvel is going to take the offensive to every super-powered terrorist.

That evening on Minicarrier 13, which is now the flying headquarters for Ms. Marvel’s initiative, Carol shows Simon around. During their conversation, Ms. Marvel makes it clear that she is going to ask Wonder Man’s help with ‘Operation: Lightning Storm’. At that moment, someone rings at her door. Sum, one of three S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents, who now work for Carol, informs her that they have found Arachne. After Wonder Man meets S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents Locke and Baines, he tells Carol that he is surprised that she is chasing Arachne. Carol informs him that she has to set things straight with Arachne, before she can start fresh. Just before Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man head for Brooklyn, Psy-OPS liaison agent Locke warns the two, that Arachne is feeling pure, cold hate at the moment.

At the Chicken Cow in Brooklyn, Anya is having problems with her boss, who has noticed the bruises on her arm. In the end, Anya decides to quit her job. Just as Anya leaves the place, a furious Arachne is waiting for her and demands to know where her daughter Rachel is.

Characters:
Arachne
Araña
Agent Baines
Iron Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20987)
Agent Locke
Maria Hill (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=35582)
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Sarah Day
David Sum
William Wagner
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #14
June 2007

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-14t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=10772)

tory Arc: The Deal, Part 2 of 2

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Production: Rich Ginter
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=43676&highlight=Arbona)
Editor: Bill Rosemann (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339417#post1339417)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

Two days ago, Carol Danvers and Tony Stark had a talk about Arachne. Carol confessed to Tony that she felt that she had to do something for Julia Carpenter and her daughter. Carol told him that she felt guilty because she was responsible for separating Rachel from her mother. And although Carol realised that Arachne broke the law and that Julia became a fugitive, after she refused for the second time to sign up with the registration act, Carol expressed her need to set this situation straight, before she can go after the bad guys.

When Tony reminded her of the fact that policemen separate children from their parents on a daily basis, Carol asked him if they do it also to former Avengers. But Tony replied to her question by asking her if Julia’s status as an Avenger should grant her special favors. At that moment, Ms. Marvel reminded Tony that this hasn’t been the first time that Avengers, including the two of them, have gotten away with certain things, because they were Avengers. In the end, Tony let Carol know that he might be able to help Arachne but he wondered if Julia would want their help.

Now at the back entrance of the Chicken Cow, Arachne confronts Anya and demands of her that Anya reveals Rachel’s whereabouts. But when Anya is unable to tell Julia the whereabouts of either Rachel nor Ms. Marvel, Arachne attacks Anya.

Hight above in the sky, Ms. Marvel prepares herself to confront Arachne once again. At the same, the confrontation with Arachne will serve as a test for her assembled team of Wonder Man and the three S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents. Carol orders agent Locke to keep Ms. Marvel posted on Arachne’s every thought. In case Arachne decides to fight Ms. Marvel, Carol wants agent Baines to contact local enforcements. And last, she asks agent Sum to accompany her. But then Wonder Man points out that this may not be the best way to handle the situation. Simon believes that showing up with S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents will remind Arachne too much of their last encounter and how that worked out.

And so, Carol and Simon, wearing their ordinary clothes, decide not to use their powers and to walk to the place, where Arachne was last spotted. But a few moments after agent Locke informs them that they aren’t far from the spot, Ms. Marvel realises that this is the neighbourhood, where Anya works. When Carol finally realises that Arachne went after Anya, she hurries herself to the Chicken Cow, only to find an unconscious Arachne at Araña’s feet.

In Anderson, Indiana, two S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents are guarding the lab of the A.I.M.-cell that was responsible for the incident in Indianapolis. Just as one of the two agents starts complaining about their task at hand, two A.I.M.-agents show up out of nowhere. They immobilize the two S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents before they even know it. After having taken care of them, the two A.I.M.-agents enter the lab to recover something.

Meanwhile, the unconscious Julia Carpenter has been brought to Ms. Marvel’s room on board of the minicarrier. When Julia finally comes around and notices Ms. Marvel, it is clear by the look of Julia’s eyes, that she is still very angry with Carol. Carol makes it immediately clear that she doesn’t want to fight Julia, which is something Julia doesn’t want either, because her only concern is getting her daughter Rachel back. Carol confesses that she feels bad about what she did to Julia and therefor she wants to help her. But Julia is disgusted by Carol because first she took Rachel away and now Carol wants to help Julia. When Carol informs Julia that Rachel remained with her grandparents after the incident, Julia is surprised to hear this, because Julia went back to her parents’ house after the big Civil War-fight and found it for sale. With this new information, Julia finally realises that her parents took off with her daughter.

To help Julia find her daughter, Carol decides to use her team. When the two leave Carol’s room, Wonder Man stands in the hallway. And although Simon wants to apologize for what happened, Julia tells him to shut up and to save his apologies.

Twenty minutes later in the minicarrier’s operation room, agent Baines informs them that he was able to track down Julia’s parents after Julia’s mother used her credit card. To confirm Baines’ findings, agent Locke demanded confirmation from the S.H.I.E.L.D.-psychics, which she received.

An hour later in Ohio, Julia’s father Walter is awoken by a sound. When he goes to investigate it, he finds his daughter Julia in the arms of Rachel. To Julia’s surprise, her father tells her to get out of there, after which he tries to pull Rachel from her mother’s arms. When Julia asks him what is wrong with him, he tells her that he wants to keep Rachel safe, after Julia put not only her parents’s lifes in danger but that of Rachel as well. In the end, her father tells Julia to do the right thing by getting out of Rachel’s life. While the adults argue, a crying Rachel begs her mother not to leave her again.

Outside, Ms. Marvel, Wonder Man and Araña wonder what is going on inside. Suddenly, Julia jumps out of the window with Rachel in her arms. She informs the others that they have to go, because her parents are calling the police. When Ms. Marvel reminds Arachne that her parents have custody over Rachel, Arachne asks her if she got Julia there to set things straight or not. In the end, Ms. Marvel decides to help her and with the help of Wonder Man, Julia and Rachel are brought back to the minicarrier.

Back in the minicarrier, Ms. Marvel makes it clear to Julia that Tony can arrange a full pardon for her, but that S.H.I.E.L.D. can’t give her custody over Rachel. This kind of thing can only be sorted out in the courts. But the full pardon isn’t the only thing that Tony has arranged. He has also managed for Julia and Rachel to go to Canada, where Julia can join a new team, which is called Omega Flight and which is assembled by the Prime Minister of Canada, who is an old friend of Tony. Reluctantly, Julia accepts the offer. In the end, Julia reminds Carol that she hasn’t forgotten what Carol did to her and Rachel, and states that she will never forgive Carol for it.

Back in the destroyed A.I.M.-lab in Anderson, Indiana, the two A.I.M.-agents are looking for the DNA-bomb, which is hidden in an extra dimension. After they finally recover it, they report back to their boss M.O.D.O.K., who orders them to bring the bomb to him.

Characters:
Arachne
Araña
Agent Baines
Black Knight
Bullseye
Captain America (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20969)
Daredevil
Elisabeth
Falcon (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22606)
Hercules
Human Torch (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23569)
Invisible Woman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23729)
Iron Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20987)
Agent Locke
Luke Cage
Mister Fantastic (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23752)
M.O.D.O.K.
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Rachel
Sentry
She-Hulk (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22674)
Spider-Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=21874)
Spider-Woman (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=39066)
Stature
David Sum
Tigra
Venom (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=44117)
Vision
Walter
Wasp (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22842)
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #15
July 2007

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-15t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=10851)

Story Arc: Ready, A.I.M., Fire!, Part 1

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Production: Kate Levin
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=43676&highlight=Arbona)
Editor: Bill Rosemann (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339417#post1339417)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

After Ms. Marvel took down the lab, two A.I.M. scientists have successfully retrieved a D.N.A. bomb at the former regional A.I.M. headquarters in Anderson, Indiana. But one of the scientists is not too happy to be around the device, after he saw what happened in Indianapolis. When they resurrect their van to leave the place, Sean Madigan appears as well. Seconds later, the two scientists are killed by Madigan.

Last night, Carol Danvers enjoyed having dinner with William Wagner. After dinner, they walked hours before they ended up in his apartment. After a night without any interruptions, Carol wakes up but to her surprise Wonder Man lies beside her. At that moment, the doorbell rings and she realises that it was all a dream. When Carol opens the door, Maria Hill asks her if she is too early for their meeting about 'Operation:Lightning Storm'. While Carol works out in the gym, Maria sums up everything that Carol has done and taken, since she started her operation. But Carol defends herself and informs Maria that everything was approved by Tony. When Maria brings up the situation of Julia Carpenter, Carol explains to her that the custody case will be treated by the court. After Carol mentions that she has debriefed Tony of the Carpenter-case, Maria wants to know if that is the only thing that she has debriefed him of. Before Carol can react to Maria's insinuation, Maria warns her that Tony will not be able to protect her, if Carol should cross the wrong person, the wrong law or if she gets in Maria's way.

After Maria has had her say, she hands over a top secret file, regarding Ms. Marvel's A.I.M. bust in Anderson. While Carol reads through it, Maria explains that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, who were guarding the former A.I.M. lab, were found dead together with two A.I.M. scientists. From this information, both Carol and Maria conclude that there is a third party involved. Carol wonders out loud what A.I.M. scientists were doing there, considering that Carol and her team took the lab apart. Normally Maria would send in some agents to investigate, but this time she refuses, because she wants Carol to do it. When Carol tries to get out of it by bringing up her agreement with Tony, Maria reminds her that this is a recovery period for the country and that she does not want to lose time with explaining why Tony Stark and his favorite blonde have made deals, which are not entirely legal. Just before Maria leaves the room, she tells Carol that she expects a report on Carol's findings by morning. After Maria has left the room, Carol is so angry that she hits through her punching bag.

After Carol’s team has arrived at the lab in Anderson, Carol is still very angry. Her feelings for Maria Hill are so strong that it makes it difficult for agent Locke to do her job. During their investigation, agent Baines discovers that A.I.M. has found a way to access the Calabiyau Spheres, which are six dimensions that exist besides the four known dimensions. When Ms. Marvel asks him how they were able to do that, Wonder Man teases her by asking her if she is pretending to know what Baines is talking about. As she feels caught, she tells Wonder Man to shut up. Baines continues and explains that A.I.M. has not only succeeded to punch a hole in those dimensions, but that they were also able to slip an object into it. When Wonder Man asks what that exactly means, Ms. Marvel informs him that A.I.M. was able to hide something in plain sight. With her explication, she shows her intelligence and takes her revenge on Wonder Man.

Suddenly, part of the place and Carol’s team are transported to A.I.M. Science Base One, where they meet Monica Rappaccini a.k.a. the Scientist Surpreme. Although Ms. Marvel was warned not to use her powers, she powers up. But A.I.M. takes Carol’s entire team out by using neural inhibitors, which block their motor skills. While the A.I.M. scientists check if the D.N.A. bomb is still there, Ms. Marvel asks Locke to open a psychic link so that she can consult the others on how to handle the Scientist Surpreme. But before they can come up with a plan, the A.I.M. scientists discover that the bomb is gone, after which they teleport Ms. Marvel and her team back to Anderson.

After their return in the former lab, the team discusses what just happened. From all that occured, Baines concludes that A.I.M. has punctured other calabiyaus while they have been searching for the D.N.A. bomb. Ms. Marvel understands that Baines is telling her that he can track down those punctures and find the location of the D.N.A. bomb.

Meanwhile at A.I.M. Research Base Alpha, an A.I.M. scientist explains to M.O.D.O.K. their progress on the Gnashers. The Gnashers are almost in a state that they don't need sleep or are incapabable of feeling full, so that they will continuously hunt and feed. After the scientist informs M.O.D.O.K. that the Gnashers sometimes want live meat, M.O.D.O.K. throws the scientist into the pit, where the Gnashers tear him apart alive. When M.O.D.O.K. turns angrily around to the other scientists, he asks them why the Gnashers-project is still active. But before they can answer, M.O.D.O.K. starts to cough badly, after which one of the scientists sends the others away.

Once back in M.O.D.O.K.’s private room, M.O.D.O.K. asks about the status of the recovery team on the D.N.A. bomb. The last time they heard from them, they told them that they were returning, but since then nothing. When the man looks again at M.O.D.O.K., he realises that M.O.D.O.K.’s disease is spreading. After another bad cough, M.O.D.O.K. confirms the man’s suspicion, after which the man tries to comfort his boss by telling him that they will find a cure.

After M.O.D.O.K. tells the scientist that he wants to sleep, the man leaves his room, after which he immediately teleports to Seattle, where he has secret meeting with other A.I.M. scientists. After Sean Madigan takes off his helmet, he informs the gentlemen that he has been making preparations and that M.O.D.O.K. is theirs for the take. But he also tells them that they will have to fight, if they want a slice of A.I.M., especially because the Scientist Surpreme wants A.I.M. all to herself.

Meanwhile, both the Scientist Surpreme and Ms. Marvel have tracked down the D.N.A. bomb back to Seattle, and because there is a mole in Ms. Marvel’s team, M.O.D.O.K. also learns this important information.

Back at the secret meeting, Sean Madigan is also able to inform his fellow scientists that every party involved has a reason to go after the bomb. Ms. Marvel does not want to see the bomb detonated, while Monica Rappaccini wants to make sure that M.O.D.O.K. does not get his hands on it. And last but not least M.O.D.O.K. needs it, if he wants to keep on living. Ever since George Tarleton underwent the process to become the gigantic-headed M.O.D.O.K., his body started to break down. And although the bomb was designed as a weapon, it is also the cure to rewrite M.O.D.O.K.’s genes to correct his physical degeneration. Therefor, Sean Madigan and his fellow scientists have to stop M.O.D.O.K. When Sean tells them that it is time to change A.I.M. for good by segmenting it, the other scientists do not agree, but Madigan tells them that they will be lucky, if they get a piece of the cake.

At that point, Madigan tells them that they have to get ready as all the parties are about to arrive in Seattle. After the arrival of Ms. Marvel’s team, the big fight between all the involved parties starts. After one of the groups uses a device, called the Dark Door, they suddenly start to teleport out. With the help of agent Locke, Ms. Marvel finds out that they teleported back to their base because they are afraid of the Dark Door. While she orders Wonder Man to deal with the rest of the scientists, Ms. Marvel grabs the Dark Door and flies away with it. As she flies higher to a safer altitude, she asks agent Baines to look for information regarding the device. When agent Baines tells her that it is a portable black hole, Ms. Marvel is not interested anymore as she believes that the bomb is fake and indeed, when she opens it, it is empty. As Ms. Marvel rushes back, realising that the Dark Door was a way to get her out, agent Locke already informs her that M.O.D.O.K. has arrived. Within a few seconds and with the use of his brain beam, M.O.D.O.K. is able to brainwash Wonder Man. Just as Ms. Marvel arrives back at the scene, she is attacked by Wonder Man, who is ordered to kill Ms. Marvel.

Characters:
Agent Baines
The Gnashers
Agent Locke
Maria Hill (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=35582)
M.O.D.O.K.
Monica Rappaccini
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Sean Madigan
David Sum
William Wagner
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #16
August 2007

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-16t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11006)

Story Arc: Ready, A.I.M., Fire!, Part 2

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=43676&highlight=Arbona)
Editor: Bill Rosemann (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339417#post1339417)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

In Sarah Day's office, a meeting takes place between Ms. Marvel’s publicist and William Wagner, who does not understand why Sarah wants to see him. She explains to him that as a publicist, she is very involved with her clients' lives, and with Carol espicially ever since she became leader of the Mighty Avengers. When Sarah found out that Carol was dating William, she did some research and became concerned when she found out who William is. After she hands over the file regarding him, William asks her if she is blackmailing him.
Although Sarah does not want to use that word, she lets him know that she will give him the chance to keep his secret, if he does what she asks. But William tells Sarah that she only assumes that he wants to keep his secret. Although Sarah has to aknowledge that she is indeed making an assumption, she still believes that it is the right one. Sarah found out that William has moved across the country, that he undewent surgical operations to change his appearances, changed his hair colour and that he wears contact lenses to hide his true eye colour. When William tries to convince Sarah that he has carved a new life for himself in New York, Sarah doesn’t show him any mercy. Now that William has carved his way into Carol’s life, Sarah demands that he leaves Carol’s life, otherwise Sarah will make it most unpleasant for him.

In Seattle, Wonder Man and Ms. Marvel are fighting eachother, after M.O.D.O.K. made Wonder Man into one of his slaves and ordered him to kill Ms. Marvel. While the fight continues, during which a restaurant gets trashed, Ms. Marvel tries to make him snap out of M.O.D.O.K.’s influence by talking into him. But when she realises that it is not working, she decides to fight him. For a very brief moment during their fight, Simon is able to break through M.O.D.O.K.’s mind control and warns her that violence feeds it. Confused about the meaning of his words, Ms. Marvel loses her focus just long enough for Wonder Man to knock her downtown Seattle. Before Wonder Man catches up, Ms. Marvel has a moment to think about what just happened. She realises that Simon is fighting M.O.D.O.K. and that he is trying to help her. As she remembers his words that violence feeds it, Ms. Marvel grabs Wonder Man by the head and starts to kiss him. While they do that, one of the bystanders is able to take a picture of them. After Wonder Man snaps out of M.O.D.O.K.’s control, the two of them don’t quite know how to act after the kiss. Finally, Ms. Marvel decides to head back to the fight with A.I.M.

Meanwhile, agents Sum and Locke are doing their best fighting A.I.M.. But then the Gnashers are teleported in and one of them jumps at Sum, after which the two fall out of the window. To stop more A.I.M. agents from joining the battle, Locke asks Baines to put an end to it. Somewhere else in the room, M.O.D.O.K. kills the scientists, who plotted against him. When Sean Madigan tries to run away with the D.N.A. bomb, the Scientist Surpreme goes after him and although she keeps a gun to his head, he still tries to teleport the bomb away. But to his surprise he isn’t able. Suddenly, M.O.D.O.K. comes crashing through a wall, but before he can deal with Monica, he and Sean are being teleported out of there.

After the Scientist Surpreme leaves the scene as well, agent Locke is all alone to deal with the rest of the A.I.M. scientists and a Gnasher. When Locke asks Psi-Command permission to access the neural blast, they refuse it because she is not rated for it. She informs them that the rest of the team is missing and points out that they will have to explain to Tony Stark why she and the device, which is bolted to her skull and costs millions of dollars, got eaten. Just in time, they approve her demand, after which it takes all her strength to defeat what is left of her opponents.

Just outside of the building, Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man arrive. When Ms. Marvel notices the devastation to the street, she tells Wonder Man to investigate. After Wonder Man follows the path of destruction through several walls, he finds agent Sum, who has just taken out his attacker.

Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel finds the badly injured Locke. At that moment, the Scientist Surpreme shows up and although she points her gun at Ms. Marvel, she too passes out because she was also affected by Locke’s attack.

Two hours later, agent Locke is examined and is ordered bed rest. Because Locke is only a communications and coordinations specialist, the doctor is amased that she was able to channel that much psychic energy without killing herself.

Later on, Ms. Marvel joins Wonder Man and agent Sum as they just arrive with the D.N.A. bomb but unfortunately the bomb’s casing is all that is left. After Wonder Man informs Ms. Marvel that both Sean Madigan and M.O.D.O.K. have disappeared, he reminds her that they still have the Scientist Surpreme. As they head to talk to her, Simon tries to bring up the kiss, but Ms. Marvel avoids the subject.

The first thing that they ask Monica is the whereabouts of M.O.D.O.K. and Sean, but instead of answering the question, she asks them how the two could teleport out if Baines locked down the teleporting. When Carol suggests that Madigan must have done something to circumvent it, Monica makes it clear that Sean did not have the time. After Carol informs her that only agents Locke, Sum and Baines knew about the teleport lockdown, Miss Marvel realises that she has a traitor in her core team.

At that point, Monica tells them to listen very carefully to what she is about to say. She reveals to them that M.O.D.O.K. is dying and that now that everbody knows, A.I.M. is fractured. To top that, M.O.D.O.K.’s son Sean Madigan is trying to make it shatter. Monica tries to make them understand what would happen if Sean succeeds with his plan. S.H.I.E.L.D. would have to deal with hundreds of independant cells instead of one organisation. Therefor, Monica proposes that they work together so that Ms. Marvel would not have to deal with a splintered A.I.M. afterwards. But Monica warns Carol that she has to decide quickly before Sean makes his move.

Meanwhile, Sean and M.O.D.O.K. have arrived at an unknown location. But because of the strain of the fight and the teleporting M.O.D.O.K. has lost consciousness . After Sean places the heart of the D.N.A. bomb inside M.O.D.O.K. and activates the device, he teleports M.O.D.O.K. in the middle of Times Square.

Characters:
Agent Baines
Doc Farrell
The Gnashers
Agent Locke
M.O.DO.K.
Monica Rappaccini
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Sarah Day
Sean Madigan
David Sum
William Wagner
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #17
September 2007

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-17t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11125)

Story Arc: Ready, A.I.M., Fire!, Part 3

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Colorist: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=43676&highlight=Arbona)
Editor: Bill Rosemann (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339417#post1339417)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

First Appearance: Head Case, Linda
Origin: Sean Madigan
Death: Agent Baines, Sean Madigan

Sean Madigan does not know much about his father. The only thing that he knows is that George Tarleton, before he became to be known as M.O.D.O.K., had an affair with Sean’s mother Linda in college. After George found out that Linda was pregnant, he abandoned her. Some time later he joined A.I.M. as a lowly technician. Eventually, George became M.O.D.O.K.. But now, it is his abandoned son, who has dropped his father, who carries the essence of the D.N.A. bomb, in the middle of Times Square.

In Ms. Marvel’s headquarters, her team receives a prerecorded emergency call from Iron Man, which is only sent when no Avenger is on hand to assemble the team. It informs them that a level-three threat is in progress in New York City, but unfortunately they are still in Seattle and it would take them three hours before they could get there. But Ms. Marvel asks agent Baines if he can replicate the teleportations of A.I.M..

Five minutes later, Minicarrier 13 is teleported over Times Square. While Ms. Marvel orders the local law enforcement to pull back, the D.N.A. bomb is almost set to go off with no possibility to override its command. At that point, Wonder Man notices that the bomb is attached to M.O.D.O.K.. At the same time, M.O.D.O.K. starts to come around and begins to laugh, after which Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man realise that it is a trap and that the situation has become lethal. Before the two are able to attack him, M.O.D.O.K. already hits Wonder Man with an energy beam. After an unsuccessful first attack, Ms. Marvel is too late to attack again as by then the bomb has already detonated.

In the Minicarrier 13, the Scientist Surpreme and agent Baines witness the explosion. Although agent Baines utters his disbelief of what is happening on Times Square, Monica Rappaccini tells Baines that he does not to keep up the act, because she knows that he and Sean Madigan planned this. When Baines does not want to talk about it and requests backup from S.H.I.E.L.D. Command, Monica uses the oppurtunity to sneak up on Baines and hits him unconsciously. After she takes his gun and kills him, Monica decides to go after Sean Madigan himself.

Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel has grabbed M.O.D.O.K. and carries him higher and higher, although she knows that the detonated D.N.A. bomb will probably kill her. While Ms. Marvel undergoes terrible pain, the voices within her are already detecting an alteration in her genetic code. Ms. Marvel’s appearance is already starting to change as her skin is turning blue and her muscles begin to look like those of the Hulk. The voices are afraid that if the process is not reversed that both Ms. Marvel and them will die. After Ms. Marvel throws M.O.D.O.K. and the bomb away, she asks the voices who they are. Although the voices are astound that she can hear them. But before Ms. Marvel can receive an answer, the pain becomes too much for her and she loses consciousness. Luckily for her, Wonder Man is able to catch her before she falls to the ground. While Wonder Man looks at Ms. Marvel, whose eyes have turned red as well now, the voices tell him that they are doing everything they can to repair her. By the time that Wonder Man arrives at the minicarrier, Ms. Marvel’s appearance has changed back to normal. For a very brief moment, in which Carol vomits blood, Carol regains consciousness,after which she collapses again.

Some time later, Sean Madigan adresses all A.I.M. cells via A.I.M.’s computer network to tell them, after M.O.D.O.K.’s attack in Times Square failed, that M.O.D.O.K.’s reign is over. It has become clear to Sean that A.I.M. can no longer work as a single entity, but he is convinced that they still can achieve their goals as separate cells. Suddenly, the Scientist Surpreme teleports in and before Sean can act, she kills him.

One week later, Carol is still struggling with the ramifications of the A.I.M. ordeal. She is frustrated that she did not have any control of a single aspect of the situation. After she takes a hold of herself, she overlooks the status after the entire incident.

Carol is certain that M.O.D.O.K. is still alive, but that he is exiled from A.I.M. . Sean Madigan, although he is dead, still managed to bring A.I.M. in total disarray. The A.I.M. cells are either on total lockdown or they are fighting among themselves. The Scientist Surpreme has managed to control one quarter of A.I.M., but she is trying to rein in the other cells.

Earlier today, Carol attended Baines’ funeral and although they learned that Baines was the traitor, Carol has asked that his misdeeds go unrecorded. Many years ago, Baines’ father got cancer. In order to pay for all the medical treatment, Sean Madigan borrowed him money. Although the two chose the opposite sides of the law, Sean cashed in Baines’ debt to him.

Agent Locke has been put on medical leave by the S.H.I.E.L.D. Psi-Corps, and has underwent a lot of surgeries which cause her a lot of pain. Because Carol believes that agent Locke would not be happy to see her, Carol has not visited her yet.

Carol herself has underwent many medical examinations to find out, what caused her skin to turn blue and her eyes red, but nobody knows. According to the examinations, Carol is perfectly healthy.

The only good thing to come out of the A.I.M. ordeal is that agent Sum is prepared to stay, which Carol thinks is a good thing although she has questions about his enhanced abilities.

Even though a lot of bad things have happened, for which Carol wants to cry and hide, she is determined to keep on going, although many people are watching to see her give up. The only person, whom Carol wants to talk to right now is William Wagner, but he doesn’t return her calls. Carol wonders that her turning blue, which could be seen on every tv channel, has finally freaked him out.

A little later, Wonder Man comes over to see how Carol is doing. She tells him that she needs to be alone for a few days to sort things out. When Carol suggests to him that he should also take a few days off of ‘Operation: Lightning Storm’, Wonder Man is disappointed but accepts Carol’s decision.

Meanwhile, two A.I.M. scientists are working on something, which involves the dead body of Sean Madigan. Although one of them is grossed out, the other reminds him that raising the dead is the biggest idea in the world. Using their knowledge from the Targoth virus and from the neural links of Doomsday Man, they are planting a chip in Sean’s skull. After they have filled the body with a gel and placed a helmet over the skull, their creation Head Case is finished.

Characters:
Agent Baines
Doc Farrell
The Gnashers
Linda
Agent Locke
M.O.DO.K.
Monica Rappaccini
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Sarah Day
Sean Madigan
David Sum
William Wagner
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #18
October 2007

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-18t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11160)

Story Arc: Puppets, Part 1 of 3

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Color: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339416#post1339416) & Thomas Brennan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1373362#post1373362)
Editor: Bill Rosemann (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339417#post1339417) & Stephen Wacker (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22344&highlight=wacker)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

Off the coast of Rikers Island, a boat is approaching The Raft at high speed. As they land upon the shore, unknown soldiers take out the S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents. Inside the maximum security prison for superhuman offenders, the soldiers reach the prison cells and take out the guards. From a distance somebody controls the soldiers with the help of puppets. As the soldiers get deeper into the prison, they are counterattacked by gas, but their master makes them put on their masks. By the time that the prison’s riot control protocols are active, the men find their target, named O. Midas. Although the men place a bomb, just as they are instructed by the mystery man, they get sidetracked by the arriving S.H.I.E.L.D.-agents, which results in their deaths as the bomb explodes before they can get clear. At the same time the mysterious man throws away his puppets as his plan goes up in smoke.

At the Xavier Institute, Carol Danvers visits Hank McCoy, who reminds her of what she did to Rogue the last time that she was there. Carol tells Hank about her turning blue during her fight with M.O.D.O.K. . She wants to know what the blip was that Hank’s machine registered, when he examined her a while ago. When Hank tells her that his machine was malfunctioning, Carol becomes angry and tells him that his machine was the only one that detected something. When Hank sees how worried she is, Carol admits that she has been hearing voices as well. After Hank performs another test, which ends up nothing, he reassures her that he will go through the scans again, just to make sure that his equipement was working properly.

Just before Carol leaves, Hank admits that he is still upset about what happened between Rogue and her, but that he does not want to be mad because he still considers Carol as a friend. As they hug, Carol tells herself that she does not deserve a friend like Hank.

In Brooklyn, Araña is letting of some steam and battles a couple of robbers. Araña is angry with Ms. Marvel because ever since Ms. Marvel told her to register, she has had to follow a boring training. After she defeats the robbers, Araña feels better again and returns home, where her father unexpectedly awaits her. Immediately he wants to know if she was with Ms. Marvel, whom he still blames for his little girl’s injuries. Araña reminds her father that it was the Doomsday Man that nearly got her killed and that it was who saved her life. When her father tries to explain how he can not forgive Carol for harming his daughter, Araña tells him that Carol was teaching her to grow up, while he is only interested in keeping her his little girl. Angry, Araña swings off.

The next day, Carol is fighting a woman called Battleaxe in front of William Wagner’s restaurant. As Carol battles the woman, she tries to phone William but she only gets his answering machine. When Battleaxe becomes too dangerous Carol ends her message and focuses on the fight. But in the middle of the fight, a black car arrives. Out of it come a few soldiers, who immediately shoot a net at Battleaxe. Upon making skin contact with her, Battleaxe gets an electroshock which makes her fall unconsciously on the ground. At that point Ms. Marvel intervenes and asks the soldiers for I.D.’s but one of them shoots a grenade in her face, after which they grab Battleaxe. But Ms. Marvel is not defeated yet. After she grabs one of the soldiers, she takes out the others. Just as Ms. Marvel notices that the man has no irises, she receives a call from agent Sum. Sum informs her that Maria Hill has sent her new recruits for Ms. Marvel’s ‘Operation: Lightning Storm’, after she lost agents Baines and Locke after their fight with M.O.D.O.K.. After she tells agent Sum that she is bringing in some guests, Ms. Marvel deals with the last soldier, who again attempts to take Battleaxe with him.

Back on Minicarrier 13, an absent-minded Carol meets her two new recruits, Machine Man and Sleepwalker. Machine Man immediately notices that Carol was not actively following their introductions. Machine Man interprets her absence of mind as Carol admiring his robot body and reprimants her for not paying attention. Although Carol is angry with him, Machine Man continues business and hands over some papers, after which he makes his demands known. Although Carol tries to take control over the situation, she ends up discussing the minicarrier and its accessories with him. In the end Machine Man leaves the room but reveals that he agreed to work for her after Maria Hill made him an offer that he could not refuse.

After her first difficult meeting with Machine Man, Ms. Marvel focusses on her second new recruit, Rick Sheridan. Rick explains to her that Sleepwalker is the alien that lives inside his head and who only comes out when he is asleep. After this, Carol decides to bring Battleaxe and the captured soldiers to the Raft.

Meanwhile at the Daily Bugle, Sarah Day has a talk about the article that J. Jonah Jameson ran after the M.O.D.O.K.-fight. Sarah thought that the two had a truce since their last but unknown confrontation. But Jonah informs her that that was only because Sarah hired more lawyers than he did. When Sarah explains that his article is bad for Ms. Marvel’s reputation, Jonah tells her that people were more interested in the photo of Ms. Marvel and Wonder Man kissing than in the article itself. Sarah is convinced that Jonah has a personal vendetta against Carol because of something that happened when Carol was still working for him. But Jonah reassures her that he hates all super heroes equally. When Sarah notices that being nice is not working, Sarah is forced to use lawyers again against him. But to her surprise, Jonah tells her that he needs some lawyers of his own as he plans on running an article about Ms. Marvel’s role in the Julia Carpenter-situation.

That same day, Mr. Corazon contacts S.H.I.E.L.D. because his daughter has not come home since last night. After the S.H.I.E.L.D.-agent asks Mr. Corazon some normal questions in case of a disappearance, he also questions Anya’s connection with some other registered superheroes. Although Mr. Corazon becomes suspicious, the agent suddenly stops his questions and tries to reassure Anya’s father and tells him that she is probably fine. But unknown to Mr. Corazon, Araña’s name is registered as missing, along with Tigra’s and others.

Meanwhile in the Minicarrier 13, Machine Man is looking for the ship’s storage room but stumbles accidentially on Ms. Marvel, who is in meeting with the Raft’s warden, agent Tarver. After Machine Man asks them why they have Chilean soldiers imprisoned, he sees by the look on Ms. Marvel’s face that she had not yet figured out that information. When agent Tarver confirms Machine Man’s information, Machine Man makes it clear that he figured it out by analysing particles of dirt on the soldiers’ boots. But Machine Man is able to give an even more precise location, which even agent Tarver did not know as the soldiers, who broke into the Raft, were killed before they could be questioned. As the conversation continues, they start to think about why the soldiers went after both Battleaxe and O. Midas a.k.a. the Exterminatrix, who was held at the Raft. When Machine Man points out that both are female and have extraordinary powers, Ms. Marvel begins to see that this might be bigger than only these two cases and decides to head for Chile.

Meanwhile in Puerto Maravilla in Chile, Philip Masters a.k.a. the Puppet Master explains to a potential buyer that he has retired as the Puppet Master and that he is now an art dealer. Although the Puppet Master informs the buyer that he has both men and women, he knows from experience that the women are more valuable than the men, so he uses the latter to dig for a new clay, which gives him even more control over his puppets. Besides his normal collection, the Puppet Master has also a special one, which consists of female superheroes. Just as he is showing his buyer the superheroes Tigra, Silverclaw and Stature, his latest acquisition arrives. After he opens the crate the buyer sees a captured Araña lying in it.

Characters:
Araña
Araña’s father
Battleaxe
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=1121)
Jonah J. Jameson (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37408)
Machine Man
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Puppet Master
Sarah Day
Silverclaw (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=35891)
Sleepwalker
Stature
David Sum
Agent Tarver
Tigra

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #19
December 2007

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-19t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11293)

Story Arc: Puppets, Part 2 of 3

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Color: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Alejandro Arbona (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339416#post1339416) & Thomas Brennan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1373362#post1373362)
Editor: Bill Rosemann (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1339417#post1339417) & Stephen Wacker (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22344&highlight=wacker)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

Death: Alyssa Conover

In Puerto Maravilla in Chile, the Puppet Master has organized a fight to the death between the men, who are under his control. When the Puppet Master selects two men for a new fight at random, one of the captured women begs him to spare her husband. The woman is even prepared to take her husband’s place in the fight, but because the other captured men do not want to see an unfair fight between a man and a woman, the husband’s opponent is forced to kill him. Because the audience of men demands an interesting fight and because the Puppet Master wants to have some fun before he dies, he throws all of his men-puppets together, after which all the captured men start to fight eachother to the death, much to the Puppet Master’s amusement.

In Minicarrier 13, which is on its way to Chile, agent Sum reports the estimated time arrival to Ms. Marvel. When Ms. Marvel asks him if the two new recruits are ready and rested, agent Sum responds that neither of them have rested, but agent Sum is only worried about Rick Sheridan, who does not seem to be ready for battle. Therefor, Ms. Marvel decides to look him up to talk to him.

Ms. Marvel tells Rick that she wants to get to know him better and because his S.H.I.E.L.D.-file reads rather clinically, she wants him to tell his side of the story, beginning with which side he chose during the registration war. Rick explains that he was on no one’s side and that he deliberately stayed awake, so that the goon squads of the pro-registration act would not come after him and Sleepwalker. After Carol fills him in that she was leading those goon squads, she wants to know from him why he finally registered. He tells her that after his fiancée Alyssa Conover got killed in a car accident, nothing made sense anymore, so he registered himself and ended up as part of ‘Operation: Lightning Storm’.

Outside on top of the minicarrier, a drunk Machine Man is gathering information on Chile. Moments later, he tells agent Sum to call Ms. Marvel as he has important information for her. A little later in the conference room, Machine Man informs the rest of the many missing persons in Maravilla. He also tells them that there are rumors of a slave labor camp in the mountains. At the same time, the Chilean army is trying to cover up the theft of a big amount of explosives and ammunitions. To top that, they report a total of three dozen awol soldiers in the last three weeks. With this information Ms. Marvel sends agent Sum, Machine Man and Rick to Puerto Maravilla to see what they can find out from the locals. At the same time, Ms. Marvel will check out what is happening in the mountains.

As she flies over, Ms. Marvel quickly notices a bunch of men, who are digging up dirt. When she lands, she notices that the men’s eyes are rolled back, which indicates that they are being mind-controlled. After she discovers that the men are not digging dirt but clay, she puts the pieces together and realises that this is the Puppet Master’s work. At that moment, the men go after Ms. Marvel and try to kill her. Although Ms. Marvel is able to get away from them by getting air-borne, she is jumped from behind by Tigra. In the fight that follows, Tigra is able to scratch Ms. Marvel in the face with her claws, but in the end Ms. Marvel beats her. But again Ms. Marvel is attacked from behind, but this time by Silverclaw. Although Silverclaw is able to grab Ms. Marvel very tightly, Ms. Marvel is not defeated yet and flies off, carrying Silverclaw with her. Suddenly, Ms. Marvel gets dizzy and just before she falls to the ground, she realises that Tigra’s claws were poisoned.

Downtown Puerto Maravilla, Rick, agent Sum and Machine Man are wearing bad disguises as they walk through town. As they head for the local pub, they do not notice when Araña walks by. In the pub, Machine Man does not entirely understand how they are going to learn something by just sitting in a pub. Suddenly somebody throws a chair against Machine Man’s back. When Araña tries to hit him with her bola, he is able to grab it but Araña pulls at the bola very hard, which makes Machine Man fly towards her. With a single kick of her foot, she smacks him to the ground. The next person she goes after is agent Sum, who gets hit very hard with her bola. When Rick aims his gun at her, Machine Man does the same but with a much bigger one. When Machine Man fires it, it leaves a big hole in the pub’s wall. When the three go look for her, she is nowhere to be found. Suddenly, her bola goes around Machine Man’s neck. With a big swing, Araña is able to kick agent Sum in the face, after which she snaps off Machine Man’s head from the rest of his body. Using her bola once again, she hits Rick unconsciously. But now that Rick is unconscious, Sleepwalker is set free. Using his warpgaze, Sleepwalker manipulates the concrete under Araña’s feet and imprisons her with it. After the rest of the team meets Sleepwalker for the first time, Machine Man starts to examine Araña. When Machine Man finds out that there are semi-mystical energies at play, Sleepwalker points out that there is a talisman that controls Araña’s mind. Although they can not break it from there, Sleepwalker sees the connection, which will lead them to its source. Agent Sum decides to send the unconscious Rick Sheridan back to the minicarrier, where he will be kept sedated so that they can use Sleepwalker’s help. When he asks Machine Man to contact Ms. Marvel, Machine Man is unable, which worries agent Sum.

Meanwhile, the Puppet Master is watching the unconscious Ms. Marvel, while he is working on the finishing touches for his Ms. Marvel-puppet. Just as Ms. Marvel comes around and stands up, the Ms. Marvel-puppet is finished. After he informs her that he is retired and no longer the Puppet Master, he takes control over her.

Characters:
Alyssa Conover
Araña
Machine Man
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Puppet Master
Silverclaw (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=35891)
Sleepwalker
Stature
David Sum
Tigra

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #20
December 2007

http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-20t.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11407)&nbsp; http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-20vt.jpg (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11408)

Story Arc: Puppets, Part 3 of 3

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Greg Tocchini (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=43809)
Inker: Roland Paris (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=43808&highlight=Paris)
Color: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Variant Cover Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Assistant Editor: Thomas Brennan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1373362#post1373362)
Editor: Stephen Wacker (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22344&highlight=wacker)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

Death: Puppet Master

In Puerto Maravilla in Chile, the Puppet Master is trying to gain full control over the captured Ms. Marvel, but Ms. Marvel is still resisting. Suddenly Ms. Marvel turns blue and breaks lose from her chains, while another voice speaks through her and tells the Puppet Master that he will be eliminated for trying to take control of the construct. Startled by this manifestation the Puppet Master drops his Ms. Marvel-puppet. At the same time, the blue color on Ms. Marvel disappears and Ms. Marvel is herself once again. Meanwhile, the Puppet Master picks up his puppet again, but this time Ms. Marvel is faster and knocks it out of his hand. Although Ms. Marvel tries to grab the Puppet Master, he is able to evade her and runs into the room, where he keeps his captured women. It does not take long for Ms. Marvel to grab him, after which he confesses that he plans on selling them. But the Puppet Master is not defeated yet and takes another puppet out of his pocket. At that point, an enlarged Stature punches her way through the wall and grabs Ms. Marvel.

Forty-five seconds earlier, Ms. Marvel’s Lightning Storm team arrived at the Puppet Master’s home and took out the controlled Chilean soldiers. Just before Ms. Marvel and Stature appear in front of them, Sleepwalker informed the rest of the team that they are really close to the source of Araña’s talisman. At that point, they witness the fight between Ms. Marvel and Stature, who throws Ms. Marvel downtown Puerto Maravilla. After surviving a second attack by Stature, Ms. Marvel launches one of her own and throws a car against Stature’s face. As a response Stature picks up a house, in which a man was just sitting on the toilet. After Ms. Marvel rescues the man and puts him safely down on the ground, she goes in for a calculated attack and knocks Stature out with a single punch.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team faces Tigra and Silverclaw. Although they stand their ground against the two women, the situation quickly changes when Rick Sheridan regains consciousness, which means that Sleepwalker is out of commission and that Araña is free from her prison. But luckily for the men, Ms. Marvel arrives in time and grabs Silverclaw by the hair after which she throws her high in the sky. But because Silverclaw can fly as well, she goes after Ms. Marvel, who in the mean time has picked up Tigra by her tail. With a single swing, Ms. Marvel throws Tigra at Silverclaw after which the two knock eachother out on impact.

Now that Ms. Marvel has dealt with the two superwomen, agent Sum wants to take the oppurtunity to tell Ms. Marvel about Araña but before he can, the Puppet Master appears and gives Araña the order to kill Ms. Marvel’s team. As Ms. Marvel turns around, she is surprised to see Anya, who carries a blade and is ready to strike. When Ms. Marvel starts to talk normally with Anya, agent Sum tries to warn her but Machine Man stops him because he wants to see Ms. Marvel get hit without any distraction. Meanwhile, the Puppet Master keeps on pushing Araña in killing Ms. Marvel but surprisingly Anya is able to fight off Puppet Master’s influence. Just before it completely wears off, Anya states that she will not kill her mother, which surprises Carol as she did not know that Anya thought of her as a mother. While all of this is happening, the Puppet Master runs back into his house. Moments later, Ms. Marvel decides to go after him alone, although Araña begs agent Sum to stop her as she is convinced that Ms. Marvel is going to kill him.

In her pursuit of the Puppet Master, Ms. Marvel crosses the room where the captured women were kept. After she breaks the puppet of a policewoman, Ms. Marvel instructs her to break all the other puppets, after which the captured women run outside. A few moments later, Ms. Marvel finds the Puppet Master in his office. While he tells her that he is going to kill her, he reaches for a button in his desk drawer but Ms. Marvel hits him with one of her photons. When Ms. Marvel grabs him, she asks him about the button. The Puppet Master informs her that the button is connected to all the explosives, which were stolen by the Chilean soldiers and placed in the basement afterwards. Ms. Marvel realises that the Puppet Master is committing suicide but he informs her that that is not all. The Puppet Master knew that someone would come after him to stop him no matter how carefully he would plan things. He did not care who would come after him but he knew that he would take that person with him in death. After Ms. Marvel throws him on his desk, the Puppet Master is able to reach for the button, which Ms. Marvel surprisingly allows. As he pushes it in, the entire mansion explodes. Moments later, Ms. Marvel comes walking out of the flames, after she was rebuilt again by the blue thing inside her.

Back on Minicarrier 13, Ms. Marvel lies against her troops about what happened between her and the Puppet Master. Although Ms. Marvel informs her team that all the puppets have been returned to clay and that the captured women are receiving medical attention, she knows that she has killed a man today and that she dealt justice herself for the first time. After Anya thanks Carol for saving her life, Ms. Marvel finds some comfort in the fact that the Puppet Master will never hurt someone again.

Twelve hours later, Ms. Marvel receives a phone call from Beast, who informs her that there is nothing wrong with her. Because she is not even aging anymore, he came to the conclusion that she has a healing factor beyond even Wolverine. When Carol asks about the ping that Beast discovered in his very first scan of her, he tells her that it was a transmission. After Beast started to look at the ping as a piece of data instead of a medical problem, he found the ping over and over again. Ms. Marvel realises that the repetitive ping is either a distress call or a locator beacon. Beast agrees with her. So whatever is in Ms. Marvel, it is not only keeping Ms. Marvel healthy but it is also the matching of a transmission from low earth orbit for something that is trying to get home.

Just as Beast tells her that the signal has been growing stronger all day, something hits the minicarrier. While her team heads for her room, Ms. Marvel stands face to face with Cru and finally everything makes perfect sense to her.

Characters:
Araña
Beast (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=1121)
Cru (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1252154#post1252154)
Doctor Farrell
Machine Man
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Puppet Master
Silverclaw (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=35891)
Sleepwalker
Stature
David Sum
Tigra

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #21
January 2008

<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-21t.jpg " hspace=3 align=top align=left alt="Ms. Marvel #21" border="0"> (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11409)

Story Arc: Monster and Marvel, Part 1

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Color: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Production: Brad Johansen
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Thomas Brennan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1373362#post1373362)
Editor: Stephen Wacker (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22344&highlight=wacker)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

First Appearance: Cru (original form), Machine Man (feminine form)

Although Ms. Marvel thought that she had killed Cru in their previous battle, Cru stands in front of her once again, after Cru blew a hole in the wall of Ms. Marvel's bedroom. Within seconds Cru opens fire. While Ms. Marvel and Cru battle each other, Carol receives two phone calls, but because she can not answer them, the two men leave a message.

The first one to call is William Wagner. He states that he has been avoiding her calls because of something that her publicist Sarah Day said and because of something that he saw in the Daily Bugle. Because William can not talk about it on her voice mail, he promises her to call back later.

The second one to call is Simon Williams. To Carol's surprise, Simon confesses that he has been missing her ever since she asked him not to come by for a couple of days. Simon also mentions that they have to discuss some Daily Bugle stuff.

Meanwhile the battle with Cru continues. Even though Ms. Marvel is able to evade Cru's gun, Cru is able to pierce Ms. Marvel's back with one of her tentacles, leaving Ms. Marvel motionless. When Ms. Marvel hears Cru's voice for the first time, she discovers that Cru is a woman. Cru tells her that Ms. Marvel has something of her.

Alarmed by the explosion in Ms. Marvel's room, agent Sum enters Carol's bedroom. Before he can do anything, Cru hits him with an energy beam, which renders Sum's body from the waist up into a skeleton. Just as Sarah Day calls Carol to tell her that she is going to meet Jonah J. Jameson about the article, Ms. Marvel passes out.

When Machine Man appears in the doorway, Cru uses her formidable weapon again, but Machine Man evades the beam and is able to counter attack. Although Cru is hit, she restores herself very quickly and transforms one of her tentacles into a blade. After Cru cuts Machine Man in two, she grabs Ms. Marvel and flies off.

A little later, agent Sum's upper body has been restored, which puzzles Machine Man. When he asks agent Sum what he is hiding, agent Sum replies that it is none of his concerns. After Sum informs Machine Man that Cru has taken Ms. Marvel and that they need to check the damages done to Minicarrier 13, Machine Man wants to help him but he needs a new body. Although Sum has no new body for him, Machine Man does. Machine Man got it as part of his agreement to join 'Operation:Lightning Storm'.

Meanwhile, Carol floats unconsciously through space, surrounded by alien vessels, which are in orbit around a green planet. When Carol falls through the green planet's atmosphere and is about to crash, Cru makes Carol wake up. She informs Carol that she will get to see why things happened between Cru and the Brood. As Carol continues to fall, she tries to fly but to her surprise her powers are not working. When she asks why she can not use them, Cru tells her that this is not for Ms. Marvel but for Carol Danvers to see. When Carol states that she and Ms. Marvel are the same person, Cru questions the way that Carol leads her life and how she can believe that she and Ms. Marvel are the same person.

After Carol falls into the water and crawls out of it, Carol meets Cru in her original form. When Carol reminds Cru that she tried to kill her, Cru admits that there have been communication problems. Still angry about this, Carol tries to hit Cru with her powers but they are still not working. Cru explains that some things are offline while both of their bodies are being repaired. Because their bodies are currently too much intertwined with each other, they can not be separated without any damage. After Carol complains of Cru's bad use of English, Cru adjusts it. When Carol realises that Cru is in her head, she wants her out but Cru reminds her that it is dangerous to break their link.

At that point Carol comes around and is all healed, while Cru still lies unconsciously on the ground. Suddenly Carol hears a growl from behind her and wants to go and investigate it but her powers are still offline. With no powers, Carol stands eye to eye with a gigantic monster. She knows that she is on Monster Island but she has no idea how she got there.

On Minicarrier 13, Anya is looking everywhere for Carol's cat Chewie. When she asks agent Sum, she is startled when she sees Machine Man, who looks like a woman now. Machine Man informs Anya that he will have valuable female wisdom to share with her by the time Anya will become a woman herself.

Meanwhile agent Sum receives some bad news as S.H.I.E.L.D.-Director Stark is unavailable even though agent Sum gave the Avengers' emergency codes. Just as agent Sum gets angry and informs Maria Hill that Ms. Marvel has gone missing, Wonder Man shows up. Wonder Man tells agent Sum that the emergency codes have been recently changed but he can not tell him why because it is top secret. Although agent Sum is not satisfied with this explanation, Wonder Man reminds him that finding Ms. Marvel is what is really important at the moment.

On Monster Island, Carol was able to escape the gigantic monster, but is now chased by another, smaller one. At a certain point, Carol falls down a hill and lands on her back. When the monster tries to jump on her, Carol lifts her feet and uses them to throw it behind her. The monster ends up getting pierced by a branch. Before Carol knows it, another monster appears. Luckily for her, Cru has regained consciousness and is just in time to slice the monster in two.

After defeating the monster, Cru gives Carol a choice. Either the two merge together again so that Cru can continue to separate their parts that are intertwined, or she can refuse which would mean that Cru will not be able to alter her makeup and that Carol will lose her powers. Carol makes her decision by reaching Cru her hand. Immediately the two arrive back on the green planet. Carol realises that she is looking at the place where Cru used to live before the Brood arrived. Because Carol has discovered and used their two-way link, Cru informs her that it will be easier for her to fix her repair and rebuild protocols. When Carol states that Cru talks very technological although she looks more like an organic being, Cru tells her that her species is both.

While Carol witnesses the arrival of the Brood on Cru's planet, Cru tells her that there were two Brood-pods that landed on Earth on the night that she and Carol met for the first time. Unfortunately Cru made the mistake to chase the wrong pod because in the second pod that landed on Monster Island sat the Brood Queen. And because of Cru's previous battle with Ms. Marvel the Brood Queen has had the time to plan and to build an army. Now the Brood Queen is ready to send her subjects back across the cosmos. Because Carol broke her link with Cru, their repairs are not completed yet, but Cru hopes that they will still have enough time to accomplish that before the Brood find their unprotected bodies.

But alas, the Brood have already found their bodies and are closing in on them.

Characters:
Araña
Brood (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=1790)
Cru (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1252154#post1252154)
Maria Hill (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=35582)
Machine Man
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
David Sum
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #22
February 2008

<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarvel22thumb.gif " hspace=3 align=top align=left alt="Ms. Marvel #22" border="0"> (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarvel22full.jpg)

Story Arc: Monster and Marvel, Part 2

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Color: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Production: Brad Johansen
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Thomas Brennan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1373362#post1373362)
Editor: Stephen Wacker (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22344&highlight=wacker)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

Death: Ost (mentioned), Cru and Ost's children (mentioned)

After Carol decided to bind herself to Cru once again, she lost consciousness. On the other hand she now gets the opportunity to observe, through her shared connection with Cru, how her body is put back together by Cru, while Cru tries to get back those parts that belong to her. But this situation puts their real bodies defenseless. Suddenly Carol hears a noice outside and realises that they are not alone anymore. Just in time, Carol comes around and faces a couple of Brood, who recognize Cru but not Carol. With all her human strength, Carol is able to pull her arm out of the connection with Cru, but not without taking a part of Cru with her. Even though the Brood are more interested in Cru than her, Carol puts up her bad mounth and draws the Brood's attention to her. And so the battle between the Brood and a powerless Carol begins. Picking up a stick and hitting it one a Brood's head, Carol kills her first attacker but then the Brood start using their weapons. After she pierces another one with her stick, her victim drops his weapon, which Carol quickly gets a hold off. After she fires her weapon on a couple of them, the rest retreats.

Just when they fly off, Carol discovers that they have taken Cru's body with them. Luckily for Carol, Cru is still inside Carol but Cru warns Carol that they must be quick if they want to know where the Brood have taken her body.

Meanwhile on Minicarrier 13, Doctor Farrell shows Rick a device that will enable him to free Sleepwalker whenever the team needs him. The device will zap Rick's brain which will induce slow wave activity in his brain, after which Sleepwalker can leave Rick's unconscious body. The device, which has to be put on his right temple, will knock out Rick for at least three hours.

Ready to try the device, Rick puts it on his right temple, after which Sleepwalker appears. Doctor Farrell warns him that Rick can only use it once every twenty-four hours, if he does not want to risk any permanent brain damage.

On Minicarrier 13 Anya refuses to go home to her father, who does not understand what being an Avenger in the Initiative means. When agent Sum reminds her that she is a junior recruit and that she has been missing school for a week, Anya does not budge because to her finding Carol is her only responsibility right now. When agent Sum thinks of what will happen if Anya's father or Commander Hill finds out about this, Anya comes up with a solution. Since there was an alien on board, it could be that it carried with it some horrible space bugs, which would mean that they need to put the ship in some kind of quarantine.

Suddenly agent Sum is not worried anymore about Anya staying on the minicarrier as she has just given him the answer to find Carol. Because Cru's alien propulsion system has a unique energy signature, they should be able to track it.

A little later, agent Sum shows the rest of the team a map of Monster Island, where he hopes to find Carol. Machine Man is not too happy to go there as it lies within the Bermuda Triangle. And even Sleepwalker is unsure about the place because he does not know the topography of the region. Meanwhile agent Sum asks about the state of the minicarrier. Wonder Man tells him that they should be able to get there if they take it slowly.

On Monster Island Carol and Cru have followed the Brood to their home. When Carol overlooks the place from up above, she sees a few Moloids that are imprisoned but Cru angrily replies that they are Brood now as well and that they must be destroyed. Just as Cru's identity starts to surface, Carol fights back but Cru is winning. Cru tells Carol that it is only fair that she takes something from her, just as Carol took a part of Cru. When Carol tells Cru that she wants to help her but that she needs her powers, Cru informs her that she is more than her powers and more than the woman that she pretends to be. Cru is certain that Carol could rule Earth if she would only stop wasting her energy overthinking her actions. Cru informs Carol that she has dormant skills and abilities which could make her ruler over Earth. Because Carol is too frightened to use those skills, she is happy enough with just being loved by the humans. In the end Cru wins and takes over Carol's body.

After Cru took over Carol's body, Carol returns back into her mind where she witnesses how Cru's people were slaughtered by the Brood. Suddenly, Carol's alter ego Ms. Marvel appears and wants to know what is going on. After Ms. Marvel starts to attack the Brood, although they are not real, Carol decides to take a trip down Cru's memory lane. Carol witnesses how Cru is called by her husband Ost, who informs her that the Brood have reached the inner colonies and that they have to get to safety.

When Carol follows the two, she ends up in one of Cru's other memories, in which Cru's world is totally destroyed. Because Carol is walking out in the open, Warbird appears and tells her to hide. Just as she is walking down the stairs, Carol hears a terrible scream. As she reaches the end of the stairs, Carol sees how Cru is lying on an operation table. At that point, Binary appears and explains to Carol that Cru volunteered to undergo a procedure that will augment Cru's abilities. That way Cru hopes to avenge the death of her husband and their children. As they witness Cru's transformation, Binary points out how very much alike their situation was to Cru's, although she and Carol never volunteered to become a killing machine. Looking at the new Cru in front of her, Carol tells Binary that she was never the killing machine that Cru became. Binary does not agree and wants Carol to understand that they are exactly like Cru.

Meanwhile, Cru is approaching the Brood's nest, armored with one of the Brood's weapons. Just after Cru engages all of Carol's skills, she is attacked by the Brood. Although Cru makes good use of Carol's skills, one of the Brood is able to grab her after which another one uses its weapon to knock her out.

Some time later, Carol regains consciousness as she is being dragged by two Brood-specimen inside the Brood's home. As they come closer to their destination, Carol is still unable to access her powers. To top that, Cru's voice has disappeared. A few moments later, Carol has reached her final destination. Because Carol was convinced that she killed the Brood Queen, she is shocked when she stands face to face with her again. The Brood Queen is thrilled that she has both Cru and Carol in her throne room because they are the two women that the Brood Queen wants to see dead more than any one else.

Characters:
Araña
Brood (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=1790)
Brood Queen
Cru (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1252154#post1252154)
Doctor Farrell
Machine Man
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Ost
Rick Sheridan
Sleepwalker
David Sum
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #23
March 2008

<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-23t.jpg" hspace=3 align=top align=left alt="Ms. Marvel #23" border="0"> (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11697)

Story Arc: Monster and Marvel, Part 3

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Color: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Production: Irene Lee (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1411847#post1411847)
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Thomas Brennan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1373362#post1373362)
Editor: Stephen Wacker (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22344&highlight=wacker)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

A few years ago Ms. Marvel was abducted by the alien race known as the Brood and was brought to the planet Madrizar. After the Brood experimented on her, Ms. Marvel lost her humanity and became Binary. When Binary broke lose, she kept on killing Brood until there was only one left, the Brood Queen. Binary killed her by turning her into crystal. Because Binary unleashed all of her powers, she also destroyed the entire planet of Madrizar.

Now Carol is confused because how can the Brood Queen stand before her if she killed her a few years ago. Although the Brood Queen has Cru's body in her paws, Carol knows that Cru's mind is inside her. Unlike before Cru has decided to keep silent, which leaves Carol with only her invinsibility to fight the Brood Queen as Cru has switched off Carol's powers.

The Brood Queen wants to thank Carol for what she did to her all those years ago. Even though the Brood Queen lost her world, her soldiers and her ability to travel through space, Carol made her invinsible by turning her body into a crystal-like form. When Carol reveals that she is invinsible as well, the Brood Queen orders her soldiers to attack. During the fight Carol disarms one of the Brood and uses the weapon on the Brood Queen, but alas the Brood Queen is unharmed by it. The Brood Queen's attack is more effective because she stabs through Carol with one of her tentacles. After the Brood Queen throws Carol's body aside that of Cru, she informs her soldiers that they are victorious because their two greatest enemies are dead.

Meanwhile Minicarrier 13 arrives at Monster Island. Before the Lightning Storm team descends to the island, agent Sum asks each team member if they are ready. The only one that he ignores is Araña because he is not planning on taking her with him, which angers Anya because she feels like she is being treated like a kid. Thanks to Machine Man, the team is able to follow an energy trail, which leads them to the body of a dead Brood. Machine Man points out that the creature that they saw in Carol's bedroom on the Minicarrier 13 was not a Brood. At that point agent Sum realises that they need back-up and so he wants to abandon the mission, but Wonder Man does not agree with his decision and reminds him how S.H.I.E.L.D. did not send help last time. Agent Sum is well aware of this and therefore he wants Wonder Man to call it, seeing that he is an Avenger. Wonder Man remains with his decission and refuses to leave the island without Ms. Marvel. Before they know it, the Brood are already attacking the Minicarrier.

Inside the Minicarrier, Araña realises in what kind of danger she is when she sees the Brood approaching, but help is underway. Although Machine Man misses his weapons, he can also appreciate the satisfaction that he gets while he tears out the wings of a Brood. Meanwhile Sleepwalker and agent Sum have arrived on the Minicarrier. Although Sleepwalker guards the Minicarrier's entrance well, he is eventually hit when a Brood sneaks up from behind. Inside agent Sum and Araña are reunited. When agent Sum asks Araña to open a hatch, she comes eye to eye with a nuclear device. Agent Sum explains to her that it is only used in case the minicarrier gets stolen. When Araña states her conviction that agent Sum is not going to use the device when they are still onboard, agent Sum looks worrisome at her. He quickly grabs a hold of himself again and tells her that they may not have to use it, but in case that they have to, he tries to comfort her with the thought that her death will be swift and that many of their foes will fall with her.

Outside the Minicarrier, the Brood are ready to take over the spacecraft. Although Sleepwalker requests for assistance and continues to fight, he is eventually grabbed by one of the Brood, who takes off with him. Luckily for Sleepwalker, Wonder Man comes to his rescue. On the Minicarrier, Machine Man prepares himself to battle the Brood Queen.

Somewhere on Monster Island, Carol realises that she is bleeding to death. Although Carol is about to die, she still manages to be angry with Cru for bailing out when she needed her the most. With her last effort, Carol puts her hand around Cru's neck.

A few moments later, Cru resurfaces again. With the time that she stayed inside Carol's head, Cru has grown a certain admiration for Carol. The time has come for Cru and Carol to separate themselves from each other permanently, but it comes with a side effect. Cru warns Carol that it may seem to be a gift at first but that it will turn out to be a curse. When Carol asks Cru what she is going to do to her, Cru tells her to open her eyes.

Outside Machine Man is falling to the ground due to a malfunctioning of his body. He is the first to witness Carol's new appearances. After the Brood warn their queen of danger, the Brood Queen comes eye to eye with the new Carol, whose body seems to be on fire.

Characters:
Araña
Brood (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=1790)
Brood Queen
Cru (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1252154#post1252154)
Machine Man
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Rick Sheridan
Sleepwalker
David Sum
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

<hr>
Ms. Marvel #24
April 2008

<img src="http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/images/covers/marvel/msmarv2-24t.jpg " hspace=3 align=top align=left alt="Ms. Marvel #24" border="0"> (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/4images/details.php?image_id=11754)

Story Arc: Monster and Marvel, Part 4

Writer: Brian Reed (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=37958&highlight=Brian+Reed)
Penciler: Aaron Lopresti (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14049)
Inker: Matt Ryan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=16213)
Color: Chris Sotomayor (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13957&highlight=sotomayor)
Letterer: Dave Sharpe (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=13661&highlight=sharpe)
Production: Paul Acerios
Cover Artist: Greg Horn (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=14919&highlight=horn)
Assistant Editor: Thomas Brennan (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1373362#post1373362)
Editor: Stephen Wacker (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=22344&highlight=wacker)
Editor in chief: Joe Quesada (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=12902&highlight=quesada)
Publisher: Dan Buckley (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1395065)

Death: Cru

After Cru gave Ms. Marvel her Binary powers back, Ms. Marvel does not hold back to use her control over the energy of creation on the Brood once again.

Inside Minicarrier 13 the Brood are slowly taking over the ship. Elsewhere on the ship agent Sum and Araña are still preparing the nuclear device to blow up the helicarrier in case the Brood should take control of the ship. Although Ms. Marvel continues to slaughter the Brood, the Brood Queen breaks one of the windows of the air craft and enters it. Although agent Sum steps in front of Araña to protect her, it is no good as the other Brood have arrived as well and got the two surrounded. During the fight with Araña and agent Sum, the Brood Queen notices the nuclear device and picks it up. At that point agent Sum aims his gun at the weapon but when the Brood Queen realises that it was meant to kill her, she swiftly hits agent Sum with one of her tentacles.

Suddenly Ms. Marvel appears and informs the Brood Queen that all the Brood are dead and that it is the Queen's turn. Meanwhile Ms. Marvel gets a gut feeling that something is trying to tell her to stop, but Ms. Marvel decides to ignore it. After Ms. Marvel grabs the Brood Queen by her tail, she flies off. When she almost reaches a volcano, Ms. Marvel intends to throw the Brood Queen in it but she misses. By the time that Ms. Marvel reaches the volcano, her Binary powers have vanished, which the Brood Queen notices. Although Ms. Marvel feels very weakened, she refuses to give up, even when the Brood Queen grabs her and throws her at the ridge of the volcano. Ms. Marvel tries to absorb the radiant energy of the volcano but it is not enough. Meanwhile the Brood Queen approaches but just as she is almost there, she is shot in the head by an energy beam of Cru, who regained her original body after she separated herself from Carol. While Cru explains what happened exactly, the Brood Queen suddenly stabs through Cru's head with one of her tentacles, after which she throws Cru into the volcano.

Having dealt with Cru, the Brood Queen goes after Ms. Marvel again. When Ms. Marvel remembers how Cru hurt the Brood Queen with an energy beam, she tries it as well but unfortunately it does not affect the Brood Queen at all. Suddenly the Brood Queen grabs Ms. Marvel by the legs and smacks her hard to the ground. Although the Brood Queen keeps a hold of Ms. Marvel's legs, she does not see that Ms. Marvel fell right beside the nuclear device. After Ms. Marvel grabs the device, she takes a deep breath and flies into outer space with the Brood Queen, who is still keeping hold of her legs. In space, Ms. Marvel is able to point the Brood Queen away from Earth. While she throws the device into the Brood Queen's mounth, Ms. Marvel breaks lose of the Queen's grasp. With a single blow, Ms. Marvel detonates the nuclear device, which catapults into deeper space. Ms. Marvel herself is catapulted back to Earth where she falls into the ocean. After Wonder Man picks her out of the water, they head home.

Twelve hours later, Anya is reunited with her father and she apologizes for the way that she left, after which they hug. Elsewhere Machine Man's original body is being repaired. Although he has not got his female body anymore, he still feels sexy because he has his precious weapons back.

When Carol looks at her destroyed bedroom on Minicarrier 13, she realises that she does not have a home. Luckily she still has William and Simon, although she knows that she has brushed off Simon too many times lately. Carol decides to take a room at the Empire Hotel in Manhattan. When she takes a shower, she understands that Cru not only powered her up but that she also made Carol face herself. Cru has made it awfully clear that Carol either runs away from things or that she rushes into things without thinking, which make her both a coward and a killer.

Three days later at the Avengers Tower, agent Sum is summoned there by S.H.I.E.L.D.-director Tony Stark. Before Tony adresses the real issue, he wants to apologize to agent Sum for leaving him out in the cold when he needed his help. After this Tony comes down to business and explains that what he is about to tell is beyond top secret. Tony informs agent Sum that the Skrulls have infiltrated Earth society at every level, must mostly amongst the superhumans. Tony wants agent Sum to take out the Skrull that has infiltrated the Operation Lightning Storm team as quickly and quietly as possible. When agent Sum asks Tony who the Skrull is, Tony shows him the image of Carol Danvers.

Characters:
Araña
Araña's father
Brood (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=1790)
Brood Queen
Cru (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?p=1252154#post1252154)
Iron Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=20987)
Machine Man
Ms. Marvel (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=10232)
Rick Sheridan
Sleepwalker
David Sum
Wonder Man (http://www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=23301)

Ms. Marvel (2006) #1-12 | Ms. Marvel (2006) #13-24 | Ms. Marvel (2006) #25-27

[Kevin Van der Borght]

Added summaries for issues #15-17

[Kevin Van der Borght]

Author : sabongero
Date : Aug 14, 2007 08:19 pm
Title : Re: Ms. Marvel (2006) #13-17

Thanks Kevin. This is a great extended summary of the Ms. Marvel series. Do you plan on putting up summaries of other comic book titles ?

[Kevin Van der Borght]

I'm glad you enjoy them. To see what else I do, check out the bottom of my posts. I regulary try to update those titles.

[Kevin Van der Borght]

Added brand new summaries for issues #18-20

[Kevin Van der Borght]

Added summaries for issues #21-24. Enjoy!