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Avengers #307

Sep 1989
John Byrne, Paul Ryan

Story Name:

Metamorphosis


Synopsis

Avengers #307 synopsis by T Vernon
Rating: 4 stars
Avengers Island is sitting atop a solidified column of lava which is now crumbling away and threatening to drop the team’s island HQ into the harbor. Jarvis, the only one occupying the building, is desperately radioing for help. His message is picked up by Mr. Fantastic and Invisible Woman who hurry to the site. At Reed’s suggestion, Sue creates a wedge-shaped force field to hold the island level while Reed tries to raise Jarvis….

In the underground cavern, the Avengers (Captain America, Thor, She-Hulk, Black Panther, Gilgamesh, Sub-Mariner, Quasar) are battling the avenging avatar of Cha’sa’dra, directed by Jinku, the Lava Men’s witchdoctor, and losing. The monster spits lava all over Gilgamesh, instantly solidifying into a stone prison from which he soon escapes. She-Hulk attacks and is clobbered. Black Panther tries to overpower Jinku but the villain directs the monster to hurl Sub-Mariner at him. Thor calls up a hurricane but Cap warns that it may bring down the cavern’s walls. The heat is increasing, causing the heroes to pass out one-by-one….

As Sue begins to weaken, Wonder Man arrives and holds up the island while Sue takes a breather. Reed directs Sue to make her force field spiral around the stone column….

As the Avengers continue to battle the flaming avatar, Jinku rehearses the history of the Lava Men and denounces the heroes for killing his god. She-Hulk again tries to explain that Cha’sa’dra was no god, just a minor demon they killed but Jinku won’t have it. Thor, Gilgamesh, and Jen strike the monster at once, bringing the cavern roof down on it but it immediately rises again. Gilgamesh, desiring the sole victory, takes it on singlehandedly and the avatar hits him so hard it hurls him across the cavern and he lies there, apparently dead. Jinku claims the victory but, to his surprise, his acolytes, turned to stone, have merged as glorious golden forms. They appeal to Jinku to put away his anger and accept the transformation and a light smack shatters his lava form, exposing his new golden body. After some explanations, Jinku apologizes to the Avengers…but Gilgamesh still looks dead….


 

Review / Commentaries


Avengers #307 Review by (August 24, 2024)
Comments: Part three of three parts. Quasar jokes about the Ayatollah Khomeini, fanatical leader of Iran during the 1980s conflict with the USA. Wonder Man mentions Sky King, a cowboy aviator on radio and early TV. And the golden Lava Men return to their lava forms and go bad again in X-FORCE #81.  

Review: Mostly battle issue has too many heroes (note that Cap, Subby, Black Panther, and Quasar do nothing to justify their being in the issue besides getting clobbered) and a major plot point that won’t be resolved until the next issue (the danger to Avenger Island). As for Gilgamesh, we still haven’t learned why the guy is in the series so his apparent death really doesn’t move us much; besides, he’s mainly been a strong arrogant clod (picture Dave Bautista as Drax if he wasn’t funny). This leaves the important plot being the humbling of Jinku when he discovers that the bad news was wrong. So he apologizes and the ex-Lava Men split, as the crazy baddie learned to second-guess himself. And Wonder Man shows up, without the rest of the WCA but then, who on that team could have contributed to stopping the disaster in the making? Well, Vision and maybe Scarlet Witch but Wondy was the best bet.



> Avengers comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
KOTOBUKIYA BLACK PANTHER MOVIE BLACK PANTHER ARTFX STATUE
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Paul Ryan
Tom Palmer
Christie Scheele
Paul Ryan (Cover Penciler)
Tom Palmer (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Bill Oakley.
Editor: Howard Mackie. Editor-in-chief: Tom DeFalco.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Black Panther
Black Panther

(T'Challa)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Invisible Woman
Invisible Woman

(Sue Storm)
Jarvis
Jarvis

(Edwin Jarvis)
Mr. Fantastic
Mr. Fantastic

(Reed Richards)
Quasar
Quasar

(Wendell Vaughn)
She-Hulk
She-Hulk

(Jennifer Walters)
Sub-Mariner
Sub-Mariner

(Namor McKenzie)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Wonder Man
Wonder Man

(Simon Williams)

Plus: Lava Men.