Synopsis / Summary / Plot
In an old Stark Holdings building in Detroit which is now the official Great Lakes Avengers HQ Doorman and Flatman are sound asleep but Big Bertha is kept awake at 2:15 by loud music from a bar across the street. She wakes the other 2 up and leads them to complain. On the way a drunk typically mistakes FM for Mr Fantastic. Inside Doorman tries out a joke on the barman while Bertha confronts the owner Nain Rouge who wears a red devil mask. He's surrounded by bruisers and the 2 villains (Firebrand and Shriek) we met last issue but he's happy to talk to her. He claims he used to be a superhero but then he wised up and now he's an entrepreneur who owns the whole block. He invites her to have a drink from the Specials board, which touts Flatman's "Fruit" Cocktail, Big Bursta's Buttered Rum and a Mr Immbarassment. He comments that he heard Mr Immortal could really drink, but then Bertha would know because she knew him best. This sets her off to attack him.
Last issue we also met Good(ness) Silva and her brother Lucky when Firebrand trashed their house. And afterwards Good turned into a blue werewolf to save some neighbours from another villain. Now she's in hospital sitting by the bedside of her seriously injured brother who suddenly starts to turn into a pink werewolf, but 1 arm only. This alerts a nurse who isn't at all fazed to see a werewolf, but surprised to see the colour. Then the TV News reports on a crowd protesting against City Councilman Dick Snerd who is commenting on the 'supposed' supervillain problem in the city. He points out that the neighbourhoods being hit are hotbeds of crime and claims that the so-called supervillains should be lauded as heroes. Good decides to go join the protest.
At the end of last issue we learned that Mr I is buried in a cemetery (but not in a coffin in a grave) with an airtube to the surface. Now he hears his friend Mike up above and calls out that he's ready to come out now. But Mike says no and tells him to open his mouth before pouring water down the tube. Craig Hollis asks for a lot more water so he can drown to death for a change, but Mike has gone. Then he swears that he's not going to starve to death again. So he takes a cork which he calls Corky (with a smiley face etched on it) and shoves it in the end of the tube. (Intending to suffocate this time. You remember that he only stays dead for a few minutes? Hence his name.)
We rejoin our 3 friends in jail. Doorman suddenly says he sensed something and exits through the wall of the cell (which he could have done at any time). He promises to be back in 10 minutes. Cops bring struggling Good in, protesting that she didn't throw a bottle at Snerd. When they won't let her go she turns into the blue werewolf. BB and FM break out of their cell to help the cops but the werewolf lopes away, only to be faced with more cops with drawn guns. Bertha tries to talk the wolf down and it says it was scared and only wanted to get away. Flatman announces that they're the GLA and want to help it. The wolf doesn't recognise their name. But then the Avengers' lawyer Connie Ferrari and her assistant Amy turn up demanding her clients be released.
Meanwhile Craig wakes up from his latest death in his 'tomb' and rips Corky out of the tube as he starts gasping for breath. Then a voice by his side gives him a shock. It's Doorman who sensed his death and came to see how he was doing. DeMarr Davis offers to 'doorway' Craig out of here but Mr I says he doesn't want to go. DM asks if he's involved in a 'magic' performance but Craig says he paid his friend Mike bury him like this and keep an eye on him, but not let him out for a year no matter what he said. He wanted to detox from alcohol and think about his life. He's only been down here for a few months (but still he's only got stubble on his chin). DeMarr says it smells like it, and forcibly transports him to the surface. He says the rest of the gang are waiting for them.
The rest of the gang with Connie and Amy plus Good turned from werewolf to human are watching Councilman Snerd haranguing the senior police officer. He wants to know why Good is being released after she tried to assassinate him. Lawyer Ferrari points out that a thrown glass bottle isn't an assassination weapon. And there's no proof her client threw the bottle. Assistant Amy queries the word 'client' and Connie asks why she hasn't given Good the relevant forms to sign. But anyway she declares that Good is a (temporary) Avenger with no prior record, and the GLA should be released to continue fighting evil. Furthermore she asks the Councilman how the voters will view him jailing the city's only superheroes during the current plague of supervillain attacks?
Snerd blusters but leaves. Amy gets Good to sign the forms to become an Avenger. The girl queries some of the clauses such as 'likeness rights' but Amy assures her this is the standard form and nothing to be concerned about. Snerd gets into his limo and asks the driver to take him downtown. And we see that he has the mask and gloves of Nain Rouge.