Nick Peron

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Avengers #298

Nick Peron

Disaster!!!

Credits

Following the dissolution of the Avengers, Jarvis has returned home to New York City where he has been living with his mother.[1] He is reading a newspaper story about strange accidents that have been happening all over the city while his mother watches her wrestling program.[2] Suddenly, the television begins to malfunction, angering Mrs. Jarvis. She then demands that Edwin go down to the repair shop and see if they can send somebody to fix it.[3]

Going to a nearby repair shop, Jarvis learns that all the technicians are off on other calls because electronics all over the city are going haywire. Deciding to take in the Metropolitan Museum before returning home, Jarvis takes the subway into midtown. Along the way, a woman almost falls out of the moving subway train when the passenger door suddenly opens. Luckily, Jarvis is fast enough on his feet to save the woman. Suddenly, the power goes out causing the train to stop. When one of the passengers disembarks he touches the third rail and is electrocuted to death. People start to panic in the dark, but Edwin takes control of the situation and calmly escorts everyone to the emergency exit.

Back on the street, Jarvis is thanked by the woman he saved. She introduces herself as Glory Garsen before kissing Edwin on the lips, making him bashful. Jarvis bids Glory farewell and heads to the museum. There he finds a crowd of people waiting outside and learns that the automated doors have locked themselves and nobody can get in and out. Since he can’t go to the museum, Jarvis decides to do some shopping and buy his mother a gift. As he window shops, he spots some loose bricks begin to fall, threatening the lives of a young mother and her child. As Jarvis knocks the bricks away with his umbrella he is given an assist by Peter Parker, who grabs Jarvis’ arm and help him swat the bricks away. Jarvis thanks the young man for his help, little knowing that Parker is secretly Spider-Man and used Jarvis to cover the use of his powers since there wasn’t enough time to change into costume. As Peter departs, he suggests that Jarvis check out a new comedy at the theater.

Jarvis goes to check out the movie and found it very entertaining. As he heads back home he comes to the aid of a man who is suddenly being choked by the receiver of the payphone he is trying to use. Unable to untangle the chord, Jarvis deposits change into the phone causing the chord to slacken. Jarvis deduces that something strange is going on since the Avengers are no more, he puts in a call to the one man he believes can solve this mystery. He calls Steve Rogers, aka the Captain, at his apartment in Brooklyn. The call comes in just as the Captain is away, forcing Jarvis to receive a voice mail. When Steve returns home and listens to the messages one of the machine in his apartment comes to life and tries to attack him from behind. Luckily, he is able to deflect the energy blast with his shield and destroy the robot before any harm can come to him. Realizing that the issue is more widespread than Jarvis suspected, the Captain decides to seek out the Avengers former butler.

As Jarvis waits for the Captain to show up, he comes upon Glory Garsen again, this time her legs are pinned between two parked cars. Two men have come to her aid, but they can’t push the cars apart. Coming to Glory’s aid, Jarvis smashes the tail light of one of the vehicles with his umbrella, causing the car to suddenly roll forard and free Garsen’s legs. As Glory shows her gratitude to Jarvis a second time, a massive robot suddenly appears and begins terrorizing people on the street. Unconcerned for his own safety, Jarvis tries to distract the massive automation. When the machine grabs him, Jarvis notes that one of its eyes is shattered and deduces this to be its weakness. When Edwin attacks the other eye, the robot is forced to drop him.

That’s when the Captain arrives and begins attacking the robot. After a series of powerful blows from Cap’s shield, the robot suddenly reverts into its true form: an automobile. Surprisingly, this was one of the vehicles that had pinned Glory’s leg earlier. With the Avengers disbanded, the Captain heads off to reform the team so they can deal with this crisis. Glory is amazed that Jarvis knows the original Captain America.[3] Since it is not safe to wander the city alone, Glory convinces Jarvis to walk her home prompting Edwin to take take her on a scenic tour of the city, believing his mother would be proud of him for being so romantic.[4]

Recurring Characters

Edwin Jarvis, The Captain, Abigail Jarvis, Glory Garsen, Peter Parker

Continuity Notes

  1. The Avengers had disbanded after they were manipulated by Ravonna Renslayer to try and breach the Time Bubble some 20 years in the future. See Avengers #294-297.

  2. These accidents have been occurring around New York leading up to the Inferno event as the city begins to fall prey to demonic influence. See reading order below.

  3. Jarvis’ mother is happy that Jarvis took his eyepatch off. He suffered damage to his optical nerve after being brutally tortured by Mister Hyde in Avengers #275. He has worn an eyepatch since issue #280. Although his mother states that his eye is back no normal here, he starts wearing the eye patch again in issue #305 through 318. One could assume that Jarvis was merely humoring his mother who did not like the eye patch. Speaking of Abigail Jarvis, she is acting uncharacteristically crude compared to her other appearances in Avengers #201, 280, Annual 1999 and All-New All-Different Avengers #4. Presumably, her personality is being affected by the Inferno spell.

  4. This story occurs shortly after Steve Rogers was forced to give up his Captain America identity when he refused to work exclusively for the US government in Captain America #332. He was subsequently replaced by John Walker. This will remain the status quo until Steve takes back his identity in Captain America #350.

  5. This story ends by telling readers to check out Avengers Annual #17 and Captain America #349 for more. These attempts to reform the Avengers end in failure and Cap won’t succeed in forming a new team until Avengers #300.

Topical References

  • The newspaper Jarvis is reading states that the New York Mets won a baseball game. The reference to the Mets should be considered topical as it is a real-world sports team and could change its name, hometown, or even go out of business. Sounds impossible for a team like the Mets but it has happened to MLB teams, so that’s why it’s topical.

  • All the TVs in this story are depicted as CRT televisions. This should be considered a topical reference as these types of displays are obsolete.

  • Peter Parker suggests Jarvis go see Who Framed Roger Rabbit? at the theater, which came out the same year this comic was published. Its reference should be considered topical as Peter calls it a new movie.

  • The Captain is depicted as receiving phone messages from an answering machine that were quite common in the 1980s. This should be considered a topical reference as these types of machines have become obsolete following the advent of voice mail.

Inferno Reading Order