Avengers (vol. 3) #28
The Death-Song of Kulan Gath: Long Shadows of Forgotten Spires
Kulan Gath awakens in a remote village on the island of Costa Verde. As his servants dress him and he looks over his brand new kingdom. Using his powerful magic, Kulan Gath has reverted the entire village into a recreation of his Hyborean domain.[1] He is pleased as his long sought victory is finally at hand.
Meanwhile, the Avengers are in Memphis, Tennessee, where they are helping rip down some abandoned warehouses that are a source of drug dealing in the region. As the Avengers tear the building down, Triathlon shows off too much and almost gets trapped in one of the warehouses as it goes down. This frightens the Wasp, who tells him not to pull a stunt like that again. This is all part a publicity campaign by the Maria Stark Foundation. After the buildings are torn down, MSF chairman Happy Hogan outlines how his organization will be building a local community center.[2] The reason why the Avengers are present is because they are trying to repair the damage done to their reputation in recent months.[3]
Back in New York City, Edwin Jarvis is watchin the event play out on live television. He is happy that the Avengers are salvaging their reputation and notes that the majority of the protestors have long since left. That’s when Maria de Guadalupe Santiago — the young woman that Jarvis has sponsored for years — comes bursting into the kitchen.[4] She received a telegram from home with some distressing news. All it reads is “the time has come”, and she fears that her home is in grave danger. When she asks Jarvis if the Avengers can help, he gets in touch with the team as they are on their way back to New York. Hearing about Maria’s situation, the Wasp offers to have the team help her out anyway they can once they learn more about what’s going on. After Maria changes into her ceremonial clothes she is picked up and a course is plotted to the island of Costa Verde.
Along the way, Maria tells the Avengers about an ancient prophecy once believed by her people that is now apparently coming to pass. In ancient times, her people — the Kamekeri — worshiped many gods that ruled over that region. Her people worshiped these gods until the first Christian missionaries started arriving from the new world. As the Kamekeri were all converted to that religion, the old gods decided that their time had passed and returned to the sky. All except one god, Peliali, the volcano god whose home was the bones of the Earth. She refused to leave her home or her people.[5] Over time, the Kamekeri forgot about Peliali and dismissed the old legends as foolish myths.
However, in more recent times, a local named Santiago — a scholar of the old stories — ventured up the mountain and claimed to have med Peliali. The locals and Christian missionaries dismissed his claims as either lunacy or blasphemy. Still, the man would continue to venture up to the mountain and come back with more stories. Then one day he came down carrying a baby, whom he claimed he fathered with Peliali herself. The baby was given a Christian name, as was custom at the time. However, when Maria was baptized she suddenly transformed into a silver jaguar, suggesting that her father’s stories were true. As she grew up she was treated as an outcast while also struggling to control her shape-shifting abilities, making her a target for bullies among the children. Still, her father would tell her the stories about how her mother was a great goddess. Each year, he would take Maria up into the mountains in the hopes of finally meeting her mother. Unfortunately, Peliali was a no show every time. Eventually, Maria came to the conclusion that the old stories were all make believe and she refused to go up to the mountain ever again.
One year, Santiago grew ill and died. With no other family, Maria was placed in a church run orphanage. However, she made everyone nervous because her powers were viewed as unholy. Her life was pretty miserable until she started receiving letters from Edwin Jarvis, who was sponsoring her through a charity. Even in far off Costa Verde, the wealthy Stark family was known. Maria grew up writing Jarvis letter and enjoying his tales about the heroic Avengers. As she grew older, Maria came to embrace her otherness and immersed herself in western culture. She was the first in her village to pierce her nose, and she was always the first to know all the latest trends, popular music, and hottest celebrities in America.
However, despite all of this, Maria never really let go of her birthright. When she grew old enough to travel to America and attend Empire State University, she brought her ceremonial clothes with her. That’s how she came to America and first got involved with the Avengers, assisting them in stopping Moses Magnum in the process.[6] While she no longer believed in the old stories, Maria convinced herself that she was perhaps a mutant instead or the product of something scientific, rather than the mystical. Now that she has received this message from her people, she knows otherwise.
By the time Maria has finished her story, the Avengers are approaching Costa Verde. They radio the authorities there and announce their intentions. However, they are surprised when they respond back by saying that there is no such Kamekeri village. Maria finds this impossible and so they press onwards to figure out what’s going on. When they arrive over the location where her village is supposed to be, they are surprised to see a Hyborean city has replaced it.
That’s when they encounter a group of warriors riding massive birds, who attack them in the name of Kulan Gath. As Iron Man and Warbird exit the Quinjet to face them, Iron Man can understand what they are saying even though they are speaking another language, a telltale sign that magic is at use here. This bothers Tony because he hates magic. While Iron Man and Warbird deal with their attackers, the Wasp tries to bring down the Quinjet in the city. However, the Scarlet Witch senses that there is some kind of spell around the city and tells Janet to pull up before they are caught in it. In order to play it safe, they land just outside the city’s border.
Deciding to see what will happen once they cross the thresshold, three Avengers decide to walk through and find out. Warbird, She-Hulk, and Goliath pass through the barrier and are suddenly transformed into Hyborean analogues with no memories of their past lives. The Wasp is particularly disturbed to see that Hank is transformed into a Hyborean version of Yellowjacket.[7] Thankfully, when Iron Man pulls them back with an improvised snare, they all revert back to normal. That’s when they are confronted by an astral projection of Kulan Gath who tells them to begone and not darken his domain again or they will face his wrath.
However, the Avengers refuse to turn around and go back home, but they need to formulate a plan to counteract Kulan Gath’s spell. Luckily, Goliath has brought some shrunk down high-tech shelters that will allow them to set up camp.[8] As everyone goes out to get supplies, Iron Man takes the opportunity to apologize to Triathlon about not wanting him on the team. Triathlon believes that this is because Iron Man is racist, but when he tries to explain himself, Triathlon doesn’t want to hear it and storms off.[9] As both men head back to camp they are unaware that someone is watching them from the shadows.
That night, when everyone else has gone to sleep, the Wasp finds Goliath still sitting at the campfire. He admits to her that he feels dizzy, concerning Janet. Hank assures her its nothing, but promises to run tests on himself the moment they get home. That’s when they hear Silverclaw scream. When they go to check on her, Maria tells them that she had a dream that revealed to her that Kulan Gath is seeking her mother!
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Iron Man, Goliath, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Warbird, She-Hulk, Triathlon), Silverclaw, Kulan Gath, Happy Hogan, Edwin Jarvis, Yellowjacket
Continuity Notes
This isn’t the first time Kulan Gath has reverted an entire region into a Hyborean area kingdom. That’s kind of his whole thing. He has done it previously in Uncanny X-Men #188-191. Speaking of Kul-y G, according to Savage Avengers #4, this is not the original Gath, but a slave child owned by Kulan Gath. The boy murdered him and then usurped his name and stole all his magic books.
Happy Hogan was appointed chairman of the Maria Stark Foundation in Iron Man (vol. 3) #16.
The Avengers are trying to repair their damaged reputation, which has been a target of the Triune Understanding since Avengers (vol. 3) #13. Things have gotten progressively worse until both Captain America and Thor quit the team. The Avengers then had to recruit Triathlon, a member of the Triunes, to save face as seen in Avengers (vol. 3) #26-27. The reason the Triunes have it against the Avengers is because their leader, Jonathan Tremont, believes the Avengers are responsible for a coming doomsday prophecy. This is actually the Triple-Evil as we’ll learn in Avengers (vol. 3) #41-54 and Annual 2001.
As explained in Avengers (vol. 3) #8, Jarvis has sponsored Maria through a charitable foundation prior to the formation of the Avengers. More recently, and now a young adult, Maria has come to America to study at Empire State University.
The Kamerkeri worshiped the Incan gods, properly known as the Apu. Their ruler, Viracocha was first seen in the Marvel Universe as a member of the Council of Godheads in Thor #300. Per Thor & Hercules: The Encyclopeda Mythologica #1, when the Apu lost the majority of their worshipers they retreated to Hanan Pacha, an other-dimensional realm where they now live. It’s kind of the same deal as Asgard and Olympus. Time of this writing (January, 2023) they are not very active in the modern age. Peliali will appear in Avengers (vol. 3) #29-30, while Viracocha will make a brief appearance in Secret Warriors #10.
Maria assisted the Avengers in stopping Moses Magnum in Avengers (vol. 3) #8-9.
Janet’s concern over Hank becoming Yellowjacket again is due to the circumstances behind the creation of that identity. As detailed in Avengers #59-60, Hank created the Yellowjacket identity after his first mental breakdown. Janet recently re-experienced Hank-as-Yellowjacket during a time travel adventure when she and present-day Hank were part of a team of time displaced Avengers which included Hank-as-Yellowjacket. See Avengers Forever #1-12. Kulan Gath’s magic will cause Hank to split into two entities the analytical Goliath and the emotional Yellowjacket as we’ll see next issue. They will remain apart until Avengers Annual 2001. The mysterious person lurking in the shadows at the end of this story is Yellowjacket.
Herer, Hank states that he lost his ability to change the size of other objects with a touch. Pym gained these abilities back in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #21. This was due to the fact that his body could no longer stand the strain of size changing itself, a health issue that had dogged him since Avengers #140. Hank abruptly lost these powers when he became Giant-Man again in Avengers #366 with no explanation. In Avengers (vol. 3) #31, Hank explains that he managed to finally stabilize his powers so they no longer negatively impacted his health. However, this came at the cost of his ability to shrink and grow objects that hadn’t already been treated with Pym Particles first.
The reason why Iron Man did not want Triathlon on the team had nothing to do with race, but rather because Delroy has been a member of the Triune Understanding since Avengers (vol. 3) #8. To his credit, Garrett doesn’t know about Jonathan Tremont’s intentional smear campaign about the Avengers. Still, when Iron Man refused to want him on the team, Duane Freeman had to threaten to revoke the Avengers security clearance. See Avengers (vol. 3) #27.
Topical References
There are a lot of old band posters on the walls of these derelict warehouses. Some list performance dates. Elvis, despite having been dead for since 1977 was apparently touring Tennessee in 1999. Other years listed are 1994. These wouldn’t necessarily be topical references as the warehouses in this story could have been abandoned for decades and still have old band posters plastered on the walls. The Elvis reference is probably a joke on the part of artist George Pérez. In the 1990s and early 2000s people had a preoccupation with Elvis impersonators and conspiracy theories about Elvis faking his death.
The Maria Stark Foundation is hosting a $5000-a-plate charity dinner to fund the community center. Adjusting for inflation the dinner would cost $8497 a plate in 2023 money.
The televisions in this story are depicted as being CRT models. This should be considered a topical reference as this is now an obsolete technology.
Maria receives a message from home via a telegram, which are traditionally transmitted via a telegraph machine. While the modern world has moved on to more advanced communications technologies, the telegraph system still exists and in remote regions — such as Maria’s home — they are the only way to send an important messages to the outside world. As such, its reference here would not be considered topical.
It is stated here that Jarvis sponsored Maria through childhood via Childcare, an international charitable organization that provides the necessities of life to children in impoverished regions. They were originally founded in 1979. References to Childcare here should be considered topical as they are a real world organization.
Maria brags about buying albums on CD. When this comic was published in 2000, CDs were the dominant format for listening to music. While they are still around today, they have fallen out of favor of digital and streaming formats. Its reference here should be considered topical.
