Avengers (vol. 3) #29
The Death-Song of Kulan Gath: A Dream of Bitter Ash
On the behalf of their ally Silverclaw, the Avengers have come to the village of Kamekeri to prevent a great evil from being unleashed. Upon their arrival they have discovered that the ancient sorcerer known as Kulan Gath has reverted the area into a Hyborean era kingdom. He now seeks out the volcano god Peliali — Silverclaw’s alleged mother — in order to steal her power.[1]
Having a dream that her mother is in danger, Silverclaw leads the team — consisting of the Wasp, Goliath, Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch, Warbird, She-Hulk, and Triathlon — to the nearby mountain. There they find a group of sorcerers trying to capture Peliali. Unfortunately, they are stopped by Kulan Gath’s warriors come swooping down from the skies on the backs of massive eagles.[2] While the Avengers are busy dealing with this new threat, the sorcerers and Peliali are teleported away. Iron Man manages to take one of the flying warriors prisoner. However, when they try to interrogate him he activates a suicide spell that immolates his entire body, annoying Iron Man to no end because he hates magic.
That’s when they notice that the Costa Verde military has deployed tanks into the region. As Kamekeri is surrounded by a mystical barrier that transformed everything that passes through into a Hyborean analogue, the Wasp speeds off to convince the soldiers to hold back and let them handle things. Meanwhile, the Scarlet Witch has come up with a means of possible counteracting Kulan Gath’s transformation spell. Borrowing some com-chips from Iron Man’s armor, she infuses them with chaos magic, creating a tether to the modern world that should — in theory — protect them from Kulan Gath’s magic. As the Avengers head to the border of Kamekeri, they are unaware that someone is watching them from the bushes.[3] When Wanda crosses the threshold, she is relieved when she isn’t transformed. After sending Iron Man to report back to the Wasp, the she tells the rest of the team to follow her and stick close. When Iron Man gives Janet an update, its just as she has convinced the soldiers to give them time to diffuse the situation before sending their troops in. However, they are only given two hours.
Inside the city, the Avengers try to keep a low profile by shrouding themselves in cloaks. As they make their way through the city they discover that not everything has been transformed when they come across a discarded gum wrapper and a traffic light. Moments after passing through the town square, a young girl passes through and is annoyed to see the traffic light. It disappears at the wave of her hand and she heads back to the royal palace. As she goes, a modern day bus stop suddenly appears on the side of the road behind her.
Meanwhile, the Avengers decide to head into a nearby ale house to try and learn more about the situation. Along the way, Goliath suddenly buckles in pain it quickly passes. He turns down the suggestion of going back to the others, promising Wanda he’ll run tests on himself when they get back home. They are unaware that they are being watched by the little girl correcting anachronisms. She makes a series of rapid hand gestures after the heroes enter the bar. Once inside, Warbird — a recovering alcoholic — is instantly struck by the temptation to drink and fears she might relapse.[4] When Triathlon flippantly tells Carol that they got a table, she forgets her problems and yanks Delroy aside. She tells him that she understands that he has grievances with the Avengers over how he was enlisted on the team.[5] She tells him he can still be snide if he wants and the others will respect his reasons for it, or he can challenge himself by opening up to the team and earning the respect he deserves. Delroy says nothing and both join the rest of the team at the table.
As they discuss their next moves, Silverclaw becomes deeply upset because she now realizes that everything about Pelail being her mother have turned out to be true. She now remembers how her father was treated and feels ashamed of herself for doubting him. However, she is equally upset that her mother let her father suffer alone.[6] Her lamentations are heard by one of the patrons who gets handsy with her, prompting She-Hulk to toss him across the room, blowing their cover in the process.
Word of the brawl soon reaches Kulan Gath, who was disguised as the little girl from earlier. He tells his guards that he has everything worked out and heads back into his palace. At that moment, the warriors that the Avengers are fighting begin transforming into demons. While this is happening, Kulan Gath goes up to the chamber where he is holding Pelail prisoner. He decides to tell the goddess his origins, explaining that he devoted his life to the acquisition of power and gained it through worship of powerful beings like Shuma-Gorath and the N’gari, among other nameless dark gods.[7] However, he reach a point where he could not extend the life of his physical form and so he transferred his essence into a mystical necklace. It was through this talisman that Shuma Gorath returned centuries later and clashed with Spider-Man. However, he saw how foul the world had become before he was defeated and the necklace tossed into the ocean.[8] This necklace was found by a fisherman and tried to find a place unspoiled by the modern world.[9] He thought this village was untainted enough to withstand his spell, he still finds the modern world trying to introduce.
Now, Kulan Gath has the key to what he hopes will transform the entire world into his ideal. To do so, he will sacrifice Pelail in a hysterical ceremony. It will be no easy feat as it could rip the planet asunder. Kulan Gath finds this worth the risk, as if he cannot change the world it deserves to be dead anyway. As Gath was making his monologue, he is unaware that the same figure that was watching the Avengers earlier is now watching him.
Back in the city, the Avengers have struggled against the soldiers-turned-demon, however the creatures take on serpentine forms. The monsters then begin vomiting clouds of knock out gas that eventually take all the fight out of them.
Recurring Characters
Avengers (Iron Man, Goliath, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Warbird, She-Hulk, Triathlon), Silverclaw, Kulan Gath, Pelail, Yellowjacket
Continuity Notes
This was all covered last issue.
Iron Man refers to Kulan Gath’s eagle warriors as “rejects from an Arkon movie.” While Arkon is a real warrior from the other-dimensional Polmacheus (per Avengers #75), he has inspired a series of movies based on him on Earth. Wonder Man had a starring role in the 4th film in the series, as seen in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #6. However, further films in the franchise were scuttled when Arkon found out about them and got pissed, as seen in Avengers West Coast #75.
This turns out to be a second Hank Pym. When Hank passed through the mystical barrier last issue it caused him to split into two persona, the logical Goliath and the emotional Yellowjacket. However, we won’t learn his identity until next issue. The pair will remain apart until their failing health forces them to merge together once more in Avengers Annual 2001.
Warbird developed a drinking problem in Avengers (vol. 3) #4 to cope with the loss of her Binary powers. Over time her reckless behavior led to her getting kicked off the team in issue #6. Her big wake-up call was when she almost crashed a commercial jet liner fighting with Iron Man in Iron Man (vol. 3) #24. She has been in Alcoholics Anonymous since Avengers (vol. 3) #26.
Triathlon has had an attitude problem since joining the Avengers, and isn’t really in the wrong here. The Avengers were reluctant to have him join as he is a member of the Triune Understanding, a religious organization that has been going out of their way to besmirch their good name. See Avengers (vol. 3) #27 for all the drama.
As explained last issue, Silverclaw is the daughter of Pelail and a mortal man. However, the people of her village — converted to Christianity centuries ago — thought her father was daft for believing in the old volcano god and dismissed the idea that he sired a child with Pelail.
Here, Kulan Gath is speaking of his Hyborean era antics:
What Kuly doesn’t reveal is that he’s not the real Kulan Gath. As revealed in Savage Avengers #4, the real Kulan Gath was murdered by one of his slaves. The slave then usurped his identity and all his magical resources. This Kulan Gath is that slave.
Kulan Gath was responsible for the second coming of Shuma-Gorath, as chronicled in Conan the Barbarian #256-260.
Kulan Gath also dabbled with the N’Garai back in Conan the Barbarian #259.
Kulan Gath’s first foray into the present day took place in Marvel Team-Up #79. Kulan Gath omits the fact that Spider-Man was working with Red Sonja, a Hyborean hero from his native time. This is because Marvel had long since lost the license to the Red Sonja character around the time this comic was published.
Kulan Gath’s second return happened in Uncanny X-Men #188-191. As was defeated when Magik used her powers to create a divergent reality where Kulan Gath didn’t come to power.
Translations
This story features dialogue in Spanish that is not translated. They are:
Excuseme! Soy la Avispa, jefe de los Vengadores — y tengo que hablar con su comandante, urgentemente! = Excuse me! I'm the Wasp, leader of the Avengers — and I need to speak to your commander, urgently!
