West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #6
Quest for Cats!
With Tigra struggling to control her conflicting personalities, the West Coast Avengers have enlisted the aid of Michael Morbius.[1] The former living vampire has had past experience with the Cat People, the mystical creatures that gave Tigra her powers.[2] He teaches the group an incantation that can summon Balkatar, an emissary of the Cat People, however they will have to cast the spell at Daemon Mansion, the only place they can succeed.
That’s when the phone rings and Hank Pym goes to answer it, fearing it might be another call from his creation Ultron. The homicidal robot has been calling to try and reconcile with his creator, something Hank doesn’t fully trust.[3] He is relieved when it turns out to be a call from Wonder Man’s agent. Simon is excited to hear that he has just landed a film role and has been asked to go to a nearby movie studio to find out what the role is for. This upsets Hawkeye, who could use Wonder Man’s muscle since Iron Man is out of commission.[4] That’s when Mockingbird suggest they bring along their guest, Firebird, since she has proven a capable ally. Firebird is reluctant to tag along since she wants to continue tracking down Master Pandemonium, the sorcerer that attacked her recently.[5] Hawkeye disinteresting welcomes her to come along and then makes a call to the Thing. Clint has been trying to convince Ben Grimm to join his team, but the Thing has no interest in doing so.[6] However, when Clint explains that he would be helping out Tigra, Ben reluctantly agrees to help, but is firm about not joining up with the Avengers.[7]
That evening, the Thing and Firebird join the Avengers at Daemon Mansion located in the Topanga Canyon Hills.[8] When the Thing smashes open the front door, a coyote comes running out from inside.[9] Inside they find a massive pentacle etched on the floor. With everyone standing on each point, they recite the incantation and succeed in summoning Balkatar, a massive anthropomorphic cat. He instantly attacks the heroes until Tigra makes her presence known and asks for help. As Tigra is the champion of the Cat People, Balkatar agrees to transport the Avengers and their allies to his home dimension, the so-called Land Within.
Meanwhile, Simon Williams reports at the movie studio to learn what his role will be. He is delighted to learn that he has been cast as the villain in the latest barbarian epic, Arkon IV, starring Arnold Schwartzburger. Simon is excited to work next to the famous actor and figures this is his ticket to the big time.
While back at Avengers Compound, Hank Pym is running a test on Hawkeye’s Sky-Cycle when he is suddenly visited by Ultron. The homicidal robot insists that he has come to reconcile with his creator, saying that after years up upgrading and evolving himself he no longer has a desire to kill his creator. Now Ultron-12, the robot likens his change in personality to a child growing up through adolescence. Hank isn’t sure if he can truly trust Ultron, but decides to give the robot a chance to prove himself.[10]
By this time, the Avengers and their allies arrive in the Land Within, a massive underground city lit by a “Glowshphere” that shines high above the city. When Balkatar takes them into the city, they are confronted by the royal guards who remind Balkatar that bringing humans to the Land Within is against the king’s law. However, when they learn that Tigra has returned and needs their help, they stand down and take them to see the king. The king is also unhappy that humans have been brought to their domain and orders them imprisoned while he learns what Tigra wants. The Thing takes offense to this and tries to fight, but Hawkeye suggests that they stand down and do as they have been ordered, for now.
Granted an audience with the king, Tigra explains how she got her powers: She started her crime fighting career as Greer Grant, aka the Cat until a battle with the terrorist organization called Hydra. Inflicted with radiation poisoning she was saved when he ally, Doctor Marie Tumolo, revealed that she was one of the Cat People and held a mystical ceremony to transform Greer into Tigra to be the champion of the Cat People.[11] Since then, she has been having trouble with her conflicting personalities — that of a human and Tigra — and fears that she will ultimately lose control. She asks the king to remove one of the souls so she can find peace. The king tells Tigra that he will think it over and dismisses her.
She leaves with Balkatar who takes her to a cliff that overlooks the city. There, they have a romantic moment alone and in the afterglow, Tigra asks Balkatar who his people are and where they came from. Balkatar explains that his people were created by a sorcerer named Ebrok who turned his pet cats — Flavius and Helene — into the first Cat People. Although the pair began birthing the first of their people, Ebrok’s fellow sorcerers were against it and banished the Cat People to the Land Within, but remained able to summon through through Balkatar, their emissary. Meanwhile, Ebrok kept Flavius and Helene hidden from the others and taught them in the ways of sorcery until he was murdered. To avenge their master, the original Cat People unleashed the black plague upon the Earth.[12] They created a champion, the first Tigra, who dealt with the Sorcerer’s Guild while her creators came up with a cure to the plague. With the conflict over, the original Tigra became the mate to that era’s Balkatar and sired a second race of Cat People.
He goes on to explain that many of this second generation lived in secret among humanity, that Doctor Tumolo began using science to create a new human champion for her people, leading to Greer becoming the Cat and later, Tigra. Tigra is saddened to hear all this as she wished Marie was alive to see the success of her work. However, Tumolo died when Tigra battled with Tabur, a feline New Man created by the High Evolutionary. Tigra later avenged her friend by using a devolution device to return Tabur to his natural state — that of an ordinary house cat.[13]
Their conversation is then interrupted by the royal guards who tells them that the king has made a decision. Brought before him again, Tigra is told that they will remove the soul of Tigra and give Greer back her humanity as long as she carries out a task for them: She must kill Master Pandemonium.[14] Tigra balks at this request as Avengers don’t take lives. However, before she can make up her mind, her teammates break out of their cells as they have grown fed up with being locked up. While the Avengers are fighting, Tigra decides to agree with the king’s request and tells her teammates to stop fighting, telling them the king agreed to help with no strings attached.
Recurring Characters
West Coast Avengers (Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Wonder Man, Tigra), Hank Pym, Firebird, Thing, Michael Morbius, Balkatar, Ultron,
Continuity Notes
Michael Morbius suffered from a rare blood disease. When trying to cure himself he accidentally turned himself into a psudo-vampire as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #101. He was cured of this condition in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #38. This won’t last as he reverts back to his vampiric self in Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #10.
Morbius previously encountered the Cat People in Fear #22.
Ultron has been making harassing phone calls since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #3.
Iron Man was injured during the Avengers battle with the Werewolf by Night that happened last issue.
Firebird was attacked by Master Pandemonium in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #4.
The Thing’s vehement disinterest in joining the West Coast Avengers is because he just recently cut ties with the Fantastic Four. This is a very complicated situation. The details:
In Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars #1-12, Ben discovered that he could change between his human and Thing forms on Battleworld. He decided to remain on the alien world to enjoy this ability. He lived there from Thing #11-22. He had to sacrifice this power to return home.
It wasn’t a great homecoming as he discovered that the Human Torch was apparently dating Ben’s long time girlfriend Alicia Masters in Fantastic Four #277. He rage quit the FF in Thing #23 after he learned that Reed knew about Ben’s ability to change form and that it didn’t require him being on Battleworld. What nobody knows is that “Alicia” is actually a Skrull spy who took her place in Fantastic Four #265. The truth won’t be discovered until issue #358 this series. Ben will also be convinced to return to the Fantastic Four in issue #296.
Ben has been on the road ever since, hooking up with Sharon Ventura and joining the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation Thing #27-28.
Hawkeye recounts how Tigra spent some time hanging out with the Fantastic Four. She was an unofficial member of the team from Fantastic Four #177-183.
Mention is made of how the owner of Daemon Mansion had died during his encounter with Morbius. This was in Fear #26.
Which writer Steve Englehart uses to make a shameless plug for his series Coyote, a creater owned series published under Marvel’s Epic imprint. It was not connected to the Marvel Universe and ran for 16 issues.
Ultron goes over a lot of his “family” history over the years:
Ultron was created by Hank Pym in Avengers #58. The robot became self-aware and began upgrading itself over the years to become the perfect killing machine and frequently targeted his father and his teammates against the Avengers.
Ultron created the Vision to be his “son”, ultimately the Vision betrayed Ultron and joined the Avengers. See Avengers #57-58, 134-135.
He also created a “bride” for himself, Jocasta, based on Hank Pym’s own wife Janet Van Dyne aka the Wasp. This happened in Avengers #162. Jocasta also betrayed her creator to the Avengers.
Also mentioned is Hank’s marriage ending in divorce. Pym married his long time girlfriend, Janet Van Dyne, in Avengers #60. A number of years later, Hank was struggling to make a name for himself and, in a moment of anger, struck Janet in Avengers #213. Jan divorced him shortly thereafter. This also led to Hank’s downward spiral until he quit costumed heroics all together in issue #230.
Lastly, mention is made of Ultron’s last battle with the Avengers. This happened in West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1-2 and Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #1-2.
Greer’s time as the Cat was chronicled in The Cat #1-4 and was transformed into Tigra in Giant-Size Creatures #1. Tigra has been having trouble with her warring personalities since West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #1.
All this was told in Fear #22 and What If? #35.
The death of Marie Tumolo and Tigra’s battle with Tabur happened in Marvel Premiere #42.
How Master Pandemonium earned the ire of the Cat People is never fully explained.
Topical References
Wonder Man’s movie role is being filmed at Universal Studios. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world production company.
At one point, the narration references Entertainment Tonight, a news program focused on the entertainment industry. Its reference here should be considered topical as it is a real world TV show.
