Puppets, Part 2

The Puppet Master (Phillip Masters) has retired to Puerto Maraville, where he has set himself up as an “art dealer” that sells those enslaved with his special puppet’s clay. This includes the female superheroes Araña, Tigra, Silverclaw, Stature, and Dusk. He forces them to wait on him as he makes locals fight each other to the death for his amusement. When a woman pleads with him to spare her husband, the next combatant, he has him killed instead. Then, he decides to force all of the men to fight each other in a massive brawl for his entertainment.

Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) and Operation: Lightning Storm are heading to Chile to find out why soldiers from that country are kidnapping female superhumans. En route, Carol is visited by Agent Dave Sum, who gives her a status report on the new recruits, Machine Man (Aaron Stack) and Rick Sheridan.[1] He has his concerns about Sheridan, prompting Carol to go and talk to him. She asks him why he registered under the Super Human Registration Act. He tells her, at first, he kept himself awake during the superhero civil war so Sleepwalker wouldn’t get in the middle of that mess.[2] However, not long after his fiancée Alyssa Conover died after being accidentally struck by a taxi cab.[3] After that, Rick registered and quickly found himself assigned to Operation: Lightning Storm.[4]

As they talk, Agent Sum goes to check on Machine Man, who is standing atop the mini-carrier drinking and drinking in all the data from Chile. The interruption comes at a good time as Stack has just obtained important information regarding their mission. A briefing is quickly called and Aaron details what he discovered. He reveals to Ms. Marvel and the team that the town of Puerto Maraville has been subject to a rash of missing persons, the largest per capital in the world based on the figures. Among the missing are three dozen soldiers from the nearby military base that went AWOL with a bunch of equipment. This suggests that they found the location of whatever is going on. Carol tells Sum, Aaron, and Rick that they’re to do recon in the town and see what they can learn from the locals.

Ms. Marvel does areal reconnaissance and finds a group of people appearing to dig sand from the ground with their bare hands and load it on a dump truck. These people are all in the same sort of trance as the soldiers she encountered in New York. When she gets a closer look it turns out they aren’t digging sand, but clay. She finally puts two and two together and figures out who is responsible, the Puppet Master. She is not happy with this because she finds the notorious villain creepy. That’s when the slaves begin saying her name and start attacking her. Trying to get away, Carol is then ambushed by Tigra and Silverclaw. Carol tries to get them to snap out of it but she begins to feel dizzy mid-battle. This is because Tigra’s claws were laced with a knock out drug and she soon blacks out.

Meanwhile, Sum, Aaron, and Rick are going about town to find out what’s been going on locally. They stop at a local bar where they are attacked by Araña, who recognized Agent Sum and was given orders to kill them.[5] In the fight, Rick is knocked out, allowing Sleepwalker to emerge from his mind. He quickly restrains Araña with by using his warpgaze to create restraints from the street. Both Sleepwalker and Machine Man examine the girl and determine that she is being controlled by a quasi-mystical talisman that Sleepwalker can track.[6] Agent Sum tells Machine Man to report this back to Ms. Marvel, but she is not answering his hails.

At that moment, Ms. Marvel wakes up in the Puppet Master’s mansion. She only has a moment to realize where she is before Masters uses one of his clay puppets to put her in his thrall.

Recurring Characters

Ms. Marvel, Operation: Lightning Storm (Agent Dave Sum, Machine Man, Sleepwalker/Rick Sheridan), Puppet Master, Araña, Tigra, Silverclaw, Stature, Dusk

Continuity Notes

1. The Machine Man in this story is apparently am impostor, as revealed in Marvel Comics #1001. He took the place of the real Aaron Stack while he was in space with the Celestials between X-51 #12 and Nextwave #1. As of this writing (May, 2024), there is no explanation as to why this impostor exists or what his purpose is supposed to be.

2. He is referring to the events of Civil War #1-7, which saw the passage of the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA), requiring superhumans to register with the government. This caused a war between opposing sides of the hero community. Ultimately, the pro-registration side won. This law will remain in the books until Siege #4.

3. Rick had been dating Alyssa for years, dating back to Sleepwalker #1 when his life was turned upside down by becoming the host for the titular character.

4. Here, Rick quips that he once fought a villain named Bookworm, aka Nelson Gruber. He was a one-time Sleepwalker villain, fighting the hero in Sleepwalker #4.

5. Araña is referred to here as Ms. Marvel’s sidekick. This is reference to the fact that Carol mentored Añya from Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #7 through 12.

6. The Puppet Master uses a special irradiated clay that he usually gets from the base of Wundagore Mountain in his native Transia. It has been said that this clay is also has been tainted by the evil magics of the demon known as Chthon. See Fantastic Four #8, Marvel Two-in-One #74 and Marvel Knights: 4 #13.

Topical References

• Ms. Marvel is depicted using a Dell brand laptop to play Bejeweled. Dell is a popular brand of computer manufacturer and Bejeweled was a popular puzzle game released in 2001. This should be considered a topical reference as both are real world products. Also, show of hands, who still plays Bejeweled? Exactly.