Quasar #34 — Nick Peron

Mar 22

Mar 22 Quasar #34

1990s, Operation: Galactic Storm

Operation: Galactic Storm, Part 17: The Scorched Sun

This story continues from Avengers West Coast #82…

A Skrull warship emerges from the star gate near Earth’s sun carrying a nega-bomb payload to use against the Kree Empire. Guarding the gate is the artificial woman known as Her, who had been charged with this duty by Quasar.[1] She tries her best to attack the ship with her cosmic powers, but she is ambushed by the Super-Skrull. Quasar soon arrives to lend her a hand and traps the Super-Skrull in an energy sphere using his Quantum Bands.

He then attempts to cut the nega-bomb loose in order to prevent it from being used against the Kree. However, the captain of the ship appears before him in a holographic projection. He explains that the Skrulls do not fear death and if Quasar attempts to stop them from delivering the payload, he will detonate it here and destroy Earth’s entire solar system. Quasar has no choice but to let the Skrulls go, but warns them against using the nega-bomb or there will be retaliation. However, as the Skrull cross the secondary stargate to Kree space, Quasar notices that the sunspot on the sun has increased, leaving him to wonder if the Earth is doomed anyway.[2]

Meanwhile, on Earth, Kayla Ballentine tries to get her mind off the strange dreams she has been having recently by taking a shower.[3] However, the shower is interrupted by the Angler who has come to attack her from some reason. Kayla surprises herself when she unleashes a powerful blast that knocks the villain out.[4] When her brother Devon comes to see what the commotion is, she tells him that she doesn’t know how she was able to fight off her attacker and pleads for her brother to help her.

Back near the sun, Quasar calls on Epoch for help saving the star before it explodes and ends all life in the solar system. Wendell is surprised when Epoch arrives on the scene by traveling through a previously unknown portal hidden in his costume’s cape. Examining the sunspot activity, Epoch concludes that the sun is being affected by anti-matter. As she begins puzzling out a solution, she informs Quasar that someone else has come through the Shi’ar stargate. Racing to see who it is, Quasar sees Her locked in the battle with Binary, an ally of the Shi’ar. Quasar separates the two women and explains that they need to save the Earth’s sun. Binary decides to stop fighting since she originaly comes from Earth and her family still lives there, and debates if she should do something rather than continue on to the Kree galaxy.

Meanwhile, Quasar and Her return to Epoch and they deduce that the bast way to save the sun is for shunt all the anti-matter energy into the Quantum Zone. Quasar then wraps himself up in his cape for protection and flies into the sun. That’s when Binary arrives and almost gets into another fight with Her until she explains that she has come to help. Fearing that Quasar cannot possibly handle this task, Binary flies into the star herself. Inside the sun’s core she then uses her cosmic power to absorb all of the anti-matter from the sun and cause it to collapse in on itself. However, this process is an incredible strain and although Binary succeeds, she knocks herself out in the process.

Quasar then pulls Binary out of the sun and races her back to Earth for medical attention. At Avengers Headquarters, Jarvis performs a examination on Binary and reveals to Quasar that she is Carol Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel, a former Avenger.[4] Quasar finds this interesting but can’t stay to talk as he still has a bomb to stop and races off after the Skrull warship.

… This story continues in Wonder Man (vol. 2) #9.

Recurring Characters

Quasar, Binary, Her, Kayla Ballentine, Epoch, Edwin Jarvis, Keith Kincaid, Super-Skrull, Angler, Devon Ballentine

Continuity Notes

The Shi’ar created the nega-bomb from the late Captain Marvel’s Nega-Bands last issue. The Skrulls hijacked the nega-bomb in Avengers West Coast #82. The issue with Earth’s sun — increased sunspot activity caused by the stargates — began in Quasar #32.
What Kayla doesn’t know is that she has been given the Star Brand, a powerful artifact from another universe. It was brought to this reality by our titular hero in Quasar #31 and unknowingly passed to her in that very same issue. Kayla won’t learn she has this power until issue #38 and won’t learn how until issue #49.
The Angler is targeting Kayla in convoluted plot to restore his lost humanity. See Quasar #51-52. Kayla recounts the last time she saw the Angler back in Quasar #3.
There’s a bit of exposition on Binary in this story. Allow me to flesh out the detials:
- Before becoming Binary, Carol Danvers was an ordinary Earth woman. However, exposure to the Psychemagnatron and the original Captain Marvel’s Kree DNA transformed her into Ms. Marvel. See Captain Marvel #18 and Ms. Marvel #1.
- She had been associated with the Avengers since Avengers #171, officially joining the team in issue #183. She left the group after being gaslit and impregnated by Marcus Immortus in Avengers #200.
- She later lost her Ms. Marvel powers at the hands of Rogue and went under the care of Professor X to regain her lost memories in Avengers Annual #10.
- Along with the X-Men, Carol was kidnapped and experimented upon by the alien Brood. These experiments gave her new cosmic powers and she took on the mantle of Binary and decided to remain in space. See Uncanny X-Men #162-167, issue #165 specifically for Carol’s transformation into Binary.