Quasar #36
Soul Cage
While investigating the disappearance of the souls of the Kree/Shi’ar’s war dead, Quasar and his friends Makkari and Her find the massive Soul-Eater lurking around in space.[1] When the massive alien creature attacks them, Quasar asks Epoch for help on how to to defeat this massive creature. Epoch, who is still learning how to use the Cosmic Consciousness, needs more time. That’s when the Soul-Eater tries sucking the trio into his body. Although it swallows Makkari and Her, Quasar is able to get away by quantum jumping.
Meanwhile, back on Earth, Quasar’s friends Kayla Ballentine and Holly Steckley have decided to take a vacation to get away from their worries. As they head down a country road, they hit a patch of slippery tar, causing them to crash. This was laid out by the villain known as Quagmire, who comes up to the wreck and asks the ladies if they need any help.
In space, Quasar is trying to fight back against the monster and trying to free his friends, but to no avail. Epoch calls back and explains that the Soul-Eater was created by an alien race called the Dionists. Their entire race worshiped a celestial being like a god. However, when it was killed fending off alien invaders, the Dionists kidnapped Odin to take his place. When Thor and the Warriors Three came to rescue Odin, the Dionists unleashed the Soul-Eater — then called the Soul-Survivor — to destroy them. Thor and his allies won that battle and returned home with Odin soon after.[2] After the Asgardian’s departure a Dionist named K’Rll reprogrammed the Soul-Eater and took possession of the construct. As it was powered on souls, it drained the life force of everyone on the planet, killing all the Dionists. Seeking more souls to increase it’s power, the Soul-Eater soon found itself drawn to the Kree galaxy following the explosion of the Nega-Bomb and consumed all the lives the bomb snuffed out, causing it to grow to titanic size.
With the souls at risk of being digested, Quasar attempts to cut open the monster by creating a massive razor blade out of quantum energy. This has no effect and the creature soon speeds off to another galaxy. Quasar follows after it and discovers a massive alien fetus gestating inside a massive organic embryo. As the Soul-Eater begins trying to drain the alien fetus’ soul, Quasar decides to try and fighting the creature from within and teleports inside.[3]
Back on Earth, Quagmire helps Kayla and Holly get out of their wrecked car before revealing that he was the one responsible for the crash by creating more muck on their feet. Suddenly, he is attacked by a tiny Antibody which he then stomps into the ground. Kayla wonders for a brief moment if this is the entity that saved her from the Angler. Quagmire then explains that he was hired to send Kayla to his employer. Suddenly a dimensional portal opens and the entity that hired Quagmire pulls Kayla through. Not willing to leave her friend alone, Holly leaps in after her.[4]
At that moment, Quasar finds himself being swept through the Soul-Eater’s artery system. Pinning himself with his quantum powers he begins debating over the moral quandary of killing the Soul-Eater, since he was against some of his fellow Avengers when they wanted to kill the Supreme Intelligence back during the Kree/Shi’ar war.[5] Soon, he is visited by the souls of all the victims of that war that have been consumed by the Soul-Eater. He explains to them that they haven’t really crossed over to the afterlife and they will be completely consumed if left inside the Soul-Killer. Most don’t really care, but Quasar points out that they deserve a more dignified death and they should fight. This gets through to one of the souls — a Cotati — who offers to convince the others. Sure enough, the appeal works and the souls fight back against the Soul-Eater, ripping the monster to shreds.
This fees Quasar, Makkari, and Her who are happy that they have succeeded in their mission. However, although the cosmic fetus has survived the attack as well, they now must find a way to patch up its damaged embryonic sack in order to keep it alive.
Recurring Characters
Quasar, Soul-Eater, Quagmire, Makkari, Her, Epoch, Kayla Ballentine, “Holly Steckley”, Antibody
Continuity Notes
Countless lives were lost during Operation: Galactic Storm when the Shi’ar unleashed a Nega-Bomb in the Kree Galaxy. See Captain America #398, Avengers West Coast #80, Quasar #32, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #7, Avengers #345, Iron Man #278, Thor #445, Captain America #399, Avengers West Coast #81, Quasar #33, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #8, Avengers #346, Iron Man #279, Thor #446, Captain America #400, Avengers West Coast #82, Quasar #34, Wonder Man (vol. 2) #9, Avengers #347, Captain America #401, and last issue.
The giant space fetus is unnamed here. However, it is revealed to be Origin in Quasar #47. Quasar had previously met Origin when it existed in the form of an old lady on Earth back in Quasar #18.
There is a lot going on here all at once. So let’s dive into it:
The Antibody is derived from the body of the New Universe’s Randall O’Brien who could created them from his own body as seen in D.P.7 #1 onwards. This Antibody hitched a ride on Quasar to the Prime Marvel Universe during the heroes' impromptu visit to the New U in Quasar #31.
Kayla knocked out the Angler in issue #34 all on her own, not with help from the Antibody. That’s because she was unknowingly given the power of the Starbrand in issue #31, something she doesn’t learn until next issue and won’t be fully explained until issue #49.
The entity that kidnaps her is the Chief Examiner, as seen next issue as well.
The reason why Steckley dives in after Kayla is because she is actually a Deviant named Erekingal who is seeking to claim the Star Brand for herself. This is alos revealed in issue #49.
There was a schism between the Avengers during Operation: Galactic Storm. A group led by Iron Man wanted to kill the Intelligence while the others did not. See Avengers #346.
Topical References
Kayla and Holly state that they are going on vacation to Disneyworld. This would not be considered a topical reference now that Marvel is owned by Disney. Brand synergy and all that.
