Quasar #46
We Are the Shock Troop
While Quasar was trying to contain the rampaging Antibodies he was ambushed by two of his old foes, the Presence and Neutron. The ensuing conflict sent them all crash landing in a farmer’s field in North Carolina. Pulling himself out of the crater, Quasar is greeted by Doctor Druid and his new team, the Shock Troop which consists of Shadowoman, Blazing Skull, and the Living Mummy.[1] The group was drawn by the disturbance created by the Antibodies and offer their assistance. Quasar agrees to let the Shock Troop deal with the Antibodies since he still has the Presence and Neutron to deal with.[2] While Quasar takes off, Doctor Druid and his team begin working on forcing the Antibodies to merge together again, using Shadowoman’s connection to the Dark Force Dimension as a conduit.
Meanwhile, in deep space, Kayla Ballentine and Holly Steckley have been kidnapped by the alien race known only as the Dance. As they are being led through the ship, they try to talk with the aliens but to no avail since they only seem to communicate though a bizarre form of interpretive dance.[3]
Back on Earth, Quasar catches up with Neutron and tries to convince the Stygian to stop fighting by promising to return him to his home world. This falls on deaf ears and he is soon joined by the Presence who also wants revenge agianst Quasar for abandoning him in the Quantum Zone.[4] Seeking to stop this fight, Quasar tries to convince the Presence that there had recently been a huge political shake up in his native Russia while he was gone. Not believing Quasar, the Presence breaks off from the battle and questions some of the locals about the situation in Russia. When they confirm what Quasar said, the Presence decides to head home in the hopes that he can take advantage of the political disarray and establish a new order under his rule.[5] Meanwhile, the battle between Quasar and Neutron gets more complicated when three of the alien’s comrades — Glom, Moondanger, and Voyager — arrive through a portal in search of their missing comrade.
While back aboard the alien ship, Kayla and Holly are still trying to make sense of their circumstances when suddenly Kayla is wrapped up in tendrils of energy for some unknown purpose.
By this time, the arriving members of the Imperial Guard convince Neutron that it is time to return home. That’s when Glom — who is a glutton for energy sources — tries to eat the Star Brand off Quasar’s arm. Realizing Glom could be the solution to their Antibody problem, Quasar drags the alien to the scene where the Shock Troop are still trying to contain all the Antibodies. Sure enough, when Glom tries eating the creatures, they all flee into the Dark Force Dimension portal in Shadowoman’s body ending their threat. With the crisis now over, the Imperial Guardsmen head back to their sector of space, with Neutron warning Quasar to watch his back. Quasar then thanks Druid and his team for their help, saying that despite his troubled past, Doctor Druid is okay in Quasar’s books.
Recurring Characters
Quasar, Shock Troop (Doctor Druid, Shadowoman, Blazing Skull, Living Mummy), Kayla Ballentine, “Holly Steckley”, Antibody, Imperial Guard (Neutron, Voyager, Moondancer, Glom), the Presence
Continuity Notes
Here, Quasar recalls that Druid was a former Avenger who quit in disgrace. Druid joined Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers #279. Having aspirations to become leader of the team, the Doctor became a pawn of Ravonna Renslayer who manipulated him into betraying his teammates. His betrayal unfolded in Avengers #294-297, resulting in his getting lost in the timestream. It shook up the Avengers so much that they briefly disbanded until Captain America reformed the group in Avengers #300. Druid later freed himself in Avengers Spotlight #37, but has since been estranged from the Avengers.
Quasar mentions here how he recently lost his Quantum Bands and is now powered by the Star Brand. About that…
Quasar has gotten the Star Brand during an impromptu trip to the New Universe and used it to return home after getting lost in the omniverse as seen in Quasar #31.
Meanwhile, Quasar lost his Quantum Bands after accidentally nullifying himself with the Ultimate Nullifier, as seen in Infinity War #1-5 and Quasar #38-40.
What Quasar doesn’t know is that his Bands were transported to the embryonic sack of Origin and will not recover them until issue #47-48.
Kayla and Holly had been stranded on Scadam since they were kidnapped by the Chief Examiner back in Quasar #37. They were later abducted by the Dance last issue while trying to escape the planet.
During his previous encounters with the Presence and Neutron, Quasar abandoned them in the Quantum Zone and deep space respectively. See Quasar #20 and 33.
For many years, the Presence was considered an enemy of the Russian state and was forced to live in a “Forbidden Zone” located in the middle of Siberia, the site of a botched nuclear experiment. See Defenders #52-55 and 61-65.
Topical References
In this story, Quasar makes a point to tell the Presence that the Soviet Union had collapsed while he was lost in space. Reference is made to how Boris Yeltsin overthrew the communist party and so on. Indeed, in terms of publication the Presence’s last appearance was in Quasar #20 from March of 1991, 9 months before the collapse of the Soviet Union. That all said, all of these references should be considered topical. Modern readers should assume that there was a political change in Russia that was significant enough to prompt the Presence to return to his motherland, just not the collapse of the Soviet Union.
