Quasar #47
Quantum Quest
At his citadel on the moon, Uatu the Watcher is getting into one of his lengthy monologues when he is suddenly interrupted by Quasar. The hero has come for help locating his missing Quantum Bands.[1] Unfortunately, Uatu is unable to help, reminding Quasar of the Watcher’s oath of non-interference.[2] This annoys Quasar since Uatu owes him one after he helped capture the Living Laser.[3] Uatu insists that there is nothing to do and walks away. That’s when Quasar notices that the Watcher had tuned his monitor to the location of the Quantum Bands, so he could reveal their location while maintaining plausible deniability. Quasar is surprised to see that the Quantum Bands ended up inside an embryonic sac that has been gestating an alien fetus in the middle of space.[4] Quasar needs to get to his bands as quickly as possible, but fears that the Star Brand that gives him his current powers might burn out. He promises himself that once he gets the Quantum Bands back he will continue his search for his missing girlfriend, Kayla Ballentine.[5]
Little does Quasar know that Kayla and her friend Holly Steckley have been abducted by aliens called the Dance. The strange creatures are now examining Kayla because she too has the power of the Star Brand. The two women are horrified and don’t know what’s going on because the alien creatures only speak in a weird form of interoperative dance. However, the creatures stop their examination and scuttle off when they find the Star Brand tattoo the palm of Kayla’s hand. Having no idea why the creatures stopped, the two women then begin trying to figure out a way to escape captivity.
Back on Earth, Quasar pays a visit to Avengers Headquarters to enlist the aid of Thor on his mission into space to recover the Quantum Bands. He is surprised to learn that Eric Masterson is no longer Thor, but still has similar powers and abilities since obtaining the Thunderstrike hammer.[6] Thunderstroke agrees to accompany Quasar on his journey as back up, just in case the Star Brand burns out.
Soon they arrive in the sector of space where the cosmic fetus is growing and find a number of the Elders of the Unvierse — the Judicator, the Explorer, the Caregiver, the Contemplator, the Possessor, and the Eradicator — have all gathered around the mysterious alien being and are now debating on which one of them gets jurisdiction over this discovery. The arrival of the two Earth men is seen as a threat and the Elders begin to attack. As Quasar defends himself he tries to reach out to the Contemplator and is surprised when he acts as though they have never met before. While the hero is distracted, he is blasted from behind by the Possessor’s Rune Staff.
Meanwhile, Quasar’s friend Makkari is dropped off on the planet Grosgumbeek by the alien Mourners. The speedster has come here seeking to increasing his running speed so he can win a galactic race of the world’s fastest runners.[7] Moments after his arrival he spots a strange dog-like creature running by at super speeds. Makkari gives chase but can barely keep up. Suddenly, the creature topples and rolls to a stop. Racing to see if the Grosgumbeekian is ok, he learns that the creature was making one last run before dying. The creature soon dies, putting Makkari back at square one in his quest to attain ultimate speed, but at least now he is closer to his goal than he ever has before.
Back in space, Quasar and Thunderstrike’s battle with the Elders of the Universe rages on. Attacked by the Eradicator, Thunderstrike is able to grab hold of one of his arms and blasts the Possessor with it. This allows Quasar to get closer to the embryo where his confronted by the Explorer. He refuses to let anyone stake a claim in his discovery. However, when Quasar explains that he had encountered the embryo in the recent past, the Explorer loses complete interest since he only is interested in the unexplored. That’s when the Star Brand begins giving out, putting Quasar at risk of suffocation in the vacuum of space. Caregiver then shoves the hero through the embryonic sac where he can breath. There he is telepathically contacted by the fetus inside. It reveals that it is Quasar’s old all Origin, reborn in a new body. Origin owes Quasar for saving its existence on two occasions and reveals that it brought his Quantum Bands here for him to retrieve.
Quasar is happy to get his chosen weapons back, however he only manages to get one band on when the other is snatched up by the Contemplator. Quasar then realizes that this must be the impostor the real Contemplator told him about recently.[8] This leads to a stand-off between the two, but Quasar warns the impostor that he is more skilled in the use of the Quantum Bands than he is. The phony Contemplator then attempts to blast Origin, but Quasar saves his ally yet again and then traps the fake Contemplator in an energy sphere until he can figure out a way to remove the Quantum Band from his arm.
While aboard the Dance ship, Holly Steckley manages to get Kayla free from the observation machine and begin trying to find a way out. When they enter a main control room they are surprised to see that the aliens have returned them to Earth. Unsure why, but not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth, Kayla uses the Star Brand to blast a hole out of the ship so the two can finally escape. Once they are back on Earth, the Dance ship takes off into space.
At that moment, Quasar has decided that the only way to get the Quantum Band off the faux Contemplator is by overcharging it and causing his enemy to disintegrate. However, whereas this usually completely destroys an opponent, this time it only incinerates the “Contemplator’s” right arm. Quasar then snatches and puts on his other band and vows that nobody is ever going to take them away from him again.
Recurring Characters
Quasar, Thunderstrike, Kayla Ballentine, “Holly Steckley”, Hercules, Origin, Elders of the Universe (“Contemplator”, Judicator, Explorer, Caretaker, Possessor, Obliterator), Makkari
Continuity Notes
Quasar lost his Quantum Bands when he accidentally nullified himself with the Ultimate Nullifier in Quasar #40. He has been getting by with the Star Brand, a power source that he obtained from the New Universe in Quasar #31, although he didn’t realize he still had it until issue #43.
The Watchers swore an oath of non-interference after they gave the Proscillians the secret to atomic energy which they then used to wipe out their entire civilization. See Tales of Suspense #53 and Original Sin #0.
The Living Laser got lost in the multiverse when he attempted to flee Quasar by flying into the device the Watcher uses to view alternate realities in Quasar #6. The Laser caused so much trouble, the Watcher enlisted Quasar to capture the villain in issue #30.
Quasar previously encountered this space fetus in Quasar #36. He will learn later this issue that the creature is the reincarnation of Origin, a entity he previously met in Quasar #18.
Kayla Ballentine inadvertedly had a portion of the Star Brand transferred to her by Quasar back in issue #31. Since then, she was abducted by the people of Scadam back in issue #36 in order to use the Brand to fend off an invasion of the Black Fleet. She was stranded there with her friend Holly Steckley until they were abducted (yet again) by the Dance in issue #45.
Prior to this story, Eric Masterson was merged with Thor in order to save his life from a fatal injury circa Thor #408. Odin took this a step further when he supposedly banished Thor for not wanting to leave Earth and made Eric the new thunder god in Thor #432. Eventually, the true Thor was brought back and Eric was transformed into Thunderstrike in Thor #459.
Makkari only got second place in the last race in Quasar #17. He learned about this alien world back in issue #43.
Quasar encountered the real Contemplator and learned that there was an impostor about in Quasar #37. This Skrull impostor posed as the Contemplator in Silver Surfer (vol. 3) #7-9, 11-12, 20-21, and 25-31.
