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FEMFORCE #19
COVER: Greg Horn / John Dell
EDITORIAL CONTENT: Article on the Golden Age
characters in the Vault of Heroes.
MILESTONES: 1st awakenings from the Vault of
Heroes; 1st meeting of the Vault heroes and the Femforce,
return of the Black Shroud; Nightveil and the Avenger
discover they are brother and sister
1st Story: The Dark Return (23 pgs)
Credits:
Bill Black, story / edits; Greg Horn, pencils: John Dell
III, inks; Walt Paisley, letters; Rebekah Black, tones
Synopsis:
Tara is jarred awake from a horrifying nightmare and goes to
a penthouse society party with her father. On the rooftop,
she rescues Jet-Girl, whose jet pack fuel was exhausted
after a flight in panic from the Weir asylum in upstate New
York. Awakened from the Vault in a confused and disoriented
state, Pat had seen her partner Rocketman's apparently
lifeless body and fled in terror from the Asylum. While Tara
offers the services of the Femforce, Weir is activating more
sleeping heroes to assist in bringing Jet-Girl back to the
asylum. Later, as Jet-Girl tells the rest of the Femforce
her story, the Green Lama, Captain Flash, The Avenger, and
Catman arrive at FF HQ in the Avenger's Starjet and demand
that Jet-Girl be turned over to them. When the FF refuse, an
inevitable clash occurs. The Femforce are soon joined by
Thunderfox and by Stardust, who puts a stop to the battle
after speaking with, Dr. Weir, who has just arrived in
Orlando with the revived Rocketman. Dr. Weir then tells the
assembled heroes that his mystical Purple Claw has been
receiving evil emanations that are focused on one power
nexus of dark forces. The mystic power of the Claw shows the
location to be Jungle Island, much to Tara's dismay. It is
Stardust's turn to be shocked when the Claw reveals the
source of evil to be the Black Shroud, whom Stardust
believed she had killed in their first encounter.
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Others
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party guests; building residents; TV reporter
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Geography
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Orlando: New York State
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Sites
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Fremont home; van Loan penthouse; Weir Asylum; FF HQ
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Time
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Present (over a 1-night period); several hours before
Pat's rescue (F)
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Magic & Tech.
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Tara's knife; Jet-Girl's jet-pack; Purple Claw; Starjet;
Colt's Clipper; Avenger's dissolver
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Notes:
The full background on the Vault of Heroes can be found
in FF Out of the Asylum Special 1.... Jet-Girl has the honor
of being the first awakened Vault heroine to appear in AC
continuity.... Tara's nightmare is part of the Shroud's
psychic assault on the Femforce and is followed by She-Cat's
experience in FF 20.... Jet-Girl's name is given as Pat Dale
and Rocketman is referred to as her partner, although she
and Tech Carson are shown to be married in later stories....
Similarly, Catman denies any personal relationship with
Kitten, although the Merriweathers are also shown to be
happily married in later tales.... Stardust's language
alternates between formality and earthiness as she becomes
more assimilated to Earth culture.... Tara correctly
surmises that the Shroud's influence over Jungle Island is
the reason for all the evil that has befallen it since the
Fremonts bought the property.... Kuromoko's service to the
Shroud also explains his early attempt to buy the island
from Fremont.... Jet-Girl and Rocketman are the only two
Vault heroes whose identities are revealed in this issue....
Stardust and Tara are both spoken of as belonging to the
Femforce even though they are not officially inducted until
the next issue.... In short, this is a landmark issue that
explains a number of past events, begins the reintroduction
of a number of "lost" Golden Age characters and kicks the
long-running Black Shroud storyline into high gear.
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2nd Story: Nightveil Meets the Avenger (11 pgs)
Credits:
Bill Black, story / inks / edits; Jim Rozel, pencils; Wait
Paisley, letters; Rebekah Black, gray tones; based on a story in The
Avenger # 1 by Gardner Fox and Dick Ayers
Synopsis:
While the Femforce and the Vault Heroes continue discussing the
growing evil of the Black Shroud, the Avenger slips into another
room, his body wracked with pain. Nightveil materializes in the room
and probes his mind to be sure he is in fact Roger Wright, whom she
believed to have died in 1955. The Avenger tells Nightveil the story
of how he foiled the Russians' attempt to steal an atomic missile
only to be caught in the fallout when the bomb exploded. Stricken
with cancer, he sought help from Dr. Weir, who offered him a place in
the Vault where he could sleep with his disease halted until the
future when he could be helped. Now, having been awakened, the
disease and its pain have again begun their progress, and he plans to
go back to the Vault. At that point, Laura reveals her identity to
him, and the brother and sister are reunited.
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Heroes / Heroines
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Last App
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Next App
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The Avenger (Roger Wright)
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1st story
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AC Ann 1 (2)
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Jet-Girl (Pat Dale)(C)
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1st story
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FF 20
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Nightveil (Laura Wright)
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1st story
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NV C of H (1)
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Rocketman (Tech Carson)(C)
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1st story
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FF 29 (C)
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She-Cat (Cass/Cleo Angora)(C)
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1st story
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U O FF 1
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Dr. Jonathan Weir (C)
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1st story
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AC Ann 1 (2)
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Villains / Opponents
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None named
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Supporting Characters
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None named
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Others
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Russians (F); island natives (F)
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Geography
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Orlando; South Pacific (F): Upstate New York (F)
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Sites
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FF HQ; Weir asylum (F)
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Time
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Present immediately after 1st story; 1955 (F)
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Magic & Tech.
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Starjet (F) Chemicals in Avengers belt (F); Purple Claw
(F)
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Notes:
The flashback in the story is a new version of the original by Ayers
/ Fox which ran in Avenger 1.... The official story behind the
Avenger's 1955 disappearance was that he had been killed in the
atomic explosion.... This is the first mention made of Laura having a
brother named Roger.... The masking powers of the Claw are given as
the reason Nightveil was unable to mystically detect her brother's
presence over the years. |
