Quasar #10 (May 1990)

For this review, I thought it would be nice to revisit an old friend of ours. Someone who maybe is not very well known to the mainstream, but who has graced this blog in the past. If you've followed this blog, you may be familiar with a Mr. Wendell Elvis Vaughn, aka Quasar. He last graced this blog in my review of Quasar #1 (October 1989). So, let's join him as he has a bit of a close encounter with a certain pair of Kree. This is Quasar #10!

The cover is a Mike Manley and Danny Bulanadi piece. I think it's really cool. It depicts Dr. Minerva preparing to cut Wendell open like a stuck pig. It has a bit of a horror vibe to it that looks really cool.

"Kree for All!"
Writer: Mark Gruenwald
Penciler: Mike Manley
Inkers: Danny Bulanadi, Tom Morgan
Colorist: Paul Becton
Letterer: Janice Chiang
Editor: Howard Mackie
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with our man Quasar in New Mexico, where he's catching a lesser-known villain from the Avengers' past.

"Blast it, Quasar! I was just sunbathing!"

Say hello to Banca Rech, aka Halflife. First appearing in West Coast Avengers #12 (September 1986), she's an alien who can decay anything with a touch. She was part of a group of supervillains called the Fundamental Forces, a group of supervillains based on the four fundamental forces of the universe. Halflife represented the "weak force". 

Her decay powers allow her to easily eat through any of Quasar's energy constructs. This is because his powers are part of the electromagnetic spectrum, and her powers work outside of it. In a moment of cleverness, Wendell realizes that her costume is not affected by her powers, and uses her own boots to bind her. Smart man, Wendell.

He delivers her to The Vault, a prison designed to hold superpowered people. Unknown to the man, he's watched by a pair of figures. With his superhero work done for the day, Vaughn heads back to his civilian job: Head of Vaughn Security Consultants, whose offices are located in Four Freedoms Plaza, the then-home of the Fantastic Four.

"Remember Kayla, do not mention the whoopee cushion on his seat..."

He makes some small talk with his co-workers Ken Tanaka and Kayla Ballantine, and then he reports to his boss of sorts, Eon. He reports that Halflife has been captured, and notices that the cosmic muckamuck is rather untalkative. A bit unusual for him.

Quasar searches the Atlantic for one of the alien lifeforms that might be in the area. Six hours later, he's found zip. As such, he's gonna call it a night. As he sleeps, he's put under by an alien with a synpatic disruptor, their version of a tranquilizer gun.

He's then absconded from his home by the aliens. They take him to their ship. Who are these alien kidnappers?

Captain Atlas and Doctor Minerva! You may have met them in the MCU film Captain Marvel, portrayed by Algenis Perez Soto and Gemma Chan, respectively. Minerva wants to study the Quantum Bands, but she's having a tough time getting them off. Minerva is forced to basically cut off Wendell's arm.

No, with a laser. While he's under, Wendell Vaughn dreams he's at the beach, being buried in sand by his co-workers. He's then visited by a crab...well, Eon in the form of a crab. Eon likes wearing costumes in people's dreams. Eon's tells Wendell, "Hey, Wendell! You gotta wake up! This blue chick is gonna cut your arm off!" Wendell then uses his Nega-Bands to blast Minerva away and to free himself. The ship hits the hyperdrive.

Wendell traps Minerva in a bubble, then goes to check out who hit the proverbial gas pedal. And then he gets ambushed by Captain Atlas.

"Gaze into the fist of Att-Lass!"

Atlas tries to give Wendell a laser to the face, but the doofus ends up blowing a hole in the ship's hull and getting sucked into space. Moron.

Quasar goes back to visit Minerva, who pleads with him to let her rescue Atlas. Quasar would rather have some answers. Why did she kidnap him? It's here we learn of her history up this point. She went to Earth for the purpose of mating with Earth's first Captain Marvel, the Kree hero Mar-Vell. 

You see, the Kree are reaching an evolutionary dead end. Minerva had discovered that Mar-Vell had been exposed to various mutagens throughout his life. As such, it altered his DNA. Even though the Kree in general saw him as a traitor, Minerva believed that Mar-Vell's mutated DNA would finally allow the Kree to further evolve. Examining her own DNA, Minn-Erva noticed that her DNA and Mar-Vell's was compatible enough to produce offspring that could achieve her goals. 

She would end up stranded on Earth. She would learn of Mar-Vell's death, and with that, her hopes for the Kree race seemingly died. Until she learned of a Kree gadget left on Earth called the "Psyche-Magnetron". This device allowed her to unlock her own genetic potential, transforming her into a superhuman. Well, a superKree.

With this, Minerva herself could now become the genetic savior of her race. She was able to signal the Kree Empire, and they sent Captain Atlas to pick her up. She found herself taking a liking to the green fin-domed captain. Likely the mustache. They were about to leave when they saw broadcast images of of Quasar and his Nega-Bands.

Atlas had noted that the bands looked like artifacts called the "Power Bands of Rinn". They figured "Hey, if we get those as well, people will hear out Minerva's eugenics program!" 

She reveals that they sent AIM to go after the bands back in the first issue. With that, Wendell agrees to help rescue Atlas on one condition: that Minerva and Atlas never set foot on Earth again. Minerva agrees and they go save Atlas. With that, the two Kree go on their way. After he heads back to Earth, he is told at the office that a woman came by looking for work. 

He visits Eon and goes to thank him for saving his life, and suggests that maybe the Quantum Bands have some sort of anti-tampering system put in. Eon agrees to it. Wendell is left thinking he has a lot to learn as the Protector of the Universe.

I did enjoy this issue, but the ending did leave me a bit...meh. Not the part with Minerva and Atlas, the last scene with Quasar and Eon. You'd think they'd have already put in some kind of anti-tampering thing going on. It gave me the vibe that Eon isn't really being a very good mentor to Quasar. Yeah, he did save Quasar from becoming an amputee, but it gave me the vibe that he basically just tends to leave Quasar to his own devices in the bad way. I like Mike Manley's art. It has that old-school feel to it.

If you want to read this comic for yourself, I recommend tracking down the 2018 trade paperback Quasar: Cosmos in Collision. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, show it off! Take care of yourselves and each other! Stay safe, stay healthy, stay home, wash your hands often, wear a mask, and get vaccinated! See you next time!