Zodiac - Who Remembers Scorpio?

When Scorpio shows up in the pages of the Defenders it's almost a legit question as to whether anyone remembers him. This Scorpio is Jake Fury, who has been thought dead since Avengers #72 when the Zodiac itself debuted.

The Defenders are at a transition when Scorpio shows up, Doctor Strange has temporarily quit the non-team and remaining members Nighthawk, Valkyrie and newbie Hellcat are joined by Moon Knight to form the basis of the Defenders through the multi-part Scorpio saga in Defenders #46-50. The story was written by David Anthony Kraft and Roger Slifer with a fill-in issue written by David Warner. The artwork in these issues is what makes them memorable in that we see a fledgling Keith Giffen in full-blown Kirby-copy mode with some potent inks by Dan Green among others.

The story ambles but essentially Jake (Scorpio) Fury seems to be suffering from depression and has been hiding out for many years since his seeming death at the hands of his brother at the end of Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #5. We learn that Jake was in fact the second Scorpio taking over after the first was killed in the debut SHIELD issue. While he's been hiding out in a very high-tech lair he's been using LMD technology to create a doppleganger of his brother as well as a complete set of Life Model Decoy Zodiac members for his own use. The Zodiac Key inexplicably and  literally falls out of the sky and eventually into his hands and he makes good use of this most powerful weapon.

The Defenders are drawn into the affair properly when they are simultaneously made aware that Jack Norris (the estranged husband of Valkyrie) has been kidnapped by Scorpio and are alerted by Moon Knight who has battled Scorpio and nearly been killed at his hands.

Moon Knight gathers up the ragtag team who trick the bellicose Hulk into chasing them to Scorpio's lair. The find Nighthawk trussed up having been captured when he went to save Norris.

In a ferocious fiftieth-issue fist-fight the hastily assembled Defenders battle two-thirds of the revived LMD Zodiac (three of didn't survive the activation and Libra doesn't feel like fighting).

The fight is kinetic and occupies most all the issue but in the end the Defenders are victorious when Scorpio uses a gun to seemingly end his own life. The LMD-Zodiac are trundled off to the care of SHIELD who show up at the end to clean up and Nick Fury is informed his brother is now well and truly dead, something he'd assumed was the case for a few years.

It's a hectic adventure with Scorpio's quixotic personality being the most interesting part. The writing seems a bit too self-aware at times as folks who followed Steve Gerber always seemed in this book to want to somewhat imitate his commentary style.  The LMD-Zodiac are distinctive Giffen creations but their advent marks a real downslide for the Zodiac cartel as real villains in the Marvel Universe. Going forward writers and artists will confuse the LMD group with the originals and it all becomes a bit of a mess, undermining the potential of a great gang of baddies.

And that wraps up our look at the Zodiac cartel. After this it all gets so confusing I cannot tell them apart anymore, and often don't care to try.

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Zodiac - To Hell With Astrology!

The Zodiac reappears in of all places in the pages of Ghost Rider. Johnny Blaze famously sold his soul to the Satan in this series which was yet another effort by Marvel to take advantage of popular trends in the industry, the growth of horror comics as well as the popularity generally of motorcycle demonstrations by the likes of Evel Knieval and others.

This story even guest-stars Marvel's other cycle hero - The Stunt-Master, who debuted in the pages of Daredevil.

The story of the Zodiac II is quite a peculiar one. The city of San Francisco comes under siege by a battery of robberies and assassination committed by members of the Zodiac Cartel, but since the Zodiac had been famously imprisoned by the Avengers only a few weeks before, this series of crimes befuddles everyone. Johnny Blaze is brought into the case by a District Attorney whose unhinged son had been complicit in the kidnapping of Manhattan. His guilt over that event and the torture he suffered before he gave up important secrets which enabled Aries to commit the crime have made him a madman. He threatens Roxanne, Blaze's loyal girlfriend and Johnny wants nothing to do with the situation.

But he is forced to and soon investigates. He along with Stunt-Master who tags along after seeing Ghost Rider roll through the city, discover that this second Zodiac is actually the work of one member - Aquarius. Enraged at Cornelius Van Lunt when he was not bailed out of jail, he sold his soul to the demon Slifer for a year in which he had access to all the powers of the Zodiac cartel. He has been the one in the various guises of his former comrades who has been committing the brutal crimes which have ravaged the city. But he is foiled in his ultimate scheme when Slifer appears and claims his soul after he had assumed the role of all twelve of the Zoadic members, completing a Zodical year so to speak. (Those devils are tricky.) Despite his protests Aquarius is hauled away to Hell as the Ghost Rider stands by.

At about this same time Aries of the Zodiac cartel turns up in Captain America and The Falcon in a two-part tale featuring the villain Lucifer.

This comes at the time when Steve Rogers had stepped away from his role as Captain America after the Secret Empire affair and the Falcon was left to carry the superheroic load for a short time. His old foe a small-time hood named Rafe Michael is possessed by the alien Lucifer, a member of race called the Quist who has battled the X-Men and Iron Man in previous outings.

He grants Michael powers but at a great cost and soon it's apparent that the need is there to share the power, and they find Grover Raymond (Aries) in jail and the two villains split the power.

Now Falcon has to fight two Lucifers and does so with gusto and  eventually is victorious in a manner of speaking when the energy of the alien is too much and the two villainous humas die and Lucifer loses his connection to Earth. It didn't really work out for anyone. Later of course Captain America returns, but we already knew that.

All in all a very peculiar outings, though the direction connection in the Ghost Rider story to the Avengers was nifty.

Next though it might get even stranger when Scorpio returns. Or does he?

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LIve Kree Or Die - Calling Captain Marvel!

After several months on hiatus it was decided by Marvel to give Captain Marvel another spin on the stands in his own comic. (The fact is that his name is very likely much of the reason the Kree Captain has been so durable, as it's in Marvel's best interest to keep publishing a new "Captain Marvel" comic every so often.)

In between the time his run had been interrupted and this new start up, he had guest-starred in Avengers #72, a comic I detailed here. After his run in with the Zodiac, Cap and Rick Jones are trying mightily to find a way to co-exist. Gil Kane is at the top of his game and well inked by Dan Adkins in these above average yarns. Captain Marvel appears to have a three-hour limit on the time he can be free of the Negative Zone, but even that brief release is something Rick is loathe to allow.

They strike on a new plan to seek out Bruce Banner, the man Rick once allied with. Despite Banner's other identity as the Hulk, they still imagine his scientific reasoning might be of some value.

To that end they head west and along the way find a town suffering from the aftermath of an earthquake. These poor folks suffer the indignity of highly organized and technically supported looters hitting them just after the quake. This "Rat Pack" is quickly subdued by Captain Marvel and he continues his journey to see Bruce Banner.

They find Banner and he's in a relatively calm and helpful mood. He tries to find a way to assist them, but when a local campus suffers from violence as a result of student protest Banner loses control and the Hulk emerges and heads to the college to seek about things.

Captain Marvel is drawn into a ferocious battle with Greenskin and actually comes out on the losing end when Rick Jones takes his place and is able to soothe the savage beast.  The Hulk heads out and Rick continues his journey, as the comic once again on hiatus.

But there is one more appearance, though not one which has been collected in reprint to my knowledge.

In the pages of Sub-Mariner #30 Roy and artists Sal Buscema and "Joe (really Mike Esposito) Gaudioso" have Captain Marvel and Rick Jones join forces with Namor to stop a nuclear threat.  You can read it all here. 

All in all a pretty darn good tale and served its purpose to keep Captain Marvel in the limelight. Marvel really worked overtime to maintain this character and to see to it that he got some attention outside his own title which as we've seen blinked in and out of existence.

Roy Thomas and Gil Kane with the able assist of inker Dan Adkins turn in two magnificent issues, potent and exciting. Sal Buscema really seemed to have a good handle on the character drawing him in both his guest appearances. "Our Pal" Sal will get another chance soon. A war was coming. 

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Zodiac - Battle Of The Stars!

The Avengers have battled some dangerous gangs in their long history (Masters of Evil, Lethal Legion, Squadron Sinister) but arguably their most colorful opponents were the twelve members of the Zodiac Cartel. The Zodiac first showed up in Avengers #72 and later Aries of the group kidnapped Manhattan in Avengers #82, but in Avengers #120 the whole mob is present and a new leader is ascendant. This story is by Steve Englehart with very robust art by the Bob Brown and Don Heck team.

With Aries having been killed in his scheme a new Aries occupies the horned mask and he's itching to take on the self-appointed leader Taurus. Deprived of the Zodiac Key, Taurus has developed a new weapon, the Star-Blaster which uses the sun's energy to devastating effect. He even applied the technology to a spacecraft. The Avengers are lured into the latest Zodiac scheme when police officer Joshua Link comes to them for help, but little do they realize he is under the influence of his criminal brother Damian.

The Zodiac attack the Avengers in the next issue, and the battle is ferocious atop the World Trade Center, which they almost bring down in the melee.

The Zodiac escape and later Aries tries to mutiny against Taurus with other members. He calls financier, the supposedly dead Cornelius Van Lunt who agrees to meet him. Turns out it's a trap and the Avengers and a faction of the Zodiac are inside a warehouse which is in reality a rocketship and they zoom into orbit as Van Lunt reveals that he is in fact Taurus.

Trapped in space the Zodiac and the Avengers form a fragile truce as they try to save themselves.  John Buscema steps in on pencil art. Meanwhile Libra is pursuing his own plans as he attacks Gemini and then has Joshua pretend to be his brother to learn what Taurus has planned. Taurus is not fooled for long but can do little about it as the Avengers have succeeded in saving themselves and returned to Earth just in time for the Zodiac to combine forces for the final battle between the two groups.

The Zodiac are defeated but the bombshell drops that Libra is in fact the father of Mantis, the mysterious girl who had only recently been fighting alongside the Assemblers.

The next few issues reveal Libra's history as a German mercenary to meets a lovely girl who is the sister of a ganglord who objects to their relationship and kills her.

But a child is born and the blinded Libra escapes into the jungles of Vietnam with her cradled in his arms and finds the Priests of Pama, who we will learn are in fact Kree pacifists come to Earth to care for the Cotati who will play a crucial role in the Celestial Madonna saga, but that's a a whole other story. Englehart is only getting started.

More next time when the Zodiac go to Hell. Next time will be after Christmas as the Kree take over the Dojo for next week or so.

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Zodiac - Sons Of Gemini!

The beauty of the Zodiac when they emerged in their full form in Avengers #72 was that there were twelve members, only one of whom we had met with any detail and we learn soon enough that even Scorpio is new. That left a lot o space for Marvel's creators to play with the myriad members of the cartel.

Oddly the first place one shows up is in the extra-sized issue of Astonishing Tales (#8 to be precise). In addition to the regular Ka-Zar and Doc Doom features in this twenty-five cent comic was an offbeat tale titled "The Badge Bedeviled" by Len Wein and George Tuska.

It was a Twilight Zone like story about two brothers - Joshua and Damian Link.

The former becomes a cop and the latter a hood. Damian's crimes are small time but eventually he crosses paths with his upright brother during the commission of a robbery of some high-tech lab and the two fall victim to an experimental ray which somehow bonds them together, allowing Damian to access the mind and strength of his brother for periods of time.

Later in Astonishing Tales #17 Damian returns, and reveals that he has control and has used that ability to rise in the ranks of the crime cartel Zodiac under the alias of "Gemini". It was Damian we saw in Avengers #72. Gemini then gets involved with a plot to plunder the mostly secret resources of the Savage Land protected by Ka-Zar and the two clash. Later Ka-Zar's brother The Plunderer shows up with his enormous sidekick Gog and the battle rages. To read the first story go here. Sadly most of Ka-Zar's early adventures have not been collected.

And that's what Gemini was up to before rejoining his Zodiac confederates when they once again tackle the Avengers. More on that next time.

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Zodiac - Key To The Kingdom!

The meandering saga of the Zodiac cartel takes a frankly weird turn into the pages of Iron Man and later Daredevil as the secret of the Zodiac Key is finally revealed, though not without some confusion in continuity of the tale to date. It's one of the earliest tales written for Marvel by the a fresh Gerry Conway.

The story actually began in a rather exciting pair of Iron Man comics (issue #33 and #34) written by Allyn Brodsky in which Shellhead is confronted with a deadly threat called the "Espionage Elite". This team is in fact five individuals gathered by a masked super-villain named appropriately enough Spymaster. Spymaster gathers five experts (Marya Penskiyov - Soviet trained agent, Samson Washington - circus strongman, Farley London - make-up and disguise, Godfried Herter - electronics and Roger Phillips - athlete) to work with him to bring down Stark Industries. Spymaster's motives are unclear but he speaks of revenge and of an employer. The team is tough and against a somewhat demoralized Iron Man they find some success but eventually the members of the Espionage Elite are captured though Spymaster escapes. There are casualties as Jasper Sitwell was gravely wounded.

In Iron Man #35 by Gerry Conway and artwork by Don Heck and Mike Esposito, it is revealed that Spymaster was employed by the Zodiac cartel, specifically the members Capricorn, Sagitarius and Aquarius (Pisces is seen on the cover but is not in this story.). Nick Fury shows up and gets Stark to help with the analysis of the Zodiac Key which he claims SHIELD got hold of after the Avengers battled the Zodiac in their first encounter.

This doesn't seem true as Aries was seen escaping with the Key in that battle and was brandishing it late when he and his forces kidnapped Manhattan. Most likely SHIELD found the Key after that latter battle when Aries was seemingly killed in an explosion. Anyway the analysis of the Key is interrupted when Daredevil and Miss Masque arrive (the latter in love with Jasper Sitwell) and still later in a battle with the Zodiac members the heroes are all captured.

In Daredevil #73 drawn by Gene Colan and Syd Shores, the story continues as Nick Fury is attracted to the Zodiac Key and compelled to use it. He transports himself, Iron Man, Daredevil and Miss Masque to another dimension where they find an ancient cult of the Ankh.

This cult's leader says that the Key was the focus of their religion but had lost its potency to balance chaos and order and was sent to the younger dimension on Earth where these forces were less balanced. That served to recharge the Key and now the cult wants to reclaim what was originally theirs. To further empower the Key they arrange for the heroes to battle members of the Zodiac but then that is ended when another member of the cult calls a halt when DD seems not so into random battles, and sends everyone back home.

Returned to Earth in Iron Man #36 the heroes quickly dispatch the members of the Zodiac cartel and then move on to other matters. Spymaster gets away, but will become one of Shellhead's most implacable foes. The Key is seemingly left behind with the cult of Ankh.

It's a furious story which doesn't really hold together all that well, but as drawn by veterans Don Heck and Gene Colan the story has an energy which mostly results from the rookie Gerry Conway's scripting. It's vigorous if confusing and is the beginning at Marvel of the career of a potent talent.

But never fear the Zodiac will return, in a rather astonishing place.

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