The Blue Man Group

Following the debacle that was Heroes Reborn, Marvel reshuffled the deck yet again with their core characters and dealt cards to new player. The Image duo of Rob Liefeld and Jim Lee had moved some copies and generated some buzz, but the books were facing a rapid decline in quality and fan interest. You won't meet too many fans who would disagree if you said handing the reigns of the Avengers, Iron Man, and Captain America over to guys like Kurt Busiek and Mark Waid was a solid move.



Busiek's Avengers harkened back to the much-loved Roger Stern era of the title, and with artist George Perez providing the visuals, the book became a fan favorite and brought the Avengers to new heights after a tumultuous early and mid-90s. Meanwhile, Mark Waid got to continue his run on Captain America, which has been cut short by the Heroes Reborn arrangement. With artist Ron Garney and later Andy Kubert, Waid turned Cap into one of the most dynamic, proactive superheroes on the stands. Again, shades of Roger Stern's work with character in the previous decade are visible; Cap is always in motion, hopping from one mission to the next, throwing himself into any firefight, as long as he doesn't have to face the gloomy reality of being decades away from the world where his values were formed.

By the summer of 1998, the Avengers "family" of titles were doing well, but editorial needed something to give them a shot in the arm, especially since DC's JLA under Grant Morrison's pen was reaching its apex. Seeking to keep the Avengers in place as the #1 superteam in comicdom, the Marvel writers put their heads together to craft a massive crossover storyline between multiple titles that would not only make geek headlines, but address some plot threads that had been percolating in the Avengers' world since the Roy Thomas run of the 60s.

Thus, LIVE KREE OR DIE! A four-part event that spanned the pages of Iron Man, Captain America, Quicksilver, and The Avengers.

The Kree had been a recurring menace to the Marvel heroes since the Kree/Skrull War story arc of the late 60s. Earth had become a beachhead in a war between two vast and powerful alien empires. Modeling the story after sci-fi like "This Island Earth" and "War of the Worlds", the year-long saga saw the shape-shifting Skrulls and the genetically modified Kree treat Earth as a proxy battlefield. Kree tampering had led to the creation of the Inhumans from Fantastic Four, and the Skrulls had menaced more than a few Marvel heroes at that point, but this story elevated them to THE alien races of the Marvel universe.

Jumping back to the Live Kree or Die story, we come to learn that a rogue faction of the Kree, the Lunatic Legion (named for their demeanor AND their base on the moon) attempt a coup de etat of the Earth, using tactics and armaments that are strikingly familiar to a certain German political party of the early twentieth century . . .

At this time, an ongoing subplot in the Avengers title was the relationship between Iron Man and Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Ms. Marvel. (She wouldn't become a Captain for a few years yet.) Her own substance abuse issues, namely alcoholism were starting to impact her superhero-ing and it was becoming pretty blatant to Tony Stark, who had his own issues with booze in the famous Demon In A Bottle storyline. Things come to a head in this crossover, with Carol losing control more than a few times and eventually being the subject of a court martial in the last chapter.

An Avenger getting put on trial and kicked out? Another Stern thing! Hmm . . .

The battles with the Kree across the globe and on the moon are pretty wicked affairs, thanks to the art teams chipping in on each chapter. In particular, I have a strong flashbulb memory of the Captain America chapter, where he liberates a concentration camp run by the Kree. Without his signature shield, Cap is forced to use a replica of his WWII "badge" shield when facing off against a genetically enhanced Kree brute. The result in a gut-wrenching fistfight where Cap (and later Carol) and severly outmatched.

The Kree's ties to things like The Inhumans and Wundagore mountains make the series' diversion into the Quicksilver title a natural occurrence. I wasn't a regular reader of Quicksilver at the time (I preferred a certain Scarlet Speedster instead), but I picked up Quicksilver #10 just for the tie-in. I know a lot more about characters like the Supreme Intelligence now, but back then I remember mentally dipping out of the story in this chapter.

The cover to Avengers #7 may be the most memorable thing about this entire storyline, a not-uncommon display of George Perez's ability to craft epic splashes that are never short on intricate detail. The story itself doesn't impact much of today's stories, and as far as crossovers go, this one pales in comparison to things like Infinity Gauntlet. It's a minor footnote in Avengers history and so much has been done to rebuild and reestablish the character of Carol Danvers, that much of what goes on here is moot. Carol has been a part of some of the most reviled Avengers stories of all time (see Avengers #200), so this one isn't even near her lowest point. To really enjoy it, I think you'd have to immerse yourself in the titles at that time, starting at the beginning of Busiek's Avengers run at least.

I recall these comic fondly mostly because they're from that special time in the late 90s when the whole of comic books was starting to open up to me. I was handling my own money for the first time in my life and exploring these exciting little temples called comic shops. Each story, no matter how corny or contrived, was an adventure and another chance to learn a bit more about the lore and mythos surrounding these characters.

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