Something Evil Falls To Earth!

 

Heading into 1980, artist John Byrne's brief eleven-issue run on The Avengers reached its end with a two-part story plotted by Roger Stern and almost seamlessly split between scripters Steven Grant and David Michelinie, while featuring the return of an old "foe"--Henry Peter Gyrich. Actually, Gyrich is not the principle foe of the story, though to the Avengers he might as well be. Acting as the watchdog of the National Security Council, the agency which is responsible for granting the Avengers their priority clearance, Gyrich has been on the Avengers' case for their lax security standards which not only have failed to prevent unauthorized access to their mansion and its computers' cache of federal government data, but also extend to their constantly shifting membership lineup changes that take place at the drop of a hat while at times failing to keep their total of active members down to a reasonable number.  For their part, the Avengers maintain that Gyrich has saddled them with too many restrictions which hamper their ability to carry out their operations.

And so the assemblers have requested a federal hearing before a three-person senatorial committee to finally settle this matter once and for all.

Meanwhile, in space, a meteor has plummeted toward Earth--only to change course and crash into Brooklyn's Jamaica Bay, where it then "hatches" into something more mobile and rises from the marsh. And so, ponderously but determinedly, the Avengers' more deadly foe in this issue is now on the move toward Manhattan. But what is the nature of this... creature? And why is it attacking Earth's mightiest heroes?

 

As for why Daredevil has presumably joined with the Avengers in fending off this being's attack, we've already seen that Matt Murdock has signed onto the Avengers' legal team of Emerson Bale and Jeryn Hogarth (who looks nothing like Carrie-Anne Moss here) to represent the team--and so while our monstrous construct begins to generate news coverage as to its purpose or destination, let's catch the opening moments of this hearing and see what Gyrich has up his sleeve.

On the Manhattan side of the East River, however, the hulking threat of stone and what appears to be salvaged fuselage has used the subway tunnels to travel unimpeded thus far--only to emerge in the midst of a S.W.A.T. that has assembled to intercept it. Their assault proves ineffectual--and the decision is made to request help from either the Fantastic Four or the Avengers (or both). Well, we know we can count on the fact that one of those groups is going to be out of town when that call comes in--so if you guess correctly as to which team that leaves us with, there's a free comic book in it for you! (Not really!) Here's a hint: It presents a golden opportunity to bear witness to a certain federal pain in the you-know-what being put in the position of scraping the egg off of his face.

And with Matt Murdock in the room, we know that DD can't be far behind--but talk about disturbing overtones of "the Superhuman Registration Act" twenty-six years before the fact (and ten years preceding another such hearing where our friend Gyrich was a key witness).

It isn't long before Daredevil encounters the Avengers having engaged the unstoppable stone creature which has been ravaging Manhattan--yet we now learn that powerful individuals such as the Avengers are precisely the kind of beings that it has been seeking, though its purpose in doing so is yet to be revealed. But when the Avengers coordinate and deal decisively with the "monster," it becomes clear that they have set free the real monster within--a foe who means to repay them for their efforts in bloodshed.

Yes, the Grey Gargoyle has returned--but from where? And why the odd deception? Don't expect our heroes to clue us in--because in a few minutes, this street is going to be littered with defeated Avengers. (No lie!)

NEXT:

"...DIVIDED WE FALL!"