Chaos War (Part 3): Chaos Harder

[colonel_green]

Four scans from Chaos War #3.

 

So the big finale to Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente's mega-arc approaches its end, as the newly-returned Hercules and his allies fight Mikaboshi (now just going by Chaos King).  Mikaboshi has taken over the underworld and raised the dead as his servants, including Zeus, Hera, and Ares.  Herc and the God Squad duke it out with them.

Elsewhere, the Council Elite are in session trying to figure out what to do about the impending apocalypse.  Balder says that all of the Skyfathers should confront Mikaboshi immediately, but Amaterasu says that nobody can leave the chamber, lest Mikaboshi trace their route back to it - this is because the Council chamber contains doors to all of the heavenly realms, and the Fount of Creation, stuff they don't want Mikaboshi getting his hands on.  So the Skyfathers are sitting this one out.

Speaking of Skyfathers, Hercules battles the newly-alive/enslaved Zeus, and is forced to strike the killing blow:





So, yeah, Mikaboshi kills all the Skyfathers and pretty much destroys Heaven.  Oops.

Mikaboshi grows so huge from all this that the God Squad actually disappear inside the vastness of the abyss, confusing Mikaboshi.  Setting up the last page-reveal, somebody off-panel tells him that he should focus on finding Herc and Cho, as only they matter, and also that he should remember that he only accomplished this much...



I'm sure this isn't all part of some fantastically complex plan to defeat him.
 

Comments

[jatscomic.com]

I love that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikaboshi has one sentence about the Japanese god and a paragraph about the Marvel version.

[shadowpsykie]

wait... did he kill Balder too?

[ghosty732]

If he did, I'm sure that they'll be (mostly) brought back at the end of this all.

[stig]

I recall her saying that his original takeover of the Skrull Empire was 'Just as [she] planned".

[colonel_green]

She did. She's been planning this for a long time (like, a few thousand years, according to one flashback).

[ghosty732]

Mikaboshi doesn't speak in Haiku anymore?

I want a hardcover of this entire run on Incredible Hercules/Prince of Power/Chaos War. It would be... incredible.

[long_silence]

Well while he was talking through Zeus no he wasn't.

But I think "Chaos's thanks Godling
For using your omniscience
But not your wisdom" is a Haiku

[long_silence]

Oh Athena, you and your crazy long term plans. Hopefully all this doesn't blow up in your face within the next two issues.

And poor Hercules.

[baihu]

I'm confused with timelines here. Does noone else in the Marvel-verse notice this whole...conflict-thing...happening? Like, Dr.Strange at least?

[baihu]

Okay cos I didn't understand the concept at first, so Mikaboshi is retconned to this origin: ", the void before the Universe came into being -before even Eternity or Death"

Well that's weird, so where IS Eternity or Death, or even Galactus? Truth be told, the 'gods' in Marvel-verse are at best, adapted super alien-beings of spirit. I thought even now, their whole existence is based on belief. Something of this magnitude should be in the realm of Eternity, or the Elders, but not for them imo. In fact, why is Mikaboshi even bothering with gods? The Shadow King previously, nearly, takeover the entire psyche of the human race without TOUCHING the gods, and if Earth X is anything to go by, once humanity falls, gods fall too with the lack of belief (or perform Ragnarok as a result).

I haven't followed this at all. It looks interesting, but something about it feels unbalanced.

[long_silence]

Galactus is on the God Squad actually, Zeus (with what I hope was a massive power boost from Mikaboshi) beat him.

And in the last issue Hercules actually summoned Eternity to ask him for help. But Eternity said that the Chaos King is his opposite, so he can't really do anything or interfere, but he really hopes the God Squad wins.

[baihu]

So is the Chaos King's origin from earth or from the universe/multiverse?

[long_silence]

Well Hercules summoned a whole bunch of Earth's heroes in the first issue to help fight Mikaboshi's army, and he gave them all a bit of his power so that everyone could fly with him. I think Strange and Voodoo may have been among them.

But like as soon as they left and got ready to go, the Chaos King killed Nightmare and used his powers to destroy every mortal mind on Earth/put them all in a coma. So Strange can't really help.

[cainofdreaming]

Every mortal mind? So he just put every Ghost Rider on Earth on the angelic spirit of vengeance mode? I wonder if that will play into this in any way.

[darkblade]

Or you maybe destroying Heaven would get their attention. Either way I kind of doubt it. This is Herc's story there is little place for the Ghost Riders in it.

[bruinsfan]

Am I the only one that thinks Pak's writing has suffered a drastic drop in quality over the last couple of story arcs? Both plot-wise and in terms of dialogue? I mean, back when he had Amadeus Cho travel to Excello to confront Pythagoras Dupree I thought the man could do no wrong, but I have been severely disappointed by his work in the last few months.

[daningram.insanejournal.com]

Kinda wish you were, but nope, not really. I think he sorta fumbles with epics.

[stolisomancer]

He's knocking it pretty well out of the park on Incredible Hulks right now.